Transport committee  Thank you. Canada's north is about 40% of Canada. It's the size of Europe, and a lot of people don't realize that it has about 200 to 250 aviation assets. If I say 10,000 workers all up, would I be far off? I don't know, but a lot of them are very small operators. We're talking about your traditional float plane and businesses like that.

Transport committee  Thank you. It's a bit repetitive, but I wish we could get that accommodation for employees who have been laid off because they wouldn't get vaccinated for whatever reason. There's a workforce shortage, and there's a skilled workforce available. I think that is a solution that's obvious.

Transport committee  Thank you. I'd like to bring up the accommodation. In terms of the vaccination mandate, we went along with it. We are all working together. At my conference last week, every operator—we represent all 40 operators in the north—has a real story to tell about workers sitting at home who once worked in the aviation business.

Transport committee  I was hoping that you would ask what we would have done differently than what we did during COVID, but you asked this question. The federal help for funding was very helpful. We had two tranches. The federal funding went to the territories and was disbursed. In all three of the territorial governments, it was done with awareness, sensitivity and communication.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to start by complimenting the committee for taking on this extremely important study. At NATA, we're gratified that parliamentarians are going to dig into such complex issues, and we wish you success. NATA is certainly not the largest aviation organization you'll hear from, but we're probably the most colourful.

Transport committee  I really like a program called the Medallion program. It's out of Alaska. It was formed after 9/11 when there was no insurance available and they had the highest accident ratio in the world. It's based on skills development. They provide FAA and industry money together, collaboratively, and remember, it's not simulators—it's flight training devices.

Transport committee  I have no comment.

Transport committee  Good morning. We would like to thank the committee for including the Northern Air Transport Association on this important study of flight training resources in Canada. NATA was formed over forty years ago to support the economic development of northern and remote Canada. Northern operators have always faced unique challenges that are very different than what is experienced in southern Canadian aviation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As a representative for the northern communities, I don't want to come across as a know-it-all, but I have an excellent board that gives me great guidance, and we recognize that we have to partner with the northern communities. There has to be more on-the-job training. There's more mentoring.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's a very good question. Most of the northern operators have company-owned housing now. We had to do that. You name the operator, and they have spent millions in developing crew houses. Crew houses have one or two people, no more, in a room. They're people who are sent from anywhere in Canada, paid to fly up to the place where they're based, whether it's Yellowknife, Iqaluit or Rankin.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's a daily thing. There are 117 airports north of 60°. Only 10 are paved, and out of those 10, only five are well paved. The other five need to be repaved, so it's a big issue. There are solutions out there. We have a project under way right now in which we're starting a test of alternate runway surfaces, but that's a big project.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm a big fan of FNTI. I'm aware of the program. It's been around for a while.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It provides a lot of the pilots for Air Creebec. It's part of the solution. What we're looking for is an east-west solution, and we think we have one out of Whitehorse. We now have an aviation college in the north, with Alkan Air. They're making a proposal to operators for a mentoring and internship program.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I have an idea. What we don't have are good statistics. In preparation for that forum, I did a labour market analysis on all three of the northern territories. It was only the NWT that could give numbers. It looks like they'll need about 70 new pilots a year, starting now. That's the thing about the north in my business.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I'd like to thank the committee for giving NATA the opportunity to participate in this important study on northern infrastructure and strategies. This briefing will be focusing on four specific aviation infrastructure issues for consideration by the committee.