Vanguard Magazine

Vanguard February/March 2021

Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR

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46 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 www.vanguardcanada.com Photo: The European Space Agency The LAST woRd multi-year ice plug blocked the Amundsen Gulf and prevented the annual sealift from reaching several communities. Less than 15 per cent of the Arctic Ar- chipelago is mapped to modern standards. There are no deep seaports in the Arctic Archipelago for ships to seek refuge or do repairs. Search and rescue assets are ex- tremely limited and can be literally days away in the case of ice breakers and sev- eral hours away for the search and rescue aircraft of the Canadian Forces which are based along the Canada-U.S. border. Sur- vival in frigid Arctic waters is counted in minutes without a proper survival suit. Much of the Arctic Archipelago is shal- low thus limiting access for larger vessels. Given all the above, the cost of insurance, if available will reflect the significant risks. Most of the commercial shipping world- wide involves just-in-time deliveries mak- ing it unlikely that container ships will use the Northwest Passage because of the un- certainty. The very large vessels also prefer straight lines and steady speed. The many islands in the Archipelago will require several turns. Communications in the Arctic are still limited and a crucial factor in case of emergency. The International Maritime Organization has recently adopted a Polar Code which recommends and imposes a multitude of standards to be met by ship- ping companies that wish to operate in the Arctic and Antarctic. This will invari- ably increase the cost of doing business there. Criminals, for their part, and other less responsible operators, would likely be discouraged given the increase of maritime domain awareness thanks to space-based surveillance assets such as the RADAR- SAT Constellation, the Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services Zone Regulations, which require ships to report before entry in the Archipelago, the Inuit Marine Mon- itoring Program and the imminent deploy- ment of the Arctic Offshore Patrol ships. There is increasing evidence that Arctic storms are getting stronger. They increase the risk for ships that run into problems because of a fire, loss of power or loss of steering capability. A 2019 example was a large cruise ship that lost power in a storm and was being pushed to shore in Norway. The Viking Sky, with some 1,300 people on board, started to evacuate passengers by he- licopter. Heavy seas and strong wind made the evacuation extremely difficult. The cruise ship lifeboats could not be used safe- ly. However, several helicopters managed to extract some 400 passengers by the time the crew managed to restart one engine and avoided running aground. A similar situa- tion in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago would likely turn into a disaster given the lack of nearby search and rescue assets. Foreign maritime forces are not likely to enter the Arctic Archipelago. Its shallow- ness makes it challenging for nuclear pow- ered submarines to operate there, given the varying thickness of the ice, the size of those ships and the distances needed for safety. If detected, they would not be able to dive deep below a thermal layer nor ma- noeuvre safely at speed. Surface warships tend to operate in numbers to be able to protect aircraft carriers also require space to manoeuvre. Lastly only a few naval ves- sels have double hulls or are built to oper- ate in ice infested waters. There will continue to be a need to closely monitor maritime activity in the Arctic Archipelago to make sure that all our regulations are abided with and our sovereignty respected. I am not concerned with professional corporations that will meet all the requirements and have the deep pockets to deal with incidents. My concern is more with irresponsible opera- tors who might ignore the standards and regulations aimed at protecting the Arc- tic. Should they not be able to remediate an environmental spill, we the taxpayers, would end up paying for it. The limited traffic at this time and in the future reduces the likelihood of an envi- ronmental incident of a sovereignty chal- lenge. It also provides more time for the Canadian authorities to develop properly mapped specific corridors which will re- duce the possibility of grounding, damag- ing important marine life zones, and en- dangering the Arctic communities. Over time, improvements by the International Maritime Organization to the Polar Code will further contribute to reduce risk. This article was originally published in The Hill Times on November 9, 2020 and reprinted here by permission. At 17, Pierre joined the Canadian Forces and attended the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean in 1967. Aer graduating, he joined the Royal 22e Régiment (In- fantry) and saw service in a number of countries including England, Germany (NATO), Cyprus (peace keeping), India and Nepal (Defence Adviser). He commanded 1 Commando and the Infantry School, and held senior staff appointments in the National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ). In 1995, he took command of Canadian Forces Northern Area (Yukon, Nuna- vut and Northwest Territories), where he served until his retirement in 2000. Pierre provides independent advice on Arctic security and sovereignty matters. He was the Commander of the now Joint Task Force North for five years. He spent more than nine years in the Arctic where he travelled extensively including Alaska and Greenland. He has been an advocate for improved security in the Arctic since 1998. Pierre has also provided several de- fence related companies with support in their pursuit of Arctic opportunities. He has published several articles on Arctic security and sovereignty. For more, visit www.arcticsecurity.ca.

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