:
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the committee for the invitation and appreciate the opportunity to make an opening statement.
Let me begin by introducing René Grenier, the Deputy Commissioner of the Coast Guard. Earlier in his career, Mr. Grenier was a captain in our icebreaker fleet, so he has considerable experience working the Arctic.
[English]
I understand your committee is studying the current role of the Canadian Forces in Arctic sovereignty, and that you've invited the Canadian Coast Guard to discuss our operations in Canada's north.
Let me begin by explaining very briefly who we are. The Canadian Coast Guard is a special operating agency within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It delivers a series of maritime programs that focus on safety and facilitate maritime commerce. It also supports the maritime priorities and programs of DFO and other federal government departments, and in the past few years it has been playing an increasing support role in the area of maritime security.
We have a rather long and proud history of service in the Arctic. While the modern-day coast guard was created in 1962, the first of what were then called sovereignty patrols was carried out as far back as 1903 by vessels in what was then the Department of Marine and Fisheries. Nowadays, every year we deploy a total of seven icebreakers in the Arctic from late June to early November. Not surprisingly, they are often the first to arrive and the last to leave the area.
These vessels deliver a range of coast guard programs and services. For example, they provide ice escort services to commercial ships; they deploy, maintain, and recover aids to navigation; they perform harbour breakouts; they act as the primary response for ship-sourced pollution incidents; they provide maritime search and rescue services; and they deliver vital food, fuel, and other supplies to remote sites in northern communities where commercial vessels do not go.
The vessels also support a significant amount of scientific research. The members of this committee will no doubt be familiar with the International Polar Year, a global interdisciplinary project that was conducted across the Arctic in 2007 and 2008. Our science icebreaker, the coast guard vessel Amundsen, spent a record 15 months in the Arctic for IPY, making port only twice during that period. She sailed 450 days, travelled close to 32,000 nautical miles, and hosted more than 400 scientists. The efforts of that ship's crew were key to the successful completion of three major scientific missions.
In addition to our icebreakers, we also deploy two buoy tenders in the north. They conduct buoy work on the Mackenzie River. We also have a third vessel, a seasonal vessel dedicated to conducting science work on the Beaufort Sea.
In addition to the vessels, we have a coast guard base in Hay River, and we operate two Arctic maritime communication and traffic service centres that respond to calls for help from vessels at sea. As well, they screen and monitor vessels in Canada's Arctic waters. One of these centres is located in Inuvik and covers the western Arctic; the other is located in Iqaluit and serves the eastern Arctic.
Finally, we have response equipment positioned in 14 Arctic communities. This equipment is capable of containing up to 7,000 tonnes in the event of a marine spill.
[Translation]
Our vessels also provide vital support to the work of other government departments. I can provide a few good examples from last summer.
The CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent carried hundreds of researchers and coast guard personnel north of the Beaufort Sea to map the seabed, in support of Canada's claim to our continental shelf.
The Amundsen, which I just mentioned, was key to the completion of Health Canada's Inuit Health Survey—the first comprehensive look at the health of Canada's Inuit. This survey will form the baseline for future comparisons and provide opportunities for improving our understanding of the changes occurring in our North and how they affect the health and well-being of our Inuit.
We also provide vessels, maritime professionals and shore-based infrastructures to support the Department of National Defence.
[English]
Our services to DND include providing training platforms to the Canadian navy, the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, and Joint Task Force Two. We also conduct search and rescue operations and sovereignty exercises with our DND partners. One example is the annual Operation Nanook, where about 75 coast guard personnel join hundreds of Canadian Forces personnel in and around Iqaluit to test our interoperability skills in on-water exercises, using coast guard and navy vessels.
One of our most evolving roles is in support of Canada's maritime security agenda. The coast guard provides shore-based and fleet assets as well as vessel traffic information and maritime expertise to the security and intelligence community to assist them in delivering their on-water national and maritime security mandate. We use information from safety-related programs and services to provide collateral benefit to the maritime security community to improve maritime domain awareness, such as, for example, the information in the automatic identification system.
We are currently leading the technical implementation and operationalization of the long-range identification and traffic system, which is a satellite-based vessel tracking system prescribed by the International Maritime Organization. It will use existing shipboard equipment to track SOLAS class vessels over 300 tonnes on international voyages. Because it is one of the only vessel traffic systems available in the north, LRIT, as it's called, will be a substantial contribution to maritime security in the Arctic and significantly improve Arctic domain awareness.
To conclude, the coast guard has been and continues to be highly active throughout the Arctic. Our continued operation in Canada's north means that many of the career commanding officers of our icebreakers have more than 20 years' service in the demanding Arctic environment. We're proud of the men and women who serve in our vessels and in the Arctic, and they, arguably, are our most valued asset.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes my opening remarks. We would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
We are pleased today to offer you an overview of the northern strategy and the role Indian and Northern Affairs Canada plays therein.
On page 2, you will find an overview of our department's responsibilities in the North. These responsibilities apply to the three territories, a region which represents 40% of Canada's land mass and is home to a population of some 100,000 inhabitants scattered over this vast territory.
As you can see, these responsibilities are far-reaching, but today I will focus in particular on those at the bottom of the page.
[English]
We have an important role at INAC to play in terms of the overall coordination of the activities of federal departments, boards, and agencies in the territories. Our minister is the lead for the northern strategy and plays a very important role in the coordination of various activities under the northern strategy. Our minister also co-signs cabinet documents related to northern issues. We have significant machinery to support the minister's role. Our deputy minister chairs a committee of deputies who meet on a regular basis to ensure that initiatives already announced as funded are being implemented and, on an evergreen basis, to also think of future priorities for the northern strategy. We also have a government structure below that level, at the ADM level, with various working groups at the officials' level.
Turning to slide 3, the announced a northern strategy in October 2007, and you have here the framework for the strategy. There are four integrated and interconnected pillars, and there are also both domestic and international aspects. In terms of circumpolar international affairs, we work very closely with our colleagues at DFAIT, and the department is involved in a number of Arctic Council working groups.
I'd also like to draw your attention to the science and technology element, which is really foundational and cuts across all pillars, because it really is the basis of knowledge to inform good decisions on all the pillars.
With respect to Arctic sovereignty, our key objective of course is to exercise our sovereignty by maintaining a strong presence in the north, enhancing our scientific knowledge and our stewardship of the region, defining our domain, and dealing with the international interests in the region.
The second pillar addresses economic and social development, and we're looking at the potential of the region for development, as well as ensuring that northerners participate in and reap benefits from this development. We also play a role in socio-economic development at INAC and run various economic development programs in the north, and we are also currently planning for the future economic development agency that was recently announced.
Under environmental protection, we have a unique stewardship role in Canada to play to ensure that this vast region is protected. A big driver, of course, as you know, is climate change and the impact it's having on the Arctic.
Finally, under governance, we need to continue our efforts to achieve devolution for all three territories and to complete our land claim agreements.
I'll now just move down a little bit, pillar by pillar, so we'll turn to slide 4.
There are a number of aspects to sovereignty. First is the issue of presence and increasing the federal presence on the land and the water and in the sky over the Arctic. There's also a stewardship aspect, and doing our part to ensure that we can respond to issues and challenges within our territory, such as search and rescue and emergency response. These issues may gain in prominence as Arctic shipping traffic increases.
The media has been quite seized about disputed zones in the Arctic. I know my colleagues from DFAIT will be coming later this week to discuss that, so I won't get into details on those issues.
I would now like to briefly highlight a few key initiatives that are on the way in support of the sovereignty pillar. Moneys have been set aside and the responsible departments are now planning for the construction of offshore patrol vessels, as well as the replacement for the Louis St. Laurent coast guard vessel. The government has also increased the level of effort to delineate Canada's continental shelf in support of the claim we will make to the United Nations in 2013.
Turning now to economic and social development, as you know, interest in the natural resources potential of the Arctic is increasing in Canada and abroad. This is driven in large part by growth and demand for resources and the prospects of easier accessibility to these resources. The current global economic crisis has certainly impacted the north. Some operations have ceased and others have scaled back, but there's a general expectation that commodity prices will rebound, and we certainly expect demand worldwide to continue.
As more development occurs, though, we need to ensure that northerners participate and benefit. The settlement of most of our land claims in the north has positioned northerners well, relative to the past, but we haven't finished the business of land claims. There are persistent challenges in many communities, including education capacity and skill gaps.
Some communities are concerned about the pace of development and whether those decisions will be balanced and take into consideration protection of the pristine wildlife and flora. At the same time, the private sector is looking for greater certainty and timeliness in terms of making decisions. So these are important considerations.
For slide 5, we'd like to talk briefly about climate change. I know you'll hear a little bit more in an hour. Climate change is making it easier, in a way, to unlock the resources of the north, but it's also creating huge adaptation challenges for traditional lifestyles and also for infrastructure and in countless other ways. Reduced ice coverage may open up new shipping lanes and transportation routes in the long term, but in the short term there will be a lot of hazards to navigation. We are therefore expanding the application of the rules under which vessel traffic will function in the Arctic.
We're also concerned about the presence of transported pollutants into the food chain. At the top of that chain are northerners, and they are still relying in great part on traditional foods for their diets. Our northern contaminants programs is instrumental in uncovering data that leads to the implementation of various international instruments, such as the protocol on organic pollutants.
We also need better baseline data to support decisions. The Arctic is huge, and there are huge gaps in our knowledge, so we must invest more in science. Much has been done in the last few years, but there's still a lot to do.
As important as socio-economic growth and environmental protection are, there's also the need to build strong northern governments.
[Translation]
The first aspect of this is to help territorial governments and aboriginal groups set up political and economic institutions that will help them assume their growing responsibilities as part of devolution.
[English]
We're also working towards the negotiation and implementation of land claim and self-government agreements. We've made much progress, but it's unfinished business. These agreements are key to supporting economic development and ensuring that aboriginal northerners will benefit from development.
Moving on to slide 6, I'd like to speak a bit to the S and T aspect. We have a robust Arctic science capacity in Canada and it supports a range of core regulatory functions and broader government priorities. We have many world-class scientists, and many young researchers are emerging thanks to recent investments in Arctic science, including International Polar Year.
As you know, the Prime Minister announced that we would establish a world-class research facility in Canada's High Arctic, and we've been making great progress in that area. We'll soon be meeting with and consulting the three communities that have been shortlisted as potential hosts for the future station, and we're moving ahead with the feasibility study.
[Translation]
In the last budget, the amount of $85 million over two years was announced in order to improve scientific infrastructure in the Arctic. These infrastructures exist already and belong to our federal, territorial, academic and native Inuit partners, and we are currently working jointly with them.
:
Yes, I feel that we have fairly effective mechanisms. The deputy ministers committee meets every couple of months, and below that we have two ADM-level committees. One looks at the northern strategy writ large, and another one looks more at science issues and preparations for the research station.
That is essentially the dry run for what gets taken to the deputy ministers committee. We try to have various categories of issues, so one set does implementation. Every meeting we try to highlight one or two issues and see how things are progressing to make sure that those things the government has already committed to are actually progressing along the timeline that is expected by the government.
The other set of issues is really forward-looking, because the strategy is evergreen and we hope it will go on for some years. And we haven't done everything. We haven't populated all the pillars to the same extent, and so there are still some gaps. So this deputy ministers committee, with the support of the ADMs, is looking really at what the gaps are and what the possible policy solutions are that, should the window open, we would want to bring to the government.
As well, in support of the ADM-level committees, we've set up a number of ad hoc working groups to deal with specific issues. For instance, shipping and transportation would include three or four departments. We've inserted people from my team onto each of those groups so that we can maintain an overall eye on the collective business, and also to ensure some sort of systematic or consistent alignment with the strategy itself.
The feedback we've been getting from other departments has been very positive. People feel it's an inclusive approach, that it's a fairly light approach. I don't have tonnes of people tracking things. We're a fairly nimble team and we have to depend on the other departments, and so we have to work really closely in partnership.
We're very proud that last year we actually got a very strong assessment from the Treasury Board on our management accountability framework, the horizontal management for the northern strategy. We are seen as an example of strong coordination, so we're pretty happy. We think it's working well.
:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'd like to ask the representative of the coast guard a few questions.
I should let you know I'm from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and this year we're celebrating the 100th anniversary of Captain Bob Bartlett's explorations in the north with Mr. Peary. I'd recommend his book, which I just read, called The Log of Bob Bartlett , which was written in 1927. It is a fascinating study of the voyages to the north. It was actually around the time Canada was starting patrols in 1903, so it was a few years after that.
Can you tell us, Mr. Da Pont, whether or not the coast guard has any independent mandate within the north? I know you've talked about support activities here, but what I'm getting at is this. Do you say, “We need this kind of asset to support our mandate”--i.e., we need more icebreakers, we need more patrol vessels, we need more of this or that--or does someone else say, “Well, we'll give you the job based on the tools you already have”?
Just tell us about your mandate. Do you have any independent mandate in the north?
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for your comments that are very relevant to our study, both on land and on sea. I have several questions, but before I begin, I would like to underline the presence of the coast guard in Quebec City, where it presented an exhibition last year to mark, among other things, Captain Bernier's claim of the Arctic archipelago for Canada. We can see that the history of the coast guard is closely linked to Canadian sovereignty.
We used to think that the North-West passage would take 20, 30 or 40 years to open. Now it looks like it will be open in 2011 or 2012, so it is clear that you will play a much more important role in the Far North.
My first question—and it's not because there is a fine shipyard in my riding—is this: can you tell me about the state of your fleet? There is, of course, the John G. Diefenbaker, which should be ready in 2017, but there are also a number of smaller vessels. Can you tell me briefly about the state of the fleet in general, your expectations in coming decades and perhaps also the operating costs linked to the upkeep of these vessels?
:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Environment Canada has a mandate to protect the environment, conserve Canada's natural heritage and provide weather and environmental predictions to keep Canadians informed and safe.
Environment Canada works to repair the damage of the past, to understand the environmental changes expected in the future and to collect and pass on this knowledge to develop, implement, and enforce policies that enable sustainable development.
The department develops and implements regulations, programs, policies and services in support of achieving this mandate. Excellence in the conduct of environmental science and technology is the foundation for providing services that enable Canadians to deal with economic and environmental challenges. Multiple aspects of these roles and activities contribute to supporting Canadian sovereignty in the North.
I will explain a subset of these roles now.
[English]
In fact, our role is twofold: we're there to protect Canadians from the environment in the north and to protect the environment from people in the north.
Key contributions to Canadian sovereignty in the north are the weather and ice predictions provided by the Meteorological Service of Canada,which supports Arctic civil, military, and environmental security operations. Our programs provide tailored weather and sea ice support to the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Coast Guard, the RCMP, and others who conduct security operations. The reality is that the greatest risk or threat to operations in the north is harsh weather and ice. Examples include tailored support for advanced winter warfare courses in Resolute, recently, the new long-range Ranger patrols that have been established, and such exercises as Operation Nanook.
Weather and sea ice science predictions support safe and efficient support to shipping and civil aviation, enable offshore industry, and allow space-based and aircraft monitoring for enhanced support of enforcement against illegal marine oil discharges.
Environment Canada is engaging in scientific inquiry and research to provide the science expertise for policy development and service provision in the north. There are many drivers that impact Arctic sovereignty, most notably climate change. Environment Canada is engaged in a broad range of climate change research and prediction. Global climate models project future Arctic warming in the north that is roughly twice the global average. These models also project continuing decline in Arctic sea ice extent, particularly in the summer. However, these models have not reproduced the accelerated sea ice decline observed over the last decade, suggesting that ice-free conditions may occur much earlier than previously thought. Although the decline in sea ice is universally projected in the Arctic, the timing of summer ice-free conditions remains quite uncertain, as do the regional details, such as when something like the Northwest Passage would open up compared to, say, the northern sea route over Eurasia. Refining these projections is an active area of research in Canada and abroad.
Climate change also has operational impacts on the work of our department. For example, the longer ice-free season is already attracting more tourists in cruise ships, which means more permits to issue and more surveillance of fragile ecosystems.
Environment Canada also conducts wildlife research and contaminants monitoring in the north in support of our legislative mandate, which is protection and conservation of the environment. We play an active role in the environmental assessment and permitting of development. We work closely with northern partners in the management of natural resources to develop sound work practices.
Environment Canada is engaged in a variety of research monitoring and enforcement in the Arctic with respect to species and protected areas, and it manages a number of national wildlife areas and migratory bird sanctuaries. We also have a significant enforcement presence in the north.
Environment Canada is also an active participant in several working groups under the Arctic Council, with members on various working groups. We lead the circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program, are actively involved in the preparation of an Arctic biodiversity assessment, and had a major role in drafting key segments of the Arctic marine shipping assessment, which is going to be released at the Arctic Council.
On air emissions, one of the contributions to changes in the Arctic is the emission of greenhouse gases and air pollutants as a result of changes to shipping activity. There are ongoing efforts to estimate shipping trends in the Arctic and the significance of the impact of increased emissions in the north.
On contaminants, we work with federal partners and academics to ensure that contaminants in the Arctic's unique and fragile ecosystem, which can be threatened by contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants, are monitored so that we can determine sources of things such as their long-range transport in the atmosphere to the colder Arctic climates. Environment Canada was instrumental is establishing the Stockholm Convention, a global agreement with over 160 countries to address this issue. As well, Environment Canada uses its statutory authority to enforce domestic emissions standards related to POPs.
On regulations, we use a variety of legislative and regulatory tools to address environmental issues. Our regulatory regime provides a consistent approach across Canada, including in the Arctic. The Arctic does, however, provide unique challenges related to the implementation of regulations in certain circumstances, and there is a need for specific regulations in these cases. We work with the territorial governments of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador to establish such northern regulations where required.
Finally, Environment Canada is ensuring that key pollutants are controlled across Canada, including in the Arctic, by administrating regulations on such things as PCBs and mercury.
[Translation]
In closing I would underscore that Environment Canada continues to support sovereignty and security operations conducted by National Defence, the Canadian Coast Guard, the RCMP and others.
Through our meteorological service and our regulations, Environment Canada continues to play a key role in enabling Canadians to reduce risk and derive benefit from opportunities in the North while building greater resilience in Canada's environment, communities and key economic sectors.
Exercising our authorities to implement international conventions and national statutory authorities is one of our department's strongest tools with respect to Canadian sovereignty in the North.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank you for your invitation to discuss our knowledge of the impacts of climate change on Canada's Arctic and how we must adapt to this new reality of change.
The short deck that I would like to present this afternoon is based on the findings and content of this major scientific national assessment that was led by NRCan and that I served as the lead scientific coordinator for.
Turning then to the second slide on the deck, I want to emphasize for committee members that this report looks at all of Canada and the issues that we're facing in terms of climate change impacts and adapting to them. It summarizes major progress over the last 10 years. It involved 145 authors from across the country and was reviewed by more than 100 experts from both the academic community and from governments.
We have to start off by saying that there is unequivocal scientific evidence that Canada's north is already experiencing widespread changes in climate and that local observations by northerners strongly support this instrumental scientific conclusion.
In the last 50 years, the climate of the Arctic has changed at a rate and magnitude that has no precedent within human experience. Significant increases in temperature and precipitation have been observed, particularly in the western Arctic. The most extreme years in our total observation record have occurred within the last decade, and every global climate model projects that these trends will both continue and indeed accelerate in the coming decades.
So with the remaining slides of this deck, then, I want to outline some of the changes and the implications of these changes that may be of interest to the committee.
The third slide highlights an issue that we've heard a great deal about already and, I'm sure, is of central concern to you, and that is the issue of marine shipping and the viability of the Northwest Passage as an international shipping route. The report does note the rapid decrease in summer sea ice extent over the last decade, but also notes that, despite this rapid trend in reductions, the year-to-year variations in sea ice extent will remain high. Ice hazards, even in comparatively open water conditions, will likely remain prevalent for several decades.
Based on the scientific literature that was available, the report talks about the Northwest Passage being consistently navigable by 2030, possibly, though, as soon as the next decade. And of course, we've seen the last three years of the Northwest Passage indeed being navigable.
In terms of the implications of these changes, then, the report notes that there's likely to be increased demands for up-to-date navigational charts, marine weather forecasting, ice reconnaissance and forecasting, icebreaking services, search and rescue capability, and marine traffic surveillance, exactly the types of issues that have been highlighted by previous speakers.
I'll turn to the next slide and the important implications that climate change is going to have for infrastructure in the north. A large proportion of northern infrastructure relies upon permafrost to provide a solid structural foundation. Warming of permafrost, and certainly melting of permafrost, can significantly impact infrastructure performance and also maintenance costs.
In addition, permafrost is often critically important in terms of tailings piles and tailings contaminant impounds that depend on the maintenance of frozen conditions to ensure that contaminants are not released into the environment. Changes in permafrost stability are increasing the demands for the engineering community, who must now consider the influence of climate change on plans for mine closure and abandonment and design, and indeed this is happening.
Another important element of infrastructure change will be on land transportation systems. Currently ice roads are a very important component of northern transportation infrastructure, but they are becoming less and less reliable to get the important access to remote sites and will eventually have to be replaced by all-season highways.
Another important issue on infrastructure is the combined impacts of sea level rise and decreased sea ice cover, which is causing increased rates of erosion along much of the Canadian coast, and in several places this will lead to increases in costs of construction and maintenance for coastal infrastructure.
Moving to the fifth slide, I know that one of the key concerns of this committee is the impacts of extreme climate events and their implications for safety. Safety is certainly most critical within small remote communities, which particularly Inuit, and increasingly tourists, are starting to access. Extreme weather events and the unpredictability of sea ice conditions are leading to more hazardous conditions that put people at risk on both land and sea. As a result, search and rescue efforts are becoming more frequent, and people are finding themselves in more perilous situations. The implication of this is that communities need enhanced emergency response capability and plans and strategies, where necessary, to deal with this potential increase in risk.
One of the major findings coming out of the assessment is summarized in the sixth slide. It captures quite nicely for most Canadians that over the coming decade we're going to see the emergence of a less remote Arctic. There will be increased navigability of marine waters and the expansion of land-based transportation networks. This will bring opportunities for growth in a range of economic sectors, as well as important challenges for cultures, security, and the environment.
In conclusion, I'd like to emphasize that Canada's Arctic is a complex social, political, and physical environment. Natural Resources Canada continues to make a unique contribution to understanding this complex environment. It works collaboratively with a number of other departments, including DND, DFO, DFAIT, Indian and Northern Affairs, Environment Canada, and Health Canada, as well as territorial governments and communities, on issues of specific interest to the north.
Mr. Chair, I'd like to thank you once again for your invitation to appear before the committee. We welcome any questions you may have.
:
That isn't why I'm asking. It isn't to be ironic. Specifically when we're in the Arctic, it's also an issue of life and death. There are some situations that we have to take care of.
There are three issues, in my book. First of all, of course, you have to understand where you are. I mean the proper environment you are living in, of course. There are some issues right there.
I agree that there is the issue of partnership, but there is an issue of governance, and the governance is as important as the knowledge of your environment. I say that because we are in a new trend of smart regulations, according to Dr. Lussier's report in the past, and our role here is to see what the best role should be for DND and what our place should be within that most important issue. There will be some collateral damage, because when everybody goes to the passage, they will have some major impact not only on our own environment but also on the way people are living there, so there is the question of who would be best for governance. That's why I think governance is equally important.
As a former cabinet minister, I see the way we're working, and of course we can have a committee, but it's a bit more than that. Should we have an agency of the north? At the official level, partnership is great, but when we have too many leaders, sometimes some issues fall through the cracks. That is the reason I was asking you that question.
How do you perceive, then, the role of DND? Is it just a tool to help you to--
:
That's right, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
In my opinion, the decisions affecting the North will have to be based to a large extent on scientific data. I will quote from a report which I read in an English paper. I will read it in English, because I haven't had the time to translate it and I don't want to get it wrong.
Apparently, at the UN, there is a body called
[English]
a UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. This commission grants undersea territorial extension. They just gave up 230,000 square kilometres to Norway, and this is pushing the legal position of Norway to 550 kilometres from the North Pole.
At the moment Canada and Denmark are mapping the undersea area near Lomonosov Ridge and the northern coast of Ellesmere Island. Claims will be overlapping near the North Pole with Russia, along the Mendeleyev and Lomonosov ridges.
[Translation]
I know that Natural Resources Canada produces the most beautiful maps in the world; they are very colourful. Do you think you could send a map to the clerk so that committee members know which country is claiming what and what the timelines are? Do you have such a map? If so, could you send it to us? If not, where could we get one? I'm sure it exists.