A “Profound Change of Direction?” Canada’s Northern Strategy and the Co-Development of a “New” Arctic and Northern Policy Framework

The Trudeau government released Canada’s Arctic and Northern Policy Framework (ANPF) with little fanfare in September 2019. After four years of revision and upgrade, the document appeared on a website with no photos, maps, or even a downloadable pdf—just as a wave of words, over 17,000 in the main chapter alone. The single infographic that accompanied the framework captured its main “highlights:” that a “whole-of-government, co-development” process had involved the three territorial governments, over 25 Indigenous organizations, as well as three provincial governments. This chapter explains why the policy itself does not represent the “profound change of direction” that Ottawa suggests. Instead, the framework highlights well-known issues that Northerners have identified for years, including climate change, food insecurity, poverty, health inequalities, and housing shortages. The challenge remains in setting practical priorities for federal policy implementation, particularly in the areas of economic development (with many different economies across the Canadian Arctic), promised investments in “transformative infrastructure,” and addressing gaps in “access to the same services, opportunities, and standards of living as those enjoyed by other Canadians.” This chapter analyzes the benefits—and limitations—of Canada’s co-development approach, the expectations that it has set, and the persistent obstacles, competing ideas and lingering questions that are likely to inhibit the enactment of this “shared vision.”