Polar Commission without board for almost two years By Anca Gurzu Published September 1, 2010    1 Comment

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During his trip to the North last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced with great fanfare that Canada would be building a new world-class Arctic research station in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

"This will be a world-class centre for science," Harper told reporters on Aug. 24. "It will be a tangible expression of this government's determination to develop and protect all of our true."

Yet Embassy has learned that Canada's lead agency in Arctic and Antarctic research, the Canadian Polar Commission, has been operating without a board of directors for almost two years. Former members and experts say this has left the commission voiceless and without clear research priorities for an area of increasing priority for this country.

"I think the government simply mothballed the Polar Commission," said Tom Hutchinson, who served as the agency's last chair from 2005 to 2008. "It is left out to dry, and they have deliberately not appointed a new chair."

Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative government established the commission in 1991. Its role is to monitor and promote knowledge of the polar regions, increase awareness among the Canadian public about the importance of polar research, and enhance Canada's international profile as a circumpolar nation.

More importantly, the commission is mandated to advise the government on polar science policy.

The body was a leading force behind Canada's involvement in the International Polar Year in 2007-08, an international research effort on polar regions. The event saw the government pledging $150 million for research over six years.

The commission, under the chairmanship of Mr. Hutchinson, also produced a lengthy and complex report in 2008 on Canada's Arctic research infrastructure, entitled Beacons of the North. It recommended the creation of a network of research facilities in the North that could address issues of sovereignty, as well as economic and social development in the area. The high Arctic research station Mr. Harper announced last week will serve exactly that purpose.

Mr. Hutchison said the mandates of several members started to expire in December 2007. The commission has since been left without a board since October 2008. Although the act under which the commission was created envisions a board of up to 12 members, including the chair and vice-chair, the Polar Commission had only seven members up to then.

The lack of new board members has left the Polar Commission voiceless and without a fresh direction on research priorities, say Mr. Hutchison and others.

"I think it's a terrible shame," said Ian Church, most recent chair of the national committee of the International Polar Year. "I feel it's critical that we get a board in there," he said, adding that federal, provincial and territorial governments can come up with different polar initiatives, but only the commission has the leadership to pull "all the pieces together."

Steven Bigras, the commission's executive director, said his staff relies on the board's expertise to lay out what they think are the emerging issues on Arctic and Antarctic research. Board members are usually drawn from the academic community, business and industry, NGOs, former members of territorial governments, and other individuals with knowledge of the North.

Although the agency has been focusing its current projects on the areas mandated by the last board, Mr. Bigras said that this is "a very guarded type of activity."

"They are our voice out there," he said. "When the commission is invited to have its experts go out to conferences or participate in seminars, when ministers or politicians want to meet our board members and talk about polar issues, it's kind of hard to do that if you don't have a board."

Since the commission is not driven by the policies of any specific government, it is able to bring together the provincial North, the territories, Aboriginal leaders and the academic community to advance polar science research in areas that may be outside the role of a single government, Mr. Church said. It has also established solid international networks with equivalent institutions in other polar nations, he added.

Having a body that is able to provide the government with independent advice is very important, especially in areas of polar research that are becoming increasingly relevant, said Peter Johnson, who served as the commission's chair in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He said it is "appalling" that the agency is lacking a voice as Arctic issues are starting to top the government's agenda.

"The government is reticent to receive any independent comment on Northern issues," Mr. Johnson, said.

Mr. Hutchison echoed that thought, saying the government wants complete control over Arctic issues. When the commission came out with its report on research infrastructure in 2008, there were many questions about where the main research facilities should be located. Mr. Hutchinson said government officials told him to refrain from giving an opinion on what he thought to be a good location.

The Polar Commission's annual budget is around $1 million. Mr. Hutchinson said that hasn't changed since the commission's creation in 1991.

Genevieve Guibert, a spokesperson for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, which oversees the agency, said the government "recognizes the Canadian Polar Commission has had to make difficult choices in light of financial constraints and increased interest in polar issues."

She also said the board's chair and vice-chair are currently being recruited, but added there is no information on when that process would end or how far in the selection process the government is.

Mr. Hutchinson pointed out that a notice of vacancy for the board's two top spots were posted in the Canada Gazette, the government's official publication, more than a year ago. The posting outlined a comprehensive list of requirements needed to fill the chair and vice-chair position, ranging from professional to interpersonal skills. But nothing moved forward, he said.

"I am deeply frustrated," Mr. Hutchinson said. "I think we missed some big opportunities. This is one of this Canadian stories where things are being done behind the scenes. Maybe we should have concentrated on publicity, rather than getting things done."

agurzu@embassymag.ca