Recent claims about the navy dumping garbage seem a bit hysterical. One would think it makes sense to allow naval vessels, which operate in the arctic for at most a few weeks a year, to dump a minimal amount of some types of waste in the arctic, under some restrictions. Dumping compost into the water, if it means the ships could interdict another vessel leaking fuel oil, seems a pretty good trade-off.
At the moment, some nations are challenging Canada’s sovereignty, and thus ability to enforce environmental regulations, in the north. Without the attendant sovereignty (which may or may not be linked with establishing presence and use, I’m not a lawyer…) we will have zero ability to enforce transgressions by other parties.
In fact, the navy seems to be going out of its way to heed the arctic environmental regulations. This summer’s deployment of HMCS Corner Brook, the first northern deployment of a Canadian Victoria-class submarine, was hinder by strict adherence to bilge dumping regulations. Effectively, one of our chief instruments of enforcing national sovereignty (a sub), was restricted from actually conducting a sovereignty patrol by a requirement to return south of 60 degrees north to dump its bilges in accordance with the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act.
The same legislation we are trying to enforce is preventing us from enforcing it.
This makes no sense.
