Canadian Coast Guard

Overview

Roles and Responsibilities

The Coast Guard serves a broad stakeholder group with varied, and sometimes competing, interests. Stakeholders range from the general public, to commercial shippers, ferry operators, fishers, recreational boaters, coastal communities, other riparian interests, other government departments, other levels of government and international organizations. By necessity, the Coast Guard must take all these diverse service segments into account in its operational planning, to ensure the organization is is taking allconsidering the needs of all clients and partners into account who may be affected effected by a decision, and to meet the broadest possible interests in a collaborative and consultative manner without compromise to safety and other key roles and responsibilities.

The Coast Guard effectively manages its numerous and diverse responsibilities, across one of the world’s largest and most challenging marine operating environments, in part by being a horizontal, versatile and highly adaptable maritime organization that strives to leverage its asset and resource base to achieve maximum benefits. By doing so, the organization is able to deliver efficiently and effectively on its program objective of Safe and Accessible Waterways. Primarily by means of Fleet support, the Coast Guard also contributes to DFO’s other program objectives of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Healthy and Productive Aquatic Ecosystems. The overarching Strategic Outcome of all three program objectives is To ensure the sustainable development and safe use of Canadian waters.

Coast Guard’s program objective of safe and accessible waterways is well supported by each of its five fundamental mandated roles:

• maritime safety;
• protection of the marine and freshwater environment;
• facilitation of maritime trade and commerce and maritime accessibility;
• support to marine science; and
• support to Canada’s federal maritime priorities.

Each Coast Guard role is composed of several mission areas. Each of these in turn is based on one or more mandated or authorized duties. Many missions benefit more than one role. For example, while an aids to navigation mission supports the role of accessibility by facilitating the movement of people and goods, the systems of aids we maintain also supports our maritime safety and protection of the marine environment roles by preventing accidents. This interwoven, overlapping combination of roles and missions calls for Coast Guard resources that are similarly multi-mission capable.

Fleet vessels, for example, are constructed to be able to deliver a variety of programs, often concurrently. Unlike vessels that serve simply as a mode of transportation, moving goods or people from point A to point B, most Fleet vessels are multitasked, and all are crewed with professionally trained mariners capable of delivering on-water programs. On any given day, a Coast Guard vessel and its specialized crew can be supporting a science undertaking while at the same time decommissioning buoys and serving as both a secondary SAR vessel and a visible symbol of a Canadian presence in support of sovereignty.

This multi-mission operating philosophy offers significant economies of scale scope and provides the Coast Guard with a diverse fleet of large vessels capable of operating in all marine areas of the country during the navigation season. The multi-tasking nature of Coast Guard operations also ensures that the organization has a shore-based coordination capability in place, including 24-hour Operations Centres located in each region that provide both a source of information and a capability to adjust to fleet tasking priorities around the clock.

Multi-tasking is not about being all things to all people. From an operating perspective, multi-tasking is about utilizing assets to their fullest potential, training staff to handle multiple missions, and creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The men and women of the Coast Guard are trained and conditioned to be ready, willing and able to respond to the task at hand, whatever it may be.

From an organizational perspective, it is about acknowledging the complexities of running a capital-intensive operational institution and the need to take all roles and responsibilities into consideration in decision making to ensure that while innovative new approaches are encouraged, economies of scope are not unduly compromised. A decision made by the aids to navigation program with respect to a buoy tender, for instance, may have ramifications for the organization’s ability to fulfil its sovereignty and security support and secondary SAR role. One of the most important roles of senior management is to ensure that the whole is not overlooked when any changes to the parts are being considered.

One of the most basic responsibilities of the Canadian government is to protect the lives and safety of its citizens. In the maritime realm, the lead on-water responsibility falls to the Canadian Coast Guard. Our motto, Safety First, Service Always is as applicable today as it was when the organization formally came into being in 1962.

The Canadian Coast Guard provides Canada’s civilian fleet, programs, services and marine expertise to maintain maritime safety for all who use Canada’s waters. In partnership with other federal agencies, provincial governments and volunteer organizations, the Coast Guard preserves safety at sea through a focused program of prevention and response.

Prevention activities in pursuit of maritime safety are often inseparable from those undertaken to facilitate the movement of goods or to protect the marine environment. In providing an effective maritime transportation service network comprised of marine communications and traffic services (MCTS), an aids to navigation system, waterways development and icebreaking, the Coast Guard is also providing a maritime transportation safety net that has saved countless lives while at the same time contributing to Canada’s economic and environmental health.

The growing level of maritime activity, couple with the heterogeneous nature of the marine community being served, continue to add complexity to the design and delivery of the Aids to Navigation program, which is comprised of two main categories of aids: Short Range aids, which include visual, radar and/or sound aids such as buoys, radar beacons and fog horns; and Long Range aids systems such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS)/Differential GPS (DGPS) and Automated Identification Systems (AIS). As well, the aids to navigation program provides notices to mariners (NOTMARS), the purpose of which is to ensure essential safety related information is conveyed to mariners in a timely and efficient manner.

These and other NOTMARS are issued by the MCTS program, which on any given day contacts and manages approximately 1,200 ship movements. This service reduces the probability of ships being involved in collisions and groundings. MCTS is also the cornerstone in the collection and dissemination of marine information such as weather and navigation warnings.

But incidences still occur. And when they do, Search and Rescue provides the initial response to ships in distress, using all communications methods, including MCTS.

The Coast Guard provides SAR mission coordination services via maritime SAR coordinators at three joint DND/Canadian Coast Guard rescue co-ordination centres (JRCCS) and two Maritime Rescue Sub-Centres (MRSCS). An average of 94% of the lives at risk in maritime distress are saved each year in Canada. That translates into 2,500 lives. Another 20,000 people are helped each year in non-distress maritime incidents by the SAR system.

The SAR Program also represents one of our greatest success stories in establishing and maintaining partnerships. The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA), to which the Coast Guard provides direction and financial assistance, responds to approximately 20% of the SAR calls each year. A volunteer organization, the CCGA represents a very cost-effective alternative to the establishment of federal resources in the areas served by the Auxiliary.

Canadians and their governments have a heightened awareness of the importance of clean waters. Coast Guard safety and environmental response programs and services help mitigate the threats to these waters from marine accidents/spills. The Coast Guard works with the two regulating agencies, Environment Canada and Transport Canada, in the establishment of the most appropriate policies and programs to ensure effective actions to reduce the occurrence of and to improve the identification of discharges at sea, thereby reducing the adverse effect of major pollution incidents on the marine environment. An example is the increased cooperation with the Canada Space Agency to improve long range detection technologies using satellite imagery.

The Coast Guard fosters strong partnerships with its parent department (DFO) and other government departments, industry, communities, and stakeholders to deliver on our shared responsibility for the stewardship and protection of the marine environment. Important steps are being taken to improve on coastal zone management (CZM) and the effective management of aquaculture and other commercial activities that share in the sustainable use of navigable waters.

In support of the Fish Management Program, Fleet vessels and aircraft provide on-the-water support for protection of fish and fish habitat. In addition to the provision of platforms and trained/certified crews, the fleet provides support to armed boarding parties, personnel safety to fisheries officers, monitoring of fishing activities, and special operations (i.e. Burnt Church, NAFO patrols).

Canada is a trading nation within a global economy, reliant on international waterborne commerce and the national intermodal transportation system. Even far from Canada’s three coasts and our connected inland waterway border to the south, the significance of the oceans and inland waterway system is clear, with Saskatchewan grain farmers and Alberta oil and petroleum producers relying as much as other Canadians on the maritime transportation highway to export their products and import required goods³.

The Canadian Coast Guard, through its marine expertise and services and by means of the provision of programs such as aids to navigation, MCTS, waterways development and SAR, supports the shipment of international goods to urban, rural, Northern, remote coastal and Aboriginal communities. The bulk of these programs and services, which provide a direct benefit to commercial shippers, are also utilized by other members of the Coast Guard’s diverse client base, including recreational boaters and fishers.

While all Coast Guard programs serve to facilitate the movement of goods and services, given the country’s harsh climate, icebreaking has a particular significance in the winter to the south, and the summer to the north. The federal government has been providing icebreaking services in Canadian waters since 1873 when Prince Edward Island stipulated year-round ferry service to the mainland as a condition for entry into Confederation. The presence of ice also presented challenges in other geographic areas. In the St. Lawrence River, the formation of ice barriers or dams in the narrow points of the river was causing annual winter flooding. In the early 1920s, regular Arctic patrols by icebreakers during the short summer navigation season were initiated to respond to a number of needs, including the re-supply of isolated outposts and, in a broader sense, to back up Canada’s claim to sovereignty over the Arctic Archipelago. During the 1930s, the Port of Churchill was opened for grain export shipment through Hudson Bay, requiring icebreaker services at the beginning and end of each season.

Icebreaking is often viewed as a rather narrow specialty, associated most often in the public mind with expeditions into the vast Polar unknowns. However, ice operations involve a broad spectrum of tasks – ranging from the support of pure science to the eminently practical job of life saving on frozen waters. Furthermore, the nature of each of these functions is such that none can be considered "optional"; all are vital, whether it be in the arena of maritime safety, national and international trade, marine and freshwater environment, or national sovereignty.

With respect to ice jams and flooding, it is interesting to note that during the Y2K exercise, flood control was identified as one of the top priorities of the federal government with respect to safety.

3: Statistics from 1996 reveal that the oceans sector generated approximately $20B of Canada’s gross domestic product from such industries as commercial fishing, agriculture, shipping and shipbuilding, tourism, manufacturing and services, and oil and gas. In 1996, ships carried 74% of Canada’s exports and 48% of the country’s imports. It is forecasted that international trade will triple by 2020, with over 90% of international trade moving by water by that time.

The DFO Science Sector is responsible for marine science related to conservation and sustainable development of fisheries resources, fish habitat management, defense and shipping, and navigational charts, as well as studying the influences of climate variations and aquatic ecosystems. Science is also spearheading Canadian participation in international ocean climate programs.

A major component of the Science programs is conducted at sea. As such, the sector relies heavily on the fleet for such services as research trawlers and fishing vessels to conduct stock assessments, hydrographic survey vessels and launches, water column research, seismic work, oceanographic vessels, and icebreaking capability to support science in ice and climate change research.

Eighteen of the current 104 fleet vessels are primary science vessels designed and built for unique on-the-water Science Program requirements. Other medium and large multitasked Canadian Coast Guard ships are also used in support of Science, often on "an opportunity basis" in conjunction with delivery of other programs (i.e. Arctic icebreaking). Some examples of the types of support provided by the fleet to Science include: research trawlers for stock assessments; platforms for hydrographic surveys, water column research, seismic work, oceanographic surveys, climate change and ice research.

Support to other government departments

The Coast Guard’s unique operating characteristics also prove very useful to other government departments and to other levels of government requiring assistance but not resourced with vessels capable of delivering their responsibilities in Canada’s marine areas of jurisdiction. The Canadian Coast Guard’s multi-mission operating philosophy provides the government with a broadly distributed resource base, including a diverse fleet of vessels capable of operating in all marine areas of the country. While we do not have the resources to respond to all fleet demands, the multi-tasked fleet and 24-hour accessible operations centres does represent the best posture for maximizing available resources for highest priorities. Fleet and other Support support to other government departments is provided on an opportunity basis, with a policy of either incremental cost recovery or partnering for specified funding, as is the case with, for example, the capital construction costs and ongoing operating costs for the AIS project.

Support activities include drug interdiction and coastwatch programs with the RCMP; Arctic icebreaking and sovereignty in cooperation with DND and other members of the security community such as the Solicitor General, CIC and CCRA; pollution prevention and professional marine advice to Transport Canada; harbour patrols in cooperation with Port Authorities; vessel support to international science expeditions and DFAIT; SAR with DND/Canadian Forces and emergency response and support to remote areas.

Maritime security and emergency preparedness

Past and recent history demonstrate that both the public and the government expect that the federal government has the infrastructure, expertise, training, and capability to respond to a coastal or on-the-water crisis and support the activities of Canada’s civilian enforcement community within Canadian waters. Events such as the Swiss Air Crash, the Eastern Canada Ice Storm, Manitoba Flooding and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. underscore the importance of delivering on public expectations of operational readiness and integrated national contingency planning. Historically this has not been a funded role of the Coast Guard Fleet, but with the growing acceptance of the notion of a secure perimeter extending out and around North America - the role of the Fleet as a source of platform and personnel support to the Canadian security community is now being emphasized.

The Coast Guard plays an important role in the provision of on-water platform support to the security community in response to the necessary post 9/11 increased level of Canadian maritime readiness and response. This supports the concept of a secure North American perimeter and is a key contribution to the establishment of positive control in Canada’s portion of the offshore, near-coastal, and major inland waters. As well, through its vessel traffic information and surveillance network - in particular MCTS centres - the Coast Guard significantly contributes to an enhanced level of maritime domain awareness (a term used within the Canadian security community indicating the level of effective knowledge of all activities and elements that threaten the safety, security or environment of Canadian citizens);.

Canada’s new National Security Policy reinforces the Canadian government’s commitment to security, which is considered under the policy to include emergency preparedness and response to natural disasters in addition to potential terrorist and other security-related incidents.

As articulated in a speech given by the Deputy Prime Minister to the Canadian Club of Ottawa on March 25, Securing Canada: Laying the Groundwork for Canada’s First National Security Policy, "…the time has come to move beyond ad hoc responses to bring all the resources of Government to bear in a more integrated ‘whole of Government’ approach for securing Canadians."

That integrated approach emphasizes collaborative solutions in the utilization of federal resources for securing Canadians—in effect applying the economies of scope and multi-mission philosophy of the Coast Guard to the federal government security and safety community as a whole. This approach has many advantages, among them cost effectiveness, efficiency, practicability and precision. A collaborative approach allows each department or agency to focus on established roles and responsibilities and leverage existing resources, training, skillsets and strengths.

The maritime region is the Coast Guard’s domain. When there is a on-water national emergency—be it manmade or natural disaster—it is the Coast Guard that answers the call. To do so, the organization must have the infrastructure and resources in place to deal with emergencies, from trained crews to well functioning and well maintained ships and shore-based infrastructure.

Sovereignty and federal presence

To establish and maintain sovereignty, international laws demand that, as a minimum, a state be capable of monitoring activity in nationally claimed areas. Increasing global ship traffic has increased the necessity for a strong government presence in Canadian waters. This is particularly true in the Arctic where there is an increase in marine traffic due to increases in exploration, development, and tourism.

Post 9/11 presence of the Coast Guard fleet serves as a deterrent to unlawful acts and an improved response capability for the federal enforcement community. Federal presence is now a requirement on shared Canada / U.S. waterways to demonstrate to the U.S. the Canadian federal capability and commitment to maritime security. This is in addition to the economic benefits of Fleet fisheries patrols at the edge of Canada’s EEZ. This is a clear demonstration of Canada’s ability to express sovereignty within the Canadian EEZ to foreign flag fishing fleets. As well, the Canadian Coast Guard Fleet is the only on-water demonstration of Canadian sovereignty within the Arctic Ocean. The legal issues surrounding sovereignty of the Canadian Arctic are complex and challenged by a number of countries. Canada must have the icebreaker capacity for an Arctic on-water presence and an ability to undertake positive vessel traffic control within the area.

To fulfill all of our varied and diverse responsibilities, there are a number of implicit prerequisites to success that serve as the foundation upon which we operate and that are fundamental to the realization of our Vision.

• Operational Readiness – The Canadian Coast Guard will have the ability to effectively respond to Canadians’ needs on and along Canada’s vast and often remote coastline and waters, including a maritime response capability and appropriate presence to meet the needs of our citizens.
• Maritime Safety and Access – The Canadian Coast Guard will have programs to maintain the highest international standards in support of safe, accessible Canadian waters.
• Core Competencies – The Canadian Coast Guard will develop and maintain the highest competencies in our operational and technical personnel at both national and regional levels and meet international standards though training, research and management of corporate knowledge.
• Partnerships – The Canadian Coast Guard will apply our expertise, knowledge and leadership in proactively seeking partnering arrangements to deliver on our shared responsibility for safe, efficient, effective and accessible waterways.
• Financial Sustainability – The Canadian Coast Guard will ensure that assets and other resources are obtained and used efficiently and effectively in the accomplishment of the organization’s purpose and objectives and in keeping with the federal government’s Management Accountability Framework
• Organizational Effectiveness – The Canadian Coast Guard will develop and maintain a motivated workforce, working within a management structure that promotes the delivery of service to within national standards.
• Levels of Service Standards – The Canadian Coast Guard will have national levels of service standards that provide national consistency while recognizing regional diversity.