The Canadian Coast Guard needs to be better prepared, mandated and funded to meet future challenges in the Arctic 

OTTAWA, June 23, 2008 --- In a report on the role of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) in the Arctic tabled today by the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, Senators are telling the federal government that the CCG needs to be better prepared, mandated and funded to meet future challenges in a rapidly changing Arctic. 

An essential aspect of the Canadian identity, the Arctic is first and foremost the homeland of Inuit who have been using the region and its resources for thousands of years. They and those who have joined them, anchor our claim to that vast expanse.  

“As the ice thins, oil and gas exploration rise, and shipping increases, a strong Canadian Coast Guard presence in the Arctic will become ever more critical,” said Senator Bill Rompkey, Chair of the Committee.  “It ensures shipping safety, environmental protection, Search and Rescue, and re-supply for northern communities.  The Coast Guard is an important element of Canada’s projection of sovereignty in the Arctic, and its most visible federal marine presence”.  

The committee’s report The Coast Guard in Canada’s Arctic asserts that Canada needs to set the strategy and vision now for future needs.  To start with, the Coast Guard requires a long-term plan to acquire heavy icebreakers that can operate year-round on multi-mission duties including surveillance and sovereignty patrol needs. And Canada needs a mandatory reporting and monitoring system for domestic and foreign vessels in the Arctic, as we already have on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. 

The committee heard from Aboriginal leaders, government officials, academics, scientists and researchers, and a number of individuals. “We have been told that the development of sea and land-based services and infrastructure will be needed to ensure safe navigation in the Northwest Passage and to buttress Canada’s sovereignty. Above all, better Arctic port infrastructure will be required,” said Senator Ethel Cochrane, Deputy Chair.

The Committee recommends

1. Canada uphold its position that the waters of the Northwest Passage are its internal waters and should be prepared to defend any legal challenge. 

2. Canada develop a much stronger year-round, national presence and enforcement capability to show the world that Canada is serious about controlling the Northwest Passage, protecting Canadian interests and its people, and making the waterway a safe and efficient shipping route. 

3. There be a uniform, common code relating to the construction, manning and equipment of all vessels operating in the Arctic.

4. Inuit, with their unique knowledge of the region, be recruited for the Coast Guard wherever possible.

5. The Coast Guard formulate a long-term strategic vision to guide it into the future. With nearly a quarter of experienced marine personnel expected to retire in the next five to seven years, staffing issues will present a challenge.

6. NORDREG, Canada’s current voluntary vessel traffic system in the Arctic, be made compulsory. 

7. Canada develop a long-term plan for the acquisition of new multi-purpose heavy icebreakers made in Canada capable of operating year-round in its Arctic Archipelago and on the continental shelf.

8. Deployment of multi-mission polar icebreakers operated by the Coast Guard as a cost-effective solution to Canada’s surveillance and sovereignty patrol needs in the Arctic.

9. The Government of Canada move forward to implement, in collaboration with the Government of Nunavut, a comprehensive harbour development plan, as recommended by the DFO–Nunavut Harbours Working Committee in its 2005 Nunavut Small Craft Harbours Report. 

Please note that this interim report – an account of work in progress – is based on evidence gathered in Ottawa from 5 February 2008 to 15 May 2008, before the Committee conducted public hearings and fact-finding in Nunavut during the first week of June 2008. Its findings will be conveyed more fully in a final report.   

Members of the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans are William Rompkey, P.C., Lib.- (Newfoundland and Labrador), Chair, Ethel M. Cochrane, C- (Newfoundland and Labrador), Deputy Chair, Willie Adams, Lib. - (Nunavut Territory), Gerald J. Comeau, C - (Nova Scotia),  Joan Cook, Lib. - (Newfoundland and Labrador),  James Cowan, Lib. - (Nova Scotia), Aurélien Gill, Lib. - (Quebec), Elizabeth Hubley, Lib. - (Prince Edward Island), Janis G. Johnson, C - (Manitoba), Michael A. Meighen, C- (Ontario), Fernand Robichaud, P.C., Lib. - (New Brunswick) and Charlie Watt, Lib. (Quebec).

For more information on the Committee and its study, or to access the present and previous reports or the transcripts of previous meetings, please visit its Web site at www.senate-senat.ca/fopo.asp.

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