Arctic search and rescue treaty in works

Canada and other northern nations are expected to sign a treaty that would clarify how search and rescue efforts arehandled in the Arctic.

Eight countries in the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum, are working on the legally binding treaty, which will require the nations to co-ordinate with each other in the event of a plane crash, cruise ship sinking, big oil spill or other major disaster.

"If you're flying on an international airliner from Beijing to New York and you have to crash-land somewhere in the High Arctic, you want to know that the various countries that could assist know who's in charge and are talking to each other," Michael Byers, an international law professor at the University of British Columbia, told CBC News.

Foreign affairs ministers from Canada, the United States, Russia and other members of the Arctic Council are expected to sign the agreement at its ministerial meeting in Nuuk, Greenland, in May.

Byers said the proposed treaty is a practical document that recognizes an anticipated growth in traffic in the Arctic, especially as climate change makes northern waterways more accessible.

Robert Huebert, a professor with the University of Calgary's Centre for Strategic and Defence Studies, said countries need to work together on rescue missions, which would be extremely challenging in the isolated Arctic environment.

"We've already had two or three groundings in the Canadian side this [past] year, there's been a couple of close calls off the coast of Greenland, and the Russians have had some accidents," Huebert said.

Canada must boost Arctic capacity: experts

At least three ships, including a cruise ship and two fuel tankers, had close calls when they ran aground in the waters off Nunavut in 2010. No fuel spilled from the grounded tankers. The cruise ship passengers were rescued by a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker after having to spend three days on the vessel.

Both Huebert and Byers said Canada must boost its search and rescue capacity in the North in order to live up to the new treaty, rather than rely on searchers from southern Canada to fly thousands of kilometres north.

"The hope is that you'd have everything set up in terms of what's going to be required so that you're not wasting any time when you should be acting," Huebert said.

"We need to make the investments, have the political commitment to get the job done," said Byers. "I am absolutely certain that Canada will need to move forward in its long-held plans to acquire new fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft for the Canadian North."

Duane Smith, president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Canada, said northerners must be fully involved in the search and rescue agreement because they will likely be the first ones on the scene of a major disaster.

"I think it's recognized that infrastructure is one of the areas that needs to be vastly improved upon throughout the whole circumpolar Arctic, as well as the training for initial responders," Smith said.