STATEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA
Mr. Chairman,
On behalf of the Government of Canada, I would like at the outset to congratulate you on
your election to this most important post. Under your able leadership we have every
confidence in the success of this conference and every expectation that it will realize
the lofty objectives set for it. I would like to pledge the support and commitment of my
delegation to working with you and all Member States in ensuring the success of this
event.
I would also like extend my delegation's gratitude and congratulations to the Office of
Outer Space Affairs and its staff for the extraordinary work they have done in preparing
for UNISPACE III-work all the more impressive given their resource and time constraints.
We note with some sadness the upcoming retirements of the Director of the Office of Outer
Space Affairs and the UN Expert on Space Applications. Dr. Jasentuliyana and Dr. Abiodun
have served the Committee and the Office with great distinction, advancing considerably
our shared goal of spreading the benefits of space science and technology around the
world. They will both be sorely missed.
Mr. Chairman,
This is a momentous occasion. The goal of the Third United Nations Conference on the
Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is nothing less than the articulation of a
vision for the international space community. On the eve of a new millennium, we
collectively, the peoples of the world, have a unique opportunity to join hands in
defining and implementing this vision, to help solve the problems of our era for the
benefit of all peoples and all nations, in particular through heightened international
space cooperation.
Mr. Chairman,
The objectives of this conference echo those underlying the Canadian Space Program. The
mandate of the Canadian Space Agency is to promote the peaceful use and development of
space, to advance the knowledge of space through science, and to ensure that space science
and technology provide social and economic benefits for all Canadians. All of Canada's
accomplishments in space have held these objectives at the fore. In 1962, Canada became
the third country in space with the launch of Alouette- 1. In 1972, Canada became the
first nation to have a domestic, commercial geostationary telecommunications system and,
in 1976, the first to use direct broadcast satellite television. Having developed the
Space Shuttle's Canadarm, during the 1980s and the International Space Station's Mobile
Servicing System during the 1990s, Canada has become the world's leader in space robotics.
With the 1995 launch of RADARSAT.
1. Canada developed the world's first and most advanced commercial radar remote sensing
satellite system..
Working with several partners, images from Radarsat have been supplied to users in over
fifty countries and have been used for a variety of applications, including disaster
management, natural resource management and environmental surveillance. These activities
have promoted the objectives of this conference and generated significant socio-economic
benefits in Canada and abroad. And Canada has a large and experienced astronaut corps and
undertakes world-class space science research and space technology development. In all
this, Canada has chosen niches, programs, and activities based on their promise for
achieving one over-riding objective: using space for the benefit of Canadians and
humanity.
But however successful we have been in the in the past, Mr. Chairman, the Government of
Canada recognizes that our success in the future will depend on our ability to respond to
the profound changes taking place in the global space context. The end of the Cold War has
ushered in a new era of international cooperation in space, providing new opportunities
for partnerships and creating a new sense of urgency for addressing long-neglected global
problems. The decline or leveling-off in public sector civil space expenditures has been
accompanied by an explosion of private sector space activity, driven by rapidly-increasing
consumer demand for space-based services and applications. Important new players are
entering the global space arena, including some developing countries that can now offer
world-class spacerelated capabilities on the global market place. Governments and
industries world-wide are pursuing a "faster, better, cheaper" approach to space
projects as a result of increasing cost and competitive pressures, leading to the
development of small and micro satellites and lower cost launchers. And space sector
market forces, the life cycle for space products, and the introduction of new services for
consumers are all accelerating, driven by greater competition, ever-improving and
converging technologies, and the growing role of capital markets in financing projects.
Canada's new space programme, approved earlier this year and unveiled outside Canada for
the first time today, was conceived to respond to this challenging new environment. This
new Space Plan, the particulars of which are outlined in the National Paper of Canada,
will allow the Canadian Space Agency and its partners, particularly the Canada Centre
for Remote Sensing and the Communications Research Centre, to better implement our
country's activities in the five priority areas: Earth and Environment, Space Sciences,
Human Presence in Space, Satellite Communications, and Space Technology. The new plan,
while providing new and stable resources, emphasizes user needs and makes a strong
contribution to the knowledge-based economy by leveraging Canadian government funding
through partnerships, both domestic and international.
In the Earth and Environment component, Canada's new Plan targets activities in the Space
Environment, Atmospheric Environment, and Surface Environment, while at the same time
strengthening the country's Earth observation capabilities with an Advanced Imager
Program, a Ground Infrastructure Program and a Disaster Management and Surveillance
Program. In the Space Science Program, our new space plan will consist of programs in
Space Astronomy, Space Exploration, Life Sciences, and Microgravity Sciences. Our Human
Presence in Space Program will consist of our participation International Space Station
Program and our astronaut program. In Satellite Communications, our Flight Demonstration
and Applications Development programs will develop the next generation multimedia
payloads, user terminals, and networks. Finally, in Space Technologies, our new program
will consist of programs in Leapfrog Technologies, Flight Demonstration, and Technology
Commercialization.
In all this, Mr. Chairman, the Canadian Space Program will be built-as it has always
been-on international cooperation. Indeed virtually all of Canada's space activities
entail some kind of international collaboration. Canada's commitment to being a full
partner in the largest and most complex international science and technology project in
history, the International Space Station, is evidenced in Canada's contribution of the
Mobile Servicing System, the robotic system that will be used to assemble and maintain the
Station in orbit. Similarly, Canada's RADARSAT- 1 Program involved close cooperation with
NASA, as does the Canadian Astronaut Program. Our Space Technology development activities
are undertaken in extensive collaboration with ESA, with which Canada has for twenty years
enjoyed a unique status as the only nonEuropean Cooperating State. And our Space Science
activities are pursued in collaboration with countries such as Russia, Japan, the United
States, and Sweden and other ESA member countries. As we further define and implement our
new space activities, we very much welcome expressions of interest from States assembled
here for further potential cooperation.
Mr. Chairman,
The Canadian delegation is committed to the success of UNISPACE In and will participate in
all aspects of this conference. We intend to make a number of statements in both
Committees. We have sponsored a large pavilion in the Exhibit, consisting of a number of
governmental, industrial, and academic partner organizations, and to which all are
invited. We are sponsoring and organizing three events in the Technical Forum, including
an all-day Workshop on Geospatial Data Access on July 26, an all-day Workshop on
Developing Indigenous Earth Observation Industrial Capabilities in Developing Countries on
July 27, and a Remote Cardiac Consultation and Diagnosis Tele-Health Demonstration on the
afternoon of July 26, as part of the DLR/ASI Telemedicine Workshop. And finally, we have
sponsored a large contingent of Canadian delegates and organizers to the Space Generation
Forum.
Mr. Chairman,
Canadian sociologist Marshall McLuhan's prediction of a global village has become a
reality. The world has entered a new era, in which accessing information has become nearly
effortless, in which our lives are increasingly influenced by global ideas and values, and
in which information and the services related to it will drive an economy many times more
important than the industrial production of the world's nations.
But the world has also entered an era in which we recognize that humankind is exhausting
our planet's capacity to sustain our ever-growing population and that we may be spending
the wellbeing of future generations for the sake of current consumption. We are waking to
the environmental challenge, gaining a new appreciation of the fragility of life on Earth.
Gradually, we are changing our behaviour. Out of a globally shared sense of responsibility
is emerging a sustained effort to limit waste and pollution, protect our flora and fauna,
and undo the harm done
to the Earth's environment.
It is space, and more precisely our strategic and effective use of space, which will allow
us to bridge the information age with our newly-acquired appreciation of the fragility of
the Earth, an appreciation given a new depth an impetus as a result of the fantastic
pictures taken by Apollo I I astronauts as they first stepped on the Moon 30 years ago
today.
Yet much remains to be done. Satellite communications systems, the catalysts of the new
global society, have far to go before reaching their full potential, when instantaneous,
practical and affordable communications will be possible from any point of the globe to
any other point, anytime of day. Much also remains to be done in satellite remote sensing.
The unique vantage point that space provides will enable instantaneous monitoring of
changes on Earth and provide us with a much better understanding of our planet's fragile
environment and limited resources. Likewise, we have only just begun our journey of
discovery in space science, a journey that promises enormous challenges and rewards. And
in space exploration we are on the threshold of establishing permanent habitation in
space, expanding profoundly the frontiers of human experience.
These endeavours are linked: we will only understand the viability of continued,
sustainable life on Earth for all nations and peoples when we have learned more about our
planet, our solar system and our universe.
Let us today imagine a future where our collective actions, leveraging the best each of us
has to offer through cooperation, have improved the quality of life of our children and
the long term health of our home planet. This is the challenge before us as we enter the
21st Century.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you.