Territorial North Part B

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Territorial North - Part B

• GEG 2109 - 2003
• A Regional Geography of Canada
• Chapter 10
• -David Burhoe

Québec Science April 2003
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Physical Determinants of Regionalism

• The concept of Nordicity
• The geographer, Louis-Edmond Hamelin (1979)
  developed a Scale of Nordicity (VAPO) of 10
  criteria
• Latitude
• Summer heat
• Annual Cold
• Types of Ice (Permafrost, Floating, snow-covered
  or Glacier)
• Total Precipitation
• Natural Vegetation Cover
• Population
• Degree of Economic Activity
• Air Services
• Accessibility by other than air
• Ex. NO service VAPO 100
• seasonal 1ce/yr 80
• for 6 mos or 2 seasons 40
• year round by 2 means 0

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Muskeg in the Taiga- Southern Arctic
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Mackenzie River And Muskeg
Difficulties and challenges of transportation for
resource exploitation
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Providing infrastructure needs well above the
tree-line requires considerable adaptation
of southern Canadian solutions
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Key Topic - Megaprojects
Northern development requires capital,
technological know-how, incentives, and success
stories.
The vast Canadian Shield igneous outcrops contain
valuable deposits of minerals and diamonds
(1996) - ex. The Nanisivik mine (N. Baffin) and
Polaris Mine (gold, lead/zinc) on Little
Cornwallis Island
Resource development began with the Klondike
Gold rush (1896) with the myth of the Northern
Eldorado This typical boom had negative impact
(social environmental)
The vast Interior Plains sedimentary basins (ex.
Mackenzie Sverdrup) often contain large
deposits of oil and natural gas.
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• Megaproject Characteristics
• Resources are far from world markets
• Resource development depends on demand
• Development potential limited by physical
  realities
• Economy sensitive to lower world prices

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Faith in Mega-Projects is mixed. Some see them as
the economic engine of northern development.
Others see them as exploitive, creating
dependencies, environmentally destructive.
Arctic development is high-risk needs BIG
investments, costly technology, costly EIAs,
expertise and experience. Only big companies
can undertake this in resource hinterlands.
Examples 1) The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline
(1970s) was not built In 2000, Esso, Gulf, Shell
and Exxon Mobil are again looking at it. 2) The
Norman Wells Project (built 1982-1985) in winter
mitigate imp. 3) NWT Diamond Project 1996
required draining lakes to access ore
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Mega Results

• The NWT Diamond Project is a major project but
  has not generated sufficient economic growth.
• Megaprojects focus on short-term profitability
• Economic boom during construction
• Few jobs for local peoples
• during operation phase
• Without diversity, local economy
• dependent on boom/bust of
• world prices and phantom villages
• Megaprojects provide boom-and-bust economic
  growth eventually leading to disappointment and
  loss of livelihood and lifestyle. Should not the
  situation of the future phantom village be faced
  before putting mines into operation? (Hamelin
  1979 220)

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Perspectives on Nordicity

• Demographic/social evolution
• Territorial Pop. 50 aboriginal but circum-polar
  links/development increasing.
• The highest birth rates in Canada (and lowest
  death rates) are among the Inuit esp. Nunavut
  (nat. incr. North 2, Canada 0.5)
• In isolated villages in all three territories,
  90 of the population is indigenous living on
  local food and trapping of low local exchange
  value
• The very low percentage of indigenous people who
  work full-time proved fallibility of employment
  statistics and studies.
• 40 Terr. Norths pop. in 3 cities Whitehorse
  20k, Yellowknife 17.3k, Iqaluit 4.2k

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Perspectives on Nordicity 2

• There are so many norths within the north
• Many visions of the Territorial North
• The southern vision
• The North is a hinterland to be exploited for the
  benefit of southern Canada
• The romanticized vision
• Wilderness must never be touched
• The pessimistic vision
• The North is rife with problems (social,
  physical, economic, cultural, etc.)
• The developmental vision
• Minerals, natural gas, and oil can be developed
  sustainably and help achieve sustainable
  communities and lifestyles (Hamelin 1979 6)

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• NWT Act (1867) white education, administration,
  justice
• Each of 4 territories differs administratively
• QC- 1970 Fed-Prov Agreement (QC princ.
  Administrator)
• YK-Yukon Council would not meet NWT Council
• NWT-Territorial Council elected (1966) but styled
  on southern model and feds have power. Northern
  municipal governments mimic feds ie. Power from
  above. Former NWT Assembly uniquely consultative
  approbative (Judiciary Council met at
  historical site)
• NU- 1999 Creation of Nunavut seeks to meet its
  local and territorial demands
• Construction of landing strips
• Outside contractors to employ local workers
• Construction of co-ops
• Renovate water supply systems
• Balanced education to meet local and national
  challenges
• Raise drinking age from 19 to 21

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Perspectives on Nordicity
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NWT
The Arctic relies heavily on tourism as a form of
economic development that is more sustainable
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Cultural practices of the Inuit recognized and
respected balanced relationships between the
land, the sea, creatures and themselves.
Development policies of the new government in
Nunavut try to respect and preserve as much as
possible this relationship.
Anguhadluk
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William Noah, Iqaluit, NU
The Information Age has renewed hope for many
young Inuit of new employment
opportunities
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The role of woman in the Inuit culture has
evolved in recent years as elsewhere and she
plays an important role as territorial
spokesperson in land claims and in the
territorial government.
Changing role of women
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Shopping and Living in Iqaluit, the new capital
of Nunavut
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The school programs are rich and varied and
related to northern development needs.
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The land, the Culture, the art are all
linked, are inspiring and are powerful.
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Territorial Norths Future (1)

• Land claims agreements so far involve 75
  aboriginals in north. The 1984 Inuvialuit Final
  Agreement IFA shifted power from Ottawa to
  Aboriginal organizations. Created Inuv. Regional
  Corp. to manage settlement Inuv. Game Council
  to secure environment. It is only 20 of
  presettlement claims, but provides for 13 km2
  surface and subsurface mining rights, and 77.7
  km2 hunting, trapping, fishing rights
• It set the model for four
• subsequent agreements.
• Inuvialuit 1984 90.6k km2
• Gwichin 1992 22k km2
• Sahtu/Métis 1993 41k km2
• Inuit (Nunavut) 1993 350k km2
• Yukon First Nations 1993 41.4k

Mines of Nunavut 2002
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Territorial Norths Future (2)

• The Canadian Arctic and the Oceans Act (2001)
  establishes the development of participatory
  environmental research and management
• Policy change parallels the emergence of
  aboriginal land claims and the general political
  movement towards greater self-government.
  Increasing political power of northern
  populations in general, and aboriginal groups in
  particular, and a modification of the
  environmental decision-making process, esp. the
  incorporation of local values, priorities, and
  traditional environmental knowledge in
  environmental research and management as a
  mechanism to implement participatory approaches
  through co-management

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Territorial Norths Future (3)

• Seven areas of participatory environmental
  research and management may be recognized
• (1) fish and wildlife co-management
• (2) protected areas co-management
• (3) marine and coastal integrated management
• (4) ecosystem health monitoring
• (5) contaminants research
• (6) environmental assessment and
• (7) climate change research.

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Territorial Norths Future (4) Definitions

• Pluralistic science extends the range of
  scientific inquiry beyond the conventional
  positivist, expert-knows-best science and creates
  space for the potential contributions of other
  kinds of locally generated knowledge 9.
• The term participatory is used to refer generally
  to the inclusion of local groups, land claimants
  and other stakeholders in the decisionmaking
  process participatory management may involve
  both formal co-management agreements and informal
  joint management.
• Co-management can be defined as systems that
  enable a sharing of decision-making power,
  responsibility and risk between government and
  stakeholders, local resource users. In the
  Canadian Arctic, co-management has been defined
  as institutional arrangements whereby
  governments and Aboriginal (and sometimes other
  parties) enter into formal agreements specifying
  their respective rights, powers and obligations
  with reference to the management and allocation
  of resources in a particular area.

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Territorial Norths Future (5) Definitions

• A policy paper of the Government of the Northwest
  Territories (the territory that covers part of
  northern Canada) defines traditional knowledge as
  knowledge and values which have been acquired
  through experience, observation, from the land or
  from spiritual teachings, and handed down from
  one generation to another.
• The working definition of traditional ecological
  knowledge, as used in this paper, is a
  cumulative body of knowledge, practice and
  belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed
  down through generations by cultural
  transmission, about the relationship of living
  beings (including humans) with one another and
  with their environment
• 1987 Oceans Policy for Canada
• November 1994, the DFO Vision for Oceans
  Management
• Bill C-26-An act Respecting the Oceans of Canada
  1997
• Source F. Berkes et al. / Ocean Coastal
  Management 44 (2001) 451469 453

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Traditional ecological knowledge is a proven
science. It has allowed an Inuit population of as
many as 10,000 to survive in an environment that
challenges sophisticated modern science
technology.
Cholesterol levels and heart disease are lowest
in Canada.
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Tourism Potential

• 6 key considerations to attracting and promoting
  inbound tourism
• a)      Research
• b)      Product Development
• c)      Infrastructure (from Geogescu)
• Regional Carriers (FirstAir, Creebec, Hawkair,
  Bearskin) turf wars
• Serve smaller markets
• DEMAND matters need people getting on planes 12
  months a year
• SIZE matters the right aircraft for the route
• Mostly prop service (some RJs)
• Need to be part of larger travel product package
  COSTS matter labour, fuel are biggest costs
• Many small airlines supply regional charters
  (e.g. fly-in fishing, cargo)
• GOVERNMENT matters Government take can come
  to hundreds of millions of dollars every year
  rules and regulations can hamstring business
  action
• MAY be allied with network carriers (AC, Jazz,
  Westjet)
• d)      Human Resource Development
• e)      Marketing
• f) Visitor Information Services

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Tourism Expenditures by Commodity (2003)
Transportation largest part of tourist
Total Tourism Demand 52.1 Billion (2003)
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Northern Lights Festival, Yellowknife
Queen Charlotte Is. Boat tours
Pond Inlet 1960s
Pond Inlet glaciers 2004
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Polar Bear Swimming
Pangnurtung, NU
Walrus Colony
Resolute Bay, NU
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Arctic Sea ice Glaciers
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Arctic Glaciers Sea ice

• 90 Newfoundland Labrador icebergs originate
  from 100 Greenlandic glaciers
• 40,000 medium to large sized icebergs calve
  annually in Greenland and about 1 to 2 (400-800)
  of those make it as far south as 48o north
  latitude (St. John's)
• Rarely do icebergs last more than one year south
  of this point. The glacial ice that icebergs are
  made of may be more that 15,000 years old!
• Snow accumulates over thousands of years.
  Successive layers compress earlier accumulations
  until, at depths below 60 to 70 meters, glacial
  ice is formed. Glaciers "flow" or "creep" outward
  under their own weight like a viscous fluid.
• Arctic sea ice has receded by about 40 percent
  since 1979. By the end of this century the region
  could be ice free during the summer months.
  (Michael Oppenheimer, Princeton University NJ."
  National Geographic News, February 25, 2005)

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IPY 2007-2008 further Arctic research planned

• 1950 1991 Soviet Union field studies in the
  Central Arctic Basin collected data from
  drifting stations
• North Pole 32 (2003-2004) revealed significant
  changes of climate in the Arctic Basin
• positive anomalies of daily mean air surface
  temperature and more often strong temperature and
  air pressure changes,
• frequencies of storm winds and snow precipitation
  had been observed.
• During ²Fram² drift in summer 1895, air
  temperature above freezing point only three
  times.
• In 1950s-1980s, the mean value of days with
  positive temperature was 6 per year.
• On North Pole-32, drifted northern to Fram
  route the number of such days exceeded 26. On the
  same station more days with precipitation had
  been observed (more than 20 days each month from
  June to September).

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Acknowledgements

• Images Coppermine couple, Inuit Cultural groups
  of Canada, US and Greenland whales polynyas
  tundra taiga Mackenzie River Map and chart of
  nordicity from Canadian Encyclopedia Deluxe
  Edition 1999, CD-ROM resource Collection,
  McClelland Stewart Publishers
• Images Iqaluit 2002-2003 airport
  throatsingers sculptor William Noah art of
  Jessie Oonark personal collection of Maureen
  Flynn-Burhoe.
• Cover, heart attacks/infarctus, (Catherine
  Laurent Fontaine) Québec Science, Avril 2003.
  
  
  
  
  
• Inuktitut Syllabic alphabet from Canadian
  Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition 1999, CD-ROM resource
  Collection, McClelland Stewart Publishers, Land
  of the Inuit.
• Concept and Scale of Nordicity Hamelin,
  Louis-Edmond. 1979. Canadian Nordicity Its Your
  North, Too. Montreal Harvest House Ltd.
• Berkes, Fikret, Jack Mathias, Mina Kislalioglu,
  Helen Fast. 2001.Ocean Coastal Management 44,
  Winnipeg, MB Natural Resources Institute, U.
  Manitoba,