Northern Success Stories

The North has successfully developed new resources into burgeoning industries, started businesses in response to northern demand, supported entrepreneurs in expanding their businesses, and offered training programs geared to meeting specific northern employment needs. The examples below are only a handful of the successes found in communities and regions throughout the North.

Industry Development

• Diamond mining is one of the North’s newest and most successful industries. In 2006, Canada was the world’s fourth largest producer of diamonds, with total production valued at over $1.6 billion. Virtually all of this production was from the Ekati and Diavik mines located in the Northwest Territories. The Jericho diamond mine opened in Nunavut in mid-2006 at a capital cost of $116 million. The $960 million dollar Snap Lake mine started operations in the Northwest Territories in late 2007 and Ontario’s $980 million Victor mine, located in the James Bay Lowlands, will begin production in 2008. Building a secondary diamond industry is a priority for the Northwest Territories with the development of the GOVERNMENT CERTIFIED CANADIAN DIAMOND™ program and cutting and polishing facilities.
• In 2005, Alberta’s oil sands were the source of about 58 per cent of the province’s and about 39 per cent of Canada’s total crude oil and equivalent production. Annual oil sands production is growing steadily as the industry matures. Output of marketable oil sands production increased to 966,000 barrels per day in 2005. With anticipated growth, this level of production could reach 3 million barrels per day by 2020.

Business Success
Air North and Unaalik Aviation are businesses that were created to meet the growing demand for northern air transportation services. Air North is a successful economic and aviation partnership between founder and long-time Yukon aviator, Joe Sparling, and the Vuntut Gwitchin Development Corporation of Old Crow. It has established routes in the North and  direct daily jet service between Whitehorse and Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. Unaalik Aviation, an Inuit-owned company, first took to the skies in 2002, with scheduled services between points in Nunavut for First Air, along with charter services. Specializing in the Twin Otter, a plane ideal for navigating short airstrips and rough tundra, Unaalik has already expanded its market base to offer adventure tourism trips to Antarctica.

Supporting Small Business
NorthLink in Labrador and TEAM in Manitoba are programs that recognize the importance of small businesses to the northern economy. NorthLink is a northern trade development centre that supports linkages between small businesses in circumpolar regions and Canada's North. The organization has organized a Canada-Russia small business forum among other networking initiatives. TEAM  is a micro enterprise development program.   It provides assistance to micro enterprise at the community level throughout Northern Manitoba. TEAM works with communities to identify and support individuals and opportunities for ‘micro’ level businesses and has worked with numerous groups of crafters in the region and has developed a gift catalogue and website to market locally produced crafts.

Training Programs
Training programs in the North are geared to meeting specific northern employment needs. The Multi-Party Training Plan in Saskatchewan has increased the employment of Northerners in the mineral sector through a cooperative training-to-employment initiative that links training directly to the demand in the mineral sector. In Nord-du-Québec, customized training programs were set up to make it possible for the Cree communities and Inmet Mining (Troilus Division) to work together in developing the mine industry.

In northern Ontario and northern British Columbia, medical schools have been established to help meet the future health care needs of their northern and remote regions. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), the first new medical school in almost 40 years, opened its doors to its inaugural class of 56 students in September 2005. NOSM is co-located on the campuses of Laurentian University (Sudbury) and Lakehead University (Thunder Bay).

Furthermore, the development of a trade school in Rankin Inlet is an important step in allowing for greater local participation in the emerging economic opportunities in Nunavut. This facility is expected to open in 2009 and should help to provide the education and skills development required for the people of Nunavut to benefit from the territory’s rich natural resources.