National Defence committee  Responsible development is tricky, because everything needs to be built from the ground up. There are no roads, communications or power. Navigating that with Inuit landholders, as well as the communities that are most directly impacted and closest to the project, you have to get into the Inuit impact benefit agreements and things like that to ensure that all parties are in agreement to follow the proper procedures, reclamations and all of that.

National Defence committee  I'm too scared to give this a try now. No, just simplifying the process or removing it altogether would be great—with the consideration of responsible mining, environmental impacts and all that. The regulatory process is too cumbersome at times, I think, and a little too duplicative at other times.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  Right now, because of the co-management regime we have up here, a lot of it is just the back-and-forth system. You have to go to the Nunavut Planning Commission to get a project approved and verified. Then it goes back to the proponent and is submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board to do the environmental assessment.

National Defence committee  Yes. Is it working?

National Defence committee  It's mainly the bureaucracy system for approval processing. You have to do a lot of back-and-forth with the same organizations, making sure [Technical difficulty—Editor] once you receive it back.

National Defence committee  I would focus more on unreliable energy systems. Right now, up here, when it comes to climate and all that, everything is run on diesel. We have diesel dependency. All the diesel is imported, predominantly from the United States. Diversified power sources and grid modernization reduce that vulnerability and increase operational certainty.

National Defence committee  Thank you. From what we're seeing, a lot of the focus is on copper. Even though those two tests that Photinie talked about exist, there are two companies that do have state-owned involvement. We also have the original Hope Bay when TMAC had it. It was almost purchased by China but was secured by Agnico Eagle instead, a Canadian company.

National Defence committee  I would have to rely on somebody else on the panel for international water expertise.

National Defence committee  Yes. If I may, Mr. Chair, I'll address Mr. Kibble's question. In the north, we've been trying to get a north of 60 mineral tax credit, mainly because mining in the north is two to two and a half times the cost. If we're discussing the critical minerals list that Mr. Gaulin just referred to, whether it's defence-related or defence/economic-related, Nunavut has 23 of these critical minerals, but most of the time we're shoved off to the side.

National Defence committee  No, I was just wondering if I was going to get a chance to answer the previous question. It was addressed to the panel, but I didn't chime in.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm coming to you from Iqaluit, Nunavut, speaking on behalf of the Chamber of Mines today. From a chamber perspective, Canada's critical minerals strategy aligns with Arctic sovereignty and defence readiness. The same infrastructure that enables mining, ports, roads, power systems, air access and communications is what allows Canada to operate securely in the north.