Regional Geography of Canada

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Requirement

Need to choose a regional environmental issue and outline the history, current importance, and the interplay of this issue in terms of the local and global economy, as well as the health and well-being of the region’s population. 

Solution

Issue

The Northern region of Canada had an abundance of natural resources with vast potential economic impacts. Out of various critical driver of various Northern economies, mining exploration and development is one of them. The overall Northern metal as well as non-metallic mineral output, in the period of 2011 to 2020, is likely to grow by 91 per cent. However due to the strict rules and regulations, increase in the recognition of Aboriginal rights, the various corporate social responsibility programs and technological innovations, the practice of mining is found to be highly different than it was once considered to be. 

History

The long history of mining in Canada cannot be ignored as mining has successfully created the cities like Sudbury in Ontario, Labrador City in Newfoundland, etc. and has been providing jobs to the Northerners. Aboriginal people were the first miner in the North America who used various weapons and tools for minerals. As per the First Nations, (AFN), “The First Nations …. were involved in mining development well before the Europeans arrived. In the Lake Superior area, the copper trade was already in existence 6,000 years ago. In the year 2,000 BC, Maritime First Nations inhabitants developed chert beds to make various objects, while silver in the Cobalt area was already being exploited 200 years before our time. Then came the Europeans and prospecting work began as early as 1583, near the location where Halifax now stands. The first mine developed by the Europeans was probably New Brunswick’s Great Lake coalmine in 1639” (AFN 2001a). Various literatures have demonstrated the role of Aboriginal Peoples in the discovery of gold throughout the Pacific Northwest along with a discussion on their attempt for defending the lucrative claims via full-scale resistance (cf., Marshall 1996). These attempts have resulted in Fraser War in 1858 and in today’s time the major sector of the domestic as well as the export economy of Canada.  

Why is the issue important to Canada?

1. Geopolitical Perspective
   The geological requirements for the formation of diamonds have further restricted the mine production and especially of the rough diamonds to a limited number of countries. Canada has regulatory, geopolitical as well as infrastructure advantages over other producers in the same exploration enterprise. The tensions between the West and Vladimir Putin are setting off high tremors for the mining sector of Canada along with the backers from Russia that are withdrawing the assets of North Americans, which has ultimately created huge opportunities alongside the major problems for the Canadian firms. 

2. Economical Perspective
   In spite of all the volatility experienced over the last decades, the mining sector of Canada has been seen to contribute around $54.0 billion in 2013 to the total national GDP and in 2013, contributed around $52.6 billion. However, the economic benefits of mining are on the short term basis as the minerals are nonrenewable resources and the minerals will never be answer to the economic woes of the Northern States of Canada. It is seen that the mines are often shut down due to the low metal prices or workers getting laid off. Various workers were not been able to access to their salary and various workers tend to spend their lifetime earnings thinking that the job provided to them does not have a long-term certainty. 

3. Social Perspective
   The mining projects are seen to have exacerbate the housing shortages. Communities face issue with overcrowded houses and other houses require repair. The local infrastructure become insufficient to meet the demands and leads to homeless shelters. Furthermore, the potential adverse effects of mining is family cohesion leaving the women to remain at home and take care of their children. This strain leads to conflicts, children neglect, violence and even break ups. Furthermore the possible outcomes of mining employment leads to disruptions in the family, sexual harassment against the women in the work place and lack of opportunities. 

Why is both the environment and this development/issue important to the region in terms of: Economy, Society and Human/ Ecological Health

• Economy:
   Around 375,000 people in Canada work in the mineral and mining industries and mining is the largest private sector employer of the Aboriginal people. The Northern Canada is the largest mining supply with more than 3,700 companies supplying the environmental, geotechnical, engineering, and other services for the mining operations. 

• Society:
  the mining projects have resulted in the influx of the workers in the neighboring communities. This large population is able to put a strain on the services related to the recreational, social, health and business which are existing currently. Furthermore, the lack of infrastructure like housing, powerliness, sewage needs to be developed for satisfying the needs of larger population. 

• Health:
  A plethora of health problems have been attributed to the working conditions of the mine industry namely, lung cancer, mental problems, asthma and various diseases (Thornton, 1996). 

What can they/did the government or local people do to fix/improve/mitigate the issue, and why?

The government of the Northern Canada is taking action for encouraging the future exploration as well as develop and in order to do so the improvement of the northern regulatory systems are being done and government must invest in the critical infrastructure for attracting important investors as well as developers to the North. Furthermore, government must keep in mind that the development must take place in a sustainable manner and the Northerners must be able to benefit directly from the economic growth. Furthermore, government must work in order to increase access for skills training along with better education improved healthcare and better housing. Along with collaborating with some partners the government must further help to create a vibrant Northern economy along with healthy, safe and prosperous communities.
Government must prepare a panel for conducting environmental reviews which can:

• Include the cultural and social concerns along with the ecosystem impacts;

• Provide an impartial hearing of affected parties along with incorporating the concerns into their prime decision making process;

• Consider all the detailed traditional as well as technical Western-science based knowledge

• Address the cumulative impact of the issues

• Consider the various alternatives for mitigating the issues

• Allocated sufficient time for a complete review. 

For mitigating these impacts flexibility should be provided to the workers for maintaining family cohesion. All the companies, communities, governments needs to work together for helping all the families that are being affected. These measures can include funding for and the provision for the child care and further the support mechanisms for extending the families that can care for the children whose parents are working on their shifts. The void gap between the performance and the promise must be weighed against all the interest in terms of the community sustainability. The government should employ an integrated approach for supporting a competitive business environment for the North Canada mining industry. 

What may happen to the region if this issue keeps persisting?

The persistent mining of minerals might lead to one of the major environmental impacts called tailings. It is the product of the whole extraction process of mining and comprises of all ground ore, chemicals and water. Furthermore, the waste rocks are generated in the process of mines and removal of rocks affects the lands. Furthermore, the sulphides present in the waste rock might react with the air and water leading to production of the acidic drainage from the waste rock piles. Furthermore, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are some grave environmental concern due to mining industry. Furthermore, a range of diseases like lung cancer, mental health, uranium and arsenic poising may result to the people working in mines. 

References

• Thornton, I. (1996). Impacts of mining on the environment; some local, regional and global issues. Applied Geochemistry, 11(1-2), 355-361. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0883-2927(95)00064-x

• Hipwell, W. (2002). Aboriginal Peoples and Mining in Canada: Consultation, Participation and Prospects for Change (1st ed.). Canada. Retrieved from http://caid.ca/MiningCons2002.pdf

• Marshall, Daniel P. 1996. Rickard Revisited: Native ‘Participation’ in the Gold Discoveries of British Columbia. Native Studies Review 11(1): 91-108.

• Koven, P. (2016). U.S.-Russia rift shaking up Canadian mining sector, for better and worse. Financial Post. Retrieved 18 July 2016, from http://business.financialpost.com/news/mining/u-s-russia-rift-shaking-up-canadian-mining-sector-for-better-and-worse

• Assembly of First Nations. 2001a. Fact Sheet: Exclusion of First Nations from Mining Industry. August. Available at: http://www.afn.ca _______. 2001b. First Nations Issues Paper Executive Summary. Available at: http://www.afn.ca/current%20Events/first_nations_issues.htm _______. 2000. AFN Fact Sheet: First Nations Populations in Canada, May. Available at: http://www.afn.ca