Science and Research Committee on May 30th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Good morning.

I'd like to call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 89 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research.

Before I begin, I'd like to ask all the members and other in-person participants to consult the cards on the tables for guidelines to prevent audio feedback incidents. This is very important to protect the hearing of our interpreters. We are to use only the black, approved earpiece. Keep your earpiece away from the microphones at all times. When you're not using it, please rest it on the stickers placed on the table.

Thank you very much for your co-operation.

The meeting is taking place in a hybrid format. We have several witnesses and members of the committee online.

For those participating virtually, I'd like to outline a few routine rules to follow.

You may speak in the official language of your choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of floor, English or French. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately and we will ensure interpretation is properly restored before resuming the proceedings.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. When you are not speaking, your mic should be on mute.

For members in the room, please raise your hand if you wish to speak. For members on Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can. We appreciate your understanding in this regard.

As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(i) and the motion adopted by the committee on Tuesday, January 31, 2023, the committee resumes its study of science and research in Canada's Arctic in relation to climate change.

It's now my pleasure to welcome, as individuals by video conference, Dr. Kirk Anderson, professor and UArctic chair for school effectiveness, Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of the Arctic; and Dr. Bing Chen, UArctic chair, professor and associate dean, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

We have Dr. Isla Myers-Smith, professor, University of British Columbia, appearing by video conference.

Also by video conference, from Université du Québec à Rimouski, we have Joël Bêty, professor and Canada research chair in northern biodiversity.

We will give you up to five minutes for opening remarks, after which we will proceed with rounds of questions.

Dr. Anderson and Dr. Chen, I invite you to make an opening statement of up to five minutes. You can divide the time however you like between you.

[Dr. Kirk Anderson, Professor and UArctic Chair for School Effectiveness, Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of the Arctic, As an Individual]

Thank you for your efforts as you lead our government in acting on this existential issue.

I am Kirk Anderson. I was a teacher and a principal for nearly 20 years; eight of these were in northern and coastal Labrador. I'm a former dean of education and a past president of the Canadian deans association in Canada. I'm currently a professor at Memorial University and the University of the Arctic chair for school effectiveness.

As dean, I led the development of a $5-million science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, grant, where we targeted development to enhance field-based skills for teachers. We also piloted a STEM Bachelor of Education focused on elementary teachers.

I also led the development and implementation of a community-based teacher education process called the Inuit-focused B.Ed., or the IBED. This was a partnership with the Government of Nunatsiavut. We worked diligently there to indigenize our approach to teaching. It also included Inuktitut language for the teacher candidates.

Based on that success, I worked to develop and conclude the first contract with the Nunavut Arctic College, where we collaborated to promote and serve the Nunavut teacher education program. This was part of our university's long-term agreement to work with the Nunavut Arctic College and its goal to become an Arctic university.

My key research areas are indigenous schools, teacher development in the north and school leadership. A key aspect of all my work is to empower people and communities, particularly in the north and in an indigenous context, by reshaping educational research and teaching.

Our schools are among the best in the world. We're particularly good at student achievements, asserting social justice and dealing with differences in socio-economic status. Related to this, while faculties of education are strong and we do develop good teachers, we are not so well connected with other academic interests or STEM-focused researchers. In response to this, many of my actions as an educational administrator and researcher are to build indigenous partnerships and reach out to other fields to make teacher development more interdisciplinary and find ways to connect our research efforts, particularly with the STEM areas.

For example, my action plan as a University of the Arctic chair is to create a truly community-based teacher education model for northern schools as well as create a northern and indigenous doctoral group focused on education and reflective of interdisciplinary fields while engaging communities. We must collaborate with the northern communities and other fields in order to empower them to control their destiny.

Thank you.

[Professor Bing Chen, UArctic Chair, Professor and Associate Dean, Memorial University of Newfoundland, As an Individual]

Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable committee members. Hello from the Arctic.

First, I want to express my huge gratitude to all of you for taking on this very important subject. I also want to apologize for not being there in person due to my travel to Bodø, Norway. Here, I'm attending the congress of the University of the Arctic, given my duties as an academic advisory board member and as a UArctic research chair.

My name is Bing Chen. I'm a professor, UArctic chair and associate dean of the faculty of engineering and applied science at Memorial University. I also served as a founding director of the northern region persistent organic pollution control laboratory, NRPOP. It's the first of its kind in the country. It's dedicated to oil spills and environmental pollution in cold regions and oceans.

I'm also the founding director of the PEOPLE network, which is a pan-Canadian and global network on persistent emerging and organic pollution in environments. As a world-leading consortium, we have over 300 professional members, including more than 200 researchers from over 40 research institutions and 50 partners from government, industry and communities, including indigenous groups in Canada and worldwide.

I'm an elected fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the incoming president of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.

My research targets two major environmental challenges, and they are intertwined.

The first is persistent and emerging contaminants—such as petroleum hydrocarbons, flame retardants, microplastics, and pharmaceutical and personal care products—that are toxic, carcinogenic, bioaccumulative and persistent in the environment, especially in cold regions like the Arctic. Importantly, most of them are not regulated.

The other major challenge is climate change, which it seems everyone knows. However, what most people don't know is that climate change makes pollution problems much more challenging. In the Canadian Arctic, we are facing increasing risks of oil spills and emerging pollution due to shrinking ice coverage and growing human activities under climate change. They are threatening our Arctic environments and their residents, especially including indigenous communities.

There are pressing needs for better knowledge, technology and policy to support sustainable development. Frankly, we are walking on thin ice. This is why I thank you very much for looking into this subject.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Thank you very much.

We'll now turn to Dr. Isla Myers-Smith for five minutes.

[Professor Isla Myers-Smith, Professor, University of British Columbia, As an Individual]

Thank you to the chair and to the members for the opportunity to speak about my research in the Canadian Arctic on climate change impacts.

I'm a Canada excellence research chair in global change ecology of northern ecosystems at the University of British Columbia. I've been working in the Arctic for two decades. Today I'd like to share some reflections on how Arctic research is changing and needs to shift in future as the inclusivity of research changes and climate change impacts accelerate.

I want to start by talking about how the north is experiencing accelerating change and what would have previously been considered extremes are now becoming the new normal.

For example, last summer, 2023, in the western Arctic, we experienced a heat wave in July. Temperatures were around five degrees warmer than the historic maximum temperatures on Qikiqtaruk—Herschel Island on the Yukon Arctic coast, where I work.

After this heat wave, we observed widespread permafrost disturbance, including the formation of 750 landslides, influencing about 1% of this island in just one year. This island has some of the most ice-rich permafrost in the Canadian Arctic and around the circumpolar Arctic, and it has always experienced permafrost disturbances and coastal erosion, but the rates and magnitudes of thaw are accelerating dramatically.

This past summer was also dominated by forest fires, leading to the evacuation of communities within the Northwest Territories. Our research program was threatened with being shut down due to forest fires and the evacuations happening to the south of us. For my research program, permafrost thaw, flooding and forest fires are making it increasingly difficult to study the impacts of climate change.

I collaborate with Inuvialuit and first nations communities, government agencies and different academic researchers to understand how vegetation change is influencing the Arctic, including increases in plants, more shrubs and earlier growing seasons, and how all of that is influencing habitats for wildlife and livelihoods for people.

One example of this collaboration is the porcupine caribou knowledge hub, funded by Canada's strategic science fund through a network now called Braiding Knowledges Canada.

There are five challenges that I would like to raise today.

The first is the importance of including Inuvialuit, Inuit and first nations in the research collaborations. To understand climate change impacts, research is required across different scales, from place-based research that informs local management and adaptation through to circumarctic research that informs earth system models. As the funding models shift, we need to consider all the different types of research and the different types of collaborations required for that next phase of Arctic research following indigenous and global research priorities.

Second, I want to talk about the increased costs of Arctic research and the importance of logistical support. My research program depends on logistical support through programs like the polar continental shelf program and the NSERC northern research supplements, and the logistical support provided by research stations and institutes. As we enhance our collaborations with indigenous partners, our research and logistical costs increase, thus additional funding is required. A lot of these programs aren't providing adequate funding to cover those logistical costs right now.

I also want to talk about the broad sharing of research findings while incorporating factors such as indigenous data sovereignty. As we form a better understanding of climate change impacts around the Arctic, a challenge for researchers is to get that information back to the people who need that information to make decisions. Often our research funding doesn't cover that full cycle of costs from the co-production of the research questions through to the communication of those findings to broad audiences and the archiving of data. That funding model needs to change.

I also want to touch on building research capacity within the Arctic and bringing people together. New tools such as drones are reshaping how we conduct Arctic research and monitoring. Indigenous guardian programs and different research teams are using the same tools and, by bringing researchers together, we can increase capacity within the north. An example of this is the Yukon drone workshop that we held in the second week of May of this year that brought first nations, government agencies and academic researchers together to share expertise.

The final point I want to make is about the influence of geopolitical events on increased international collaboration. Collaborative research within the Russian Arctic has stopped, and international research teams are pivoting their research programs often towards the Canadian Arctic. New funding opportunities, such as Canada joining the EU horizon program and the NordForsk program, will facilitate even more Arctic research within Canada, but this increased research activity is putting more pressure on indigenous communities. Many of these indigenous communities have capacity issues to engage with this increased research pressure.

Future funding programs should particularly consider how to alleviate the impacts on indigenous communities of the required increased research within the Canadian Arctic.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Thank you so much. I really appreciate that, Dr. Myers-Smith. That was under the wire.

We'll now turn to Dr. Joël Bêty, professor and research chair in northern biodiversity, for five minutes, please.

[Joël Bêty, Professor, Canada Research Chair in Northern Biodiversity, Université du Québec à Rimouski]

Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members.

Thank you for focusing on the impact of climate change in the Arctic and for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today.

My name is Joël Bêty. I'm a biologist and professor at the Université du Québec à Rimouski. I've been conducting research projects on Arctic terrestrial wildlife for 30 years in Nunavut. I co‑direct the activities of the Canada Research Chair in Northern Biodiversity. I'm the assistant director of the Centre for Northern Studies, which manages research infrastructure in the north and is a strategic inter‑university and multidisciplinary group.

The “Arctic Biodiversity Assessment” report clearly showed that climate change is the main threat to Arctic biodiversity and is exacerbating all other threats. This biodiversity is of considerable cultural, ecological and economic value to Canada. Biodiversity contributes to the food security and sovereignty of northern communities. Arctic biodiversity is also important for the rest of the world. The Canadian Arctic is connected to the rest of the planet, partly through the migratory movements of millions of animals that spend part of their lives in the Arctic.

Some Arctic species generate economic benefits estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars annually in southern Canada. Some migratory populations can also cause crop damage and substantial financial losses for North American farmers, partly through the spread of avian flu. As a result, research on Arctic biodiversity is generating knowledge relevant to Canada as a whole and to a number of other countries.

However, we need data from standardized and long‑term observations of Arctic biodiversity to detect changes and identify their causes, understand and predict the response of ecosystems to warming, propose adaptation strategies and identify new opportunities.

Long‑term observations in the Arctic help differentiate the normal variability inherent in natural systems from abnormal changes caused by rapid warming.

There's currently limited long‑term monitoring of Arctic biodiversity at the ecosystem level. Most funding programs support short‑term projects that focus on novelty and certain target species. This limits our ability to set up and maintain the long‑term monitoring of ecosystems.

There are excellent federal programs to support university researchers in the north, such as the polar continental shelf program and the northern research supplements program. Unfortunately, the budgets for these programs don't align with the rising costs of research in the north and they don't help support enough projects.

Terrestrial research infrastructure also currently limits our ability to meet the needs expressed by northern communities. Increased construction costs recently led to the abandonment of new infrastructure projects in the north.

It's also currently hard for university researchers to find the funding needed to maintain and upgrade research infrastructure in the north.

The funding programs should provide better support for existing infrastructure and help establish memorandums of understanding or co‑management committees for the joint use of infrastructure by various Arctic research stakeholders.

Research partnerships between the academic community and northern communities require specific expertise and skills. However, a number of university researchers need qualified professional help to co‑build and co‑produce research with northern communities. I think that it would be beneficial to implement a nationwide program to support professional resources that would facilitate collaboration among researchers, experts and northern communities.

Lastly, new funding programs should provide more time for the preparation of applications in order to promote the co‑construction of projects and collaboration between university researchers and northern communities.

Of course, the entire university community should step up its efforts to train highly qualified professionals in northern communities, in order to increase their participation and independence in research.

I look forward to answering your questions to the best of my knowledge.

Thank you for your attention.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Thank you so much to all of our witnesses this morning, all of whom were very respectful of our time commitment. I appreciate that.

We're now going to open the floor to questions.

We'll kick that off with MP Tochor for six minutes.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Thank you so much.

Thank you to our witnesses for your testimony today.

Professor Bêty, you have a very impressive 30-year history of researching the north, especially the animal reproduction side of things.

We do know the importance of the seal hunt to the indigenous population. Can you explain some of your research on seals and the seal hunt that have impacted the north?

[Joël Bêty]

Thank you for your question.

Unfortunately, I can't answer it. I'm a terrestrial wildlife specialist. My work focuses on the tundra, mainly terrestrial mammals and birds. I'm not a specialist in marine species.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Have any of the other witnesses done any work on the seal hunt in the Arctic?

I understand that all this research is in the Arctic, but you're all located in the south.

Professor Myers-Smith, you talked a bit about adaptation, and we've had other witnesses talk about adaptation versus mitigation. In the north, you studied adaptation. Have you done any work on the mitigation of the effects of climate change in the north?

[Prof. Isla Myers-Smith]

When we think about climate change in the north, the adaptation issues are local, and the mitigation issues are global, beyond the scope of Canada.

Mitigation has to happen at an international scale and at a Canadian scale, but it's less relevant for mitigation to happen within the north because the populations are so much smaller.

The adaptation issues are very much directed to these northern communities. A lot of the research that I do and that my colleagues do does focus on adaptation, but we're thinking about it from my perspective, as a terrestrial ecologist studying plants and often food systems and livelihoods in the north, and the hunting of key wildlife species and the habitat of those species. How will climate change influence vegetation, and how will that influence wildlife, and therefore people?

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

In that research, what would have been a success story? What have you researched that is actually impacting lives in the north through adaptation?

[Prof. Isla Myers-Smith]

I work in the western Canadian Arctic. There's a caribou herd called the porcupine caribou herd. I mentioned in my testimony the knowledge hub of the porcupine caribou herd. This effort, which goes beyond just my own research program, brings all the people together who have an interest in that caribou herd. Each year, we meet and we discuss how climate change is playing out and influencing the herd, how vegetation is changing, but also how people are harvesting the herd and what the population levels are. One of the really good-news stories in the western Arctic is that the herd's population levels are healthy at the moment. However, surrounding that herd are other populations of caribou that are not doing as well. We are trying to understand why some caribou herds do well and others don't. We're really thinking forward to the future and whether the porcupine caribou herd will start to decline. All of that research is coming together to help inform local communities as to how to manage that herd.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Thank you.

Professor Chen, I understand that you're from Newfoundland. One of the mitigation strategies involves the utilization of heat pumps. Do you have any personal experience with having a heat pump in your house?

[Prof. Bing Chen]

Thank you. That's an interesting question.

Personally, I don't have a heat pump.

Our university offers renewable energy education programs. There are teaching materials, and we are attracting students globally. I think doing more renewable energy [Technical difficulty—Editor] heat pump [Technical difficulty—Editor] the technologies is helping to spread that.

Regarding adaptation, would you allow me to give you some of my examples regarding adaptation for the north, especially by residents in different communities?

By training, I'm an engineer, so I did indeed look at the solutions for how to provide a better technology. One thing is emerging contaminants. There are two ways. One is online and one has to do with shipping. Because the ice cap is shrinking, we have open water channels, and we have more shipping activities in the north. In the Canadian Arctic there's been almost three times as much in the past three decades.

On the other hand, we are also looking at the Polar Code under MARPOL and also our regulation of ships that are producing waste-water discharge that goes into the ocean.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

I have limited time here, so I'm sorry to interrupt.

Is the government doing enough to support shipping in the north right now, as sea lanes that we could utilize for shipments are opening up?

[Prof. Bing Chen]

The reality is that, because of the open ice, we have more activities from the Polar Code areas of our Canadian Arctic. I don't know what the detailed regulation is, but there are other factors. Our observation is that we have growing shipping and railways in the north. This is why globally we are looking into the new contaminants, because all our regulations are targeting the traditional pollution, like grey water. Grey water, especially now—look at the data. We have more cruise ships—I think three times as many—and oil tankers. There's been a two- to three-times increase. Think about the cruise ships that have several thousand people on board.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Dr. Chen, that's our time. It's fascinating. Maybe one of the other members of the committee will pursue that.

Now, we're going to turn to MP Chen for six minutes.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much to the witnesses before our committee today.

I'll go back to Professor Chen.

I'm noting here that you are a professor of environmental engineering and a recognized leader in research and applications. This is particularly with respect to mitigating the effects of climate change, as well as responses to emergencies such as oil spills and other disasters. You also have some experience, I understand, in looking at AI-aided decision-making.

I'm curious about this issue. Could you share a bit more about how AI and other technologies can help in tackling climate change?

[Prof. Bing Chen]

Thank you very much. That's a very interesting question.

I think we are now embracing new technologies, and AI is part of that. There are several things we have been doing.

One is looking at the historical data, because we have invested a lot in data collection over the past decades. It's about using the existing data wisely and developing new methods and measures to find out something we didn't know. That's very interesting.

For example, we are looking at human factors related to oil spills. We look from the top layer of decision-making and policy-making to the bottom—the operators and the crews. What are the human mistakes, such as incomplete training, incomplete knowledge or lack of experience? What are the errors and mistakes made that lead to a disaster and an emergency response? During the response, how do people react, and are there human factors contributing to the consequences? I think we collected several hundred cases and looked at the human factors. The interesting finding is this: Human factors contribute 70% to 80% to all of those man-made disasters, especially related to ships and oil spills. That's one thing we are doing.

We're also using the growing data we're collecting from the air to the sea. We try to predict what's going to happen. What should we do in an emergency, if there's an oil spill incident? Consider the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. If an oil spill of similar magnitude happened, unfortunately, in the Arctic, that would be a huge disaster. How can we react? How could we be prepared for that? That's what we have been helping professional responders with, in terms of training and support. It's also about how the communities could be prepared. They gain some basic knowledge, in order to understand what a spill is, how you can report it, how you can protect yourself, etc.

For all of those things collectively, you're talking about a huge amount of data. It's also very diverse data, even in the format.... I think that's one of the key challenges. We have a lot of data from different agencies and organizations. They all have, probably, different formats and deposits. How do we consolidate data in a more efficient and timely way and use it to support decision-making for responders, in order to save time, lives and costs? That's what we have been doing. I'm developing some tools for that.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'll turn to Professor Myers-Smith.

You also spoke about data and the importance of sharing broad research findings while respecting indigenous sovereignty. We just heard from Professor Chen about how data over time can be collected and used to fuel solutions. You also talked a lot about the different challenges related to the increased cost of Arctic research and the need to build research capacity in the north.

I want to ask you about the development of an Arctic science strategy. Canada is an Arctic nation. The work you folks are doing is incredibly important. Do you think Canada should have such a strategy?

[Prof. Isla Myers-Smith]

I definitely think Canada should have one. I think Canada does have, through different agencies, an Arctic strategy in place. Maybe we need to be thinking about updating that strategy, thinking forward to the future of the Arctic, which could be quite different from the Arctic we have experienced in the past, and particularly within a research context.

I've listened to previous meetings of this committee, and I want to echo Joël Bêty's comments also. I think two things have come out. One is this idea of a distributed hub for research logistics, a hub-and-spoke model. The other is having distributed centres that link researchers and indigenous communities. One way you could phrase that is as knowledge hubs across the Canadian Arctic. There are limitations on the community side and there are limitations on the research side, so it would be something in the middle that could bring the research together and help with the communication of that research back to the people who are making policy decisions but also potentially the hosting of research within the Canadian north.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

Thank you.

You've mentioned logistics, and that's come across in a number of—

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

You're really out of time, sorry.