The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, and Dr. Colin Carrie, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment, hosted a "live dive event" at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presenting an exclusive, up-close and personal tour of HMS Erebus and live chat via webcast with the experts of Parks Canada's Underwater Archaeology Team in the High Arctic. Minister Clement and Dr. Carrie participated in the event on behalf of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada.
Parks Canada Underwater Archaeology Team (UAT) has led the search for Franklin's ships for close to a decade and is continuing as the lead role in the April dive on HMS Erebus. The research effort will provide approximately one week of intensive diving on the wreck, located in the Eastern part of Queen Maud Gulf, west of the Adelaide Peninsula. The UAT has deployed all members to ensure maximum dive time, a full suite of archaeology, documentation and photography/videography support, and full technical and equipment provisions during the approximate five-day period.
For almost 170 years, expeditions have scoured the Canadian Arctic in an attempt to learn the fate of the Franklin Expedition. In September 2014, a multilateral partnership led by Canada resulted in the finding of one of the two lost Franklin vessels, HMS Erebus, igniting world-wide attention for this significant discovery.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today marked the conclusion of a highly productive visit to Canada by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. The two-day visit, which included stops in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, was Prime Minister Modi's first visit to Canada since taking office and the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister since 1973.