In northern development, put northerners’ unique realities first – The Globe and Mail
Jul. 13, 2015
Adam Fiser and Brent Dowdall are senior research associate and senior manager for research and business development, respectively, at the Conference Board of Canada.
Many of Canada’s pressing socio-economic, political and environmental challenges are most intense in the North. Blessed with resource endowments, the North has much potential for economic growth, but resource development doesn’t automatically lead to sustainable development. How we prepare and plan for this growth will determine whether northerners benefit.
Initiating and sustaining a broad-based response to that challenge has been a mission of the Conference Board of Canada since 2009. A recently published compendium report of the Centre for the North affirms that the obstacles are complex, but not insurmountable.
Meeting the challenge requires an acceptance of the North’s unique realities. Not only are northern and southern Canada vastly different, but provincial and territorial northern regions themselves vary in geography and climate, demographics and culture, economic resources and business potential, governance structures and public services.
