The Canadian Northern Corridor Research Program includes multiple studies, across several areas of expertise, to address the many facets of the corridor concept including financial, legal, geographical, socio-economic, environmental, regulatory, governance and policy dimensions. The purpose is to provide the information and analysis necessary to establish the feasibility of the Canadian Northern Corridor.
Indigenous Land Ownership and Title in Canada: Implications for a Northern Corridor
Cherie Metcalf
The School of Public Policy Publications
Volume 15 • Number 10 • March 2023
The goal of this research paper is to outline the law of Indigenous peoples’ land ownership rights, including proven and asserted title, Crown-Indigenous treaty relations and obligations and Indigenous land claims agreements, and to consider the implications for a large-scale infrastructure project like the Northern Corridor. The focus is on the legal and regulatory aspects of Indigenous peoples’ land rights within the non-Indigenous Canadian legal system. It concludes that, for a proposal like the Northern Corridor, further study is required to fully appreciate the implications of these nascent developments and consider how they should be reflected in the project proposal.
Estimating Future Costs for Infrastructure in the Proposed Canadian Northern Corridor at Risk from Climate Change
Nathan S. Debortoli, Tristan D. Pearce, and James D. Ford
The School of Public Policy Publications
Volume 15 • Number 39 • March 2023
This paper reviews current climate change projections for northern Canada and considers what these mean for infrastructure development in the proposed Canadian Northern Corridor (CNC). We focus on chokepoints along the corridor’s notional route and estimate future costs of infrastructure along the chokepoints. We draw upon climate change projections at the end of the century (2100) using information from several climate variables sourced on the CMIP6 and CMIP5 reports. Infrastructure built along the CNC route will need to be designed to remain functional under different climatic conditions that predominate today. Chokepoints will dictate how buildings and transportation infrastructure should be planned.
Air Connectivity and Airport Infrastructure in Northern Canada
Alexandre G. de Barros, Marcela Coelho Lopes, and Iyad Sahnoon
The School of Public Policy Publications
Volume 15 • Number 37 • February 2023
The paper presents an analysis of existing air transportation services and infrastructure along the notional Canadian Northern Corridor. It examines the current level of infrastructure and services, existing federal and territorial policies regarding northern and Arctic air connectivity, and the potential impact of climate change on air transportation systems in northern Canada.
The Australian Experience with Resources, Infrastructure Corridors and Supply Chains
Ian Satchwell
The School of Public Policy Publications
Volume 15 • Issue 35 • January 2023
The North of Canada and the North of Australia are both resource-rich, but have underdeveloped infrastructure, small, scattered populations and high proportions of inhabitants who are Indigenous. The experiences of developing Australia’s North hold lessons for Canada. While discussion in this paper focuses primarily on supply chains for transport of outputs and inputs, another important consideration is infrastructure for people, without which resources projects cannot be developed and operated.
Indigenous Land Rights in Australia: Lessons for a Canadian Northern Corridor
Sharon Mascher
The School of Public Policy Publications
Volume 15 • Issue 33 • December 2022
If the CNC is to be a forward-looking, nation-building project, it must be conceptualized in a manner that ensures respect for the rights and interests of Indigenous communities along the corridor. Given its shared British colonial history with Canada, Australia’s experience may offer some relevant lessons for the CNC conceptualization. Several important foundational differences between the settler legal systems of these countries inform the development of the law and the transferability of lessons.
A Socio-Economic Review of the Impacts of Northwest Territories' Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway 10
G. Kent Fellows, Alaz Munzur, and Jennifer Winter
Canadian Journal of Regional Science
Volume 45 • Number 3 • December 2022
This paper investigates the likely socio-economic effects on the community of Tuktoyaktuk from the completion of the all-season Highway 10 (the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway) in the Northwest Territories. Analysis is based on estimated relationships between community remoteness and quantifiable socio-economic metrics using the recently developed Index of Remoteness and associated agglomeration data from Statistics Canada.
The Territorial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Digital Divide in Canada
Katharina Koch
Canadian Journal of Regional Science
Volume 45 • Number 2 • December 2022
The digital divide in Canada has gained significant attention from policymakers and the public in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic enhances the vulnerability of residents in rural and Indigenous communities that lack high-speed Internet access which affects their residents’ ability to participate in an online work and learning environment. As the digital divide in Canada persists, this paper explores current federal funding initiatives and their effectiveness in supporting broadband deployment across rural and Indigenous communities. The analysis shows inequalities regarding broadband access and funding distribution in Canada which also stem from a lack of democratic efficacy during federal hearings.
Fostering Resilience and Adapting to Climate Change in the Canadian North: Implications for Infrastructure in the Proposed Canadian Northern Corridor
S. Jeff Birchall, Sarah Kehler, and Nicole Bonnett
The School of Public Policy Publications
Volume 15 • Issue 27 • September 2022
Transportation infrastructure has remained constrained across northern Canada. Significant challenges exist for northern infrastructure due to isolation, restricted access and extraordinary environmental conditions — all of which climate change is projected to radically intensify. This paper examines the potential roles of both hard and soft adaptation strategies in the reduction of infrastructure vulnerability.
Optimal Routing of Wide Multi-Modal Energy and Infrastructure Corridors
Mehdi Salamati, Xin Wang, Jennifer Winter, and Hamidreza Zareipour
International Journal of Geo-Information
Volume 11 • Issue 8 • August 2022
A multi-modal corridor accommodates multiple modes of energy and transportation infrastructure within the same right-of-way. The existing literature on corridor routing in raster space often focuses on one mode with no consideration of the width. This is not a realistic assumption, especially if multiple modes are to co-exist within the same wide right-of-way. Moreover, newer routing methods that consider corridor width cannot take into account multi-modality and the arrangement of modes within a corridor. This paper develops two multi-modal wide-corridor routing methods using raster data.
Differentiating the Canadian North for Coherent Infrastructure Development
Katharina Koch
The School of Public Policy Publications
Volume 15 • Issue 19 • June 2022
Infrastructure Canada has noted that the current “one-size fits all” approach to northern infrastructure development is inefficient as it is largely premised on southern conditions and is not responsive to the unique geography of the Canadian North. This briefing paper considers how the Canadian Northern Corridor (CNC) concept may offer a solution to some of the challenges of northern development while cautioning that meaningful development in the region must recognize the diversity of the northern landscape and consider existing Indigenous practices.
