Maritime Awards Society of Canada

Ottawa Citizen, 26 November 2009 – Last Thursday, the Department of National Defence announced that a CAD $900,000 design contract for a Canadian Forces naval base at Nanisivik in Nunavut was awarded to Vancouver firm WorleyParsons Westmar, but the complex is predicted to be operational by 2014, not 2012 as previously estimated.  Initial site studies for the Nanisivik Naval Facility (NNF) have been completed, and construction could begin in 2011, but the project is likely to slip further behind schedule with logistical and environmental challenges.  NNF, which is projected to cost $100m, is designed to act as a staging base for vessels operating in the high Arctic, and the Associate Deputy Minister of Defence has said that the US and other Canadian allies could be granted access to the facility.

(Courtesy “Daily Intelligence Brief”. World Naval Edition, December 2 2009. Office of the Asia-Pacific Advisor, Maritime Forces Pacific, Canadian Navy)

The second talk in the 2009 Killam Public Lecture Series on Oceans and Global Change will be held November 26th, 2009 at 7:00 pm in the Ondaatje Auditorium, Marion McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. A reception will follow. The address is 6135 University Avenue. The Lecture is entitled “The Arctic meltdown: an alarming symptom of global fever”.
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Northern Watch, a 2008 programme that uses surveillance devices to monitor movement through the Northwest Passage, has resumed after being delayed by logistical difficulties.  A primary difficulty for defence scientists is the reconstruction of a base camp on Devon Island, northwest of Baffin Island, which is in disrepair, the location of a new, safer route to a remote lookout site, and the establishment of emergency protocols.  Despite logistical difficulties, sensors were installed in the Barrow Strait and were able to relay information for four weeks this summer, and the Northern Watch team will return to the area next summer to establish a full network that can operate year-round.  Northern Watch was stood up to provide a cost-effective means of monitoring the Northwest Passage and providing situational awareness.

(Courtesy “Daily Intelligence Brief”. World Naval Edition, November 4 2009. Office of the Asia-Pacific Advisor, Maritime Forces Pacific, Canadian Navy)

From the New York Times (Op-Ed Contributor)

The Northwest and Northeast Passages Compared

Northern Scientific Training Program

The purpose of the Northern Scientific Training Program (NSTP) is to support Canadian universities in providing training that gives advanced and graduate students the opportunity to gain professional experience in the Canadian North and encourages them to develop a commitment to northern work. The Program objective is to increase the number of graduate and other advanced students within Canadian universities who have specialized in some aspects of northern studies and who have northern research experience. For more information on the NSTP program visit: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/nstp/index-eng.asp

(For UVic students: The University of Victoria has received the 2009-2010 NSTP application package from Indian and Northern Affairs. The UVic Northern Studies Committee has established an internal application deadline of November 1, 2009, to ensure there is sufficient time to compile the applications and forward them to Ottawa.)

Note that the NSTP forms are fully interactive and available on-line. The following provides access to the forms and links to the student manual.

Northern Scientific Training Program Electronic Forms http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/nth/st/nstp/electro-eng.asp

Northern Scientific Training Program Student’s Manual 2009-2010 PDF format http://www.geog.uvic.ca/dept/north/manual.pdf

The International Ocean Governance Working Group (IOG WG) is organizing a paper session at the 2009 OMRN National Conference on the broad theme of International Arctic Ocean Governance. With the renewed focus on the Arctic due to the effects of climate change in the region, increased interest in the development of northern resources, and announcements by the Canadian government of new initiatives to assert Canadian sovereignty in the region, there are numerous calls both inside and outside of Canada for strengthening international governance structures for the Arctic Ocean region. This session will consider perspectives on IOG in relation to marine shipping and future marine resource developments in the Canadian Arctic.

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