I have a return to Written Question 26-12(6), asked by Mr. Patterson to the Minister of Transportation concerning the responsibilities for medium-sized vessels in ocean waters of the Northwest Territories.
On Monday, October 31, 1994, the Member for Iqaluit submitted a written question to the Minister of Transportation inquiring about the jurisdictional responsibility for vessels of the type involved in the recent tragedy in Iqaluit.
Under the authority of the Canada Shipping Act, the federal Minister of Transport is responsible for vessels in Canadian navigable waters. So far as vessel safety in the Northwest Territories is concerned, the Canadian Coast Guard - Ship Safety Northern administers the act and its regulations.
As of this writing, the details of the vessel involved in the Frobisher Bay accident are not known. If the vessel was larger than 15 gross registered tons and used in a commercial fishing operation or carried passengers or goods for hire, reward or any form of remuneration, it would be subject to inspection and certification by the Canadian Coast Guard - Ship Safety Northern once every four years.
It is likely that the Iqaluit hunters were engaged in subsistence harvesting, in which case, regardless of the size of the vessel, it would fall under the small vessel regulations pursuant to the Canada Shipping Act. The small vessel regulations are directed at pleasure and recreational vessels and require only that such vessels carry minimal basic safety equipment: life-preservers, paddle, bailing bucket, 20 metres of line and anchor, et cetera.
The regulations may be enforced by a "peace officer" which means a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, harbour or river police, provincial, county or municipal police or anyone the Minister may so appoint. In practice, the small vessel regulations for pleasure and recreational vessels are, at best, erratically and inconsistently enforced in Canada. Due to the number of deaths in the Iqaluit accident, a Mr. Pierre Murray of the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation Safety Board (CTAISB) is in Iqaluit to investigate the accident and determine its cause.