Arctic Athabaskan Council 2166-2nd Avenue, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, YIA 4P1 Telephone: (867) 393-9214 Facsimile: (867) 668-6577 Email: Cindy.Dickson@cyfn.net March 18, 2009 Hon. Lawrence Cannon Minister of Foreign Affairs 125 Sussex Drive Ottawa, Ontario K1A OG2 Dear Mr. Cannon, I enjoyed meeting you here in Whitehorse last week and was encouraged to learn that the Arctic is one of your personal foreign policy priorities. Following the delivery of your Arctic Foreign Policy speech, you invited me to respond and offer advice. This is what I am doing now that I have had the opportunity to digest your remarks. It was most thoughtful of you to deliver your speech in northern Canada and I hope that we may continue the dialogue that you have initiated. As Canada s Arctic Foreign Policy cuts across traditional geographic and thematic mandates I have sent this letter to your colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the ministers of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and Environment. Please note that Bill Erasmus, AAC s International Chair, will lead our delegation to the Arctic Council ministerial meeting in Tromsø next month. I know that Bill will be interested to discuss foreign policy issues with you. The Need for a Strategic Arctic Foreign Policy As recently as ten to fifteen years ago, the Arctic was largely peripheral to global events. This is no longer the case, primarily as a result of the opening of the region as a result of climate change. The northern world is becoming geopolitically important; a fact that is illustrated by the February 2008 Arctic resolution of UNEP s Governing Council, the November 2008 European Union s Arctic Communication, the January 2009 Arctic policy of the United States and the January 2009 National Directive on the North by the Government of Russia. Others are developing broad, strategic policy approaches to the region. Canada should do so as well. AAC welcomes your speech and your personal commitment to the region, but with some exceptions, your remarks do not add up to an Arctic Foreign Policy.
Rather, your speech reiterated the four pillars to the federal government s domestic northern strategy. I am sure we could debate the relationship between domestic and foreign policy, and perhaps we should, but we believe that you should authorize the development of a formal Northern Dimension to Canada s Foreign Policy that would articulate the place of the Arctic in Canada s approach to the world, and specify what we intend to achieve. The growing interest in the region by non-arctic states provides Canada with leverage in our relations with national and international institutions and significant bilateral and multilateral foreign policy opportunities. We need a northern component to our foreign policy that boldly adopts a strategic attitude and long-term approach. Ministerial speeches are important, but they are no substitute for policy. The fact that Canada has had seven foreign affairs ministers in the last eight years or so reinforces the need for a policy as opposed to a speech-driven approach. When I recommended a formal Arctic component to Canada s foreign policy in your meeting with the three Canadian-based Permanent Participants to the Arctic Council, you responded that a formal policy is a just a piece of paper. Policy is important for it signals intent and commitment to both friends and partners, and potential adversaries. In short, we continue to recommend that in co-operation with the territorial governments and Arctic Indigenous Peoples, the Government of Canada develop a formal Northern Component to its Foreign Policy. An Arctic Ambassador The growing importance of the Arctic as a venue for foreign policy, including components of Canada s bilateral relations with the USA and Russia, should be reflected institutionally. We recommend that you and your Cabinet colleagues consider a simple but important machinery of government reform: establish an Arctic Ambassador to co-ordinate and lead the implementation of the Northern Dimension to Canada s Foreign Policy, including our involvement in the Arctic Council. We envisage the Arctic Ambassador liaising closely with science and research agencies as well as line departments, the territorial governments and Arctic Indigenous Peoples. The Arctic Ambassador could very usefully be the eyes and ears of the Minister of Foreign Affairs within the departments and agencies that make up the Government of Canada, and liaise closely with counterparts in the circumpolar world. This machinery of government innovation would certainly be seen by both Canadians and non-canadians as further evidence of the Prime Minister s most welcome commitment to assert Canada s full and complete jurisdiction over the Northwest Passage. The Government of Canada dismissed the Arctic Ambassador in 2006 and at the same time disbanded the Office of Arctic Ambassador. In light of the significant developments on the Arctic file in the last three years, particularly the 2
stated intent of some non-arctic governments and many non-governmental organizations to promote new international governance arrangements for the region, we believe it would be wise to renew the Office of Arctic Ambassador. The territorial governments and Canadian-based Permanent Participants to the Arctic Council support the renewal of the Office of Arctic Ambassador We imagine that the Prime Minister would see the value of an Arctic Ambassador, preferably a northerner but certainly someone with extensive northern experience, who has his and your confidence. The Arctic Council We were pleased to hear you commit to re-energize the Arctic Council, to make sure that the interests and concerns of Arctic inhabitants are reflected in the deliberation of other multilateral institutions, to acknowledge that the Council must have the necessary strength, resources and influence to respond effectively to emerging challenges affecting the Arctic, and to play a greater outreach and advocacy role. You also stated Canada s commitment to the Arctic Council through a renewed emphasis on its effectiveness as an international policy making forum for Arctic cooperation. It is our view that these are the most important components of and commitments in your speech. Of course, these commitments beg two important questions: what and how? We would be pleased to work with you and colleagues in DFAIT, DIAND, other federal departments, the territorial governments and Arctic Indigenous Peoples to develop answers to these questions. AAC submitted a paper to the Arctic Council in 2007 suggesting how best to improve the Council s efficiency and effectiveness, but this did not attract comment from Canada. Perhaps this paper can still provide a starting point for discussion. At the very least you have set the scene for significant Canadian interventions in the Ministerial meeting in Tromsø. Modern Treaties In my remarks at the evening reception and at our subsequent meeting, I pointed to the foreign policy implications of comprehensive land claims agreements modern treaties between the Crown and Athabaskan peoples. The Tlicho Agreement, for example, devotes almost two pages to International Legal Obligations. While modern treaties differ, most place an obligation on the Government of Canada to at least talk to aboriginal peoples when negotiations of international arrangements may infringe upon modern treaty rights. You might like to inquire whether your department is aware of these obligations and what it is doing to fulfill them. I am not aware of any action by your department to implement the foreign policy related provisions of modern treaties. As your colleague Minister Strahl is well aware, all modern treaty organizations formed a coalition in 2003 to persuade the Government of Canada to adopt a policy to live up to its modern treaty obligations. The coalition is holding its third 3
international conference in Ottawa on May 11 to 15, 2009. I recommend the attendance at the conference of senior personnel from your department. Climate Change Adapting to the impacts of climate change is an issue of ever-growing importance in northern Canada and the circumpolar world. It is crucial that the Arctic Council address and be seen to address this global issue. If it does not, the Council will be characterized as ineffective and unimportant, and likely forestall your stated aim of re-energizing this high level forum. There is a significant opportunity through the Tromsø Declaration to address short-term drivers of climate change including black carbon, tropospheric ozone and methane. Collectively these three substances have nearly the same estimated temperature impact on the Arctic in the near term as carbon dioxide. The current draft of the Tromsø Declaration would establish a task force to work on short-term climate change drivers with a view to promoting international mitigative action. Fortunately the Government of the United States enthusiastically supports this proposal. Canada should as well. In addition, Canada might usefully support language in the Tromsø Declaration inviting non- Arctic Observer States to the Council, particularly China, to become members of the task force. I am sure you can appreciate the long-term political potential of an international initiative on short-term climate change drivers by the eight member and seven Observer States, supported by the six Permanent Participants. We recommend you instruct Canada s Senior Arctic Official to vigorously pursue this opportunity. I have kept my remarks short and to the point, and hope that what I have written resonates with you and your colleagues. I look forward to continuing our dialogue. I suggest you convene a meeting with the three Canadian-based Permanent Participants in Tromsø the day before the formal ministerial meeting. My best regards. Yours truly, Andy Carvill Grand Chief, Council of Yukon First Nations and Yukon Member of the Arctic Athabaskan Council cc. Hon. Stockwell Day Hon. Jim Prentice Hon. Chuck Strahl Hon. Bev Oda Hon. Josée Verner 4
Hon. Peter Kent Gerald Keddy, MP Deepak Obhrai, MP Premier, Yukon Territory Premier, Northwest Territories Premier, Nunavut Territory Duane Smith (ICC Canada) Joe Linklater (GCI) Adele Dion (DFAIT) Patrick Borbey (DIAND) 5