Media Coverage on Northern Exposure ...
Northern strategy's human factor TheStar.com - Opinion - Northern strategy's human factor
NATHAN DENETTE/THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO
Houses overlook Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit, Nunavut Territory. In many parts of the North, housing is inadequate and too many people live in overcrowded conditions that foster the spread of infectious diseases.
August 16, 2009
Frances Abele
Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University
p. A15
Last month the federal government released its long-awaited strategy for the North. Following up on the 2007 throne speech commitment, "Canada's Northern Strategy" focuses on four priority areas, or "pillars": exercising our Arctic sovereignty, promoting economic and social development, protecting the North's environmental heritage and improving and devolving northern governance, "so that northerners have a greater say in their own destiny."
While there have already been several announcements along those lines and significant budget commitments in recent years, the emphasis to date has been on sovereignty concerns and an approach to economic development exclusively based on natural resources.
Yet one of the overarching messages to come out of the research and commentary featured in the Institute for Research on Public Policy's new book, Northern Exposure: Peoples, Powers and Prospects for Canada's North, is the central importance of the other pillars of the northern strategy – in particular, social development and improved governance. These are necessary ingredients to achieve a balanced and modern approach to northern development, one in which northerners have the same opportunities and degree of control over their destinies as do other Canadians.
The elaboration of a northern strategy built upon a recognition of the interdependence of environmental, economic and social development goals is the true challenge for policy-makers. The gaps in life chances between Canadians in general and many northerners, particularly aboriginal people, are deeply unsettling and unacceptable.
Although the severity of the problem varies, in many parts of the North housing is inadequate. Too many people live in overcrowded conditions that foster the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza. Daily life is unnecessarily stressful for all family members. Women and children are particularly vulnerable, as they may literally have nowhere to go when they seek to leave violent domestic situations.
Overcrowding and the attendant physical and mental health consequences make it difficult for children to study and relax at home, harming their performance at school. This can have permanent consequences for their future employability or their ability to pursue post-secondary education to qualify for the better paid jobs in the emerging northern economy.
Overcrowding at home is not the only problem that leads to the lower educational attainment of aboriginal children. The education system itself contributes to the problem. A particular issue is that in many small communities there is a very high turnover rate for teachers, many of whom are short-term migrants from elsewhere in Canada. All regions of the North could benefit from having more northern-trained educators whose work conditions encourage them to remain in communities and to develop the deep connections with families there that are a condition of success. So much depends upon effective educational opportunities for permanent northern residents.
In health care, problems of hard infrastructure are exacerbated by the lack of human and social capital. There is a shortage of health-care professionals at all levels, as well as very high costs involved in serving people in the numerous small centres. Often, primary medical care is still provided by visiting practitioners from the south, with all the costs and discontinuities of care that implies. And almost all diagnosis and treatment of serious disease requires that patients be flown to southern centres. Some progress has been made in developing innovative means to cope with northern distances (using Internet and video-conferencing, for example) but these efforts are hampered by a persistent shortage of long-term, committed and well-trained professionals.
From a community perspective, all these factors converge and reinforce one another. Investment in one area, without attention to the others, is unlikely to address these widespread problems. Decisions about economic development, social services expenditures, health-care arrangements, educational opportunities, and recreational facilities can have cumulative effects in small communities. An effective teacher leaves because of inadequate housing or lack of suitable health care in the community, and in the transition to a new teacher many children in the community fall behind. As a result, fewer leave school with the knowledge necessary for employment, post-secondary education or active citizenship.
Similarly, while major natural resource projects may provide necessary jobs, they also disrupt essential harvesting activities and social relations. Strong communities, with well-trained and locally committed residents, stand a much better chance of benefiting from impending economic changes and averting their most damaging effects.
A truly integrated northern strategy will require more than balanced investment in social and economic development. It will require an innovative approach to policy that takes account of the global forces affecting life in the North and its future prospects while it places a particular focus on the well-being of its communities and residents.
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper undertakes his annual northern visit and the issues of sovereignty, climate change and economic development resurface in the headlines, the human dimension of Canada's northern future should occupy its rightful place: front and centre.
Frances Abele is co-editor of Northern Exposure: Peoples, Powers and Prospects for Canada's North, published recently by the Institute for Research on Public Policy.
France St-Hilaire’s interview on the HOUSE, CBC Radio’s Saturday morning political magazine show.
Aired: Saturday August 15, 2009.
Transcripts below.
THE HOUSE
THE HOUSE
Sat Aug 15 2009, 9:10am ET
Byline: RITA CELLI
RITA CELLI (HOST):
I'm Rita Celli, sitting in for Kathleen Petty. This is The House.
(Intro music)
Packing suitcases, unpacking them; it's always a little easier to hit the road in the summer. The prime minister is freshening up the laundry after his trip to sunny Guadalajara. His finance minister has taken another swing through China.
JIM FLAHERTY (MINISTER OF FINANCE):
This is an incredible market so it's an opportunity without parallel really in the world.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
Jim Flaherty explains why China has become such a must-see destination for so many of Canada's movers and shakers. It's a mouth-watering dream for the NDP. Remember how Jack Layton made it clear at every whistle-stop during the last election?
JACK LAYTON (NDP LEADER):
Well, good morning, everybody! I'm Jack Layton and I'm running for prime minister!
(Cheers)
RITA CELLI (HOST):
This week, New Democrats are looking for their Holy Grail in Halifax. Will they find it in stardust from the Obama campaign or can they get that winning feeling simply by changing their name? Also on today's program, a treasure chest of this country's railway history. Louise Elliott looks at why the federal government isn't racing to save a museum bursting with Canadiana. They come by train, by bus, by air, but he prime minister says “Too many phony refugees are getting into the country.” So why does the U.N. give Canada a gold star? Plus, with his travel suits, steamed and pressed, the prime minister gets ready for another plane ride, his cabinet too, this time, to the polar icecaps.
FRANCE ST-HILAIRE (AUTHOR, “NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADA'S NORTH”):
As children, we're often told about the North Pole and Santa and these wonderful, beautiful, white landscapes.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
The Arctic is more than a fantasy. We'll look at why the federal government is suddenly so serious about the North. This is the travel edition of The House, Canada's most popular political affairs program, no question, period.
© 2009 CBC. All Rights Reserved.
THE HOUSE
THE HOUSE
Sat Aug 15 2009, 9:10am ET
Byline: RITA CELLI
RITA CELLI (HOST):
Stephen Harper is packing his bags again this weekend. On Monday, he heads north for what is becoming an annual summer trip to the Arctic. Over the next week, he will visit all three territories, hold a cabinet meeting in Iqaluit, and he'll get an up-close look at part of the Canadian military's sovereignty exercise Operation Nanook. Just a few weeks ago, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Chuck Strahl officially revealed the government's northern strategy.
CHUCK STRAHL (MINISTER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT):
Canada is a northern nation, an arctic nation. The North is a fundamental part of our Canadian heritage and our sense of who we are. My colleagues and I recognize the tremendous opportunities and the challenges that are present in the North today. Now more than ever, we see the potential of the North.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
France St-Hilaire also sees that potential. She's co-editor of the book “Northern Exposure: Peoples, Powers and Prospects in Canada's North” France St- Hilaire is joining us from Montreal. Welcome to The House.
FRANCE ST-HILAIRE (CO-EDITOR, “NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADA'S NORTH”):
Thank you. Thanks for inviting me.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
They say in your book that the North has long held a special place in our country's narrative. What does it mean to you?
FRANCE ST-HILAIRE (CO-EDITOR, “NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADA'S NORTH”):
Well, you know, when we grow up as children, we're often told about the North Pole and Santa and we have also in our imagination these wonderful, beautiful, white landscapes, et cætera. And I think most Canadians think of themselves as, you know, living in a northern country but, you know, when you examine it more closely, I mean, most of us live on the southern border of the country and we know that there are people up there but we're not very familiar with both the living conditions and the actual reality of the North and also, some of the tremendous change that is occurring up north as a result of things like climate change, the sovereignty issues that have been raised in the last few years as melting ice opens up new access to these northern regions and it's a global phenomena. We also know that there are vast reserves of natural resources up north so all of these forces of kind of converging on our northern regions and, you know, one of the reasons we undertook this project was to take a closer look at how these changes are affecting northerners, those who live there and who, depending on how we manage this change, the decisions that are made in the future, whether it's for economic development or sovereignty reasons, will have the most profound impact on their daily lives.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
So what you are saying now, we have a Conservative government that is paying a lot more attention to the Arctic. It unveiled a northern strategy in July. The prime minister is taking another trip. What do you make of all that interest?
FRANCE ST-HILAIRE (CO-EDITOR, “NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADA'S NORTH”):
Well, I think, I mean, it is quite commendable that the government has identified the North as a priority for Canada because it is definitely one of the defining issues for the country in years to come and the document that was released a few weeks ago articulates the government's vision, what it sees as the future of the North and what its approach to this is going to be. So from that perspective, I think that it is quite positive. When we look at the actual announcements and budget commitments and initiatives of the government so far, because there have been many in the last two years, we feel in our analysis, I mean there a lot of important and positive things, but the balance among the four pillars and I'll just mention them very quickly, you know, 1)to establish our sovereignty or exercise our sovereignty in the North, 2)to protect the environment, 3)to promote economic and social developments and 4)to improve and evolve northern governance, those are the four pillars; the activity on these four fronts has not been equal and the evidence is mixed so far, so I think, you know, there's still a lot more work to do.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
Well, it's not just Canada rediscovering the North; it is a goldmine, so to speak, very rich in natural resources discovered and undiscovered. Many countries would like a piece of it. I wonder if you could offer your perspective on how the Canadian government should deal with, well, the increased activity, steamer ships, mining claims perhaps, and still maintaining our own stake in the region.
FRANCE ST-HILAIRE (CO-EDITOR, “NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADA'S NORTH”):
It should be said that, you know, we have this impression there's this international race for the Arctic and northern resources but there are international processes in place and all this is taking place in very orderly fashion so, in that sense, all the right things are being done but it's important to look at the other aspects, you know. We know that climate change, the impact of climate change is manifesting itself much more rapidly and much more strongly in the North.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
You have a… You make a strong case for the role of the local people, what they should play in terms of the development of the North.
FRANCE ST-HILAIRE (CO-EDITOR, “NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADA'S NORTH”):
Absolutely. In fact, in the government documents, you'll see that the first statement, in terms of the northern vision, the government states that its objective, its goal is to ensure that Northerners have more control over their destinies and when we undertook this project, it was also our sense that because Northerners will be affected first and foremost by many of the decisions that will be made in the future on all of these fronts, that they should have a seat at the table and be able to have a say and be able to make decisions that will allow then to sort of define what their future is going to be, what their economy is going to look like and also, to be able to benefit from any prosperity that might come from that and also be able to preserve their ways of life, their cultures and traditions.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
Now, you've actually set out there quite ambitious goals in one sense for the local people. The government itself also has big goals for that part of the country and it's massive, right? A few people, reasonable people, would dispute that the local people there should obviously play a key role but I want to hear your reflections on this point too because on the other hand, there are just more than what, like 100 000 people spread out over this incredible distance? Is it realistic that they're going to have all the answers?
FRANCE ST-HILAIRE (CO-EDITOR, “NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADA'S NORTH”):
No, not all the answers and you're absolutely right to point that out. I mean, that was one of the first things that you learn when you start studying the North, it's how vast, you know, it's almost 40 percent of Canada's landmass and we're talking about 115 000 population which is less than the population of Prince Edward Island but, you know, some of the tremendous changes that have been occurring in the last few decades are land claims agreement and treaties that have been negotiated with aboriginal people and this has been, you know, it's not recognized how innovative, creative and important progress this has brought in terms of ensuring that Northerners and aboriginal people in particular will be able to play a role and to, at least influence, their future.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
Well, you've certainly given us something to think about as the prime minister and his cabinet head up to the Arctic. Thank you for your time.
FRANCE ST-HILAIRE (CO-EDITOR, “NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADA'S NORTH”):
You're quite welcome.
RITA CELLI (HOST):
France St-Hilaire is vice-president in charge of research at the Institute for Research and Public Policy. She's co-editor of a new book “Northern Exposure: Peoples, Powers and Prospects in Canada's North”.
© 2009 CBC. All Rights Reserved.
Life on the mean streets of Iqaluit; A photo of two 10-year-old boys sleeping outside in Nunavut has sparked debate about the region's social problems
The Globe And Mail
Sat Aug 15 2009
Page: A8
Section: National News
Byline: Anna Mehler Paperny And Sara Minogue
Dateline: TORONTO and IQALUIT
TORONTO and IQALUIT -- RCMP had seen the boy before. Many times, in fact: Sometimes his parents would call the police and report that their son was missing; other times police would find the 10-year-old wandering the streets of Iqaluit at night, just to avoid going home.
They were used to bringing him back to his parents night after night, said Iqaluit RCMP Staff Sergeant Leigh Tomfohr.
"He just doesn't like to stay at home. ... He was just basically a runaway, if you want to call it that. They have a hard time containing him and keeping him at home."
A photo of the boy, curled up asleep just a few feet from another 10-year- old, has sparked outrage in the Northern community, as well as a debate on just how extreme the region's social problems are.
The children lie next to the wall of the Northmart supermarket in Iqaluit, the riding of federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq. It is 6:30 on a Sunday morning. The boy to the rear is wearing shorts.
A few hours after the picture was taken on July 26, the federal government held a joint press conference, involving three ministers who outlined Ottawa's strategy on sovereignty and Northern development, talking of their hope for the area.
In a region the federal and territorial governments say they are determined to develop, thousands of young people, many of whom grew up in dysfunctional or abusive environments, find themselves without education or employment prospects in the territorial capital.
On Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make his sixth visit to the territory since taking office. He will be visiting a place where the suicide rate outpaces the national figure by 11 to one.
Painting a complete picture of how many runaway young boys exist is not possible because formal numbers are not collated unless the young are placed in care. But for Nunavut's youngest, the risks are high. The youth suicide statistic alone is troubling.
In Nunavut, where Mr. Harper will spend five days, the number of suicides among boys aged 15 to 19 is 40 times higher than in the rest of Canada. Although the rate of suicides for that age group decreased in the past five years, the suicide rate more than doubled for 10- to 14-year-old boys over that same period.
Amanda Eegeesiak saw the sleeping boys that Sunday morning, took the pictures and phoned the RCMP. By the time they arrived, one boy had already gone. Authorities haven't seen him since.
The other boy, well known to them, was taken home. Staff Sgt. Tomfohr said police contacted social services and the boy is now "somewhere safe." The police officer declined to say if the boy was at home or not.
"If there was any kind of criminal activity there, [social services] would have notified us to step back in," he said.
Ms. Eegeesiak sent the photos to the Nunatsiaq News, where their publication garnered thousands of outraged responses - and a degree of blowback for having published them in the first place, Ms. Eegeesiak's mother Evie later told The Globe.
"I almost started crying when I saw the photos," she told The Globe in an earlier interview. "Nobody's out to help them. Nobody's there for them. You can't just leave them on the street. What if it was wintertime? You'd be finding little bodies all over the place. It's awful. It's horrible."
The boy's mother spoke with CBC-TV yesterday, and said she was "humiliated" by the attention the photo of him has generated. The mother of five said the police officers who brought her son home called her one of the worst parents they had ever met.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Aglukkaq said the Minister would consider giving an interview next week.
RCMP and social workers say this case is a rare occurrence in Iqaluit. The temperature that night never fell below 16 degrees, aided by the long hours of summer daylight.
Some close to the social problems of Nunavut believe the image is emblematic of a growing crisis, but "crisis" is a term rejected by Lorne MacLeod, Iqaluit's supervisor of social services. Iqaluit has six social workers for the city of 7,000. Each worker has 30 cases.
"Personally I don't think that, you know, it's a crisis situation. I think for the most part when we're made aware of a child at risk we are in a position to respond to that," he said. "There's obviously a wish-list and I'm sure that's the same anywhere you go, you know? We do, I think, a really good job with what we have and, yeah, we are sort of leaning on the resources that are inherent in this community."
Iqaluit resident Caroline Anawak, who used to be the territory's co- ordinator for mental health issues, said the photo that has the city in an uproar represents a crisis few are willing to confront head-on.
"These young kids, you see them walking around at midnight, you see them breaking into cars, you see them stealing food. ... All of that is symptomatic of a great number of people who've been left behind in that ugly grinding reality of poverty, of disconnection from services, of family dysfunction at home and nowhere to go and 'Who cares where I am?' "
The territory's housing commission, MLAs and unelected community leaders have reported extreme overcrowding due to a housing shortage - of affordable housing, especially - resulting in some kids simply leaving home at night to find an alternative place to rest their heads.
"It might be that there's drinking and for your own safety, lying beside a garbage can is your alternative," Ms. Anawak said.
Sixty per cent of the territory's population is under 25, Statistics Canada reports.
Nunavut MLA Ron Elliott said there is an anonymity for some in the city of Iqaluit. In some ways, he said, children are better supported in rural communities where everyone knows them and their parents. But the challenge for the smaller communities is combatting isolation and a paucity of resources.
What's missing, he argues, is a body dedicated to children's welfare: Nunavut is one of only three Canadian jurisdictions without a youth advocate. (The other two are Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories.) The Yukon set up its own youth department earlier this year. Mr. Elliott and Nunavut's Justice Minister Keith Peterson have been vocal advocates of an office dedicated to youth and children's welfare.
Nunavut's youth are hit with a multilayered identity crisis - they're grappling with divergent and often conflicting cultures and ways of life, being raised in families often scarred by historical trauma and abuse and struggling to forge their futures in an area where educational and employment opportunities can be hard to come by.
"I think sometimes our youth feel a lot of despair," Mr. Elliott said. "They don't know where they are going to go and what they're going to do."
Nathaniel Chouinard, 22, knows how that feels. Growing up in 720-person Arctic Bay and picked on as a child for having a white father and Inuit mother, he got out of town the first chance he got.
"If you want a higher education you've got to leave town; if you want a better job, you've got to leave town. Basically for almost everything, I think, you've got to leave town."
Mr. Chouinard is used to hearing friends talk about wanting to kill themselves; he can instantly think of five childhood friends who committed suicide.
"A lot of guys, they want to kill themselves 'cause they don't know their actual role."
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak suggested the social problems found in Iqaluit are not unlike what can be found in other cities across the country.
The Premier also said the media tend to overemphasize Nunavut's problems while ignoring recent gains in employment, languages, housing and education.
"Just like anywhere else in the cities or towns across Canada, there are negative things that are happening as well as positive things, and Nunavut is no exception," she said. "The media will certainly concentrate on one area, most times unfortunately on our negative side of things, and not so much on the positive things that have been happening in Nunavut since the creation of the territory."
In a territory where it is not uncommon for 20 people to live together in a two-bedroom home, Ms. Aariak said building new housing is a key priority for improving the lives of Nunavut's residents.
"We still need a lot more houses to address our situation, but within the last five years, 930 houses have been built," she said. "We need a lot more, but to show you there is progress in the areas that need to be addressed badly."
Carleton University professor Frances Abele, who has written extensively on Arctic development, said in many ways Nunavut is still young, and still figuring out how to deal with the needs of its population. After a decade of establishing itself politically, "now the time has come when they have to build a society," she said.
"That may take another 20 years."
With reports from
Jennifer MacMillan and Bill Curry
THE GREENLAND MODEL
The distance between Iqaluit, Nunavut, to Nuuk, the capital city of Greenland, is about 800 kilometres - but in terms of development, the two are a universe apart. Greenland is decades ahead of Canada's North when it comes to economic self-sufficiency, social and physical health indicators. It has taken steps in addressing its at-risk youth in ways Canadian leaders are still discussing.
Capital resources
The suicide rate in 17,000-person Nuuk has declined steadily since 1980 - it's now about a third what it was 30 years ago - thanks in large part to social services, resources and infrastructure concentrated in the urban centre.
Meeqqat Inuusuttullu Pillugit
Ilusimasaqarfik
MIPI is a centre dedicated to studying and tracking the welfare of children and youth in Greenland. Founded in 2001 and funded by the Greenland government, its reports have sparked "massive debate" on child and youth poverty, says spokeswoman Lona Lynge. MIPI's 2008 Children's Standard of Living report documented the effects on children of families strained by poverty.
Ilisimatusarfik -
University of Greenland
When Canadians talk of the importance of an Arctic university to foster local education and preserve Inuit culture, this is the school they hope to emulate: It has four departments, 150 students and a $3.1-million annual budget; it offers baccalaureates, master's degrees and PhD programs, and features courses taught in Danish and Greenlandic.
Ports and wharfs
Greenland has extensive marine infrastructure in almost every major coastal community, supporting a burgeoning fishing industry, says University of British Columbia professor Michael Byers. Nunavut, by contrast, has no sizable harbours: Its fishing community is often forced to process their catch at sites in Greenland, which many argue robs jobs that could otherwise be sustained on Canada's Arctic coast.
Political devolution
Greenland's government is far more independent than Canada's Northern territories - so much so that its population voted in a referendum in November, 2008, to devolve from Denmark, giving it partial independence - and more control over its gas, gold and diamond reserves - after 300 years of Danish rule.
Anna Mehler Paperny
*****
Social problems in the North
DIAGNOSED PSYCHOSOCIAL PROBLEMS
A 2000 study examined 110 clients taking part in a oneyear continuous psychiatric consultation series in Iqaluit.
Family conflict/ stress 35%
Marital/ relationship stress 26
Victim of abuse 25
Disability/ medical illness 17
Legal charges/ problems 16
Job stress 15
Social isolation 12
Parental/ familial neglect 10
School problems 9
Noncompliance with medication 9
Bereavement 7
Cultural difficulty 6
Homelessness 5
Relocation stress 5
Psychiatrists diagnosed a number of psychosocial problems in the patients.
Note: Individuals may have more than one stressor, percentages add up to more than 100%
THE GLOBE AND MAIL // SOURCES: COMMUNITY PSYCHIATRY IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC, FALL, ; JACK HICKS, NORTHERN EXPOSURE: PEOPLES, POWERS AND PROSPECTS IN CANADAíS NORTH; THE WORKING GROUP FOR A SUICIDE PREVENTION STRATEGY FOR NUNAVUT, APRIL, 2009
© 2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Whose North is it, anyway?
The Ottawa Citizen
Fri Aug 14 2009
Page: A13
Section: News
Byline: Thomas J. Courchene
Source: Citizen Special
The Harper government recently released "Canada's Northern Strategy," anchored on the four pillars of sovereignty, environmental sustainability, socio-economic development, and devolution. Based on research published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), a dedicated strategy for our North is most welcome and long overdue. In general, most Canadians are comfortable with the government's Arctic policies and are becoming increasingly aware that all Canadians, not just those who live north of 60, have a social, cultural and economic interest in the successful development of the North.
The one pillar where there may be some anxiety is that which is concerned with devolution, especially resource devolution. Some of this anxiety no doubt arises from the rather astonishing values of per-capita cash transfers to the territorial governments under the Territorial Formula Financing (TFF), the territorial version of the provinces' equalization program. These values (with the percentage of total territorial revenue they account for in brackets) are: Yukon -- $18,166 (65 per cent); NWT -- $18,704 (65 per cent): and Nunavut -- $30,265 (81 per cent). Compared to the highest per capita provincial equalization payment (PEI -- $2,300) the territories appear to qualify as fiscal wards of the central government and as such one must be careful when it comes to further devolution, or so the story would go.
But this interpretation would be quite misleading. The first point to note in this respect is that the territories have very high values of per capita GDP. Indeed, the NWT has far and away the highest per capita GDP ($97,923), with Alberta a distant second ($69,789). Yukon ranks third and Nunavut eighth. To be sure, while some of this relates to their high transfer level, the reality is that the NWT has a strong mineral base.
The question then becomes: if GDP in the NWT is so large why is the TFF transfer for the NWT still so high? Part of the answer is that the expenses associated with northern resource enterprises (transporting workers and machinery, capital expenditure and depreciation, infrastructure spending) are very high and, therefore, serve to reduce profits and corporate income taxes per unit of output or GDP.
The second part is that these high resource-driven per capita GDP levels do not convert to large own-source revenues in large measure because the NWT does not have a resource devolution agreement with Ottawa.
Third, the territories get precious little in income tax revenues from the many "fly in" workers in the territorial resource enterprises: rather, the "provincial" component of these workers' personal income tax is paid to the province where they reside on Dec. 31, and one presumes that most of the spending of these fly-in workers is also undertaken in their home province. Surely, this needs some rethinking: since fly-in workers are likely to be an important permanent part of the territorial economic model, why not allow the territories to collect the territorial personal income taxes from these workers and have Ottawa and the provinces agree that these territorial taxes will be a credit against any provincial taxes owing under the existing Dec. 31 tax convention?
Given all of this, since Ottawa's decisions ensure that the territories' own-source revenue capacity does not benefit much from resource development, Ottawa must therefore (following TFF requirements) fill the resulting gap between a territory's expenditure needs and its revenue means with a correspondingly higher TFF transfer. Lest one think that this is a burden on the federal treasury, data for 2004 indicate that Ottawa's revenues from the NWT were actually larger than the value of the TFF transfer to the territory. A more complete assessment of net flows would also take into account other transfers.
Thus far the focus has been on the NWT. But the economic future bodes extremely well for all the territories. In the case of Nunavut, for example, beyond its mining potential, it is estimated that it has at least 10 per cent of Canada's total oil reserves and more than 20 per cent of Canada's natural gas reserves so that Nunavut's per capita GDP could begin to approach a magnitude larger than that of the average province.
However, there is another important and complex part of northern devolution. There are aboriginal governments and land claim settlement organizations (like Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated) within each of the publically governed territories -- First Nations governments in Yukon, Inuit governments in Nunavut, and both in the NWT. For those that have signed modern treaties, the associated land claims settlements also embody resource devolution agreements.
The obvious challenge for all concerned will be to move ahead with devolution in ways that do not lead to the Balkanization of the north economically. However, for governments (public and aboriginal) to look beyond their own interests and to consider how to work collectively to contribute to the strength of the territories in particular and the North in general, the devolution agreements need to be in place.
Canadians everywhere, from the South and the North, have to come to grips with the fundamental issue: whose North is it?
Thomas J. Courchene is the co-editor of "Northern Exposure: Peoples, Powers and Prospects in Canada's North," published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (irpp.org). He is a senior scholar at the IRPP and a professor at Queen's University.
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