Canadian Coast Guard Long-Term Strategy Discussion Paper: Services pillar: What we deliver for Canada

As of September 2, 2025, the Canadian Coast Guard has moved to the Department of National Defence. The text below was drafted while the Canadian Coast Guard was part of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

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The Canadian Coast Guard delivers a range of important services year round. Some of these services include:

Maintaining aids to navigation like buoys
Performing channel maintenance
Performing maritime search and rescue operations
Responding to wrecked and hazardous ships
Responding to marine pollution incidents
Icebreaking and ice management services
Providing marine communications and traffic services
Offering ships and helicopters to support the work of other federal departments

Marine traffic – whether it is commercial, recreational, or the ferries that connect communities – depends on reliable marine charting, communication systems, and thousands of aids to navigation like buoys. Dredging and channel maintenance keep shipping routes open. Icebreaking keeps waterways and ports accessible in the colder months. And when it comes to incidents on the water, the Canadian Coast Guard is always there to respond. We coordinate and conduct search and rescue operations. We contain and clean up pollution and oil spills. And we remove hazardous vessels and wrecks from our shorelines.

The Canadian Coast Guard operates Canada’s civilian fleet to meet our departmental mandate. Within Fisheries and Oceans Canada, our ships allow scientists to do research that helps to grow our understanding of our oceans and manage our fisheries. They are a platform for the Canadian Hydrographic Service to chart the seafloor – a service that is essential for safe navigation. They also support Conservation and Protection officers in fish habitat restoration and fish stock assessments.

We help other federal departments do important work as well. This work allows the Canadian Coast Guard to help uphold and enforce Canadian laws, promote public safety, and respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Internationally, the Canadian Coast Guard collaborates with other coastal countries to meet the Government of Canada’s priorities related to safety and security.

The Canadian Coast Guard delivers its mandate through our 4 operational regions: Western, Central, Arctic, and Atlantic. The Canadian Coast Guard is also supported by the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary, a network of 4,000 volunteers across the country, including a growing Indigenous Auxiliary, who assist in maritime search and rescue operations. We are also working to create more meaningful partnerships with Indigenous peoples across Canada and support Canada’s commitment to reconciliation. These partnerships will be strengthened through engagement with Indigenous partners and by working together to deliver our services. Building partnerships from coast to coast to coast will also assist Indigenous communities to have a greater role in Canada’s marine safety system.

Our long-term goals

The maritime landscape is changing, both globally and here in Canada, due to new and emerging technologies, climate change, supply chain issues, and international relations. The Canadian Coast Guard will need to evolve with these changes. This will ensure that we can continue to:

Deliver our essential services and programs
Support maritime safety and security, and Canada’s ocean economy
Help manage our oceans

The Canadian Coast Guard will improve how we deliver our services by strengthening our partnerships with other federal departments, Indigenous and international partners, and marine stakeholders. Through these partnerships, we will be able to better meet our responsibilities and Government of Canada objectives. Through it all, the Canadian Coast Guard will expand our partnerships with Indigenous peoples to better reflect Indigenous knowledge and priorities in our decision making.

To keep up with the many changes in the marine landscape while keeping focus on our core operational mandate, the Canadian Coast Guard is exploring approaches to:

Protect Canada’s marine environment for current and future generations
Improve how we work and share information with our partners so that we can provide seamless on-water services to Canadians
Develop stronger partnerships and agreements with Indigenous peoples across Canada
Modernize our services with new technologies and standards so that we can continue to contribute to international security and prosperity
Grow and deliver programs and services so that we support competitive Canadian ports
Continue to build our Arctic Region, including the development of our programs and services in collaboration with Inuit, First Nations, Métis, and other Northern partners
Establish new icebreaking, marine navigation, and response capabilities so that we can protect mariners and the marine environment and enable a strong supply chain
Become a leader in managing on-water incidents in collaboration with other partners who also play a role in responding to incidents
Identify and adopt new tools and methods to reach net-zero emissions goals while continuing to be a leader in providing on-water services
Continue to support ocean science, seafloor charting, enforcement, and other activities with our federal partners in support of Government of Canada priorities

The course to get there

The Canadian Coast Guard is adapting to a constantly changing world. Marine traffic is being affected by changes in the global ocean economy and by new patterns of travel and tourism. Extreme weather and climate change are also impacting our world’s marine life and habitats, including the amount of ice in our waters each year.

Modern service delivery

New technologies such as digital and artificial intelligence are affecting the ways ships navigate and operate. With these new technologies, vessels are becoming highly autonomous. Updated traffic control systems are providing more real-time data that will help the Canadian Coast Guard and the shipping industry predict and manage marine traffic. Search and rescue operations and response to pollution spills are being enhanced through mobile phones and portable beacons. As well, new vessels with different propulsion systems will change the risk and impact of incidents on the water.

Satellites, drones, underwater vehicles, radars, and sensors are providing more real-time data to the Canadian Coast Guard. We use this data to support our activities on the water. For example, drones conduct ice surveys, letting us know where icebreaking is needed. However, improvements are needed so that we can use digital data to effectively provide critical programs and services in an evolving and complex marine landscape.

Strengthening supply chains

Changes within the world-wide supply chain are pushing the Canadian Coast Guard to be more flexible and update how we deliver our services. Increased shipping and events like the COVID-19 pandemic have created global supply chain delays. Paired with the impacts of climate change and evolving international relations, these issues are continuing to grow and change. Countries such as Korea, Singapore, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway are already making strides towards using modern navigation systems and e-navigation. To keep up with our partners, Canada must also adopt these new technologies.

A thriving Canadian Arctic

There is no other place where the effects of climate change will be more obvious than in Canada’s Arctic. As temperatures rise, remote areas in the North will open up for possible travel and development. The Canadian Coast Guard will be called to support the growing needs for the Arctic, including:

Assisting with summer re-supply missions for communities in Canada's North
Contributing to food security and community safety
Responding to maritime incidents, including search and rescue incidents and responding to many hazards
Enhancing contribution to ongoing presence, monitoring, and surveillance as Canada upholds its Arctic sovereignty

This work must, and will, be done in collaboration with Inuit, First Nations, Métis, and other Northern partners. It will also be done in line with the Inuit Nunangat Policy, the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, and through the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee.

Mission ready in an evolving world

The Canadian Coast Guard continues to offer our services after climate events, like hurricanes and floods. As climate disasters happen more often, we will need to be ready to keep offering this help and supporting humanitarian response. Likewise, as the Government of Canada continues to work towards protecting 30% of our oceans by 2030, we will need to identify our role in monitoring and enforcing marine protected areas. The Canadian Coast Guard will also continue to provide ships to support science, fisheries management – such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing – and enforcement.

As the Canadian Coast Guard looks at the emerging technologies such as digital technology it will need in the future, it is committed to being an organization that learns. It will also have a culture that is curious, open to innovation, and is always engaging with others.

Industry and international partners

The Canadian Coast Guard works closely with many partners to deliver our work related to science, security, and economic success. We work with the United States Coast Guard to serve the St. Lawrence waterway and the Great Lakes which includes a 3,700 kilometer corridor. We are also part of many international committees for areas like the Arctic. We support Canada’s world-leading ocean science community, as well as its network of researchers. And we participate in industry forums such as the National Marine Advisory Board. The Canadian Coast Guard will continue to offer its expertise to all our partners and to learn from them.

Taking action

There are many ways to achieve the Canadian Coast Guard’s long-term goals for Services. This includes key actions such as:

Developing our infrastructure so that we can better share digital information with our partners
Continuing to digitize our marine navigational services, including e-navigation, to increase efficiency in marine traffic and enable greener shipping
Supporting Arctic communities by providing ice monitoring services, sharing maritime domain awareness information, and developing e-navigation plans for northern areas
Working with key stakeholders and sharing knowledge with partners in the economic, tourism, and recreation industries – including the Canadian Marine Advisory Council – to identify emerging issues and trends in maritime traffic
Implementing new initiatives in the North that are in line with our commitment to enhance Arctic operations with an “in the North, by the North, and for the North” model
Actively participating in assessing the impacts of major projects by providing advice and expertise on marine navigation, safety, and incident management
Fostering a culture of innovation within the Canadian Coast Guard and seeking employees’ input on how to improve our services
Identifying opportunities for community-based partnerships – such as the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary and Coastal Marine Response Teams – to expand and improve Canada’s marine response network
Positioning the Canadian Coast Guard as the lead federal organization for on-water emergency response
Working closely with other coast guards and navies to identify new best practices and innovations for our services
Creating climate adaptation strategies to ensure that we can continue delivering our services in the face of climate change
Supporting the Government of Canada’s efforts to reduce emissions and do more work on climate vulnerability with our partners
Determining what is needed to support the implementation of marine protected areas
Collaborating with Indigenous governments, organizations, and communities as well as our federal partners to advance reconciliation
Deepening our current relationships and agreements with Indigenous peoples
Partnering with the United States Coast Guard and other international partners to help fulfill Canada’s international obligations
Continuing to work with federal partners – such as Transport Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Canada Border Services Agency, and others – to support Government of Canada priorities

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2026-02-26