QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of National Defence
Search and Rescue Capability
November 1, 2023
Hello, minister. Thank you for being here this afternoon. Thank you for your comments on morale and recruitment and culture. My question today stems from a report on Arctic sovereignty and security made earlier this year by the Standing Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs. It recommended that, by March 31, 2024, the government establish a permanent Arctic search and rescue round table comprised of representatives of the federal, territorial and Indigenous governments, as well as community-based organizations and government entities involved in search and rescue — including our Canadian Rangers.
My question is this: Is the government undertaking such a project? If not, what steps are you taking to ensure better search and rescue capabilities in the Arctic?
Thank you, senator. I’m aware under legislation that I am the government official responsible for search and rescue in Canada. It was also my responsibility in my previous capacities as the former Minister of Public Safety and the former Minister of Emergency Preparedness. I understand the enormous challenges that we face with respect to search and rescue, particularly in the Arctic and other remote regions of this country.
Having said that, I apologize, senator, as I’m not familiar with the report that you prepared. I’ll make myself familiar with it because I have been working closely with both territorial and provincial partners, and also First Nations and Indigenous partners across the country, talking about how we can improve the system.
I am absolutely committed to taking as much of the “search” out of “search and rescue” as possible. There are technologies that we can utilize to do so.
I also met with the Russell family in Newfoundland. They lost their son in a terrible marine tragedy there.
We’re looking at ways to invest more appropriately in remote regions of the country and use certain technologies to improve our success rate. I’ve been meeting with search and rescue people from across this country. There’s a real opportunity for us to do better. I look forward to reading your report and learning from the advice provided.
Thank you. We’re hopeful that report will be reviewed and will provide a good template.
One recommendation was that the government use new or existing institutionalized mechanisms to partner with Indigenous peoples in the Arctic — and to obtain their views about security and defence in the region — and that these partnerships should be undertaken in accordance with the Indigenous rights outlined in modern treaties. What steps has the government taken to include Indigenous peoples in recently announced plans for defence infrastructure in the Arctic?
Thank you, senator. I would point to some work that we did earlier this week, meeting with the Inuit Circumpolar Council, or ICC. We engaged quite directly with senior representatives from all the Inuit governments across the Arctic region. We focused on the investments that we’re making there. We’ve heard very clearly from them that they don’t necessarily want to deal with us one ministry at a time; they want to deal with the Crown. For that meeting, we had several ministers who are directly impacted by those investments and that discussion. We meet three times a year to advance the conversation, with consultation on how we can do that work right.
