Throughout the Arctic, most communities still lack some of the basic infrastructure people often take for granted in the rest of the country. This situation directly affects the region’s residents. Due to the lack of transportation infrastructure, northerners pay substantially more for their goods and services such as food. The electricity rates they pay are also the highest in the country, as they rely mostly on expensive fuel to heat their homes and to operate their businesses. Furthermore, northern communities are facing a housing crisis and are still mostly underconnected – or even unserved – by digital infrastructure. Together, these factors significantly hinder socio-economic development.

On 24 September 2018, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs (the Committee) decided to undertake a comprehensive study of northern infrastructure projects and strategies in the context of possible federal support. With the evidence gathered in October and November 2018, the Committee prepared this report in which it makes several recommendations to the Government of Canada on how to improve the way it supports infrastructure development and maintenance in the North.