By Alex Binkley
True North Perspective
First written for Canadian Sailings
OTTAWA — The Harper government needs to give a higher priority to asserting Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic and ensuring it’s safe for navigation, says a report from the Senate Fisheries and Oceans Committee.
The CGC should get new icebreakers and more staff so it can handle challenges to the northern coast, the report says. Meanwhile Senator Colin Kenny, chairman of the Senate Defense Committee, wants the Coast Guard beefed up to protect Canada’s three coasts.
“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, chairman of the fisheries 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 report recommended that Canada defend its position that the Northwest Passage is an internal waterway and not an international one as the United States and other countries claim.
The government should 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.
It should require all vessels operating in the Arctic to be built, equipped and crewed to a uniform code.
The report also called for a long-term strategic vision for the Coast Guard. Not only are its ships almost antiques, nearly a quarter of its experienced marine personnel are expected to retire in the next five to seven years, presenting it with a severe staffing challenge. The federal government also needs to implement a comprehensive harbour development plan.
As a first step, the Coast Guard needs a long-term plan to acquire heavy icebreakers for year round surveillance and sovereignty patrols in the Arctic, the committee report said. Canada should also make it mandatory for vessels to report-in before they enter the Arctic waters just as is now required on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
“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,” said Senator Ethel Cochrane, the committee’s deputy chair. “Above all, better Arctic port infrastructure will be required.”
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper took office, he promised armed heavy duty icebreakers for the Arctic as well as a northern port. Under pressure from the Navy that became Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels with limited ice breaking capacity to control access to northern waters. In the last budget, the government allocated $750 million toward the development on an Arctic class icebreaker.
Nothing much has been heard about the development of either class of ship since other than they are supposedly being designed. But then there’s no sight yet of the offshore patrol boats promised by the former Martin government and boosted in the first Harper budget in 2006 as a key tool for protecting Canada’s coasts and the Great Lakes from terrorists.
Senator Rompkey said it’s important for government and shipping lines to understand that it will take more than melting ice for the Northwest Passage to be safe for navigation. He says there’s no infrastructure in the north for safe shipping. “It just doesn’t exist.”
The waters aren’t fully charted and there’s no way to respond to a marine emergency, he said in an interview. “Who would come to your aid if you ran into trouble? We should help vessels that want to come through.”
The committee spent months hearing from Arctic residents and experts on the Coast Guard and Arctic sovereignty issues, Rompkey said. It hopes to talk with shipping representatives in the fall on what use they expect to make of the Northwest Passage.
Senator Kenny wants armed Coast Guard vessels to police the coasts. The Navy doesn’t have the Coast Guard’s ice-breaking experience. The government should enter long term contracts with Canadian shipyards to get new icebreakers in service as quickly as possible.
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