Speaking Notes
for
Nancy Karetak-Lindell
Member of Parliament for Nunavut and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources Canada
on behalf of the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada

At the Opening of the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Symposium

Ottawa, Ontario
March 4, 2003

Check against delivery

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Canada's national capital.

I am delighted to officially open the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Symposium—and to bring greetings from the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the Honourable Robert Nault.

Minister Nault regrets he could not join us today, and has asked me to send his best wishes for a successful conference.

Let me start by thanking and congratulating everyone here for your contributions in working to find solutions to address threats to northern Aboriginal people's health—threats that result from exposure to contaminants in traditional/country foods that form an important part of the northern diet.

This symposium enables us to build on this essential work on Arctic contaminants to further reduce the health risks to people living in the most highly exposed communities.

Our purpose in hosting this meeting is to provide you with an overview of the findings and accomplishments during the second phase of the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP). Over the next few hours and days, we will review progress since we published the first Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report in 1997.

As you probably know, the NCP was set up in 1991 to identify the sources of toxic contaminants found in the northern ecosystem; to evaluate the risks to human health and provide appropriate advice to Northerners; and to control the release of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to reduce Aboriginal people's contaminant exposure.

The Government of Canada has spent over $10 million per year on the NCP, a major element in federal support for science to serve the people of the Arctic. The program covers a wide range of disciplines—from atmospheric and ocean physics and chemistry, to wildlife biology, and human health. It relies on world-class science to understand why, and how, the Arctic is contaminated from distant pollutant sources.

While science is its foundation, the success of the program rests in the power of its partnerships. The NCP brings together federal departments, territorial governments, Aboriginal organizations, Nunavik health professionals, as well as scientific researchers.

Through their individual and collective efforts, these dedicated partners are collaborating to reduce the health risks to northern residents. In particular, the participation of the Northern Aboriginal organizations has been critical to the success of the NCP. They have participated in all aspects of the program, from research to management to communicating with northern communities.

We have achieved a lot together in the decade or more since the program was launched. The first phase of the NCP enabled us to understand the global movements of contaminants that make their way into the food chain in Canada's Arctic. Our research confirmed our suspicions that the major sources of POPs and heavy metals originated in other countries.

Under the second phase of the NCP, we identified the communities most exposed to these substances and began to assess the impacts and risks to human health resulting from these contaminants.

Most important, we took joint action to address these challenges. Using NCP data, we were able to negotiate three international agreements to curb the discharge of these toxic substances into the environment.

The second phase of the Northern Contaminants Program provided a valuable foundation to advance our goal of creating a healthier environment for Aboriginal people living in the Arctic. But, as everyone here knows, our work is far from over. And that is another reason why we are here together this week—to talk about moving forward, armed with the latest findings from the NCP.

It is my privilege to formally release the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report II (CACAR II), which synthesizes everything we have learned from the program's research over the past five years.

As the next few days will be devoted to examining these results, I won't attempt to outline the report's many significant findings. However, I can say that the latest research found that some levels of toxic contaminants are actually going down in the Arctic—although slowly—whereas the levels of others are increasing.

It also concluded that the majority of northern Aboriginal residents are not significantly exposed to contaminants and it is safe to eat traditional/country foods. However, researchers did find that some communities have high levels of exposure. And, for the first time in Canada, effects in people were detected, which will be presented at this symposium.

The report's findings also stressed the essential role of international agreements that will monitor the effects of pollutants on the northern environment and which will help control the spread of contaminants.

Perhaps most important, it underscored that we need to continue to cooperate in investigating the effects of contaminants on northern residents and implementing solutions for the sake of both today's and future generations.

Fortunately, CACAR II is not simply a publication of past results. Equipped with the knowledge gleaned during the second phase of the NCP, we will be better able to co-ordinate our future work and fine-tune our approaches to ongoing health challenges facing northern Aboriginal people.

From the federal government's perspective, this report represents a critical component in a long-term strategy to safeguard the northern environment and the overall health of the North.

Science and research in Canada's North contribute to our understanding of issues of Aboriginal health, sustainable development and the environment. For the immediate future, I am very pleased to report that it remains a priority to address human health as it relates to contaminants in the most highly exposed communities—as well as communications to the residents of those communities.

With the findings contained in CACAR II, we will be able to build on the impressive progress that has been achieved during both the first and second phases of the NCP.

As we continue to work together, I have every confidence we will achieve our goal of creating a healthier environment for Aboriginal people in the Arctic who live off the land and water and its bounty.

I wish everyone involved every success as you take on this most important task.

Thank you.

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