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.
An Overview of Major Engineering Challenges for Developing Transportation Infrastructure in Northern Canada
Eva Stephani, Julie Malenfant Lepage and Guy Doré
The School of Public Policy Publications
Volume 15 • Issue 14 • May 2022
The proposed corridor crosses extensive areas of permafrost, including sporadic to continuous permafrost distribution. It also travels through areas that are not perennially frozen, but that are exposed to seasonal freeze-thaw cycles and to other cold-region processes that can become geohazards for infrastructure. This overview paper focuses mainly on permafrost-related issues because of the significant challenges and important knowledge gaps in permafrost.
Canadian Arctic Marine Transportation Issues, Opportunities and Challenges
Frédéric Lasserre
The School of Public Policy Publications Volume 15 • Issue 6 • February 2022
This paper examines some of the trends shaping the shipping industry in Canada’s Arctic, and what these changes might mean for the construction of a Canadian Northern Corridor. To what extent could expanded shipping in the Canadian arctic be supported by a corridor, and what are some of the economic trends from a commercial perspective? Given the remote and extreme conditions, what are some of the most realistic scenarios for economic, industrial and other drivers for northern marine development in Canada?
Nordicity and its Relevance for Northern Canadian Infrastructure Development
Katharina Koch
Polar Geography Ahead-of-print • October 2021
Canada’s northern regions have unique geospatial characteristics which are based on differences in biodiversity, climate, ecosystems and socio-economic conditions. Together, these distinct conditions challenge the prevailing “one-size fits all” northern infrastructure development approach which is often based on southern conceptions of the North. This paper, published in Polar Geography, examines the need to capture Canada’s northern complexity in order to support a comprehensive but differentiated northern policy approach. The research also emphasizes the importance of including Indigenous Knowledge into any type of future northern infrastructure development strategy. A School of Public Policy Publications paper based on this research is forthcoming in early 2022.
