Suspended Project Delays Surveillance Progress

I am deeply concerned at the news today that the federal government has suspended a four-year project to test High Arctic surveillance technology in the Northwest Passage. As climate change opens the Passage once again this year, such on-the-ground equipment has never been more urgent.

Last year, scientists began installing land-based sensors on Nunavut’s Devon Island and underwater listening devices in Barrow Strait. The technology is meant to improve Canada’s capacity to detect ships and submarines as they enter the Passage.

Defence Research and Development Canada, which runs the project, is calling the break a “hiatus.” But I urge the government to ensure that this hiatus is brief and that the project is well funded to complete its important work.

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