National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, it's an excellent question. The U.S. strategy is something that we looked at very carefully. I would suggest that from where we stand now, understanding the geopolitics of today, we would certainly agree with the sentiments that are put forward that, because of greate

National Defence committee  It's happening in a great many ways, but I won't get into them because they're not my areas of expertise. I would point out the forthcoming NATO climate change and security centre of excellence that Canada will host in Montreal, and we anticipate that it will be operational by n

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, our system knows the nationality of that vessel. I'm not sure that I'm permitted to discuss that in an open-facing forum. However, we do know the nationality of that vessel, and my understanding is that very large fines have been applied against the owner of that vesse

National Defence committee  I'm not aware of any specific investment plans, but I know they certainly do exist. Concerning China, first of all, we have this legislative instrument, the Investment Canada Act, which has very broad powers to deny certain kinds of investments throughout Canada, particularly i

National Defence committee  I can speak to China's polar silk road. As I understand it, and as they have articulated it, that route is actually closer to Russia's northern sea route than any Canadian territorial waters. A lot of comment has been made about a nascent or ongoing strategic partnership betwee

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, it's two-part question. I think you'll see that Chinese interests in the Arctic are mirrored by Chinese stated and manifest interests in a great number of regions around the world. This is an assertive China. This is a China that does want to project. The Arctic is ju

National Defence committee  A myriad of classified assessments are done on an ongoing basis on both those countries with respect to the Canadian Arctic.

National Defence committee  I can certainly say that we see the military buildups. With respect to Russia, their buildup is in their own Arctic on their Arctic territories. Once again, from a purely military point of view, we don't detect that land-based or sea-based buildup as a direct threat inasmuch as

National Defence committee  I can defer to Heidi again on this question. I'm not aware of any conversation around banning particular vessels coming through our waters as a matter of principle. Certainly through the COVID period, for instance, there was a prohibition that we instituted for our own waters t

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, certainly we work with the Department of National Defence to ensure that there is a plan in place for the modernization and upgrading of antiquated systems, systems that are fast reaching the end of their useful life. Once again, that is the reason for these reinvestme

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, my apologies; I don't have a specific timetable available to me on that. That is a question we'd like to refer to National Defence.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, on issues of support to northern communities, it falls outside Foreign Affairs directly, although perhaps I can turn to Heidi to discuss some of the work of the Arctic Council in supporting northern communities. I will say, though, that just from a military and securi

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, perhaps I can take that question. Certainly there's a recognition across government of the need for better and more modernized surveillance capabilities in the Canadian north. I think we are seeing now a commitment from the government for investments in those areas.

National Defence committee  That's quite correct. This is a self-appointed term that the Chinese have given themselves. This term, “near-Arctic state”, means nothing in international law. We interpret that they mean they have an interest in the Arctic region. We've seen in past years a lot of Chinese resea

National Defence committee  China is engaged in a campaign of increasing its military projection capabilities globally. The Arctic seems to be part of that intent, although they have had some setbacks, as we can see through open sources over the last year. Their icebreaker, for instance, didn't leave port t