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Transcript

NEWS CONFERENCE/CONFÉRENCE DE PRESSE

Transcription prepared by Media Q Inc. exclusively for INAC
Transcription préparée par Media Q Inc. exclusivement pour AINC

DATE/DATE:
Sunday, July 26, 2009; 1:00 p.m. EDT

LOCATION/ENDROIT:
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Riverview Salon, Gatineau, QC

PRINCIPAL(S)/PRINCIPAUX:
Honourable Chuck Strahl Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State, Science and Technology

SUBJECT/SUJET:
Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, together with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon and Minister of State (Science and Technology) Gary Goodyear, make an important announcement regarding the federal government's commitment to Canada's North.

Minister Gary Goodyear:  
Good morning everybody. If you could – if you wanted to take some seats, there’s a few more up here. We’re going to begin momentarily, if not right away.

Let me just welcome everybody here. Good afternoon, I’m Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, and I’m very delighted to be here with you today and my colleagues. Let me begin again by thanking everyone for attending this very important announcement.

I would like to acknowledge a special welcome to Senator St. Germain , who is here. I understand that Rhoda Innuksuk from the Inuit Women of Canada is here as well. Let me welcome also to the chiefs and representatives from the territorial governments, national aboriginal organizations, industry, the academic and scientific community, and of course the Arctic Council. Thank you all for coming out today.

Today, I am joined by the Hon. Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the Hon. Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

As today’s announcement will show, this government is making significant strides in ensuring that the North achieves its full potential, a commitment that our Conservative government has shown from the very beginning in our early days as government. Ladies and gentlemen, as you and I both know Minister Strahl ’s enthusiasm, energy and commitment to making a difference and improving the lives of aboriginal people and Northerners will help ensure that we continue to build on the momentum that we have begun and to move forward. So without further ado, let me invite Minister Strahl to the podium to expand on that. Thank you. Minister Strahl.

Minister Chuck Strahl:
Well. Thank you very much, Gary. And it is a delight to be here with all the people that you mentioned. Thank you all for being here. This is an important announcement for us. A lot of work has gone into this, and I will go through some of the people that we would like to thank for that as we go through. I would also mention that Senator Lang is here as well. It’s good to see you here, Senator, and others here from the North understanding the importance of this document.

Je suis très heureux d’être ici aujourd’hui and although I’m always delighted to be here to talk about the North, I’m delighted that I just came back from the North, and had a great tour up at Fort Simpson at the new Nahanni Park site and so on. We sent Senator Prentice down the river. I’m not sure if he ever came back, but it was a great, great occasion and will talk about that some more as well.

This is of great importance to me, to this Conservative government, and to all Canadians, this announcement. Canada is a Northern nation, an Arctic nation. The North is a fundamental part of our Canadian heritage and our sense of who we are. It is the homeland of Inuit and other aboriginal peoples, as well as generations of non‑aboriginal Northerners. My colleagues and I recognize the tremendous opportunities, and the challenges that are present in the North today. Now more than ever , we see the potential of the North, it’s natural resources, and its northern institutions and governments including aboriginal governments. Together they are evolving to shape the future of this great region and that of Canada as a whole, and together we are seizing the opportunities that the North presents.

It is a time of significant change in the North. The Arctic region’s focus of increasing domestic and international interest, and it must contend with change of another kind as well. It is now common knowledge that the North is experiencing, Perhaps more than any other region in Canada, the impacts of climate change. Taken together, the growing interests, challenges and opportunities facing the North demand that we take action for change. Our government has heard this call. We have put the North higher on the agenda than any other government in many decades. We have a clear vision for Canada’s future, and we are working to ensure that it achieves its true promise as a healthy, prosperous region within a strong and sovereign nation. This is not an exercise in promise making, we are moving forward with our commitments and ensuring the ongoing results are benefiting Northerners and all Canadians.

As part of this vision. I am pleased today to release Canada’s northern strategy, ‘Our North, Our Heritage, Our Future’. This document and the corresponding website, which I urge you to visit at northernstrategy.gc.ca, builds on the four priorities of our government’s integrated northern strategy, namely exercising our Arctic sovereignty, promoting social and economic development, protecting the North ’s environmental heritage, and improving and devolving Northern governance.

This document further articulates our vision for the North and highlights the extensive and growing progress to date including major investments under Canada’s Economic Action Plan. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper nous prenons des mesures concrètes pour mat érialiser notre vision pour le nord et remplir nos promesses.

We are moving ahead, and I’d like to just take a moment to note a few instances of the  progress that we have made. We are addressing the need for housing, healthcare, skills development, and other services. Through the Northern Housing Trust, we have assisted the construction of hundreds of new housing units across the North easing overcrowding and helping to lay the foundation for social economic development. We will continue to work with Northerners to build sustainable communities, developing the resources and tools that Northerners need to play an even greater role in the Canadian economy.

We are taking action to protect important environmentally sensitive lands and waters in our North such as I mentioned, the Nahanni  National Park, and as I mentioned a minute ago, what a trip that was that we made a week or so ago, a couple of weeks ago with Minister Prentice. He did the river raft journey down the Nahanni. I was quite jealous of him, but I got to do a bit of a helicopter tour celebrating the expansion of the park, a truly magnificent part of the country and a world heritage site, now some 30,000 kmÿ. Really an excellent example of our commitment to the environment and of the economic potential of the North. But at the same time I was there I was able to tour the Prairie Creek site to look at some of the potential, the mining potential there as well. And through the North, across the North we are seeing exciting both environmental opportunities, if you will, environmental protection, doing it right, and also economic potential right across the entire North.

To help make that happen, we are creating a new economic development agency for the North, shaped by Northern realities and poised to respond to Northern interests. We are supporting important, new geo‑mapping initiatives to build our understanding of the North’s mineral and petroleum potential, and were working to improve regulatory processes across the North. This will build investor confidence in the North increase economic opportunities for Northerners and all Canadians. We will be building a world‑class research station in the high Arctic which will place Canada on the cutting edge of Arctic research to ensure Canadian scientists have modern research facilities. To conduct their world‑class and world leading work, we have invested in the upgrading of our existing network of Arctic research facilities as well. And I would just say, and I know minister Goodyear will comment on this further, almost everything we do in the North whether it is economic development sovereignty issues, geo‑mapping, protecting environmentally sensitive areas, all of it is based on sound science and an increasing investment in science whether it is the International Polar Year of Work and other things that were doing in the North.

We are also supporting important research projects like the Inuit Health Survey. We are establishing a deep‑water birthing and fuelling facility in Nanisivik and building a new polar icebreaker that will be named in honour of the late Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker. This vessel will be the largest and most powerful icebreaker ever in the Canadian Coast Guard fleet. We are continuing to work with Northerners to advance the political development of territorial and aboriginal governments. The protocol on devolution in Nunavut reached jointly with the government in Nunavut and Nunavut NTI last fall, set out a path for future negotiations and is an important step for the transfer of federal authorities to the North. And as always, we are building our international partnerships and my colleague Minister Cannon will speak more to our efforts to exercise Canadian sovereignty, again across the North.

Mesdames et messieurs, le nord est notre héritage et notre avenir. It holds the key not only to our economic prosperity, but also to our environmentally sustained future for our nation. The Harper government knows this. We have pledged to Northerners to work with them to realize this potential, and we are carrying out that pledge. With the Integrated Northern Strategy as a guide we will continue to deliver on the commitments we have made to Northerners for the benefit of all Canadians. Thank you, et merci beaucoup.

Minister Gary Goodyear:
Thank you Minister Strahl, as you can see a deep, deep dedication to the benefits of the North for all Canadians. We certainly appreciate that.

As well, ladies and gentlemen, we have today with us Minister Cannon. Minister Cannon also demonstrates a strong commitment to Arctic issues and is committed to ensuring that the international spotlight stays firmly focussed on the challenges and the opportunities facing the Arctic. So if I could just invite Minister Cannon to the podium to speak a little bit about that as well. Minister Cannon.

Minister Lawrence Cannon:
Thank you Minister Goodyear and colleague Minister Strahl as well as Senator Lang. It’s nice to see you here.

Alors, chers amis, comme vient de le mentionner le Ministre Strahl, notre gouvernement a fait de l’Arctique une priorité , une priorité absolue. Une priorité que nous croyons que les Canadiens partages. Le Canada est une nation et une puissance de l’Arctique. En tant que Ministre des Affaires étrangères, je rencontre régulièrement mes homologues du Conseil de l’Arctique. Lors de nos discussions, j’ai l’occasion de réitéré l’importance du Nord pour les Canadiens. Le Nord fait partie intégrante de notre identité nationale tout comme de notre passé et de notre présent. Il est aussi d’une importance capitale pour les générations à venir. D’ailleurs, comme vous le savez aujourd’hui, le gouvernement demande à l’Union européenne de reconsidérer sont interdiction concernant le commerce des produits dérivés du phoque.

Together colleagues, the Arctic and the North make up more than 40% of our land mass and are home to more than 100,000 Canadians, many of them Inuit and First Nation members whose ancestors have inhabited the region for millennia. Our Arctic Foreign Policy supports this strategy which has just been elaborated by my colleague, Minister Strahl, and demonstrates our leadership and stewardship in the region. But policy is only as good as the actions it inspires. Northerners are at the heart of our strategy for the Arctic. The overriding objective is to ensure economic and social development that benefits all inhabitants particularly indigenous people as Minister Strahl has just stated. 

Now for this reason, Canada has played a leading role at the Arctic Council which is the main international forum for discussing circumpolar issues. Along with our partners, we have produced the Arctic Council’s Arctic Human Development Report, the Oil and Gas Assessment, and the recently released Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment. Now all of these elements, we will work closely with our partners with on our future works dealing with arctic bio‑diversity as well as search and rescue issues. Now work in these areas helps foster healthy safe and prosperous communities in the North.

Internationally, we work through our Arctic embassies and state partners to identify new economic opportunities for Canadian companies, including possibilities for foreign investment. Now our ultimate goal is to ensure that economic spinoffs benefit Northerners first, contributing to vibrant sustainable communities. I repeat, our ultimate goal is to ensure that economic spinoffs benefit Northerners first.

Dans le Nord, mes chers collègues, le changement climatique ou les changements climatiques, la fonte des glaces et les nivaux de contamination résulte à des milliers de kilomètre, ou enfin sont le résultat de défaits produit à des milliers de kilomètres de la région, et ont, substantiellement des effets disproportionnés sur son environnement. Le Canada est depuis longtemps un pionnier de mesures à protéger, visant à protéger l’Arctique, et en fait, ces dernières années, notre gouvernement a fait des pas de géant pour préserver non seulement l’environnement de l’arctique, mais aussi, ses collectivités, ses eco‑systèmes. En 2007, le gouvernement a annoncé un engagement de 60$ millions sur 5 ans dans le cadre de l’initiative santé des océans afin de protéger les voies navigables canadiennes contre la pollution par les navires. Nous avons appliqué la réglementation et amélioré la capacité de surveillance. Nous soutenons aussi les recherches sur la prévention de la pollution.

Le Canada joue aussi un rôle de directeur, un rôle directeur, plutôt, dans l’élaboration des lignes directrices relatives à la navigation maritime dans l’Arctique par le billet de l’organisation maritime internationale car il se veut, il veut, plutôt, s’assurer que des règles soient adoptées pour protéger ses propres intérêts.  En 2007 toujours, notre gouvernement a annoncé un nouveau règlement sur la prétention de la pollution par les navires et sur les produits chimiques dangereux. La réglementation fait en sorte qu’il est illégal de rejeter délibérément, négligemment, ou accidentellement des polluants dans le milieu marin. Nous avons également mis à jour la loi sur la prévention de la pollution des eaux qui datais de 1970 afin de protéger l’environnement marin. Ce sont là des mesures concrètes que le Canada fait valoir lorsqu’il travaille avec ces institutions multilatérales pour régler les problèmes environnementaux aigus.

Canada’s sovereignty over the Arctic lands and waters is a long standing, well established and based on historical title. We exercise their sovereignty through our governance and stewardship of the Canadian Arctic. Now this is reinforced by the operations of the Canadian forces and the activities of the Canadian Coast Guard. We have committed new resources to protect and patrol the land, the sea, and sky. All of these resources help to reinforce our presence in the region and ensure that we can respond immediately to emergencies. At every opportunity in my discussions with foreign ministers, I have, and will continue, to have frank discussions that include reiterating, my friends, our country’s willingness and continued engagement to reaffirm our sovereignty. 

An essential component to the Arctic is our ongoing program to delineate the outer limits of Canada’s continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles. Now this will determine where Canada can exercise its sovereignty rights over its extended continental shelf. Now we are working with our Arctic neighbours, of the United States, Denmark, Russia to ensure international recognition for the maximum extent of Canada’s continental shelf in accordance with the United Nations’ convention on the Law of the Sea. Now Canada’s Arctic foreign policy also supports governance in the North insuring that Northerners have a say in decisions that affect them. Last April, I was particularly pleased to be accompanied by the territorial ministers in joining aboriginal permanent participant leaders at the table for the Sixth Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Norway. Now we value the role played by the leaders of the indigenous groups and Northerners in international talks on stewardship, and we will continue to provide opportunities for engagement through groups such as the Canadian Arctic Council Advisory Committee.

Increasing the activity in the Arctic has shown the need for international cooperation among Arctic players. A key element of Canada’s Arctic foreign policy is to foster an international environment that will allow us to advance our northern strategy. Canada has led the way through bilateral engagements with our Arctic neighbours and other countries with an interest in the region engagement in various multi‑lateral institutions to reach common agreement on Arctic stewardship and a leadership role in the Arctic Council.

We have achieved significant consensus through cooperation on credible science‑based projects. These have resulted in important findings and policy options for the region, but there is still much work to be done. Canada believes that a better understanding of reality is– of the realities of the Arctic, including the culture and practices of Northerners must be at the heart of policies that affect it. This requires a wide range of creative solutions on the national and international levels. Solutions that balance conservation, sustainable use and economic development. The Government of Canada is committed to finding these solutions and ensuring the international spotlight remains focussed on the opportunities and the potential for the Arctic. Thank you, merci.

Minister Gary Goodyear:
Thank you very much Minister Cannon. As you can see there is a lot that we can get done when we work together in a whole‑of‑government fashion for the North. And as Minister of State for Science and Technology, I know, as you do that sound science and technology is vital to our northern strategy. In fact it is truly underpinning all of its priorities. That’s why we’ve been taking tangible steps to ensure Canada takes its place as a world leader in Arctic science and technology. In a recent read years, the Conservative government has invested in science, technology, and research to help stimulate our economy, generating new jobs today and for the future as well as improving and ensuring a better quality of life for Northerners and for all Canadians. Through our recent Economic Action Plan Budget 2009, the Harper government invested $85 million to upgrade key Arctic research facilities all across the three territories and in some of our key provinces. And as my colleagues have already mentioned, we are building a new world‑class research station in the Arctic. We are just about narrowing the location to three, I feasibility study is well underway to ensure this happens very shortly. We have also moved very aggressively to build new research expertise and capacity in polar research. International Polar Year engaged and inspired an emerging generation of research scientists who are passionate about understanding the North, many of whom called the North their home.

Recently I had the pleasure of working with Senator Lang through our KIP program knowledge infrastructure where millions of dollars have been brought to colleges throughout the North to improve their research capacity as well as create the next generation of research scientists. The knowledge that we gain as a nation and as a world through world‑class scientific research, will help us improve the health and well‑being of Northerners, develop better resources and resource sustainability, and safeguard sensitive eco‑systems for generations to come.

Thank you all for being here for the release of this very important document and website. This articulation of our northern strategy is an opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, for all Canadians to learn and to know what this government’s ambitious vision is for the North, and to share our excitement as a government as we continue to move forward. As you can see, this is more than just an articulation of a great vision. This is a government confirmation of action.

I would like now to invite my colleagues to just step down carefully, so you don’t trip and fall and were going to gather at the front of the podium here to take questions from the media. If I could ask Nina Chiarelli to organize questions if you will.

Thank you all for joining us. This ends the formal aspect of this announcement. Thank you again. Ministers, thank you