Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Members of Parliament, fellow Canadians and participants in today's proceedings, good afternoon. I will do my best to keep this to five minutes.

First, Mr. Chair, to you and to all members of Parliament, thank you for your dedicated service to our country. It is much appreciated. It is an honour to be invited to speak with you this afternoon. Thank you.

I stand before you as an aviation professional working on restoring aviation to the Arctic. I'm the president of the Arctic Aviation revitalization. Up until a short while ago, I was the national civil aviation adviser for the U.S. embassy in Canada, a role I played for over 14 years. I also come from a long line of aviation professionals, from airlines to defence.

I would like to also express my honour to the aboriginal people of Canada. I hope to contribute to their well-being.

What we're facing today is a dire situation in the Arctic. Over numerous decades, aviation to the Arctic has evolved out of necessity. The Arctic represents about 40% of Canada's territory. During various consultations with northern community leaders, they have stated that they consider aviation as their Trans-Canada Highway. However, if we're to continue using this analogy going forward, the situation before us is not one about merely fixing potholes. Rather, it's one where entire stretches of this highway have now been severely compromised and need immediate attention.

Aviation is a necessary tool enabling Arctic communities to connect to one another and the rest of Canada and the world and to receive the goods they need, not just for their survival but also for their proper functioning. Until recently, the Boeing 737-200 was the main aircraft used to carry goods in the Arctic. However, in 2014 Boeing announced to industry and governments worldwide that they will no longer be providing gravel kits for the aircraft. Furthermore, Boeing is restricting all newer aircraft from landing on gravel.

In our north, Mr. Chair, there are 117 remote airports, of which only seven are paved. As a result, airlines are now resorting to using turboprops. However, this situation is untenable, as these aircraft can carry only about 30% of the cargo and less than half of the passengers. These planes also have less range, are less fuel-efficient and are noisy.

Climate change is further aggravating the state of aviation in the Arctic. The melting of the permafrost is causing grave soil destabilization. The further north you go, the worse it is. Our Arctic airports are in a precarious situation. Our asphalts are cracking at unprecedented levels. Iqaluit Airport alone had over 300 million dollars' worth of damage done to it, despite it being a very new airport.

Thus, the combination of modern jet aircraft needs along with a climate change-induced permafrost melting situation is creating a huge problem for aviation in the Arctic. The populations in the north are suffering. The situation is dire in an environment already facing water and housing crises. People living in the Arctic today face worse living conditions than they did just a few years ago. The data is staggering. For example, over 46% of people in Nunavut live in households facing food insecurity. For the first time ever, a group of Canadians is faring worse than their previous generations and much worse than the rest of Canada.

The impetus to act is upon us. I am not advocating that we should not take the time to carefully analyze the entire situation of aviation to the Arctic and to do this community by community. This is needed. I am, however, saying that we're facing a humanitarian crisis and also a well-known defence issue. We all know that China and Russia keep flexing their muscles in the region. Thus, we cannot afford to wait. It is incumbent upon us to look at what we know today and what we have on hand to bring some form of relief. We need to take some concrete action. The entire region needs to be stabilized.

My ask is for your support to address this situation on hand while we look into formulating a longer-term game plan for bettering aviation to the Arctic. In addition to asphalt, there does exist another runway surface that has been used for decades—aluminum. In fact, aluminum has been used by the U.S. military and other militaries worldwide since the seventies. I could provide more details on this. They have done this very successfully worldwide.

I have been speaking to senior advisers of the Minister of Transportation, the Minister of National Defence and the Minister of Northern Affairs concerning this issue. It is my belief that if we can equip communities that have lost access to Boeing jet aircraft service with this same technology in the short term, we can reap huge gains and lift the entire Arctic region out of the present critical situation that it is facing.

We cannot afford to wait any longer. If the differences in cargo and passengers were less than 10% to 15%, I would say we could wait, but we're looking at differences of over 70%.

I look forward to your questions. Thank you for your time.