P UBLICATIONS - THE CANADIAN NORTHERN CORRIDOR ROUNDTABLE PROGRAM: RESULTS AND LESSONS LEARNED

Historically, linear infrastructure such as the TransCanada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway was built in the southern portions of the country, focusing on connectivity between east and west and with the United States to the south (Eden and Appel Molot 1993). [...] THE CANADIAN NORTHERN CORRIDOR CONCEPT IN RETROSPECT By the late 1950s, the Government of Canada recognized the need to open the North to gain access to its natural resources and to build a connection between the Northwest Territories and Yukon with the southern provinces. [...] WHAT WE HEARD 1. INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS AND PRIORITIES ACROSS MID- AND NORTHERN CANADA The first sub-section provides an overview of the infrastructure needs and priorities across mid- and northern Canada in response to the first research question, which pertains to the identification of key infrastructure gaps across mid- and northern Canada. [...] Roundtable participants pointed to the intersectional characteristics of the digital divide, which means the (un)availability of internet access also affects health and learning outcomes due to the (in)ability to participate in online distance education and to avail of online physical and mental health services. [...] The lack of essential infrastructure in mid- and northern Canada has created and exacerbated existing infrastructure inequities between north and south, such as the digital divide affecting rural and Indigenous communities (Koch 2022) or the underdeveloped trade infrastructure in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, which increases the costs of goods (Fellows, Munzur, and Winter 2023).