CHAIRMAN'S FOREWORD
"Combine the unknown with the variables and the imponderables and you have it - the Canadian Arctic." [Traditional]Canada's Arctic region is of immense importance to our country, yet our awareness of this vast territory that Queen Elizabeth I referred to as Meta Incognita (beyond the unknown things), remains at a dangerously low level if we are to address its problems and realize its potential. It is the fervent hope of the Members of our Committee that this Report, unanimously supported by all our Members, may help to change this dynamic and heighten concerns for our Arctic and its future, not only among parliamentarians and officials, but all Canadians.
Many of the issues discussed in this Report, whether the concerns of the indigenous peoples of the region, or the environment, or its economic potential, have been examined before. Often, however, they have been addressed largely from a domestic perspective. We commenced this extensive review because we believed that changes in technology, communications and geopolitical factors of the past few years required a fresh look from the foreign policy perspective. For, as we found in our Foreign Policy Review, any solution to problems in the area must contain an examination of the foreign policy dimension if they are to be understood and addressed in a coherent and effective manner .
Nothing illustrates more dramatically the link between domestic and foreign factors than the state of the Arctic environment. That environment, so special and so fragile, is particularly sensitive to foreign influences. To name a few examples: pollutants borne by ocean currents such as pesticides from as far away as South America are endangering local food chains; pollutants that are borne by air currents from Europe and all corners of the globe threaten the flora and fauna of the region; the potential for a nuclear catastrophe of unimaginable proportions sits in neighbouring Russia. These environmental issues alone require a new look at how, through our foreign policy, we can protect our interests. And when we add to them the need for a fresh look at the way prosperity in the region may be increased by freer trade in Arctic products and increased communication links among Arctic neighbours, or how the lives of indigenous peoples may be enhanced by developing international interchanges, we realize the dimension of the task that faces us in our foreign policy if we are to ensure a sustainable future for this important region.
The formation of the Arctic Council last year provided an ideal focal point to encourage this study. We believe that this is an institution which deserves the serious attention of Canadians. It has great potential to serve as a forum where we can devise policies and ensure collaboration among the various Arctic states without which no effective solution to the issues canvassed in this Report may be found. To the work of the Arctic Council we also add the potential for increased understanding that will follow from our participation in the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region; and for that reason we suggest that a member of this Committee should sit on that body to tie Arctic preoccupations to our other foreign policy objectives.
This Report contains forty-nine recommendations. If this seems at first like an ambitious number, I think the reader will agree that they all represent essential conclusions that flow logically from our studies. While those which deal with the concerns of the aboriginal peoples of the North are probably of the greatest significance, the implementation of any one of them would be useful in advancing our northern policy objectives. They do, of course, have resource allocation implications for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and other departments as well. The Committee is anxious that the departments, and the Government as a whole understand that there is all-party parliamentary support to move from talk of Canadian priorities in the Arctic to action.
In the course of preparing this Report the Committee had to undertake extensive travel. In order to reduce expense and employ our time effectively we split into two groups, both for travel within Canada and to meet with our Arctic Council partners. Travel throughout our Arctic region was essential to our understanding of the issues. Hearing directly from our Arctic residents will, we believe, ensure that this Report truly reflects their concerns and their determination to play a part in decisions affecting their lives. This Report is, as a result, not one more case of policies framed in a southern metropolis designed to dominate a northern "hinterland."
Similarly, our travel to Europe was enriching for it enabled us to hear first hand our Arctic neighbours' preoccupations and perceptions. It also enabled the Committee to discuss additional concerns such as NATO enlargement, the consequences of European integration, and further issues of common interest with parliamentarians and others, such that the Committee's overall work has been better informed.
The research, travel and preparation of this Report have required a great deal of the Members' time and attention in a year where we have also considered a review of the Special Import Measures Act, prepared a report on the exploitation of child labour, dealt with legislation implementing the Canada-Israel and Canada-Chile free trade agreements as well as examined the future of NATO, the issue of the treatment of our Hong Kong veterans, the deployment of our troops abroad, the issue of the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and other daily tasks of the Committee. The hard work of the Members, ably assisted by our researchers, has enabled the preparation of a Report which is comprehensive and thorough. I am proud to say that this is the second report of this Committee in this parliamentary session which has the unanimous support of the Members; proof I believe, of the ability of all parties in the House to work collaboratively together and accommodate one anothers' views when it is in the interest of all Canadians.
Thanks are due to many people responsible for such an extensive undertaking. Firstly are the many witnesses that took the time to share their valuable experience with us. Canadians from many backgrounds gave much thought and energy to their presentations. And, in our foreign travels, high officials to simple citizens willingly took time from their concerns to share their views with us and often provided us with warm hospitality. To all these, and to the Ambassadors of our Arctic neighbours and their governments we are most grateful. The extent of our consultations and a list of those we met with is set out at the end of the Report.
During the writing of the Report we were saddened to learn of the death of Professor David Cox of Queen's University and extend our sympathy to his family and friends.
Not all our plans could be realized. We learned at first hand the imperatives imposed by Arctic weather whose conditions prevented our visiting Murmansk in Russia and made it impossible for our plane to land at Cambridge Bay. Our disappointment was great at missing the program and traditional supper prepared for us by the people of Cambridge Bay; many of us hope to have a chance to return.
Our thanks in particular go to Natasha Cayer at the Department for her extensive work in assisting our foreign travels; to Diane Lefebvre, Administrative Support Officer and Manon Auger, Administrative Assistant to the Committee, who provided tremendous administrative support throughout the study; to Christine Fisher, who ably supplemented Janice Hilchie as Clerk when we were travelling; to all our hard working editors, especially June Murray from the Library of Parliament who helped edit the English version and Verena Ossent, editor of the French version, who worked so hard with encouragement of our francophone Committee Members to ensure that it truly reflects the great capacities of the French language. To these thanks must be added those to the staff of the Publications Service of the House of Commons, and particularly their Coordinator Charline Madore, and to our many translators and interpreters who often work under difficult conditions, particularly when we travel.
The quality of the writing of this Report, and the inspiration which enabled the members to concentrate in and arrive at its conclusions are to a large extent the result of the dedicated and highly professional work of our researchers: Gerald Schmitz and James Lee of the Library of Parliament Research Branch. To them we are greatly indebted.
Finally I would like to extend on behalf of all Committee members, my warmest thanks to our Clerk, Janice Hilchie, whose professionalism, dedication to her work and even humour ensured that the preparation of this Report, as in the case of all of the Committee's work, proceeded smoothly and efficiently.
I must also warmly thank the members who spent so many long and intense hours on this matter while dealing with so many conflicting pressures on their time and resources. It is almost a year today that we commenced this work. Our fervent hope is that it will make a lasting contribution to a greater understanding of the issues of the Arctic and enhance Canada's determination to address the increasingly important foreign policy implications of our presence there.
Ottawa, April 22, 1997