“Effective environmental response is important to residents of Canada’’s far North, and to coastal communities across Canada,” said Minister Shea. “The Canadian Coast Guard’’s new Arctic Community Packs are an important enhancement to Canada’’s clean up capacity across the Arctic.”
From Tuktoyaktuk to Iqaluit, Resolute Bay to Churchill, Arctic Community Packs were delivered to nineteen Northern communities this summer and fall. A total of 55 steel sealift-sized containers, assembled by Coast Guard personnel in Prescott Ontario, are each packed with specific pollution control equipment tailored to the needs of each community. The new kits will complement the existing stockpile of pollution countermeasures equipment in the Arctic.
Each of the new Arctic Community Packs contains surface booms and accessories, shoreline cleanup kits, small vessels and outboard motors and trailers, and in select communities, beach flushing kits. Funding for these $2.26-million environmental response upgrades comes from the Government of Canada’’s Health of the Oceans initiative.
Now that delivery is complete, the Canadian Coast Guard will focus on scheduling training where the Arctic Community Packs are located. Community residents could play an important role in helping the lead response agency, the Canadian Coast Guard, should a spill occur. The training is cyclical in nature, and will be scheduled on an opportunity basis.Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a significant presence in the Canadian Arctic, Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker escort ships, undertake sealift services to remote communities, delivering vital supplies and equipment and provide support to researchers and scientists. Canadian Coast Guard vessels also carry out marine search and rescue, environmental clean up response. Ashore, Coast Guard personnel provide distress and safety communications, vessel traffic services, as well as vessel screening to safeguard the environment and enforce Canadian sovereignty in Arctic waters.
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