Nordicity and its relevance for northern Canadian infrastructure development

ABSTRACT Infrastructure development in Canada’s northern regions remains a challenge. Although scholars and policy-makers recognize the significant socio-economic potential of northern infrastructure, the prevailing piecemeal approach does not respond to many of the challenges faced by Indigenous communities. A pan-Canadian approach, such as a Northern Corridor, can circumvent some of the disadvantages stemming from fractured and uncoordinated initiatives but it still underlies the diverse environmental and socio-economic conditions across the Canadian North. The Nordicity index, originally developed by Hamelin, reflects northern Canada’s diversity and has been applied as a public policy tool, e.g. for determining northern living allowances or adapted for transportation development. However, these indices are spatio-temporally fixed which means they do not recognize changing spatial patterns of northern mobility. Thus, this paper argues that northern infrastructure development should be informed by Indigenous spatial practices of mobility. To this aim, the paper investigates the role of Nordicity in Canadian policy-making and analyses how northern Indigenous spatial practices of mobility have transformed throughout the last century. The Nordicity index recognizes the environmental and socio-economic conditions across Canada’s diverse northern regions but it should be complemented with an analysis of the spatial practices of northern Indigenous Peoples to inform future infrastructure development.