Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the standing committee for inviting me to appear before you today.

I appear in my personal capacity as professor of maritime law and policy, with a specialty in the regulation of polar shipping. I am based at Dalhousie University.

My statement today concerns research needs for the governance of Arctic shipping at a time of change in Inuit Nunangat, which is the Inuktitut term for Canadian Arctic waters.

The increasing accessibility of Arctic waters navigation because of climate change and consequential progressive sea ice loss means more ships and more diverse regional shipping. The growth of shipping will have positive and negative consequences. The ability to maximize the potential benefits of shipping while mitigating or even preventing adverse consequences demands robust governance of shipping. I submit that aspects of both the international and domestic governance of polar shipping are not sufficient to protect the unique and most sensitive Arctic marine environment.

Despite celebrating 10 years in existence, the International Maritime Organization's polar code is a first-generation instrument. It was the product of consensus, based on the lowest common denominator—that is, what IMO member states were able to agree to. Hence, despite proposals to address broader environmental concerns with respect to shipping, it focused only on oily waste and noxious liquid substances in bulk sewage and garbage, but it did not regulate air pollution, including black carbon, ballast water management, grey water, underwater noise or other environmental risks in the polar context. Even on maritime safety, some of the polar code standards are insufficient, such as the one on safety equipment to enable survivability until rescue.

Recently Canada succeeded in persuading the IMO to designate Canadian Arctic waters as an emission control area for sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. This will be formally adopted in October of this year. To comply with the emission control standards, a ship will either have to use low-sulphur-content fuel or install a scrubber, which is a machine on board the ship to remove the sulphur and thereby allow the ship to still be able to use heavy fuel oil. In particular, open-loop scrubbers produce highly acidic wash water containing harmful substances that pollute the marine environment.

It might be argued that the IMO ban on the use and carriage for use of heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters, which becomes effective on July 1 of this year, may mitigate the pollution risks. However, for some ships that meet a particular construction standard, the regulation takes effect only on July 1, 2029. Also, Arctic coastal states, including Canada, may waive the ban for their ships until July 1, 2029. The effect is to prolong the risk of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic marine environment until 2029.

Indeed there is great need for more research to help better understand safety and environmental regulatory weaknesses in polar shipping and thereby to help integrate and update international standards. There is a further dimension to all of this, and that is that a robust governance system needs regulatory equity. Inuit organizations were not involved in the development of the IMO polar code. Their voices and knowledge could have significantly aided regulatory development but were not considered. It was only recently that the Inuit Circumpolar Council was granted provisional consultative status at the IMO so that Inuit voices could be heard and could inform regulatory development.

While there is extensive scholarly research on Arctic shipping generally, there is relatively little research on the interface between maritime regulation—how we regulate ships, in other words—and indigenous rights generally, and especially Inuit rights, Inuit traditional knowledge—known as IQ—and Inuit law. As an aside, the Qanittaq clean Arctic shipping initiative, which is a new research project recently funded through the Canada first research excellence fund and co-led by Memorial University of Newfoundland and the ICC, is leading a consortium of universities, including my university, to commence this type of research.

Madam Chair, I conclude my statement with two matters.

First, there is a need to review the adequacy and robustness of international polar shipping standards and their implementation in Canada and Inuit Nunangat, how gaps can be addressed and how environmental and safety standards can be strengthened in an integrated manner.

Second, there is a need to support capacity building for Inuit organizations to enable meaningful engagement in the complexities of the governance of polar shipping.

Thank you. Merci. Nakurmiik.