Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past May, a private scientific team, lead by Dr. Joe MacInnis discovered and videotaped at least two dozen unknown rectangular objects in the waters off the shores of Cambridge Bay while they were on an expedition looking for Sir John Franklin's ship. Their underwater exploration also confirmed the existence of two large cargo aircraft, numerous vehicles and assorted building materials which are believed to have been left or dumped into the ocean by operators of the Distant Early Warning sites in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I, personally, as a recreational diver, have viewed one of the planes, parts of vehicles, empty oil drums and other debris in the waters around Cambridge Bay.
Mr. Speaker, the discovery of these boxes lead to an intensive exploration and recovery program undertaken by the Canadian military this past August and September. The military operation involved six military divers and at least one herc load of equipment. These divers, over the course of approximately five weeks, recovered a majority of the rectangular boxes. However, the military team did not attempt to recover any of the other debris. There was national coverage of the issue as there was a concern that these boxes may have been parts of electrical equipment containing possible PCBs. There was no immediate concern of potential toxic chemical leakage, as sediment samples taken from the area of the boxes, after their initial discovery, found no sign of PCB contamination. It was later confirmed that there were minimal traces of PCBs in the recovered boxes.
I have raised this issue, as we can all recognize the tons of equipment and debris littering our land around our communities, particularly where there have been a lot of resource or military related activity.
Mr. Speaker, what we don't recognize, and what we have not even begun to address, is the amount and type of contaminants in our waters. Thank you.
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