Geography of the Territorial North

• largest region (39%)
• resource frontier
• import all manufactured goods from the South
• remoteness, resources, and Aboriginal presence
• .3 of population .5 GDP
• unemployment and underemployment

one of the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country's economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period; you can think of it as the size of the economy.

• non-Ab settlement is relatively recent
• region was a forgotten frontier after whaling and fur trade
• strategically significant during the Cold War, e.g. DEW line
• Aboriginal land claims past and future effect development

• with time, assimilated into industrial-capitalist system
• recent identity reclaiming through education, cultural pride, and naming places

• four physiographic regions and two climate zones
• fragile ecosystems that take time to recover from human activity
• cold, especially permafrost, challenges development

• permafrost limit and tree line will move North
• possible international access through Arctic waters and Hudson’s Bay
• debate over sovereignty of Hans Island with Denmark
• Each Harbour Inuvialuit hunting season significantly reduced already by a month

• Canada, USA, Russia, Norway, and Denmark (Greenland)
• Russia wants to claim the North Pole and Lomonoslav Ridge for oil and gas
• 200 nautical mile limit from outlying islands sets previous agreement for EEZ

• pilotless polar drone
• 10km up to monitor shipping, oil spills, measure ice, and track wildlife
• powered to fly entire missions (30h) without ground control
• only one station needed to maintain a small squad of 3 for constant surveillance
• cost unknown, set 1.6 billion

• between Can and USA over the arctic waters off of the Yukon and Alaskan coast
• oil and gas in this area
• the debate has been going on for decades
• 2016 US proposal drill for oil and gas

large scale construction projects, often related to resource extraction, that exceed $1 billion and take more than two years to complete

• built without consent of Dene Aboriginal people on their hunting and harvesting grounds
• Yellowknife
• companies made 1.1 billion, and government collected 572 million in taxes

• toxic arsenic trioxide (by product of extracting gold) spread and contaminated the land around the mine in 1949
• 237 thou tones are currently buried, and the plan is to keep it frozen forever?
• after the company abandoned the mine, Aboriginal affairs and Northern Development Canada cleaned up the site, approx $903 million
• arsenic trioxide remains toxic to life forever
• environmental assessment plan: independent oversight body, perpetual care plan, research into a permanent solution, and review every 100y

• built in 2012, bridges the Mackenzie river
• replaces ferry service
• first year-round road link from NWT to the country

capital of Yukon

capital of NWT

capital of Nunavut

• major cities are the capitals, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit
• underemployment is less of a problem here because of government jobs

• Alert (very tippy top of the North) is still a military base from the Cold War
• Resolute (still in the arctic islands area) will become a naval base to secure Canada’s Arctic sovereignty

• four regions, only Nunavut has stand alone political rights
• regions in northern NWT, QU, and NL have won some autonomy

• continue to suffer boom-and-bust economic cycles without a more diverse economy
• political and economic changes urge for improvements to social conditions

• primary and tertiary mainly
• very little secondary (manufacturing) is done, except for ore extraction
• most people (83%) work in the service industry

• equalization payments for the North
• necessary, but still not enough to close the gap between north and south

• dependent on payments from Federal government
• territorial formula financing goes to infrastructure development and work-force education
• high rate of employment because more effort is needed to get people basic services and each citizen requires more money than provincial residents

• highest concentration of Aboriginal peoples
• highest natural growth rate due to high birth rate and low death rate
• migrant workers from southern Can come and leave with job opportunities
• more Aboriginal people are moving south to take advantage of economic and social conditions

• one of the world’s great rivers
• southwester NWT
• passes hot springs, gigantic waterfall, and cut through a canyon

• far more value in non-renewable resources than renewable in this region
• boom-and-bust cycles of economy, ie. not stable
• subject to world prices and economy
• megaprojects generate money for corporations and the south (because the market in the north is small), but do little to help the local economy beyond the construction phase
• most resources are concentrated in NWT

• discovered in 1920
• before the pipeline was built the field served the local community and the military during WWII
• Esso built a pipeline in 1985 and increased production x10
• Dene aboriginals and environmental committee did not believe that the project was environmentally and socially responsible, but it went forwards anyways
• production is falling, but increased gas prices offset that for Esso
• the project is considered successful

• Yukon
• first surface and underground diamond mine
• operates continuously, 24h a day, every day of the year
• 2% of world’s diamonds and 6% of world value

• third largest producer of diamonds in the world
• lakes had to be drained to access diamonds deposits
• employ 800 workers, pickup for air-commuting in Yellowknife, so money stays in the territory
• what will happen after the diamonds are gone in the next decade?

• surrender claim to all land in exchange for a title to a smaller parcel of land, money, a larger area for hunting and fishing
• other issues: self-government, language and cultural preservation, wildlife resource management
• Inuvialuit (northern NWT and Yukon) were the first claim in 1984

• highway to connect the two cities
• projected to finish 2017-18