On February 26th, 2013, the committee heard testimony from Ted McDormand, an international law professor from the University of Victoria about his expertise on international law of the sea. The committee also heard evidence from representatives the Governments of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon.  The delegates from the territories discussed the importance to northerners of Canada becoming chairperson of the Arctic Council in May 2013 as well as the impact of development on Arctic Canada.  The impact of climate change, increasing shipping traffic and the overall development of infrastructure and resource development were issues discussed by all representatives from the territories.

On February 28th, 2013, the committee heard testimony from witnesses from the Department of Transport and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on icebreaking, search and rescue capabilities environmental disaster response capabilities and climate change adaptability of the Coast Guard and in the North.  A witness from Prolog Canada Inc. provided testimony on transportation in the north and demonstrated to the committee that while there is development in the north, a lack of infrastructure and transportation is hindering development.

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This week the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development met to discuss Bill C-47, and Supplementary Estimates (B) 2012-2013.  Bill C-47 is an act to enhance the Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act, and the Northwest Territories Surface Rights Board Act, and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts.  The Committee met late on Monday due to a vote in the house, and unfortunately the meeting was cut short and some of the witnesses could not be questioned due to the vote. The Committee did hear from the Minister, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.  There was a focus on the exact breakdowns of the new supplementary estimates, and exactly where the money would be going.  An emphasis was also placed on improving access to clean water on reserves, and the improvement of waste water systems. The witnesses from the Department of Justice and from the Department of Indian Affairs only gave an opening statement; the members were not able to question them due to time constraints.

The minutes from the meeting can be found here.

Wednesday December 5^th, 2012

The Committee met this Wednesday December 5^th, to discuss Bill C-47 in further detail. The meeting started an hour late due to another vote in the house. The meeting was only an hour rather than the regular two. The Minister was not able to make it to the meeting, however two representatives from the Nunavut government appeared to give opening statements concerning Bill C-47 (available here.)

The representatives from the Nunavut government emphasized the importance of Bill C-47 to the people of Nunavut, and emphasized the length of time it has taken to get this Bill completed and the need to have this piece of legislation passed.  During the meeting there was a distinct effort by the committee members to note that consultation with the community was extensive during this process of creating this legislation. The Nunavut Land Claims Act was mentioned multiple times during the meetings, information concerning this act can be found here.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. was also mentioned multiple times, and it was mentioned that they may provide some information at some point, information concerning this organization can be found here.

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For example, the ice-breakers were promised in 2005 and again in 2008, and have been delayed once again. China, with no Arctic coastline at all, now has icebreakers in Canada’s waters while our Coast Guard’s Amundsen is in dry dock.

The construction of the deepwater port naval port in Nanisivik promised in 2007 has yet to be begun, despite promises it would begin two years ago. Also two years ago, the Prime Minister announced a major new satellite project, the Radarstat Constellation Mission. It now appears to be mired in budgetary delays.

In one of the more recent bizarre announcements, Stephen Harper promised the creation of a new Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) to be built in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. It was first pledged in the 2007 Speech from the Throne claiming the government would “build a world-class Arctic research station that will be on the cutting edge of Arctic issues, including environmental science and resource development.”

It is bizarre because at the same time that the Harper Conservatives are pledging millions to build a new research facility from the ground up, they are shutting down the internationally renowned PEARL (Polar Environmental and Atmospheric Research Laboratory). PEARL recently had $10-million invested in state of the art equipment to monitor ozone depletion and the build up of greenhouse gases. Closing it down is a scandal.

Part of Harper’s vision is clearly the exploitation of fossil fuel resources in the Arctic. Last spring, licences were opened up to start the planning for prospecting and exploration to tap into the oil and gas now increasingly accessible as the ice shrinks.

A quite different view of the Arctic comes from the scientific community. The Arctic faces new pressures for resource exploitation, from fisheries to oil and gas. Far from being an economic bonanza, the rapidly disappearing summer ice is a disaster. On Aug. 26, we reached an all-time loss of Arctic Sea ice. The melt represents a loss of more than 40 per cent of summer ice extent in the past decade alone. The melting of Arctic ice had been an anticipated climate change impact for decades, but the pace at which the ice is melting exceeds earlier projections. The explanation lies in the impact of positive feed-back loops. The loss of ice compromises the albedo effect, a cooling effect. The white ice bounces the sun’s heat back to space, whereas the dark ocean water absorbs it, speeding the warming. Less ice equals warmer waters, melting more ice.

The loss of Arctic ice has devastating impacts on the entire planet. Research at Rutgers University identified the mechanism by which the melting Arctic is impacting areas far to the south through increasingly serious extreme weather events. It turns out the difference between Arctic cold and Equatorial heat has kept the jet stream moving fast and relatively horizontally over mid-latitudes.

With the warming Arctic, the difference has gone wobbly and so has the jet stream. Fires, floods, and droughts have increased globally as the jet stream slows down due to a warming Arctic. Moving more slowly it lies in lazy loops, leaving high pressure and low pressure zones in place for unusually long periods of time. It is too early to diagnose the causes of the ferocity of Hurricane Sandy, but clearly the melting of the Arctic is implicated.

Yet, on the Prime Minister’s Arctic visits, climate change is never mentioned. Of course, moving to open up the Arctic to oil and gas is to throw fuel on the fire that is warming the Earth and melting the Arctic. Last spring, the federal government moved to boost offshore petroleum development in Arctic waters. The National Energy Board announced it would weaken its policy requiring proof of an ability to build a relief well in the same season prior to drilling. This creates unacceptable levels of risk for the Arctic. Norway requires proven capability to initiate a relief well within 12 days of any accident. It seems the industry has more concerns for safety than the Conservative government. Total SA, the French oil giant, withdrew from its planned oil exploitation in Greenland, noting that the costs of any accident outweighed any benefit.

Similarly, Royal Dutch Shell abandoned its plans to drill off Alaska after a $4.5-billion investment continued to fail technologically. The reality is that drilling for oil in the Arctic is highly dangerous as, for much of the year, any response to an emergency will be impossible. Industry experts confirm that the private sector would not be interested in the Arctic at all—if not for subsidies.

As Canada takes the chair in the Arctic Council, it is my hope that Aglukkaq will champion a vision for a sustainable Arctic.

We need to work for an oil spill prevention strategy, for affordable food and Inuit rights, and a fisheries management strategy, within a precautionary and stewardship approach. And we have to stop ignoring the threat of a rapidly-warming climate.

Elizabeth May is the Leader of the Green Party of Canada and the Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands.
Originally printed in the Hill Times.

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First promised in 2005 and again in 2008, the much-ballyhooed new icebreakers — in fact, armed, troop-carrying icebreakers — have been delayed once again. The Chinese, with no Arctic coastline at all, now have icebreakers in Canada’s waters while our Coast Guard’s Amundsen is in dry dock.

The construction of the deepwater port naval port in Nanisivik promised in 2007 has yet to be begun, despite promises it would begin two years ago.  Also two years ago, the Prime Minister announced a major new satellite project, the Radarstat Constellation Mission. It now appears to be mired in budgetary delays.

Additionally, Stephen Harper has promised the creation of a new Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) to be built in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. This is one of the more bizarre announcements. It was first pledged in the 2007 Speech from the Throne claiming the government would “build a world-class Arctic research station that will be on the cutting edge of Arctic issues, including environmental science and resource development. This station will be built by Canadians, in Canada’s Arctic, and it will be there to serve the world.”

It is bizarre because at the same time that the Harper Conservatives are pledging millions to build a new research facility from the ground up, they are shutting down a world respected facility further north, closer to the North Pole. The PEARL station (Polar Environmental and Atmospheric Research Laboratory) at Eureka on Ellesmere Island, recently had $10 million invested in state of the art equipment to monitor ozone depletion and the build up of greenhouse gases. Closing it down is a scandal. 

The language for CHARS’ mandate suggests a coziness with resource development. The unbelievable waste in shutting down PEARL, already in operation and producing critical work, only to build a brand new facility with a vague mandate and claim to be the world’s leading high Arctic research station is stunning. My theory is that killing climate science is the goal, and being able to throw out a big number being spent on Arctic research is about spin to claim that science is not being abandoned. Money will be spent on Arctic research, but not in areas that threaten the Harper agenda.

Notice how the promises of the last six years of Harper’s northern agenda are cloaked in military goals. Our icebreakers must be armed and capable of carrying troops. Why exactly? The deep water port is a naval port, not commercial and not even of use in the all too rapid growth of tourism to the Arctic. As Michael Byers pointed out in a recent Globe and Mail article, international cruises are now plying the once impassable waters of the Northwest Passage, without reliable navigational charts and with an inadequate level of search and rescue infrastructure should our foreign visitors run into trouble.

Last month, the Prime Minister laid out some promises for which his follow through is a mere formality. He is promising that mining and oil and gas industries will stake out the Arctic and begin a pell-mell level of development. With C-38 and the removal of the vast majority of environmental reviews, with the loss of habitat protection in the Fisheries Act and so on, the Arctic is wide open for environmental assault. Harper claimed $38 billion worth of development, coming from two dozen projects are barrelling toward the fragile Arctic environment. These projects include drilling for oil and gas along the Arctic coastline, as well as mining projects.

It is all too clear how Stephen Harper views the melting Arctic. Not for him the grim warnings of science – nor will he heed the news that fires, floods and droughts have been increased globally as the jet stream slows down due to a warming Arctic.  The melting of the Arctic is only cause for celebration. In his entire trip to the Arctic, the Prime Minister made no mention of the fact that the world was approaching an all-time record level of loss of Arctic ice.

The threat to our Arctic territories is in rapidly changing Arctic climate and the positive feedback loops that allow the melting ice to expose dark ocean water and cause the melting to accelerate. None of this is good news to anyone aware of the science of climate change.

The National Snow and Ice Data Centre has reported that Arctic sea ice has already dropped below the 2007 melt record – and there are still two to three weeks of melt to go. On August 26 the ice dropped below 4 million km2, an all time loss of Arctic sea ice. This is a melt of more than 40% of summer ice extent in the past decade alone.

Stephen Harper has it wrong. Arctic sovereignty is not a case of “use it or lose it.” It is an imperative to “protect it or lose it.” Harper’s version of Arctic security will bring about Canada and the world’s increased insecurity. His is not an agenda of leadership. It is the 2012 version of Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 dark classic Dr. Strangelove. Stephen Harper is leading us toward destruction.

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PEARL is operated by CANDAC, the Canadian Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Change, and collects data on air quality, ozone and climate change.  The lab requires $1.5 million per year to operate a year-round science program. “This small amount of funding should be made available in the upcoming budget.  In addition, we need a serious look at why the Harper government has decided that science doesn’t merit investment,” said May.   “Collecting atmospheric information is crucial as we try to keep track of how the climate is changing and how the ozone layer is being affected. We need a facility in the North to effectively provide quality data. To think that PEARL could close is alarming.” 

The Greens are also concerned that this latest loss will add to the brain drain of scientists who have to find work elsewhere.  “Canada has already invested in PEARL. With its loss, we are at risk of losing an entire team of scientists conducting critical work on Arctic issues,” said May.

The cuts to scientific funding are not being received well by the international community.  A group of high-profile scientists from US universities and NASA released a paper recently that severely criticized Canada for jeopardizing the global effort to monitor the ozone layer.  The paper was published in Eos, the newsletter of the American Geophysical Union, which represents 61,000 earth and space scientists from around the world.

Budget cuts at Environment Canada have led to the loss of more than 700 scientific and research positions.

“Canada was once a scientific leader in the world.  Now we are worse than a laggard; we are preventing the collection of data that would benefit the whole planet,” said May.

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