Evaluation of the Northern and Arctic Governance Partnerships Program

Relevance

Overall the NAGP is aligned with the Government of Canada's and CIRNAC's priorities, including several chapters of the Northern and Arctic Policy Framework. The evidence indicates that the Program targets current, ongoing and pressing needs in the Arctic and the North and can be positioned to collaborate with territorial and Indigenous partners to address them. However, the evidence also suggests that the Program has an opportunity to more fulsomely contribute to advancing the renewed Crown-Indigenous and Inuit-Crown relationships by moving away from a historical tendency to prioritize territorial needs through bilateral processes, especially regarding the Health Care Grants.

Design and Delivery

There is a disconnect between the logical sequencing of activities to support territorial priorities, resulting in limiting both vertical and horizontal linkage of the Program outcomes to support multilateral relationships. Further, the evaluation found that there is no evidence that the performance measurement framework is generating valid and reliable data that supports decision-making.

Effectiveness

The evaluation found that support given to the negotiation process of devolving responsibility for lands and natural resources to the Government of Nunavut has been effective. The absence of reliable performance data limits the ability to measure the extent to which the program activities are improving the lives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Northerners. However, most program officials were confident that the program activities contributed to improvements. Finally, the support to circumpolar affairs activities enables Canada to provide leadership and facilitate a space for Canadian Indigenous Permanent Participants to have a voice at the Sustainable Development Working Group, in spite of the persistent uncertainty of funding that threatens its viability over the medium and long-term.

Economy and Efficiency

The evaluation found that reduced reporting requirements for recipients, increased availability of multi-year funding, and the creation of intergovernmental working groups have helped in responding to the needs of the Territorial governments. Conversely, for the Circumpolar Affairs area, the absence of long-term funding has led to difficulties in building and maintaining organizational capacity.

Lessons Learned

Over the course of the evaluation, the following lessons were identified:

• Having a program focused on building and maintaining strong relationships and partnerships between Canada, territorial government and Indigenous peoples contributes to advance Northern and Arctic priorities and to successfully support reconciliation and renewed nation-to-nation relationships;
• Having a dedicated Minister of Northern Affairs portfolio brings dedicated focus to northern issues, challenges, opportunities and solutions; and
• There was no integration of gender considerations or the application of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) in any of the program activities or to advance achievement of the programs outcomes.

1. Management Response

The Northern Affairs Organization (NAO) welcomes the findings and recommendations of this evaluation.

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) is the lead federal department responsible for supporting Canada's Indigenous and northern people in the pursuit of healthy and sustainable communities, and broader economic and social development objectives.

The primary objective of the Northern Affairs Organization (NAO) is to support Canada's Arctic and Northern organizations, individuals, communities, and governments in the pursuit of a strong, inclusive, vibrant, prosperous, and self-sufficient North. This includes federal coordination, effective delivery of federal programming, and territorial relations.

The Northern and Arctic Governance Branch directly supports this mission by focusing on results that directly contribute to continued progress in building a strong, vibrant, and prosperous North and Arctic by focusing on:

• Community well-being in the North and Arctic;
• Status of Nunavut's devolution; and
• Reports produced by the Arctic Council that include Canadian content.

This evaluation covered the period between April 2016 and March 2023, and focused on addressing relevance, design and delivery, effectiveness and efficiency of NAGP activities across multiple lines of evidence, including: a review of relevant literature, a review of document and performance data, a comparative analysis of six program logic models, 25 key informant interviews and three case vignettes (Sustainable Development Working Group projects; Health Care Grants and the initiation of the critical Infrastructure Intergovernmental Working Groups).

Overall, the evaluation concluded that the Northern and Arctic Governance and Partnerships (NAGP) program aligns with the Government of Canada's and CIRNAC's priorities, including several chapters of the Northern and Arctic Policy Framework, as demonstrated by the findings and conclusions in the evaluation which focused on relevancy, design, delivery effectiveness and efficiency of NAGP activities. Furthermore, there is a high degree of alignment between NAGP, the Government of Canada (GC) and CIRNAC priorities, including: Arctic and Northern Policy Framework (ANPF), Speeches from the Throne, Ministerial Mandate Letters, Canada's position on Arctic Sovereignty, United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), and the long-standing policy of devolving of provincial-like responsibilities to the territorial governments.

As NAGP proceeds with implementing its response to this evaluation, there is the opportunity to contribute more fulsomely to advancing the renewed Crown-Indigenous and Inuit-Crown relationships by moving away from a historical tendency to prioritize territorial needs through bilateral processes. Such an approach requires not just a better integration of Indigenous peoples into all program activities, but the integration of all northerners (Indigenous and non-Indigenous), an approach currently being undertaken by NAO in its work supporting the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework.

2. Action Plan

Devolution

Devolution is the process in which the federal government transfers decision-making powers, including the management of expenditures to the territorial governments. Since the 1960s, the federal government has been actively devolving programs and services to territorial governments, including the transfer of responsibilities of health care, education, housing and social services. More recently, agreements were signed with the Yukon Government and the Government of the Northwest Territories in 2013 and 2014, respectively, for the devolution of land and resource management.

Meanwhile, a negotiation protocol was signed in 2008 with the Government of Nunavut and negotiations toward an Agreement-in-Principle began in October 2014. In 2019, the Nunavut Lands and Resource Devolution Agreement-in-Principle was signed between three parties: the Government of Canada (GC), Government of Nunavut (GN) and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated.

The Agreement-in-Principle establishes a pathway for the devolution of responsibilities associated with the management of public (Crown) lands, waters, and mineral resources in Nunavut from the GC to the GN, while respecting the rights of Inuit under the Nunavut Agreement. Once Nunavut devolution is complete, all three territories will have province-like powers and responsibilities.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

The 2016 adoption of the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) (PDF), followed by the passing of the Act in 2021, demonstrates the importance of the new relationship between the GC and Indigenous Peoples, with a commitment to advancing self-determination and self-governance.

In addition to following the Calls to Action included in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (PDF) and a Call for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Parliament adopted in 2021 the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which commits the federal government to ensuring that all laws of Canada are consistent with UNDRIP, and to develop an action plan to achieve the objectives of UNDRIP.

The Arctic and Northern Policy Framework

In September 2019, the Government of Canada announced the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework (ANPF), a co-developed framework created in tandem with Indigenous and territorial partners. The ANPF includes eight overarching and interconnected goals and associated objectives as federal priorities for the Arctic and the north through 2030. The Framework aims to provide a shared vision of the future and gives a roadmap to improving the standard of living in the Arctic and the North.

Departmental Transformation

In recent years, there has been a significant organizational transformation within the federal government to improve and advance Crown-Indigenous relationships. The most notable change was the dissolution of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) in 2017, which was subsequently replaced, in 2019, with the creation of two new Departments: Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC).

CIRNAC was designated with responsibility for files including the negotiation and implementation of treaties and agreements, the resolution of historical grievances, the consultation and accommodation of Indigenous peoples, and the ongoing delivery of programs and services in the North.

Minister, Northern Affairs

In 2019, the Minister of Northern Affairs (NA) was re-established to foster economic opportunities and an improved quality of life for individuals residing in Canada's North. Administratively, Northern Affairs is co-managed with Crown-Indigenous Relations but has its own minister, mission, mandate and objectives. As per the 2021 Ministerial Mandate Letter, there are three key priority areas for NA:

1. the implementation of the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework (ANPF);
2. make significant advancement to improve housing outcomes; and
3. continue efforts towards devolution for the territory of Nunavut.

Northern Affairs is also responsible for supporting efforts towards sovereignty and national interest, including strengthening intergovernmental relationships, advancing programs and policies that support Northerners and determining CIRNAC's direction and level of contribution to the Arctic Council.

These contextual considerations taken together are central to frame how the Northern Affairs Organization, and specifically the Northern and Arctic Governance and Partnerships (NAGP) program should be understood beyond the static colonial version of the Arctic and North that once dominated and defined program development and delivery for Indigenous peoples and Northerners.

Circumpolar Affairs

CIRNAC, as the leading federal department in the North, plays an integral role in the advancement of Canada's northern interests, both domestically and internationally. Circumpolar affairs serves as the primary conduit for Indigenous and territorial engagement in international circumpolar forums.

To fulfill its mandate to support and coordinate Canadian engagement in circumpolar affairs, the Circumpolar Affairs Directorate (CAD) provides expertise, leadership, resources, and whole-of-government coordination and organizational support for Canada's engagement at the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG). The SDWG was established, for Arctic states, to advance sustainable development through the co-development and co-leading of projects in partnership with Indigenous Permanent Participant (IPP) organizations. By contributing to these initiatives, Canada seeks to actively improve and address the multitude of challenges faced by Indigenous peoples and Northerners, including those pertaining to their health, their well-being as well as the sustenance and strengthening of their respective cultures, environment and communities.

Additional responsibilities that are assembled under the circumpolar affairs stream include fostering and maintaining the domestic and international relationships and working both multi-laterally and bi-laterally to strengthen and improve the quality of life of Canada's Indigenous and Northern residents. Multi-lateral engagement is primarily realized through the international Arctic Council and its SDWG. Bi-lateral engagement is supported through maintaining strong ties with Canada's circumpolar neighbors, including formal relationships with Norway, the U.S., and Russia.

Finally, the circumpolar affairs stream provides capacity and project funding to support the three Canadian IPP organizations' ability to lead, advance, and deliver on areas of mutual interest through contribution agreements.^{Footnote 1}

Grants to the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Government of Nunavut for Health Care of Indians and Inuit^{Footnote 2}

Since the 1950s, the Government of Canada was directly involved in the delivery of health care programs and services in the territories with the original intent of having the federal and territorial governments equally assuming costs. In 1959, however, the Government of Northwest Territories (GNWT) asserted that they were not able to meet their commitments, citing the high expense of providing care in remote and Indigenous communities. Thus, the federal government approved and began providing a special annual grant to the GNWT, noting that the government would cover 95% of insured hospital services costs for status Indian^{Footnote 3} and Inuit residents. In 1970, this grant agreement was expanded to include a total (100%) reimbursement for the costs to provide physician services to Indigenous residents.

In 1995, as a result of an out-of-court settlement, the grant was amended to include a two percent annual escalator to be applied to A-base funding in perpetuity. Upon the creation of Nunavut in 1999, the funding was divided into two, with 56.3% being allotted to GNWT and 43.7% being allocated to GN. These remain the characteristics of the current Health Care Grants.

According to departmental documents, the purpose of the Grants are to support the GNWT and the GN in the delivery of hospital and physician services for Indigenous peoples, with the objective of improving the health outcomes. The funding is provided to the territorial governments via 5-year agreements. Consistent with the accountability requirements for transfer payments to other orders of government under the Treasury Board Directive on Transfer Payments, the Grants are subject to minimal reporting requirements. Furthermore, the Grants sit outside of the Territorial Formula Financing, Canada Health Transfer and other health care transfer payments.

The resources for the Grants are allocated to CIRNAC through the Main Estimates, as voted expenditures. The two percent annual increases are subsequently managed through the Annual Reference Level Update (ARLU) in advance of agreement renewals, as can be seen in Table 1. Agreements are signed at the Director General level 2 as per the Delegation of Spending and Financial Authority matrix.

Since 2008, there have been at least two case studies, as part of the Special Study on INAC’s Funding Arrangements and subsequently the 2017 Evaluation of the Grants to the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Government of Nunavut for Health Care of Indians and Inuit,^{Footnote 4} both of which assessed the management and administration of the Grants. Most recently in response to the 2017 evaluation, Northern Affairs Organization committed to:

• considering other alternative delivery mechanisms;
• consult with appropriate federal central agencies and departments; and
• initiate discussions at the strategically appropriate times with the governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut on possible design and delivery alternatives.

While the 2017 Management Response and Action Plan indicates that the actions have been completed, some key informants for this evaluation noted that while work was initiated at the technical level, options were never presented for consideration to senior management.

Nunavut Devolution^{Footnote 5}

Continuing to work with Inuit and the GN to finalize a co-developed Nunavut Devolution Final Agreement is included in the Minister of Northern Affairs' 2021 mandate letter and constitutes one of NAGP's program streams.

Devolution in Nunavut is an ongoing process:

• Consultations with all Indigenous groups with asserted or established rights in Nunavut will be conducted prior to the conclusion of the Final Agreement negotiations;
• The parties are currently targeting the transfer date of 2025. The transfer date is the date devolution comes into effect, with the administration and control over lands and resources devolved from the GC to the GN; and
• The Agreement-in-Principle commits to a three-year period between the signing of the Final Devolution Agreement and the transfer date to allow for legislation and implementation activities required for the transfer. This includes the development and implementation of legislation, due diligence activities, and additional Section 35 consultations. These phases are targeted to be implemented between 2022 and 2025.

Upon completion of the devolution negotiation, legislation will have to be prepared, core funding agreements signed, and hand-over from the GC to the GN.

Housing and Infrastructure

Canada's northern, remote and isolated communities face unique housing needs due to the challenges presented by geography, climate change, infrastructure and remoteness. To address these critical needs, two Intergovernmental Housing Working Groups (IHWGs) were established in 2021, with partners from the GNWT and the GN. Accompanied by funding to the territorial governments and co-chaired by the Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of the Northern Affairs Organization (NAO) and senior territorial officials, the IHWGs aim to address a broad array of issues by collating the expertise of Indigenous governments, municipal governments, industry leaders, and federal officials from CIRNAC, Indigenous Services Canada, Infrastructure Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Natural Resource Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, and others.^{Footnote 6}

Each working group is expected to have at least four meetings per year, with a minimum of one meeting each fiscal quarter. The Terms of Reference of each IHWG was signed in 2022.

Housing Investment Support

Multiple reports,^{Footnote 11} as identified through the literature and document review, outline the housing crisis in the north, and indicate that it represents a serious public health emergency, particularly in Nunavut.^{Footnote 12} The chronic shortage of accessible, affordable and high quality housing in the North and the Arctic was described by interviewees as particularly challenging to address, in part because of the fact that the current federal housing investments are highly fragmented. The investments involve multiple departments, in addition to Territorial and First Nation Governments and Inuit Land Claim Organizations making efforts to address the shortage.

In 2021, the Governments of Northwest Territories and Nunavut received $25 million from the federal government for investments to address the housing crisis with an additional $150 million allocated over two years to support affordable housing and related infrastructure in the North. These new initiatives would support the program using the existing funding authority: Contributions to Promote Social and Political Development in the North and for Northerners.

Through the document review and key informant interviews, the evaluation team found that the Program can be positioned to support territorial government work to increase the housing stock with initiatives aligned to the program outcome of improving the quality of life for Northerners.

Moreover, key tools, identified throughout the evaluation, in responding to the housing and infrastructure needs of the territorial governments are the dedicated Intergovernmental Housing Working Groups for Nunavut and Northwest Territories.

Circumpolar Affairs

According to most key informants, the Northern and Arctic Governance and Partnerships (NAGP)'s circumpolar affairs activities directly support Canada's leadership role at the Arctic Council by facilitating the representation and participation of Northern and Arctic people in relevant international forums and negotiations. More specifically, program resources are allocated to vice-chairing the Arctic's Council Sustainable Development Working Group, including direct investments to enable the Canadian Indigenous Permanent Participants (IPP) to participate in the Working Groups decision-making processes. One of the evaluation case vignettes found that while Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) project funding for Canadian IPPs was short-term, the pilot projects were critical in adding to the body of knowledge in addressing the unique challenges experienced by Northerners, like mental health, sustainable development, and renewable energy, thus illustrating how the program's activities contributed to identifying and working on current stakeholder needs.

Health Care Services for Indigenous peoples

There is substantial documentation that there continues to be gaps between Northerners and the rest of Canada with respect to health outcomes and that the gaps are magnified for Inuit, First Nations and Métis in the Arctic and Northern Canada.^{Footnote 13} Some of the issues noted include that the geography and low population density make it difficult to achieve the economies of scale that are possible in southern Canada. Furthermore, most specialized services and hospital care often require air travel, which dramatically adds to health care costs. Challenges are particularly marked for Indigenous peoples, who tend to have poorer health outcomes largely due to the ongoing legacy of colonialism, residential schools, and inequalities in access to health services. Almost unanimously, informants expressed confidence that the Health Care Grants are contributing to improving the health outcomes for all territorial residents, including the Indigenous peoples, however, there was no evidence provided to the evaluation team to support this perspective.^{Footnote 14}

Furthermore, we noted that there are no requirements for the Governments of Northwest Territories or Nunavut to report how the funds specifically support Indigenous peoples, and that the funding provided are transferred directly into the territorial governments general revenues. Several key informants stated that the current fiscal arrangement to territorial governments is administratively expedient, and explained that it represents a small portion of overall territorial government health care expenditures.^{Footnote 15} One key informant explicitly expressed uncertainty about the Grants' alignment with UNDRIP and reconciliation. No evidence was provided to demonstrate how the funding is contributing to improving the health outcomes Indigenous peoples as per the funding authorities objective.

The Arctic and Northern Policy Framework emphasizes that reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is paramount to ensuring that Northern and Arctic people are thriving, strong, and safe. Several federal key informants reported that, in their opinion, because NAGP contributes to the ANPF goals and objectives, which were co-developed with Indigenous partners, the activities therefore must be strongly aligned with CIRNAC's approach to Crown-Indigenous relations. The evaluation team found limited evidence through the documents, performance data, and vignettes to support this view.

As can be seen in Table 6, some of the Program's areas of activity would do well to collaborate and integrate Indigenous partners' interests. For example, the circumpolar affairs activities enable the IPPs to have influence on the Arctic Council's SDWG through project proposals. Almost 90 percent of SDWG projects are co-selected and co-led with IPPs, hence contributing to building and maintaining strong relationships with them and with participating territorial officials. Similarly, the available evidence suggests that Inuit engagement is an integral component of devolution of lands and resource management to the Government of Nunavut (GN). However, under challenges, Table 6 shows that other program activities display a less clear path of engagement with Indigenous peoples.

Figure 2 illustrates how the Program's historical focus on territorial needs, which has been anchored in bilateral relationships, is still embedded within the logic sequencing of the program. As previously noted, even though the Health Care Grants are based solely on bilateral relationships, they are expected to contribute to the intermediate outcome of strong tri-lateral relationship. As the evaluation team found no evidence of engagement with Indigenous peoples with respect to the Health Care Grants, there is therefore a disconnect between what is actually achievable and what is required for the program to be able to achieve its outcomes.

Text alternative for Figure 2: Logic Sequence for Activity 3

Figure 2 reproduces a specific branch of NAGP logic model, that goes as follow:

Activity: Support for territorial priority areas

Output: Financial support for territorial priorities

Immediate outcome: Territories and Northerners have access to federal support

Intermediate outcome: Strong federal-territorial-Indigenous and circumpolar relations

The activity leads to the output, which in turn is expected to lead to the immediate outcome and then to the intermediate outcome.

Northern Indigenous peoples

Challenges in assessing how the NAGP's activities are improving the lives of Northerners in general are compounded when looking at northern Indigenous peoples in particular. One individual cited the contextual factor that, given that the territorial population is significantly more Indigenous than elsewhere in Canada, improving the health care system for all Northerners would translate into improvements for Indigenous peoples in particular. Another surmised that because the costs for Indigenous health services are higher than the value of the Health Care Grants, the funding was contributing to the improvements of the lives of Indigenous peoples. The absence of any other qualitative or quantitative data prevented the evaluation team from corroborating these claims.

GBA Plus

The extent to which Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) is being incorporated and considered within the Program to support achievement of program outcomes was not explicitly evident by the evaluation team. There was no data or information provided to demonstrate that GBA Plus is integrated to inform development or implementation, even though it is a required policy tool for program and policy development.

The Circumpolar Affairs directorate plays a leadership role at the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG). In doing so, it works collaboratively with Indigenous Permanent Participant (IPP) organizations and with territorial and provincial representatives to address socio-economic issues that contribute to community resilience, knowledge creation and international best practices related to sustainable development in the Arctic. Canada's influence was described as sizeable compared to that of other countries sitting at the Arctic Council's table. The manner in which Canada empowered IPP to co-wield some of that influence was also praised by many key informants.

According to performance data, all (100%) of Arctic Council initiatives correlate to or advance the priorities of Canadian IPPs, and 88% of the SDWG projects were co-developed and co-delivered with IPPs during the evaluation period. Key informants corroborated the importance of Canada's support for projects identified as priorities by IPPs, highlighting suicide prevention and sustainable energy projects as relevant examples.

Some key informants stated that the SDWG projects supported by circumpolar affairs were being developed and used in practical ways that advanced the priorities and capacity of local communities. As an example, one key informant cited how participants in a SDWG project had applied the experience gained to start a local iteration in their own communities. Another praised how communities were given the tools to adapt initiatives to their own context. Networking and knowledge-sharing were also saluted as two crucial benefits of Indigenous participation in SDWG project.

These successes are remarkable given a persistent and widely agreed-on need for more stable funding. Key informants reported that long-term and predictable funding would go a long way in helping Canada to further its influence at the Arctic Council and improve its management of circumpolar affairs.

With IPPs being funded mainly on a project-by-project basis, some described a pressure to follow the lead of the department in determining priorities and in selecting how to address them, perpetuating the colonial power imbalance. It was suggested that having an independent multiyear source of funding would help to build capacity within Indigenous organizations by encouraging long-term stability and predictability for recipients, thus aligning further with reconciliation objectives.

The need for securing adequate and stable funding was previously flagged in the 2016 program evaluation and as a recommendation in a 2017 program business case.

Intergovernmental working groups

The formal implementation of working groups in housing and infrastructure activities was seen by many federal and territorial officials as a positive new practice as they felt that it would lead to a better integration of Northern Canada's unique challenges into decision-making. Key informants explained how these working groups help to improve knowledge-sharing and to reduce friction between federal and territorial departments and agencies, thus promoting the efficient use of funds. With working groups being a fairly recent development, most informants conceded that it was too early to effectively assess their utility. Most declared optimism based on what they had seen so far. However, a common critique directed towards interdepartmental working group was that meetings were too sporadic to build the kind of momentum that could ultimately lead to real change.

Minister of Northern Affairs

Many program officials indicated that having a dedicated Minister of Northern Affairs has brought a newfound authority to collaboration networks in Northern Canada. As a result, they noted that the unique context and challenges of the North were better reflected in discussion around policy issues and the NAGP activities.