Vanguard Magazine

54 APRIL/MAY 2019 www.vanguardcanada.com The lasT WOrd bears. This past summer, a sailboat sank in the Arctic near the Bellot Strait. Fortu- nately, the crew managed to transfer to a large ice floe and were later rescued. One of the problems adventurers create when they come unprepared is that they may trigger a distress signal that will di- vert a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker from their other duties. Apart from the significant cost to the Canadian tax payers to rescue a party that is there for pleasure, it may very well delay the annual resupply of an arctic community, putting it at risk and/or add significant cost to the com- panies like the Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping Inc. providing the resupply. The President and Chief Executive Officer, Suzanne Paquin, stated "A community resupply delay because an icebreaker has been diverted to a distress call could cost our company as much as tens of thou- sands of dollars a day." Several maritime companies have criticised the limited availability of icebreaker support this past shipping season, which experienced un- usual difficult ice conditions. In 2018, the cruise ship Akademik Iof- fe, operated by One Ocean Expeditions (OOE), grounded in the western Gulf of Boothia on 24 August. A Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker was dispatched to the scene as a precaution and remained on- site for three days. The cost to the tax payers was over $240,000 to support a tourist vessel that had sailed in uncharted waters. This was the third cruise ship to run aground in the Arctic after the Han- seatic in 1997 and the Clipper Adventurer in 2010. Fortunately, there was no loss of life and only minor environmental im- pacts. With increasing activity in poorly charted areas, our luck may soon runout. Given the challenging conditions of the Arctic and the tremendous cost of search and rescue operations, it might be time to consider requiring those who wish to enter the Arctic to post bonds that would be forfeited should they trigger a search and rescue operation. The main reasons would be to force them to be better prepared given the inherent risks of the environment, discourage the less profes- sional adventurers altogether, and recover a portion of the cost incurred by the Ca- nadian tax payers if a rescue is triggered. At the very least, Canada should consider a similar policy to what is in effect in Na- hanni National Park: "Individuals who, through court proceedings, are found to be negligent, may be held responsible for the full cost of search and rescue." To make matters worse, the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker fleet vessels are past their design life and require extensive refits and increased maintenance time, all of which reduces their availability. To the Canadian Government's credit, the recent acquisition of three surplus icebreakers from Shell has improved the availability of icebreakers, not only for Arctic opera- tions but also for icebreaking duties to maintain the Saint-Laurence seaway dur- ing the winter season. On 14 December 2018, it took delivery of CCGS Captain Molly Kool, the first of three newly re- fitted medium icebreakers from Chantier Davie Canada Inc. Apart from the CCG Diefenbaker, of which the service date is slipping to the right, there is not a pub- lic plan to replace the aging fleet, which averages 35 years of age. It could be that the Canadian Coast Guard is not funded properly to provide it with the resources necessary to perform their essential func- tions in the Arctic. It has also been suggested that it may be better to move it to Transport Canada. Another option would be to move it back to the Department of National Defence where it used to be. That addition would improve the percentage of resources allo- cated to the defence of Canada and move us closer to the 2 per cent of GDP pledge with the North Atlantic Treaty Organi- zation (NATO). The U.S. Coast Guard is part of their armed forces. Regardless of which department it should be with, there is an urgent need to fund the Ca- nadian Coast Guard adequately so that it has the necessary resources to provide essential services in the Canadian Arctic at a time when the maritime activity is increasing. In an exciting development for the peo- ple of the Canadian Arctic, the Canadian Coast Guard has recently created a new regional office called CCG Arctic Re- gion. Its headquarters is in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It is refreshing that now "Coast Guard arctic operational decisions will be made in the Arctic!" The Department of National Defence is about to deploy a new family of Arc- tic Offshore Patrol Ships that will have a limited capability to operate in ice of up to one meter. They will certainly add to the federal government assets in the Arc- tic, but those ships are not designed to break ice in support of maritime activity. That function has to be done by a prop- erly designed icebreaker. This article originally appeared in the March 4, 2019 edition of The Hill Times and reprinted here by permission. Colonel (Retired) Pierre Leblanc is a former Commander of the Canadian Forces in the Canadian Arctic. www.arcticsecurity.ca To the Canadian Government's credit, the recent acquisition of three surplus icebreakers from Shell has improved the availability of icebreakers, not only for Arctic operations but also for icebreaking duties to maintain the Saint-Laurence seaway during the winter season.

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