Response to parliamentary committees and external audits

Response to parliamentary committees

On April 10, 2019, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs (INAN) presented a report resulting from its study of northern infrastructure projects and strategies, entitled Report 18 – A Path to Growth: Investing in the North. In its report, INAN notes that throughout the Arctic, most communities still lack some of the basic infrastructure that many across the country often take for granted, which directly affects the region’s residents and their socio-economic well-being. For example, due to the lack of infrastructure for transportation, residents of Canada’s North pay substantially more for their goods and services, such as food. In addition, electricity rates in the North are the highest in the country, as residents must rely mostly on expensive fuel to heat their homes and to operate their businesses. Moreover, INAN reports that northern communities are facing a housing crisis, and for the most part have too little access – or no access at all – to digital infrastructure.

As a result of its study, INAN offered 6 recommendations in its report, that the Government of Canada:

1. include in its forthcoming Arctic Policy Framework a co-developed process to ensure local and Indigenous perspectives are taken into account in the development and maintenance of northern infrastructure
2. consider distinct and northern-specific infrastructure funding, that funding criteria and disbursement mechanisms reflect the realities of the Arctic, such as higher construction and shipping costs, the smaller size and remoteness of communities, and the need to improve the pace of funding decisions, and that this funding and its parameters support the goals of local, territorial and Indigenous governments
3. implement, in partnership with northern communities, programs to ensure energy security and to transition away from the use of diesel fuel for power generation, and that during the transition towards cleaner sources of energy, the Government of Canada work to improve the reliability and efficiency of power plants awaiting to be replaced
4. in partnership with its local, territorial and Indigenous partners, ensure the sustainability and climate resiliency of northern infrastructure by requiring that climate vulnerability assessments be carried out on northern infrastructure projects, and that the results of these assessments serve to inform adaptation actions that address potential risks associated with a changing climate
5. recognize the pressing need to take real action to combat climate change and ensure that the implementation of carbon pricing in the Arctic is flexible enough to meet the needs of households, businesses and local governments, and further, that it ensure that carbon pricing, or any other climate change adaptation measures, does not place an excessive financial burden on northerners
6. recognizing that building accessible infrastructure is essential to providing equal opportunities for all northerners, ensure that accessibility assessments are carried out on northern infrastructure projects

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, INAN requested that the Government table a response to its report. The election was called before the Government Response could be tabled.

Response to audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (including audits conducted by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)

There were no audits in 2019–20 requiring a response.

Response to audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

There were no audits in 2019–20 requiring a response.