Backgrounder

The Government of Canada and the GNWT recognize the importance of geoscience information to the Northwest Territories and are committed to enhancing the NWT’s geoscience knowledge base. This funding will leverage resources from industry and Canada’s academic community, and will stimulate private sector investment in the resource exploration sector.

Geoscience has historically stimulated private expenditures and supports sustainable economic growth and diversity. Geoscience is also used in planning physical infrastructure – suitable locations for roads and bridges, power transmission and communications lines, aids in the identification of areas for parks and tourism, is used by Aboriginal governments for regional and community land use planning, and helps to mitigate risks of naturally occurring metals in the environment.

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’s (INAC) Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development (SINED) programming set is aimed at establishing strong foundations for economic development. This initiative has a number of program elements, one of which is called the Targeted Investment Program (TIP). This program is being used to guide the investment of the $90 million announced in Budget 2004 for northern economic development. TIP has four main investment areas: building the knowledge base; enhancing the infrastructure base; increasing northern capacity; and economic diversity.

The overall objectives of the programs under the SINED are to: strengthen the sectors driving the economy; broaden the economic base of each territory by enhancing sectors that can show strong economic returns; strengthen the ability of northerners to participate in local, national and international economic opportunities; and increase coordination amongst partners and programs

Geoscience is a priority investment area and the long-term strategy includes a variety of projects: regional bedrock mapping, airborne geophysics, till sampling and specialty research. These projects will fill in geological gaps where there is little or no research, produce integrated maps of large areas and improve accessibility to new and existing data.

The 2004 Federal Budget announced $90 million over five years for northern economic development. In order to maintain momentum on current and emerging economic development opportunities, funds were made available in each territory during 2004-2005, while the Government of Canada continued work with key economic players to identify priorities and develop territory-specific investment plans for the longer term. A variety of projects form part of INAC’s new fund for northern economic development. Work continues to build the longer term framework that will guide investments until 2009.

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