Sarnia, ON – The Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, is pleased that the Canadian and United States Coast Guards, stakeholders and established responders held a joint “Canada – United States North” (CANUSNORTH) environmental response exercise August 14 and 15, 2012 in the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories.
"We are proud to continuously work with our American counterparts and other partners to ensure we have the best possible environmental response in the Arctic," said Minister Ashfield.
Key industry and regional stakeholders were invited to participate. The National Energy Board of Canada, Inuvialuit Game Council, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and others participated in this discussion-based training exercise. The Coast Guard also delivered environmental response training on the shoreline to selected community members.
The overall objective of the exercise is to improve joint response operations between Canada, the U.S. and regional stakeholders.
Discussion topics included coordination of environmental response, international decision-making procedures regarding the use of dispersants and financial management.
