The Northern Policy Institute is looking for the next big idea that could influence economic growth throughout northern Ontario during Tuesday’s State of the North conference.
The event, now in its third year, brings a number of leaders and policy experts together under one roof through a series of panels and discussions during the one-day gathering.
“It’s really an opportunity for us to kind of speak to the community to hear what their ideas are, because we use that to inform what we’re going to look at in terms of research this year, next year, the year after,” Northern Policy Institute President and CEO Charles Cirtwill told SooToday. “This time around, we’re talking about the future of northern Ontario.”
Cirtwill says that although Northern Policy Institute can’t predict what’s in store in terms of economic growth northern Ontario, it can, however, see some ‘green chutes,’ or leading indicators.
“We see in particular a lot of folks who are coming to the communities because they love living in this area, but they’re kind of doing consulting work online, or they’re globally travelling,” he said. “They’re providing software engineering, they’re providing managing advice - and they’re living here.”
Some of the State of the North’s focus during Tuesday’s event will shift toward second and third generation forestry, in addition to talks revolving around changing provincial policy rules to allow for multi-story wood construction, which could potentially have impacts for northern Ontario.
The talks will also include a panel discussion on potential ‘growth industries’ for northern Ontario, such as Indigenous tourism and finding new uses for abandoned mines in the region.
Dr. Heather Hall, who currently serves as the director of the economic and development and innovation program at the University of Waterloo, says the north remains in need of a ‘common voice’ when it comes to setting the tone at the provincial decision-making level.
“I really hope that for northern Ontario we start getting more decision making authority here in the region, so that we can act on some of the important challenges and address those with solutions that are made in the north, with the north. I also hope that we can start sharing in some of the benefits in a direct way from our natural resource projects, and see some of that money re-invested into northern Ontario projects,” said Hall. “I’d also like to see our communities working regionally and really advocating a common voice."
"We had some discussions about provincial decision making, so having that common voice in Queens Park is really important so we can highlight what it is we want to see happen instead of having decisions made for us.”
Cirtwill says that ideas brought forward during previous State of the North conferences has influenced projects locally and regionally.
“We’ve got the northern and rural immigration pilot, which is basically designed around the concepts that were discussed [during State of the North] two years ago,” said Cirtwill. “You’ve got equity investment in the Ring of Fire and other kinds of moving forward investments where the companies have recognized that it’s not just enough to come to a sharing agreement - it’s let’s share the risk, let’s share the reward and work together so that we’re co-owners as opposed to one being a supplicant to the other.”
“That’s pretty exciting to see, within two years, those kind of impacts playing out on the ground.”
Hall, who delivered a presentation on trends and implications for northern Ontario, says the Northern Policy Institute is a “significant institution,” and one that’s “very relevant to the north.”
“I think it’s an amazing institute,” she said. “I am excited to see the reports come out, because it’s often topics and conversations that we’ve been having here in northern Ontario, so it’s nice to see them in one location, bringing in a variety of experts as well as having and training either people who are from the north or passionate about the north to be able to do this research here in northern Ontario.”
Next year’s State of the North event will take place next September in Thunder Bay.