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"Why Canada is fortunate to be a Northern Country"
Notes for an address by
Honourable Stéphane Dion the
President of the Privy Council and
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
before the
Council for Canadian Unity
Yellowknife, Northwest
Territories
June 21, 1999
Good afternoon.
I am pleased to be here today with my colleague,
the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew. Ethel, over the past few days, I have had
an opportunity to visit parts of your remarkable riding, which you serve so well
in the House of Commons.
Thank you to the Council for Canadian Unity,
Michèle Stanners and Nick Sibbeston for inviting me to be here with you.
The top of the world, as I see it, is not in the
Himalayas, or at least not only. Instead it has always been the Canadian North,
its vastness, the rigour of its climate, and the strength of the traditions
among its people.
Like most Canadians, my understanding of the
North was shaped by the literature of those who visited the region and fell in
love with its beauty. Writers like Jack London and Robert Service, Yves
Thériault and Roger Frison-Roche, have given generations of Canadians, indeed
the world, a romantic vision of the North. These eloquent voices are
complimented by the artistry of those who live here -- from the beautiful
carvings of the Cape Dorset artisans to the drumming of the Dene. Clearly, these
images of the North have left a mark on the Canadian psyche. As Louis-Edmon
Hamelin, the father of Canadian northern studies has said: "The North is
more than an area, it is a passion." (Nordicity, p. 9)
So you can guess how pleased I am finally to see
the North with my own eyes. On this, my first visit, I brought the world with
me: 17 ambassadors, representing every continent of the planet are here, invited
by the Government of Canada to witness and then testify in their own countries
to the magnificence and the potential of your land.
Since we left Ottawa, on Tuesday, we have seen
Iqaluit, Resolute, Cambridge Bay, Baker Lake, Inuvik, Old Crow, Dawson City,
Whitehorse and now Yellowknife. My only regret is that my time here has been too
short, and so I hope to come back again and again.
The fact is that Canadians are fascinated by the
North, but that does not mean that we necessarily understand it well. We have
trouble coming to terms with the crucial role that the North and the peoples of
the North play in our national life, and especially in shaping our national
identity.
There may be several factors that can account for
this. First, there are the vast distances. Geographically speaking, the North is
far away for most Canadians. Or perhaps it is the sheer size of the area, the
harshness of the winter climate and the diversity of the population that
challenge our imagination.
But I wish that all Canadians, and especially all
my fellow Quebecers, could have the chance to take the same trip as I have,
because then, let me tell you, the unity of our country would be stronger than
ever.
If all Canadians, including Quebecers, had the
chance to see and experience the grandeur of our country, to take in its
infinite horizons in both time and space, and commune with the magic and mystery
of the North, they would see that their hearts and souls can grow as big as
their country – a world unto itself that is enriched by the traditions of
ideals of all its citizens.
Today, on National Aboriginal Day, a day that has
particular significance in the North, it is a good opportunity to reflect on the
challenges and opportunities in the North. The fact is, the North has shaped
Canada as a country more than we realize. So too, Canada as a country has shaped
the North.
1.
Canada's Northernness and the North's Canadianness
There are many factors that help shape a society:
language, culture, religion, shared history. Perhaps no factor is more important
than geography. It sets the parameters within which activity can take place.
Undoubtedly, our geography makes us a northern nation. After all, the territory
north of 60 accounts for nearly 40% of Canada's land mass. We must ask ourselves
how our northernness has marked us as a country.
John Ralston Saul recently took up this question.
While examining the Canadian character, he noted: "In Canada, the
restrictions of [...] difficult geography have meant that great individual
initiative will always be needed, but so will great public initiative."
(Reflections of a Siamese Twin, p.172). This is because our climate has always
necessitated solidarity. Survival in a northern environment has required great
individual initiative and inventiveness, on the one hand, and working together,
making alliances and relying on neighbours, on the other hand. This has been the
case for centuries. From the time that the first nomadic peoples crossed the
Bering land- bridge thousands of years ago, to the arrival of the first
Europeans, to the opening of the interior to immigrants in the 19th century.
This is perhaps one of the greatest advantages
that Canada has as a northern country: our geographic reality has helped to
shape our Canadian sense of community and mutual responsibility. The
geographical fact of our northernness has moulded our way of viewing the world.
And it is no coincidence that Canada is among an
elite few Northern countries in the world. As a member of the Arctic Council,
Canada was the first Chair of this organization that deals with a wide range of
social, economic and environmental issues pertaining to the North. The council
includes Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United
States and international Arctic indigenous organizations. This organization
presents another important forum for Canada to share and cooperate with other
members of the world community. You can see the propensity to cooperate
reflected in the governing systems within Canada's North. The governments of the
NWT and Nunavut are based on consensus, rather than conflict. I believe that it
is also reflected in our federal system. This system is the product of the
values that Canadians share: solidarity, generosity and openness. You could say
that these are the same values fostered by our northernness. Federalism is about
accommodation and mutual respect -- about embracing, organizing and making the
most of our sense of interdependence.
These values are evident in the North as the key
to your success in preserving your cultures and traditions while adapting to new
economic, technological and political realities. For centuries, Northerners have
learned to co-exist with the natural world and adapt to the elements. They have
also adapted to changing social realities. The Inuvialuit, Dene and Métis
people have withstood the transition from life on the land to life in permanent
communities. This was often a painful and difficult process. Today, traditional
ways of life exist side-by-side with modern technologies and modern development.
In many parts of the world, technological
development is diluting cultures and weakening identities. When people have
access to new means of transportation and communication, when their view of the
world is framed by the mass media, their boundaries expand. They no longer live
just in their own place. As a result, they risk losing their own stories and
traditions that are unique to them. Cultures with oral traditions are
particularly vulnerable. But the various Northern peoples who inhabit this
region have shown a determination to preserve and promote their respective
languages and cultures. They are also finding unique ways of expressing their
cultures. Last night I had the pleasure to attend the Commissioner's Potlatch in
Whitehorse. There we heard a young Aboriginal woman who had just completed her
classical training in opera at the University of Victoria, who sang a
traditional Aboriginal song in an operatic arrangement. It was truly
breathtaking.
Canada celebrates and recognizes the strength
that comes from diversity. Tragically, this has not always been the case. But
today, Canada strives to be a place where different peoples and varied cultures
can prosper and grow. The Canadian system strives to safeguard our plural
identities and to make it possible for your Northern identities to be recognized
and embraced across the country.
To sum up, you can see how much the North defines
the Canadian reality and distinguishes our country from other members of the
international community. This definition of our existence applies to our past,
our present and especially to our future, as well as to the future of humanity.
The changes taking place in the North, its resources and its people will shape
the 21st century. We should not forget that the North is one of the Earth's
three ecological barometers: the North, Antarctica and the Amazon. The North has
a particular influence on the Atlantic and Pacific.
So, you can see how much Canada's South and North
have in common and how mutually important their help and sharing is. This
mutuality is also evident when we look at the economic challenges and
opportunities for the North.
2.
Challenges and opportunities for the North
I know that the challenges you have to face are
great. The first, and most critical, is education to even the gaps between
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Northerners and to secure the future development
of the North. Happily, there are signs of progress. In 1991, 27% of the
population of the NWT had less than a Grade 9 education. In 1996, the most
recent available data, it was down to 20%, while the Canadian average was 12%.
You must continue in this direction. Education is not just instruction and
knowledge. It is also the foundation of our capacity to have positive options in
our life and to avoid many destructive life choices that can destroy a life, a
family, a community.
Violent crime and suicide: compared with the
national Canadian rates, the incidence of these social problems and individual
tragedies remains unacceptably high for the North as a whole. The rate of drug
and alcohol abuse is also unacceptably high.
Racism, exclusion, and cultural barriers: these
social problems are greater for the Aboriginal than the non-Aboriginal
population. For the North to succeed, the Aboriginal populations must succeed,
since they make up such a large proportion of the population: 23% in the Yukon,
49% here in the NWT and 85% in Nunavut.
The Northern climate will always be a challenge.
The sheer immensity of the landscape and the harsh winter weather make
connecting communities difficult. It is also difficult to build and maintain
infrastructure. While large communities like Yellowknife are sophisticated in
this respect, smaller communities, such as Old Crow and Baker Lake, have
difficulty building and maintaining adequate transportation, communication and
civic infrastructure. This is one area where joint federal-territorial
partnerships, such as the Canada-NWT Infrastructure Works Program, are working
to improve this situation -- but it is not an easy endeavour.
Northern entrepreneurs too face many barriers
accentuated by their geography. They are often far from primary markets.
Essential business goods and services are not always easily available. Because
of the remoteness of the region, Northern businesses face added transportation
and communications costs.
Northern workers, like workers in the rest of
Canada, are increasingly expected to have highly specialized training and
skills. A lack of these skills is an obstacle to economic progress. Fortunately,
the situation is changing, and more and more companies that come to the North
are negotiating partnership agreements providing job training and opportunities
for professional development to Northerners.
But reflecting on all these challenges and
difficulties, I feel very optimistic. Yes, I do, and I will tell you why:
No, the main source of my optimism is not the
potential in the rich natural resources of the North. The NWT and Yukon together
hold about 25% of Canada's remaining discovered resources of conventional
recovered light oil and natural gas. In 1995, the value of natural gas and crude
oil production accounted for approximately 10% of the GDP of the NWT. More
importantly, from a development perspective, is the fact that the North holds an
estimated 40% of Canada's future discoveries of light oil and natural gas.
Neither is the main source of my optimism the new
potential for regional economic development in diamond mining, with the first
Canadian diamond mine now open not too far from Yellowknife. This mine, which I
just had the opportunity to tour, is expected to have at least a 25-year life
span and to contribute well over $2.5 billion directly to the economy of the
Northwest Territories and as much as 7% of the world's diamond production.
And no, the main source of my optimism is not the
new modern communication technologies that are providing Northerners, and all
Canadians, with the capacity to remove a lot of the barriers of geography and
time, more than ever before. The Internet, for instance, is providing new links
between Northern communities and the South. Through programs like Connections
Canada, all public schools and 40% of public libraries in the NWT and Nunavut
are now on-line.
No, the source of my confidence in the Canadian
North, in the NWT, is first and foremost because of you: Northerners. You are a
diverse group of Canadians, with various Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
populations. But this is an asset. Because if Canada has a raison d'être, it is
to live up to the conviction that diversity is not a problem, diversity is a
strength -- we have the opportunity to pull together different populations for a
common purpose.
We have learned, though too often only with
difficulty, that the true meaning of Canada, its true greatness, is the
diversity of its population. The North is a perfect illustration of that
greatness.
For example, the cultures of the Aboriginal
Peoples bring us their central values of the sense of the spirit of the land,
the necessity of recognizing the fragility of the Northern environment, respect
for the elders and for their experience. All of this ensures a better prospect
for sustainable development in the North.
Indeed, development and tradition can and must
co-exist in all aspects of Northern life. I spoke earlier about the importance
of education: it is a sociological fact that the better educated a population
is, the greater its desire and ability to keep its language and culture alive. I
was deeply struck by my conversation in Cambridge Bay with Mr. Larry Aknavigak,
who is the Chair of the Nunavut Impact Review Board. Sent away from his
community to a residential school, Larry lost his language. His mother speaks no
English and for years, to communicate with her, Larry had to have his father
translate. But five years ago, as an adult, he committed himself to relearning
the language he had once spoken fluently as child. And now Larry has the
advantage of both scientific knowledge of environmental assessment and the
generational wisdom of his elders.
Similarly, I have met during my trip many young
Aboriginal persons who have committed themselves to learning from their elders
the traditions that were in danger of being forgotten: traditional arts, throat
singing, hunting, fishing, trapping, and driving a dog team across the frozen
tundra. Often, part of their motivation is in the potential for tourism. Here
again I am struck how compatible modernity and tradition can be -- that they can
form a virtuous cycle instead of a vicious cycle.
The boom in your tourism industry is due to an
increased awareness and interest around the world in the charms of your land and
your cultures. Last summer the NWT saw an increase in campground and park
revenue by 22% over 1997. While revenues were up in all regions, the largest
gains were made in the North and South Slave Lake regions. According to
statistics, 50,000 non-residents came to the western part of the NWT for
pleasure and business between May and September, 1998. That is at least 12%
higher than the numbers just five years ago. Industry and government are working
together to develop new ways to sell this region to the rest of the world. A
large part of what attracts visitors to the North is the purity of its air and
water, the plentifulness of its wildlife. I know it is also the need to
understand the spirit that moves this land and its people. This wilderness is
fragile, and Northerners know they will continue to have to balance economic
development with respect for the environment.
Because the Government of Canada understands the
need to reinforce this virtuous cycle of development and tradition, it strongly
supports territorial autonomy, collective responsibility, and self-government
for the people of the land. Through the Government of Canada, all Canadians are
assisting Northern Canadians, not to create dependency, but to support you in
finding your own ways of development, the Northern spirit.
The creation of Nunavut is part of this approach.
The more than 80 self-government agreements, each in various stages of
negotiation with Aboriginal Peoples across the country, are part of that
approach. These include the claims that have been successfully completed in the
NWT, including the Inuvialuit Final Agreement in 1984, the Gwich'in
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement in 1992, and the Sahtu Dene and Metis
Agreements in 1994.
This collective autonomy must be rooted in
individual autonomy, including in the private sector. A strong, independent and
successful business community has emerged in the NWT. Statistics show that the
Northern business community is growing at a steady rate. New business start-ups
during 1998 reached 293, a considerable increase over the 1997 figure of 102.
During 1998, each region of the NWT benefited from new business start-ups. This
speaks of a growing entrepreneurial spirit that is alive and well in the
Northern region. The same must also apply for members of the workforce. They
must continue to take advantage of growing opportunities to diversify their
skills and experience.
The territorial and federal governments can
support this autonomy in a number of ways, for example, by providing business
development loans, promoting community literacy programs, establishing business
centres to provide strategic business advice to individuals and communities, or
most recently, by injecting $48 million into the Youth Employment Strategy for
Inuit and First Nations youth.
Governments can and must help you through a
number of different avenues. But the real source of your strength, and the
source of my optimism for the future of this region, can be found in yourselves
-- in what I called earlier your great individual initiative and your great
communal initiative.
Conclusion
In the Cabinet's Agenda for the New North
launched in February, the Government of the NWT spoke of "beginning a new
journey [...] in the North". It called for the creation of a "new
North". Achieving this will require shared imagination and the commitment
of all of society -- including Northerners and Southerners, together. I have no
doubt in my mind that this is attainable.
Yes, a new North is being built. As the Northwest
Territories, along with its Northern neighbours -- Nunavut and the Yukon -- look
to the 21st century, there is a great deal to be optimistic about. This new
North will be built by individuals, communities and governments -- working
together to achieve common goals. This spirit of cooperation is the Canadian
way, the Northern way. You cannot divide those two -- because in so many
respects they are one and the same.
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