Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Jack Layton’s letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Arctic sovereignty
Monday August 6 2007
Rt. Hon Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister
The Russian mission to place its flag on the ocean floor at the North Pole demonstrates a troubling reality for Northern communities and all Canadians concerning Arctic sovereignty. It highlights just how far behind Canada is when it comes to exercising our legitimate rights in the Arctic.
To protect our sovereignty, Canada must move quickly to make immediate, strategic investments in its Arctic and recognize that the greatest challenges in the North are social, economic and environmental.
The decision to buy up to eight ice-strengthened military patrol vessels is misguided, since there are more pressing priorities than preparing to go to war with the Russians or the Americans over the Arctic.
The promised vessels, built for no more than one metre of relatively soft "first-year ice," are inadequate to serve as icebreakers in the High Arctic. To exercise our sovereignty, Canada needs vessels that can go anywhere, anytime, in those areas we claim as our own. Rather than buying military "slushbreakers," we should be building new polar icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard. These would be used to break ice for commercial vessels, help re-supply northern communities, maintain navigation devices, provide search and rescue, and support research scientists. When necessary, the icebreakers could carry RCMP, fisheries protection officers or military personnel on board.
As the sea-ice shrinks and thins, shipping in Canada's Arctic will increase dramatically. Two deepwater docking facilities should be considered for the North. One should be located at Iqaluit, as requested by the Government of Nunavut. Its principal role would be to facilitate the off-loading of supplies for Northern residents and businesses. Cruise ships would also be attracted by a deepwater dock, enabling the further development of Nunavut's tourist and artisan industries. The second deepwater docking facility could be located at Nanisivik, where an old wharf already exists and could be refurbished. Its principal role would be to service and re-supply Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers operating in the Northwest Passage.
More than 100,000 people fly over the Canadian Arctic on inter-continental commercial airliners each and every day. Yet only a few Northern airports could handle an emergency landing by one of these large aircraft. The federal government should immediately provide funding to the three territorial governments to upgrade and lengthen northern runways, improve the availability and quality of snow clearing, install or update instrument landing facilities, and enable the 24-hour staffing of airports.
Search and rescue services in the North need to be improved substantially, with the deployment of at least one Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopter to the Arctic during the summer and autumn shipping seasons, as well as new fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft (complete with parachute trained and equipped search and rescue technicians) based in Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit.
Canada is a large and often cold country, including the 40 percent located in the Arctic. To further develop their role in search and rescue and domestic disaster relief, more Canadian Forces soldiers should be given cold weather training.
Having ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2003, Canada has until 2013 to file a legal claim to a continental shelf extending much further than the existing 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone in the Arctic Ocean. This must be backed up by scientific evidence concerning the shape and sediments of the seabed. An area of ocean floor larger than Alberta could be at stake, containing potentially more oil, gas and other minerals. However, due to inadequate equipment and funding, Canadian scientists might not be able to complete all the necessary seismic mapping in time. For this reason, a significant increase in funding should be provided immediately.
Canada has a longstanding dispute with the United States over the status of the Northwest Passage. For decades, thick multi-year ice protected Canada's interests there. Now, the ice is melting, facilitating shipping. Last year, nine vessels, including four cruise ships, traveled through the Passage. For such cases, Canada needs to acquire new icebreakers that can access the Northwest Passage at anytime of the year, while engaging the United States and other countries diplomatically in pursuit of a negotiated, cooperative approach to the looming reality of an ice-free Passage.
The Canadian Ranger programme provides an important mechanism for asserting sovereignty, offering search and rescue near Arctic communities, in addition to providing employment for Northerners, especially young men. The Canadian Ranger programme should be increased in size by around 1,000 members, with improved funding for transportation, communications and other equipment.
Northern Canada contains untold natural resources, including oil, gas, uranium, diamonds and gold. Yet two of the territories (Nunavut and the Northwest Territories) cannot collect royalties on these resources; instead, all monies go directly to the federal government. The same is true of the over-flight fees charged to the international airlines that send hundreds of planes over the North each day. Yet the federal government claims that there is a net transfer of finances from Ottawa to Nunavut and the NWT. It is time to admit the inaccuracy of that claim. It is time to fix this real fiscal imbalance. The natural resources of the North belong, first and foremost, to the people who live there.
Climate change is destroying Northern Canada as we know it. It's melting the permafrost, undermining buildings, roads and pipelines. It's causing the sea-ice to shrink and thin, putting Inuit hunters at risk and interrupting their traditional way of life. It's putting enormous stress on animals and fish, causing the populations of indigenous species to decline while bringing new, potentially destructive species into the Arctic. It's attracting more shipping, thus increasing the risk of oil spills. Slowing and then stopping climate change as quickly as possible should be an imperative for any Canadian government. Climate change policy is Northern policy, and we have no time to waste.
It is also important that the Canadian government increase the amount of land and water protected from environmental degradation by being given the status of national parks. As a beginning, we recommend that you take immediate steps to expand the size of Nahanni National Park, as well create a new national marine conservation area reserve for Lancaster Sound (and to seek World Heritage Site designation for it).
To truly protect our sovereignty, we must ensure that the people of Canada's North have economic and social security. We ask that you take time to look at the impact your cuts to adult literacy have had on the people in the North. We ask that you take time to see first hand the diabetes and tuberculosis epidemics, as well as the severe shortage of adequate and affordable housing. We ask that you examine the exceptionally high suicide rates.
For too long, Northern policy has been made up on the fly and has had more to do with partisan positioning in the south than about nation-building. It's time for Parliament to be engaged in the development of a comprehensive Northern agenda that sees Canada get forthright in protecting our sovereignty -- not one that focuses solely on the military, as your government has done to date, but one that tackles the social, economic and environmental challenges as well.
Sincerely,
Hon. Jack Layton, P.C.
Member of Parliament, Toronto Danforth
Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada
643C Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, K1A 0A6
Rt. Hon Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister
The Russian mission to place its flag on the ocean floor at the North Pole demonstrates a troubling reality for Northern communities and all Canadians concerning Arctic sovereignty. It highlights just how far behind Canada is when it comes to exercising our legitimate rights in the Arctic.
To protect our sovereignty, Canada must move quickly to make immediate, strategic investments in its Arctic and recognize that the greatest challenges in the North are social, economic and environmental.
The decision to buy up to eight ice-strengthened military patrol vessels is misguided, since there are more pressing priorities than preparing to go to war with the Russians or the Americans over the Arctic.
The promised vessels, built for no more than one metre of relatively soft "first-year ice," are inadequate to serve as icebreakers in the High Arctic. To exercise our sovereignty, Canada needs vessels that can go anywhere, anytime, in those areas we claim as our own. Rather than buying military "slushbreakers," we should be building new polar icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard. These would be used to break ice for commercial vessels, help re-supply northern communities, maintain navigation devices, provide search and rescue, and support research scientists. When necessary, the icebreakers could carry RCMP, fisheries protection officers or military personnel on board.
As the sea-ice shrinks and thins, shipping in Canada's Arctic will increase dramatically. Two deepwater docking facilities should be considered for the North. One should be located at Iqaluit, as requested by the Government of Nunavut. Its principal role would be to facilitate the off-loading of supplies for Northern residents and businesses. Cruise ships would also be attracted by a deepwater dock, enabling the further development of Nunavut's tourist and artisan industries. The second deepwater docking facility could be located at Nanisivik, where an old wharf already exists and could be refurbished. Its principal role would be to service and re-supply Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers operating in the Northwest Passage.
More than 100,000 people fly over the Canadian Arctic on inter-continental commercial airliners each and every day. Yet only a few Northern airports could handle an emergency landing by one of these large aircraft. The federal government should immediately provide funding to the three territorial governments to upgrade and lengthen northern runways, improve the availability and quality of snow clearing, install or update instrument landing facilities, and enable the 24-hour staffing of airports.
Search and rescue services in the North need to be improved substantially, with the deployment of at least one Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopter to the Arctic during the summer and autumn shipping seasons, as well as new fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft (complete with parachute trained and equipped search and rescue technicians) based in Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit.
Canada is a large and often cold country, including the 40 percent located in the Arctic. To further develop their role in search and rescue and domestic disaster relief, more Canadian Forces soldiers should be given cold weather training.
Having ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2003, Canada has until 2013 to file a legal claim to a continental shelf extending much further than the existing 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone in the Arctic Ocean. This must be backed up by scientific evidence concerning the shape and sediments of the seabed. An area of ocean floor larger than Alberta could be at stake, containing potentially more oil, gas and other minerals. However, due to inadequate equipment and funding, Canadian scientists might not be able to complete all the necessary seismic mapping in time. For this reason, a significant increase in funding should be provided immediately.
Canada has a longstanding dispute with the United States over the status of the Northwest Passage. For decades, thick multi-year ice protected Canada's interests there. Now, the ice is melting, facilitating shipping. Last year, nine vessels, including four cruise ships, traveled through the Passage. For such cases, Canada needs to acquire new icebreakers that can access the Northwest Passage at anytime of the year, while engaging the United States and other countries diplomatically in pursuit of a negotiated, cooperative approach to the looming reality of an ice-free Passage.
The Canadian Ranger programme provides an important mechanism for asserting sovereignty, offering search and rescue near Arctic communities, in addition to providing employment for Northerners, especially young men. The Canadian Ranger programme should be increased in size by around 1,000 members, with improved funding for transportation, communications and other equipment.
Northern Canada contains untold natural resources, including oil, gas, uranium, diamonds and gold. Yet two of the territories (Nunavut and the Northwest Territories) cannot collect royalties on these resources; instead, all monies go directly to the federal government. The same is true of the over-flight fees charged to the international airlines that send hundreds of planes over the North each day. Yet the federal government claims that there is a net transfer of finances from Ottawa to Nunavut and the NWT. It is time to admit the inaccuracy of that claim. It is time to fix this real fiscal imbalance. The natural resources of the North belong, first and foremost, to the people who live there.
Climate change is destroying Northern Canada as we know it. It's melting the permafrost, undermining buildings, roads and pipelines. It's causing the sea-ice to shrink and thin, putting Inuit hunters at risk and interrupting their traditional way of life. It's putting enormous stress on animals and fish, causing the populations of indigenous species to decline while bringing new, potentially destructive species into the Arctic. It's attracting more shipping, thus increasing the risk of oil spills. Slowing and then stopping climate change as quickly as possible should be an imperative for any Canadian government. Climate change policy is Northern policy, and we have no time to waste.
It is also important that the Canadian government increase the amount of land and water protected from environmental degradation by being given the status of national parks. As a beginning, we recommend that you take immediate steps to expand the size of Nahanni National Park, as well create a new national marine conservation area reserve for Lancaster Sound (and to seek World Heritage Site designation for it).
To truly protect our sovereignty, we must ensure that the people of Canada's North have economic and social security. We ask that you take time to look at the impact your cuts to adult literacy have had on the people in the North. We ask that you take time to see first hand the diabetes and tuberculosis epidemics, as well as the severe shortage of adequate and affordable housing. We ask that you examine the exceptionally high suicide rates.
For too long, Northern policy has been made up on the fly and has had more to do with partisan positioning in the south than about nation-building. It's time for Parliament to be engaged in the development of a comprehensive Northern agenda that sees Canada get forthright in protecting our sovereignty -- not one that focuses solely on the military, as your government has done to date, but one that tackles the social, economic and environmental challenges as well.
Sincerely,
Hon. Jack Layton, P.C.
Member of Parliament, Toronto Danforth
Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada
643C Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, K1A 0A6
# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 5:54 PM 
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