Alaska looks different when viewed through the lens of its Canadian neighbors

Though Alaska life may seem unique, and may be in some aspects when compared with the contiguous states, there are significant commonalities to northern settled places, some of which are becoming better known with new interest in the Arctic. Aside from the obvious — weather and climate, dark winters and exhilarating summers — systemic economic factors unite all the Arctic and sub-Arctic province, Alaska, northern Canada, northern Scandinavia, northern Russia. These include heavy dependence on federal government funding and on absentee corporate investment in the extraction of natural resources. Economies of scale defeat commercially profitable manufacturing or agricultural production; the potential markets are just too far away. Additionally, there's a social commonality in that much of the population is non-Native, and governments face the challenge of addressing the legacy of colonialism.

A recent visit to Yellowknife and several communities in Canada's Northwest Territories, facilitated by the Elizabeth Tower Endowment at UAA, deepened appreciation of these elements of northern life. The government and administrative capital, Yellowknife has a population of about 20,000; the population of the territory is about 45,000, about 50 percent Native and non-Native; so is the town (Alaska is about 15 percent Native). The town lies on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, and is beyond the end of the railway, so everything comes in by highway, 450 miles north of Edmonton, the last 200 miles of which are in poor condition, affected greatly by frost heave. So, the town feels a bit isolated, perhaps as Anchorage did in the 1950s. There seems to be a sense of "we're all in this together."

About half of the territorial budget comes from federal funds. The locals complain that it isn't enough (the sub-standard highway, for example), but unlike in Alaska, there does not seem to be much resentment of the dependence this creates.

Many of the non-government jobs are in mining, but not gold. The last gold mine closed decades ago. Today, it's diamonds! BHP Billiton, one of the world's largest mining corporations, opened the first diamond mine in 1998. In 2005, Diavik Mine, owned by Rio Tinto, another of the world's largest mining corporations, began production. The century-old DeBeers family of mining companies began production at a third mine in 2007 and a fourth in 2017. The government of the Northwest Territories has mandated that the mines must maintain 50 percent local hire in NWT, and 25 percent of that must be indigenous. All production of the gems is done by robot; no human hands touch the material from blasting the ore to delivering the stones ready for processing. Most of the product is used in industrial applications (drills, other cutters, abrasives), while a small percentage is used for cosmetic jewelry, some of it of rare quality. Diamonds currently play the same economic role in NWT as oil does in Alaska. The NWT government embraces the mining ventures in the territory while assessing lease revenue and taxation on production and land use. There is only one oil producer in the territory.

Perhaps the most interesting comparison with Alaska is the relationship between the Native and non-Native people of the territory. There are two federal Indian reserves, but most of the Native people live in seven self-governing communities where they receive some territorial funds, and are attempting to develop local resources, with some modest success. Employment in mining, logging, sawmill operations, and small businesses within the communities contribute to the local economies.

The aboriginal policy of the NWT government is "reconciliation," an overarching framework for all government relations with indigenous communities and organizations. Within that framework, the government seeks to help indigenous groups establish economic self-sufficiency and independence. It treats the major treaty entities in the territory on a government-to-government basis. Indigenous communities have significant police and judicial jurisdiction, though the RCMP handle major crime investigation and the territory major criminal and civil investigations. The territory faces the same challenge as Alaska in regard to the indigenous population — that is, how to aid indigenous people maintain traditional cultures and some level of independence while at the same time affording opportunities for such independence without destroying identity and tradition.

In coming years, increasing attention to the Arctic may draw northern settled places closer together than they have been in the past.

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