Committee repeats demand for small craft harbours

Canada must build new icebreakers, enforce shipping regulations, induct more Inuit into the Coast Guard and build small craft harbours in Nunavut to strengthen its claim on the Arctic, a new Senate report says.

Those are among nine recommendations contained in an interim report from the Senate's standing committee on fisheries and oceans, released June 23.

Building harbours in six Nunavut communities would help grow the territory's small fishing industry and reduce the cost of moving goods in and out, said committee chair Bill Rompkey in an interview.

"Unless the Inuit and the people who live in the Arctic can carry on a satisfactory life and maintain a decent lifestyle, how can Canada claim sovereignty in the Arctic?" Rompkey asked. "Our first line of defense in sovereignty is the people who live there and have lived there for thousands of years."

A 2005 report published by Nunavut's Department of Economic Development and Transportation called for small craft harbours to be built in Pangnirtung, Clyde River, Qikiqtarjuaq, Pond Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet, Repulse Bay and Kugaaruk.

Ottawa announced in March that Pangnirtung will be home to an $8 million small craft harbour funded by the federal government, but had nothing for the other six communities mentioned in the harbours report.

Iqaluit, which has lobbied for years for a deep-water port, was also left out.

The senate committee's recommendations came as welcome news to Patterk Netser, the economic development minister.

"We welcome any support we can get from the federal level," Netser said from his home in Coral Harbour.

"We got [a harbour] for one out of the seven communities and we believe that's a start. We're happy for Pangnirtung, but there are other communities that need the small craft harbour program very badly."

Rompkey said the findings, which are drawn from hearings in Ottawa that took place between February and May, and don't include information from May hearings in Nunavut, suggest that Ottawa should build six heavy icebreakers for the Coast Guard as soon as possible.

That would give Canada a year-round presence and the ability to keep out suspicious ship traffic.

The Coast Guard has expertise drawn from years of operating in the Arctic and Canada shouldn't seek to scare off legitimate shipping by using the Navy, Rompkey said.

"I don't think we need to say to other countries "we've got the Navy up there,'" he said.

The report also urges the government to try to get more Inuit working in the Coast Guard to provide the service with traditional and local knowledge.

Rompkey also said the government should make NORDREG, the Northern marine traffic system, which keeps watch on ships travelling north of 60 and provides them with ice and navigation information, mandatory.

Similar systems are mandatory on Canada's Atlantic and Pacific coasts, Rompkey said, and requires ships to give the Coast Guard four days' advance notice of their arrival in Canadian waters.

A final version of the committee's report, including information gathered during hearings in Iqaluit and Pangnirtung, is due in the fall, Rompkey said.