Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 31 ARCTIC with heavy ice or permafrost, or the lack of basic infrastructure for communications, power or shelter that we take for granted in the South. Vast: Canada's North is large– as large in fact as all of western Europe, and just as diverse. We should no more expect that the characteristics or the needs of one region of Canada's Arctic is the same as another, than we should expect the geog- raphy or needs of Portugal to be the same as that of Finland. Last, but certainly not least, Canada's North is Populated. While that statement sounds obvious, it is all too often over- looked by southern business people look- ing North. Many of those people are Indig- enous, with whom Canada has negotiated and signed a Land Claims Agreement giv- ing the people exclusive rights over the land and what happens on it. And the cultural differences between Canadian Northern- ers and Southerners is much greater than between Canadian Easterners and Western- ers, in large part because the culture and society of Northern aboriginals is so young. It is only since the 1960s that Federal laws brought people in off the land and into new communities built around schools. As a re- sult, we have a very young society less than three generations old, still at a very early stage of building many of the capacities we take for granted in the South. While much of what I've just said is fairly constant, there is a lot about the North that is changing, and changing quickly. Climate change is having a profound ef- fect, with rates of change over twice that which we are experiencing in the South. That opens up new marine transportation possibilities, while closing down some land routes like ice roads and railways. Global- ization is also having an impact, and a larg- er potential impact, with other countries looking to Canada's Arctic for new shorter trade routes and for new sources and ex- port markets for natural resources. And the geopolitical threat picture is unstable at best, with Russia investing heavily in new weaponry and Arctic infrastructure, and NATO straining under current politi- cal tensions. Q Prime Minister Harper seemed to be a big proponent for Arctic defence procurement. What's the current status? Yes, Prime Minister Harper was a strong champion for Arctic Defence. Aside from publishing his Northern Strategy, he is remembered for his annual August Arctic tours, carefully planned around military ex- ercises, scenic backdrops, and spending an- nouncements. In August of 2008, he said, "To develop the North, we must know the North; to protect the North, we must con- trol the North." That really provided a framework for all of his Northern defence initiatives, includ- ing the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, the Northern Watch Technology Dem- onstration Project, Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship, the Nanisivik deep water port, the Arctic Training Facility (Land) at Resolute, a polar class icebreaker, and others. While there have been successes, history has not always been kind to these projects– largely, I would argue, due to failures to deal with one or more of the RSVP aspects, either in procurement or in execution. Q Where are we now under the current Government? The Liberal government, under Prime Min- ister Justin Trudeau, has taken a different tack, beginning in December 2016, when he announced he was tearing up the North- ern Strategy and replacing it with a new Canadian Arctic Policy framework, to be co- developed in collaboration with Indigenous, territorial and provincial partners. Simply put, whereas Harper's Arctic was all about the land, Trudeau's Arctic is all about the people. This means a much greater focus on in- dividual and community capacity building, including health care, housing, education, energy, and other social infrastructure needs. While at first glance, that switch in focus suggests a reallocation of funds from mili- tary hardware to social infrastructure, it is simply not the case. The defence needs of the Arctic have not gone away; indeed they have become more pressing for the "changing Arctic" reasons I touched on above. However, what has changed is the need to truly take into account the "P" of RSVP when planning for, bidding or executing those systems. Just as we have become used to dealing with the Industri- al Technology Benefit aspects of defence procurements in the South, we must be mindful and become masters of building true Indigenous partnership and mean- ingful capacity building elements into our defence procurements of the North. Q How is that working? Can you give us some examples? Yes, I think it is working even though we are just starting out. It makes for a very exciting time to be working in the Arc- tic. I'll talk about a few examples that I'm working on. AOPS AOPS construction continues in Halifax where the first ship will be launched later this year. And while there's little doubt it will be an impressive and capable ship, it still doesn't have a clear and pressing Arctic mission, at least in terms of capacity build- ing aspects I've just described. With that in mind, the Navy is currently on an outreach mission, led by Commander Dan Manu- Popa and supported by Honorary Captain (Naval) Tom Paddon to engage with the Inuit and identify opportunities. Artist's impression of the Harry Dewolf-Class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel.

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