National Defence committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. My name is Neil O'Rourke, and I am the assistant commissioner of the Arctic region at the Canadian Coast Guard. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee on behalf of the department. I am here today to speak ab

National Defence committee  Yes, we'll be able to go back and provide what there may be. Just on the last point, I talked about our having a policy of using new technology and also of using old school ways of doing things. We don't have a specific analysis that tells us what we should do, but understanding

National Defence committee  With regard to climate change, I would say we continue to monitor the actual conditions. Specifically our interests are in the ice conditions with respect to navigation capability, so I think that's where a lot of the focus is. We work very closely with, as I mentioned, Inuit, fi

National Defence committee  I think with regard to decisions on whether or not Canada wants to change rules, that question might be better directed to foreign affairs—GAC—or Transport Canada. What I can talk about is more the response and the planning side. We work extensively with the cruise ship operators

National Defence committee  I don't think we have detailed assessments. Essentially, at this point in time, we've seen this year two cruise ships go out for the first time. One of them went last year but with no passengers.

National Defence committee  It really comes down to the fact that we've had three ships go up there, ever. It's something we would do in the future as we would see increasing vessel traffic, but right now there haven't really been any vessels transiting.

National Defence committee  It would be hard to say. We do kind of informal risk analysis at all times. We have a very detailed system for search and rescue called the RAMSARD, which we use as a tool to look across the north. That's something that we're going to be launching in the Arctic for the first time

National Defence committee  Right now most of our monitoring is not actually done using the ships themselves. They do have communication equipment, but we use satellite-based and shore-based technologies. Yes, we do believe so, as the OAG report has pointed out, and we certainly provide some leadership in t

National Defence committee  I think through the shipbuilding program we have absolutely provided some contingency. That is kind of what led to the three interim icebreakers in the—

National Defence committee  I might propose that we get back with a written response to that. I think ultimately on the ship side we did provide that advice. There was an investment made, and so the mitigation we requested has now been addressed.

National Defence committee  No, it hasn't. I think our focus has been on our capabilities to deliver the programs we're mandated to do here in Canada. That's how we've been using it—

National Defence committee  I'll say yes to that. I think something we have certainly seen from other countries is some of the technological capabilities—

National Defence committee  In principle, there is indeed a contingency plan, which is the interim capacity and life extension of the vessel, which we are working on. We know the ship very well, because it has been in service for over 50 years. We are confident that with this work we will be able to keep it

National Defence committee  The Nanisivik refuelling station is not yet open. The plan is that it's going to be open for a period of time, maybe four or eight weeks, depending.... As you are well aware, it's a DND project through and through. From the Canadian Coast Guard perspective, though, we've actually

National Defence committee  To reframe, it's not that we would need Russia's assistance, but if something is happening at the confluence of where our areas of responsibility are, which is the North Pole, we would likely need multiple countries to respond. It's really specifically with regard to an incident