Building skills : a construction trades training facility for the eastern Canadian Arctic

Abstract

On April 1, 1999, the Inuit of the Eastern Canadian Arctic achieved sovereignty over a new territory, Nunavut, envisioning economic self-reliance, political self-determination, and renewal of confidence in Inuit community. Life in Nunavut, however, remains circumscribed by adversities: poverty, crowded houses, and long winters. Both government and industry are constrained by inexperienced administration and insufficient budgets. Perhaps no sector is as challenged as the construction industry, caught between the vast demand of a housing crisis and the extreme cost of importing labor. The territory must invest in building skills to reduce the cost of housing. Trades training in the Eastern Arctic will have political, cultural, and economic significance for a community long dependent on remote governments and migrant workers. Moreover, local tradesmen will be indispensable to an affordable construction strategy for community buildings serving a population expanding at twice the national rate. Over the course of fifty years of permanent settlement in Nunavut, no construction system has yet been devised for civic spaces that respond to its social, physical, and logistical conditions.