Arctic borders need tighter control, former commander says

OTTAWA — Global warming could expose the Northwest Passage to illegal activities, according to the former head of the armed forces in northern Canada.

“Are we doing enough to protect the Arctic? In my opinion, we aren’t,” said retired Col. Pierre Leblanc.

Leblanc said an ice-free Northwest Passage could lead to illegal immigrants showing up in barges on Nunavut’s coast, or criminals running drugs and stolen diamonds through the Arctic Islands.

But, even now, the Arctic waters aren’t totally secure.

A few years ago, a Chinese research vessel, the Xue Long, arrived unannounced in Tuktoyaktuk. Much to the surprise of residents, a cruise ship pulled up last summer in Resolute.

Smaller craft, such as sailboats from abroad have also sailed in unannounced to Nunavut communities.

That was the message Leblanc brought last week to a conference on climate change, sovereignty and security in the Canadian Arctic, organized by the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, and the Canadian Polar Commission.

Until recently, Leblanc was the commander of the Canadian Forces Northern Area headquarters in Yellowknife.

“It’s only a matter of time before organized crime starts to use the Arctic as a back-door into Canada,” Leblanc said.

Leblanc, now a vice-president at Diavik Diamond Mines, said criminals will be drawn to the North by the sparkle of diamonds — a business worth almost $1 billion a year.

Security is also at risk in the Canadian Arctic’s skies, Leblanc said. In 1993, an aircraft purchased by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda made a stopover in Iqaluit en route to the Middle East. The information came to light in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 aerial terrorist attacks on the United States.

Leblanc said the current policy of not doing security checks on internal flights within the Arctic is shortsighted, because a person armed with a weapon could hijack a fully loaded jet travelling between Arctic communities.

Leblanc said the Navy and Army lack the capacity to perform monitoring and surveillance in the North, though the Air Force is better equipped to perform safety checks.

He said it’s essential to have an increased military presence, including a beefed-up military base at Resolute.

The North has a small number of immigration officers and no intelligence officers. There are only 40 regular armed forces personnel in Yellowknife, but their presence is more administrative than defensive.

They’re backed up by only four Twin Otters and a maximum of two Aurora fly-over flights a year.

While Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit have forward landing bases, Eureka and Alert on Ellesmere Island are equipped only for electronic surveillance and weather observation.

The current chief of staff at the Northern Forces headquarters in Yellowknife said there are no plans to add military equipment or manpower in the North.

“We’ll do what we have to do with what we have,” said Rory Kilburn.

Kilburn said the Arctic Security Intergovernmental Committee will continue to meet twice a year to discuss security issues.

More sovereignty exercises are also in the works, “to prove we can operate for a time in the North.”

Joint Canadian and German military exercises are going on now near Resolute. Canadian Rangers from Resolute, plus about 70 soldiers of the Lord Strathcona’s Horse regiment, an armoured tank regiment from Edmonton and 20 German soldiers, are training at a base camp outside the community.

A set of similar exercises is planned for Arctic Bay later this year.