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The Future of 's North Country BY H. w. HEWETSON ORTY-ONE per cent of the area of There is, of course, no obvious means F Canada lies outside provincial bound- of northern dey elopment. If there were aries. If we consider in addition the vast it would have been used long ago. But uninhabited or sparsely-peopled the first step in considering the north of Northern Quebec, northern Ontario country is certainly to learn more about and the northern parts of the four western it. The great majority of provinces, we can reach a figure of between are fully as ignorant of the greater part seventy-five and eighty per cent of the of their own country as are most Amer- whole area of Canada which plays little icans about Canada. School or no part in Canadian life. are apt to treat the north very briefly, A map of settled Canada would look and show a tendency to perpe'tuate state- not unlike the map of Chile. But that ments which may or may not have been is not the map to which we are accus- true :fifty years ago but are certainly tomed. We think of Canada as a country not true to-day. Travel books of the which occupies a very considerable por- north are relatively few, and too many tion of the 's surface. We take of them have a tendency to exaggerate great pride in the fact that Canada descriptions for dramatic effect. But appears so large on a world map, and quite a bit of authentic information unconsciously this contributes to the can be obtained if one goes to the trouble feeling that Canada is destined to have a to seek it out. There are, for example, great future. Our large area makes our meteorological tables available for quite population per square mile appear trif- a large number of northern points. ling, and this engenders the belief that Canada could easily support many more Climate millions of people. But at this point it is well to stop and Climate, as the chief limiting factor, note the fact that over eighty per cent is the :first thing to be considered. A of Canada has less than five and a half moment's reflection will convince one months in the year with a mean temper- that the Canadian north is much too ature over 43 degrees Fahrenheit. And big an area to have a uniform climate. unfortunately the world has not as yet As a matter of fact two major climatic found any important use for regions with zones can be distinguished, the taiga this sort of climate. The Americans have of the west and the polar or tundra of hitherto largely neglected and so the east. The chief mark of differentia- have little to teach us about northern tion between the two is the presence of development. Vague . stories have cir- trees. Trees grow to the west of a line culated to the eff ect that the Russians drawn from the mouth of the Mackenzie have done wonderful things in the north- River, southeasterly to the east of Great ern parts of , but the accounts Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake to are seldom specific and are difficult a bit south of Churchill. to track down. And so it would seem The country to the west of this line, that if Canadians are to turn their large T erritory and most of the Mac- north country into a real asset, they must kenzie District of the Northwest Ter- rely chiefly on their own initiative. ritories, is covered for the most part with evergreen forest but has sum_mers too s,hort to permit the general economic EDITOR'S NOTE: Professor H ewetson is on the staff of the Department of Political Economy of the activities of temperate regions where University of Alberta. During the summer of 1944 he made, on behalf of the Canadian Social Science deciduous trees will grow. The eastern Research Council, extensive studies of the North district, commonly called the "Eastern Country. 74 PUBLIC AFFAIRS ," includes the so-called "Barren with temperatures in the nineties not Lands" (or, as some prefer to call them, infrequent. The rivers are free from "Arctic Prairies") of Keewatin, the ice from about the middle of May to Ungava peninsula of Quebec, and the well on in October. Precipitation, both islands of the Franklin District. This seasonally and in amount, is very similar , while devoid of trees and contain- to the Eastern Arctic. ing much bare rock, has numerous vari- Economy eties of plant life, chiefly grasses, mosses and lichens. The economy of the Eastern Arctic It should be noted that Canada has has almost entirely to do with the no large region with a perpetual ice-cap The great bulk of Canada's Eskimos live as is found in . However, in this region, and, except for a few that not too much is known about the more go inland in the K eewatin District to northerly islands. While posts have hunt caribou, obtain all their food and been established at Dundas Harbour clothing from sea mammals and fish. on Devon Island, and at Craig Harbour D ensity of population in this region and Bache on Ellesmere Island, apparent- is most usefully measured in terms of ly at the present time no beings inhabitants (or fraction of a person) are living north of a line through McLure per mile of coast line. The white residents Strait, Viscount Melville Sound, Barrow of the district, including fm traders, Strait and Lancaster Sou,nd. It is quite Royal Canadian Mounted Police, mis- possible that most of the north may have sionaries, signal station operators and a great development with the land north medical men, are all located on the coast. of the seventy-fifth parallel still remaining Almost the only economic activity largely unknown. of the region which is relatet.. to the out- A polar climate is one in which the side world is the trapping of the white mean temperature of the coldest month fox. Other furs are obtained but their of the year is somewhere between ten value is insignificant compared to the to thirty degrees below zero, and in which fox. The catch varies widely from year the warmest month shows a mean tem- to year and provides the means by which perature somewhere in the low forties. the Eskimo purchases white-man's goods It is the very short summer season that at the trading post. distinguishes polar from taiga climate. As would be expected from the Precipitation is low, but for the most maritime nature of the settlement, little part is above the ten-inch desert limit. is known about the interior country. The The wettest months are in the summer, geological formations hold little promise which means that rain accounts for of important minerals. However, traces approximately as much precipitation as of a number of useful minerals have been snow. found, particularly on the western side Canada's taiga country does not ex- of Hudson Bay, and as the country is perience the moderating influence of the largely unmapped and unknown it is sea, and shows a wider range of tem- little too early to dismiss the mmeral perature. ·winter mean temperatures possibilities completely. are about the same as in the Eastern As with the whole of the Canadian Arctic, but the variations from the north, development of the Eastern Arctic mean are greater and much lower tem- cannot proceed faster than transportation peratures have been recorded. The ex- facilities. The eastern part of Canada's treme lowest on record seems to be the north country has depended almost en- seventy-nine below zero recorded at Fort tirely on water transportation forJ its Good Hope in December, 1910. But connections with the outside world. Ice, the summers are much warmer than fog, shallow water and magnetic varia- in the Eastern Arctic. July mean tem- tions are only a few of the navigation peratures approach sixty at most points, difficulties. Yet, ships are able to reach PUBLIC AFFAIRS 75 the various posts each summer, although had been staked, but they did leave not before 1944 has a ship traversed the behind 'a permanent population of about historic Northwest Passage in one season. two thousand people in Dawson with The novelty of an arctic cruise might possi- possibly another thousand along the bly be a tourist attraction, but it must Klondike River and its creeks. Dawson be remembered that such a trip would City to-day is a place with buildings almost certainly be more costly than a and institutions suggesting a much more trip to . Flying can provide an populous town. It has had electric all-year transportation service, except light and telephones since about 1900, for a month during freeze-up and another has two branch banks still operating and month during break-up, but in addition a newspaper published three times a to the above-mentioned navigational dif- week. While about $250,000,000 worth fic ulties the lack of maps and the long of gold has been shipped outside, the hours of winter darkness provide further people concerned are still thinking in problems. The possibilities of using the terms of hundreds of millions more. Eastern Arctic for air bases on inter- Though The Yukon Consolidated Gold continental air routes will be discussed Corporation Limited (which has replaced at the end of this article. the individual miners, and controls all The Western Arctic, while gen:erally the Klondike's gold output) is at present uniform as regards climate (high moun- operating on a restricted basis, this is tains prevent Yukon from having any due solely to man-power shortage and share in the mild, rainy climate of the not to the lack of gold in the creeks. south Alaskan coast) is divided into two The second influx of people into Yukon distinct regions by the Mackenzie Moun- is only new on the ebb. Like the first tains. Yukon consists of a fairly elevated it has been made up largely of Americans plateau; the Mackenzie District is low- and consisted chiefly of lying with a myriad of lakes. army personnel, the contractors and Eskimos are found in the ·western workers on the Alaska Highway, and the Arctic only at Aklavik an'd along the people catering to their wants. Again, coast of the Arctic . Indians form no exact figures on the number of persons the great majority of the native popula- involved have been released but a good tion. The Indians are far more numerous guess might be that about 40,000 people than the whites in the Mackenzie Dis- have seen at least some of Yukon for the trict, but are in the minority in Yukon, first time as the result of the war. The which is another important difference second "invasion" of Yukon has been between the two regions. in the southern part of the territory, The Yukon cent ering on Whitehorse. Whitehorse, a town of about eight hundred people There have been two occasions when before the war, has as its chief reason for large numbers of people have entered existence, aside from some copper mining Canada's north country, and both occur- carried on intermittently in the past, red in Yukon. The first occurred follow- the fact that it is the terminus of a railway ing the announcement of the famous from Skagway, Alaska, and the transfer placer gold strike in the Klondike. No point to the river steamers going north. one knows just how many persons "tried The Americans should leave Whitehorse their luck" in this remarkable stampede, a more important place than they found but it is fairly reliably stated that there it. The chain of modern airports, the were 35,000 people in 'Dawson City in Alaska Highway, the pipe line and the the _winter of 1898. It is also presumed · large refinery are only some of the that more gold-seekers failed to reach tangible things that will be left behind. their objective than did. Most of these A third part of Yukon, which has been miners left the country, of course, as productive enough to support some eight soon as all the readily-available claims hundred people, is the Mayo district. 76 PUBLIC AFFAIRS In this region traces of almost all known tourist business takes first place in dis- minerals of any importance have been cussions of its post-war possibilities. found, but actual mining has been con- The MacKenzie District fined to silver and lead. Here the trans- portation problem assumes major pro- The Mackenzie District is probably portions. Because of the long and costly Canada's best northern region for the haul to the outside world, mining can be trapping of fur-bearing animals. Some conducted profitably only when prices of the trading posts of this district have are high enough. Gold is valuable enough been operating from as long ago as 1800. to stand high transportation charges, However, it was not till after the First but the other minerals are not. Better Great War that any other possibilities and cheaper transportation is the most became known. The Mackenzie District essential requirement in the development is the one part of Canada that can truly of Canada's north country. be said to have been opened up by the Yukon has large resources of many aeroplane. different minerals. But what are the While explorers from the remote past possibilities of industries other than min- had reported various mineral occurrences, ing? Furs are important, of course, but the beginnings of exploitation did not take trapping cannot support any very farge place until 1920. In that year two oil population. Agriculture is by no means wells were drilled beside the Mackenzie non-existent. Because of the long hours District about fifty miles north of Fort of summer sunlight, vegetables and other Norman. Because of the lack of a market quick-growing plants can reach enormous these wells remained capped until re- sizes, and there is a lot of land on which cently. In 1930 the event took place they can be grown. But there is no which drew the attention of the whole agricultural product that it would pay world to Canada's to ship outside. Markets must be looked - the discovery of pitchblende deposits for locally. While trees are very numer- at the eastern end of Gre.at Bear Lake. ous, the fact that the ground is permanent- The fact that Canada has become one ly frozen about two feet below the surface of the two important sources in the world causes them to be shallow-rooted and of the very rare and very valuable ele- generally too twisted to make good ments, radium and uranium, is of tre- timber. Yukon's wood is used only for mendous importance, not merely to the fuel 'at present. Abundant coal and other country but to the outside world as well. materials used in industry suggest that And it may be noted that there is a lot certain kinds of production are physically of silver occurring with the pitchblende. possible, but again there is no obvious In 1935 followed the discovery of gold product that it would pay to ship to the in the Yellowknife area on the north outside world. side of Great Slave Lake. Yellowknife Yukon, of all Canada's northern is now the largest centre of population regions, has the largest tourist industry in the Northwest T erritories and a place and the promise of a still bigger one. of tremendous bustle and enthusiasm. The trip by sea from Vancouver to Whether or not it is "the richest gold Skagway, the picturesque 110 mile- field in Canada" only the future will tell, journey by rail to Whitehorse, and the but at least conservative financial inter- modern steamers down the Yukon River ests have shown enough faith in it for make up a most delightful tour through the one bank to grow to three just this scenery of the "grand" type with the old past fall. Yellowknife is the centre for romance of the Yukon in the background. prospecting work over a wide area and The trouble is that such a trip is expensive many interesting finds other than gold and possible only to those who can get have been reported. a two or three months' vacation. Now, The original oil fields at Norman Wells Yukon has the Alaska Highway and the now form the nucleus of a third concentra- PUB LI C .AF FA. I RS 77 tion of population in the Mackenzie Dis- Economic Outlook trict. The American Canol Project has To sum up, it would appear as though been carried on here, and an oil pipe-line the western part of Canada's . north and road have been built from the wells country has very great mineral potential- through almost unknown country to the ities, the Yukon's being known on the newly-built refinery at Whitehorse. Many whole, and the Mackenzie District's still new wells have been sunk in the district. being prospected. But in the present While the activity here has been mostly circumstances mining must be confined American and occasioned by the war, to the more valuable minerals because the wells will be . kept in operation if a of transportation costs. If cheaper trans- market can be found. The Yellowknife portation were available, great quantities area is now buying a large amount of of the baser metals would also be mined. fuel oil, and with Port Radium and the Transportation is thus the crux of the Yukon towns as potential users there is whole development of the north. How a good prospect that the market problem can more economical and more efficient will be solved. transportation be provided? T).ie only M ention should be made of the large answer seems to be through a Dominion deposits of native copper around Copper- government subsidy. Canada has cer- mine on the shores of Coronation Gulf. tainly subsidized many transportation The existence of copper here has been projects in the past, sometimes wisely, known for many years, but transporta- frequently in a spirit of foolish optimism. tion difficulties have made any com- To undertake extensive transportation mercial development impossible. How- improvements in the north would be ever, American firms have recently been extremely costly because of the large conducting extensive surveys in this area. area involved, and no steps should be Aside from mining, the Mackenzie taken in this direction until after a lot District has much the same potentialities of careful study. But there are certain as Yukon. Agriculture, dairying and inexpensive improvements that the gov- other industries can be carried on, but ernment should have undertaken long seem likely to have to depend on local ago. The most important of these is markets. However, the surveys of the probably the improvement of navigation Dominion Department of Fisheries on conditions on the Mackenzie waterways Great Slave Lake during the summer of system. A li ttle dredging and blasting, 1944 lead to another possibility . The and a few lights and buoys would better Indians have always depended largely conditions considerably. on the fish they could catch in the ·variou·s Mining does not suggest permanent lakes, but now _it is stated authoritative- communities, but the mineral resources ly that Great Slave Lake is potentially of the north indicate great activity for the greatest fresh-water fishing ground many generations to come. Mining is in . The Reindeer Reserve the ~nly apparent industry which can suggests a still further possibility. Stef- open up the north. Agriculture and other industries are physically possible, but fanson long ago suggested that the time there does not seem to be any chance that would come when the civilized world anything they could produce, could not would have to look t o the north for its be obtained much more economically meat. Caribou roam almost the whole in the outside world from more con- of west of Hudson venient sources. But if mining commun- ities spring up and flourish in the north, Bay, and undoubtedly meat could be these other industries should certainly raised over a very large area in the grow with them. north. But more southerly sources have As far as can be seen from the present, not disappeared yet. Canada's Eastern Arctic does not hold 78 PUBLIC AFFAIRS so much promise. Undoubtedly part of However, the experience with flying the reason is that we know less about it. in the north has shown it to be much No one knows what scientific and tech- more costly than in settled areas. The nical discoveries are to come in the two items in particular which make north- future, and it would not be in the Cana- ern flying expensive are fuel and oil and dian spirit to deny this great stretch of maintenance. When gasoline, lubricants, country any importance at all. But any spare parts and mechanics cannot be great development of this area lies in taken to airports by ground transportation the future, and probably the distant costs mount very rapidly. Much valu- future. able revenue space on. planes is a dead Future of Aviation loss. In addition, a great deal of freight Another development has caused many would have to be shipped by air to the people to look to the north with renewed northern bases. Cargo-carrying planes interest. A general feeling prevails that are certainly possible, but their develop- the future is to be a flying era. Trans- ment as yet is very slight. Air transport oceanic journeys by air, it is asserted, is fast, but far too costly for the move- will become commonplace . \i\Then we ment of goods save in exceptional cir- examine the possible routes on a globe, cumstances. we quickly discover that all the great The conclusion seems to be that north- circle routes from North America to the ern flying is not likely to be important Eastern Hemisphere run over Canada's until it can be supplemented by efficient arctic regions. These are the shortest ground transportation. The Edmonton- routes and they at once bring Canada's Whitehorse-Fairbanks run is quite prob- northland into prominence. If distance ably the initial part of a feasible route is an important factor, as undoubtedly to the . All these places have rail it is, then it would seem that with the connections, and air costs could be kept war over all that we have to do is con- within reason. In the east, at the present struct a series of strategic bases in the time, any air base in the north ·could be north and operations can begin. served only by water. Ice problems So many optimistic forecasts have been leave only a small part of the year made along these lines that there is no when such bases could be served. · need to repeat them. It would seem to Certain weather and physical condi- be more useful to point out one or two tions make aeroplane operation in the of the difficulties . north difficult, but ways are being found The impression has got abroad that to solv!3 many of these problems. Tem- such post-war long-distance flying will peratures colder than sixty degrees below be cheap. But flying as we know it is zero, infrequent but by no means un- not cheap. Great technical advances known, create troubles for pilots and have been made during the war, but maintenance men. The heavy fogs and military aviation has advanced without poor visibility of the eastern part of the regard for the cost factor. Commercial north do not help . Lack of maps, com- flying cannot ignore costs. Future tech- pass troubles in the vicinity of the Mag- nical developments may change the whole netic Pole, and a number of similar picture, but we cannot base plap.s on difficulties could be mentioned, but means discoveries not yet made. Air travel, of handling the problems they create, of course, can be made available to the are gradually being evolved. individual at a reasonable figure with However, there is no need to become the aid of government subsidies, direct pessimistic about the future of trans- or indirect. As commercial flying was arctic inter-continental flying. But it made possible in the inter-war years is well to temper our enthusiasm a bit. through various forms of disguised sub- Canadians have always been people sidies, it seems altogether probable that that talk of tomorrow. And the thing they will continue and even be increased. that differentiates Canada from all but PUBLIC AFFAIRS 79 a very few countries is the existence of in this direction is certainly the acqms1- a vast tract of arctic country. Therefore, tion of more information about the north. it would seem that if Canada is to attain And the time has now been reached when her prophesied position of importance it is no longer creditable for the bulk of in the world, it will be through putting Canadians to regard the north country the north to a real use. The first step as terra incognita.

Functions of a University

By JOHN MACMURRA y here can be rio serious doubt that changing their charact er, without ade- T there is a great need to rethink quate consideration of the consequences, and replan our university system, if in piece-meal response to pressures of a indeed it can becalled a system . Yet changing society. In particular the de- any attempt to force a systematic velopment of science and its applications reorganization upon our universi ty insti- has disturbed the balance of traditional tutions from outside would prove im- university life profoundly. The proper possible. It would meet with a resist- equipment of scientific departments for ance so powerful that it could hardly t eaching and research is extremely ex- be successful; and if the resistance pensive when compared with the older could be overcome, the resul t would be departments, and necessarily absorbs a disastrous. Freedom is not merely desir- large part of the too limited resources able in the life of a university, it is a which are available for expansion. At first essential. Without freedom it ceases the same time this highly desirable to be a university, and the instinctive development of science imparts an in- resistance to regulation imposed from creasingly technical charact er to univer- without which a university exhibits if sity education. So far no satisfactory it is worth its salt has a perfectly sound method has been found for bringing and healthy basis. Indeed it might be scientific studies within the cultural syn- maintained, not without reasonable thesis which the older curriculum pro- ground, that under modern conditions vided. This is merely one of .the ways this resistance is being dangerously in which the organization and life of our undermined, and requires to be stimulated universities has been altered by the pres- and strengthened. At any rate it may sure of social needs. There are many be taken as a first principle that any others. Together they have worked organization and correlation of the uni- a transformation in the character of our versities should be determined by the universities, and the process will continue universities themselves, however much and even increase. In this way new func- it is stimulated by the pressure of outside tions have been and are being thrust opinion. upon the university, without regard to Before any useful attempt can be made their effect upon its older and more to plan a university system which will important functions. What we need meet the needs of contemporary society, are the principles of a new synthesis it is necessary to be clear about the func- of university life, and 1 1s only by re- tions which the universities have to fulfil. thinking the functions of a univeraity This is specially important now because in relation to contemporary needs that for a long time our universities have been these can be brought to light. It is necessary to be clear about the EDITOR'S NOTE: John Macmurray is Professor of radical difference between a university and Philoiophy at the University of PUBLIC a school. The whole function of a school is AFFAIRS is indebted to the Editor of The Political Quarterly for permission to reprint this article. educational, but the education of its