NUNAVUT - Canada and seven other Arctic nations are set to sign, this spring, an agreement it says will improve search and rescue co-ordination and co-operation in the North.

A Canadian Coast Guard vessel in Frobisher Bay this past summer. Canada, along with seven other Arctic nations, is set to sign this upcoming May in Greenland an agreement it says will improve search-and-rescue co-ordination in the North. - Emily Ridlington/NNSL photo

The eight countries of the Arctic Council -- Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States -- will consider the draft agreement during the council's next foreign affairs ministerial meeting in Nuuk, Greenland, on May 12.

Once signed and ratified by all member states, it will be the council's first legal instrument.

The draft agreement was not made public but existing global search and rescue treaties tend to describe the responsibility of states to provide search and rescue services within defined aeronautical and maritime regions.

Duane Smith, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada, has seen parts of the draft agreement and agrees it will improve co-ordination and efficiency of Arctic rescues. But he added he hopes it will also address training for community residents responding and address infrastructure in those communities to deal with the rescued survivors.

Smith said he is confident the agreement will be ratified.

"Everybody is in agreement with this item to be dealt with," he said. "They see this as being proactive and various exercises are already taking place throughout the Arctic that involve multiple states already. So to some degree, they're already exercising this. They're just putting it into an agreement now."

If ratified, the agreement would demonstrate to the world Arctic states are recognizing the changing climate and increased activity, such as tourism and exploration, said Smith.

"The next step is to ensure infrastructure and the training and the reaction time is timely in that regard," he added.

Last summer, three ships ran aground in Nunavut's Arctic waters, including a cruise ship that ran aground on a rock in the Coronation Gulf near Kugluktuk this past August and a tanker that got stuck on a sandbar near Gjoa Haven a few days later.

Cambridge Bay mayor Syd Glawson said he welcomes the agreement as long as Canada takes the lead in improving search and rescue in waters it controls.

"If we have a problem up here and the government asks for assistance from other countries that have the expertise, that's fine. I agree with that," he said. "We've got to extend our search and rescue capabilities and this is a darn good way to do it."

He added the hamlet has not been consulted yet but he anticipates the federal government will ask them some kind of input. Glawson could also not say what such an agreement would mean for Cambridge Bay as the agreement is still being finalized.

"It could benefit Cambridge Bay if a search and rescue base or even a coast guard base is finally set up here. With the possible expansion of our airport, that could also mean military influx," he said. "We don't know yet."

Gjoa Haven senior administrative officer Enuk Pauloosie said such an agreement would benefit the community, especially since people hunt year-round.

"We'd like to get more involved in that area of business because we do need a lot of help from any organization or any government agency to improve our search and rescue tactics," he said. "A lot of times, the local people are using their own equipment to go out and search because search and rescue don't have the equipment to do the job."

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