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China’s growing involvement and interest in the Arctic should not be seen as a cause for concern in Canada even if certain aspects of Chinese policy need much closer scrutiny, say Canadian experts.

Dozens of academics, civilian and military government officials, foreign diplomats and industry representatives braved an ice storm that walloped much of southern Ontario and Quebec on Monday to participate in a panel discussion on China's role in the Arctic at the University of Ottawa organized by the Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS) and the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI).

Chinese investment and involvement in the Arctic has to be welcomed but on Canadian terms, said Adam Lajeunesse, the Irving Shipbuilding Chair in Canadian Arctic Marine Security Policy with the Mulroney Institute of Government at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

“Chinese interests are not necessarily to be feared, there is no evidence to lead one to believe that there are any malicious intents here,” said Lajeunesse, one of the co-authors of a recently published book entitled China's Arctic Ambitions and What They Mean for Canada.

“The Chinese should be brought into the Arctic within a Western framework, within a framework that can be beneficial and agreeable to Canada. It has to be done very carefully but it can be done.”

(click to listen to the presentation by Adam Lajeunesse)

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Arctic policy white paper

Chinese policy in the Arctic was outlined in a white paper released in January, the first policy paper released by Beijing on a region outside of China, Lajeunesse said.

“It’s a big one, it reflects the level of interest that China has in the region both at the present and, of course, looking into the future,” Lajeunesse said.

“China clearly sees the Arctic as an important part of its future global strategy.”

Coast Guard ship Des Groseilliers sails past an iceberg at sea on Eclipse Sound Sunday August 24, 2014 west of Pond Inlet. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

It’s a very thorough policy document that hits all the right notes, Lajeunesse said.

“The entire policy talks about safeguarding peace, stability, promotion of development in the Arctic, talking about the unique natural environment and the need to protect this, about the historic traditions of the Indigenous peoples… about the commitment to the existing frameworks of international law, multinational, bilateral mechanisms,” Lajeunesse said. “It is a very cosy, very rosy, very liberal document.”

Smoke and mirrors or genuine desire for cooperation?

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou speaks during a press conference at the State Council Information Office in Beijing, Friday, Jan. 26, 2018. China is seeking to allay concerns about its increasingly prominent activities in the Arctic, saying it won't interfere in the actions of nations in the region. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

The question that many in Canada and around the world ask is whether the policy document represents real Chinese intent or is all smoke and mirrors aimed at lulling Arctic countries into a false sense of security, Lajeunesse said.

“It could be both, at the end of the day I would argue if you look at the intent and tone, it doesn’t really matter whether this is legitimate, sincere Chinese policy, or whether this is something the Chinese are writing for our intent,” Lajeunesse said.

“The reason it doesn’t matter is because the Chinese have made it very clear, both in this policy and in almost everything they have said over the last ten years, that they are here to work with the Arctic states.”

The imperative of cooperation with circumpolar states is driven by the harsh realities of the Arctic,

Ottawa should to stop procrastinating and get on board with the proposed ban on the use of highly polluting heavy fuel oil by ships operating in the Arctic, says Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Inuit activist and author.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations’ specialized agency that regulates maritime shipping, will discuss the issue of heavy fuel oils (HFO) used in the Arctic at the 72nd session of its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) that began on Monday.

The use of HFOs, also known as bunker oil, is already banned in the Antarctic and several environmental and Indigenous groups are calling for a similar ban in the Arctic.

“It’s one of the biggest threats because heavy fuel oil is extremely toxic and of course the possible potential for spillage into our Arctic marine ecosystem is deadly to us,” Watt-Cloutier said in a phone interview from London, where she participated in a panel discussion on the issue on the sidelines of the MEPC meeting.

(click to listen to the full interview with Sheila Watt-Cloutier)

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The Inuit rely on the marine mammals and fish in the Arctic for a large part of their nutrition, she said.

Also the combustion of heavy fuel oils creates very high levels of air pollutants, black carbon and accelerates climate change in the Arctic, said Watt-Cloutier, a former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the author of The Right to be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet.

Canada calls for more consultations

Documents obtained by Radio Canada International show that as part of the discussion of a Canadian proposal to mitigate the risks of heavy fuel oil pollution in the Arctic, which was adopted at MEPC’s 71 session in London last July, Finland has submitted a plan to the MEPC to ban the use and carriage of HFOs by ships in Arctic waters by 2021.

Finland’s proposed ban, which would be mandatory for all ships to which the International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) applies, while operating in Arctic waters, is co-sponsored by Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States.

Canada moves to dilute Finnish bid to ban dirty fuels from the Arctic

“A single HFO spill could have devastating and lasting effects on fragile Arctic marine and coastal environments,” the Finnish proposal says. “In addition, Arctic shipping is projected to continue to rise, thus increasing the risk of a spill. For these reasons, the ban on HFO should be implemented as soon as possible, and any delay in implementation of the HFO ban by eligible ships should be short-lived.”

However, in a document submitted by Canada and the Marshall Islands in response to the Finnish proposal, Ottawa argues against rushing to an outright ban too quickly, suggesting instead that the committee should also take into account the potential adverse economic impact of increased shipping costs on northern Indigenous communities that depend on maritime resupply for most of their goods.

While agreeing that “the threat of an accidental oil spill in Arctic waters remains the most significant threat from ships to the Arctic marine environment,” Ottawa urges the IMO to consider “economic and other impacts to Arctic communities associated with the restriction or phase out of heavy fuel in Arctic waters.”

The federal ministry of transport, the lead agency on this file, declined a request for an interview. However, in a written statement sent to RCI ministry spokesperson Julie Leroux said the government plans to consult with industry, other government departments and Indigenous communities on the use of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic.

Canada should take a leadership role in responding to the current crisis affecting the Rohingya minority by stepping up its humanitarian and development efforts in Bangladesh and Myanmar, Canada's special envoy to Myanmar, says in his final report.

“Canada’s response should focus on providing humanitarian assistance, education, supporting infrastructure, and mitigating the impact of the violent deportation on Rohingya women and girls by providing strong support to UN and other international organizations working in camps and elsewhere,” Bob Rae said in his report unveiled on Tuesday.

“Education in particular should become a priority for our longer-term approach.”

These recommendations are part of a 17-point to do list drafted by the former Ontario premier and veteran Liberal politician on how Canada and its international partners should respond to the crisis that has seen more than 670,000 of Rohingyas flee the predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, also known as Burma, to neighbouring Bangladesh following a crackdown by Burmese security forces.

Canada’s envoy to Myanmar issues interim report on Rohingya crisis

The report, entitled Tell them we’re human, also calls on Canada to develop a multi-year funding plan estimated by Rae to cost about $150 million for the next four years.

“Our first obligation is to protect lives,” the report says. “Meeting this obligation will require presence, perseverance, and patience: presence because we cannot cede the entire terrain to those whose commitment to individual freedom and the rule of law has been found badly wanting; perseverance because our efforts will be met with resistance, denial, and at times a refusal to engage; and patience because it will take longer and will require more effort than we currently appreciate.”

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday, Rae said the report’s title was inspired by a conversation at a refugee camp in Bangladesh with a Rohingya teacher.

(click to listen to Bob Rae's statement)

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“I think Canadians need to really appreciate the extent to which that the Rohingya population feels that it has been obliterated, it has been marginalized and it has been lost,” Rae said. “This often happens in the most tragic situations of the world and I think the first recommendation that I make to the government is to give voice and place to the Rohingya people.”

On November 1, 2017, more Rohingya Muslims fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh to join the estimated 700,000 already sheltering there. (Bernat Armangue/AP Photo/file)

So far, however, the Canadian government and the international community in general have failed to influence the behaviour Myanmar's military-dominated government and its civilian figurehead leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar not ready yet for return of Rohingya refugees, says Bob Rae

The military effectively controls the entire government and it’s not clear whether Suu Kyi, a Nobel poet laureate and an honourary Canadian citizen, has any real power, Rae said.

He wished, however, she had spoken out, and would speak out, Rae said.

“I'm not defending anybody,” Rae said. “What's happened in Myanmar is terrible, and I think everyone in the government in Myanmar has to take their share of the responsibility for what's taken place.”

Asked if the persecution of Rohingya is a genocide, Rae said he would not weigh into an academic debate over what meets the legal definition but said there are "disturbing echoes" of situations in past.

Ottawa imposes sanctions on Myanmar general over Rohingya abuses

“The lesson of history is that genocide is not an event like a bolt of lightning,” the report says. “It is a process,

A Russian plan for a five-hour pause in fighting in Syria’s eastern Ghouta needs to be expanded to allow aid deliveries to enter and civilians and urgent medical cases to leave, United Nations officials said on Thursday.

In one of the fiercest onslaughts of Syria’s seven-year civil war, hundreds of people have died in 11 days of bombing of eastern Ghouta, a swathe of towns and farms outside Damascus that is the last major rebel-controlled area near the capital.

The Syrian army and its allies launched ground assaults on the edge of eastern Ghouta on Thursday, backed by a bombardment the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed 11 people.

“You are failing to help us help civilians in Syria,” U.N. humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland told diplomats from 23 states attending a weekly meeting in Geneva.

Extremely dire humanitarian situation

A Syrian soldier loyal to President Bashar al Assad is seen outside eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria February 28, 2018. (Omar Sanadiki/REUTERS)

The humanitarian situation in eastern Ghouta, which has been under siege for more than five years, remains extremely dire, said Marwa Awad, an Egyptian-Canadian who is the head of communications for the UN’s World Food Programme in Syria.

“The siege is a very difficult condition to live in, especially when you have a lot of people,” Awad said.

(click to listen to the interview with Marwa Awad)

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UN ready to move in with aid

The UN estimates there are still about 400,000 people in the rebel-controlled enclave.

The WFP was able to visit the area on Feb. 14 and is preparing another major mission if the truce mandated by the UN Security Council takes hold, Awad said.

“We know that the rates of malnutrition among children under the age of five is very high, it’s in fact the highest in the whole country at 11.9 per cent,” Awad said. “We know that access to food is very difficult, severely difficult, because even though there is fertile land, people don’t have access to the land because of the security situation and danger on the ground.”

Canada calls for immediate ceasefire in Syria

During Thursday’s meeting of the humanitarian taskforce in Geneva, the United Nations received notice that it may get permission from Damascus to go to Douma in eastern Ghouta.

“We have 43 trucks standing by to go there and full warehouses to load into the trucks as soon as we get the permit,” Egeland said.

Life under siege

A young man cleans a damaged house in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria February 25, 2018. (Bassam Khabieh/REUTERS)

Many people told the WFP that they are living in their basements because of constant bombardment that has been escalating in the past two-three weeks, she said.

“This is why the World Food Program and all the humanitarian agencies inside Syria called for a cessation of hostilities for at least 30 days,” Awad said. “We have the capacity to support people as soon as the security on the ground allows us to.”

'Milestone mission'

One are of the country that the WFP has been able to finally get in to is the formerly besieged city of Deir ez-Zor in the country’s east, said Awad who took part in the two-day mission.

“This was a milestone mission for the UN team,” Awad said in an interview from Byblos, Lebanon, where she was attending a workshop.

The purpose of the two-day visit to Deir ez-Zor City and the eponymous governorate in eastern Syria was to assess the food security conditions and general humanitarian situation of the people who had been trapped there during the 17-months-long siege of the city by ISIS forces.

For over a year and a half,