Climate change a top fear in North: report

Northern Canadians are more worried about the impacts of climate change on their communities than the risk of terrorist threats, according to areport on Arctic security by the Conference Board of Canada.

The national policy think-tank's Centre for the North surveyed people across the region for the report, Security in Canada's North: Looking Beyond Arctic Sovereignty.

The report, released Monday, said much of the national discussion about Arctic security deals with Arctic sovereignty, offshore economic activity and dramatic search-and-rescue missions.

What has not been talked about is the idea of "community security," which the report says is most important to the people that live in remote northern communities.

"When we're looking at the aspect of northern communities, it is an issue for them in terms of being remote, being in harsh conditions, being far away from each other," said Gilles Rheaume, an analyst with the conference board.

"Community security would be paramount. It prevails over and above individual security; it certainly prevails over and above Arctic security."

Ability to address threats

Community security involves the ability of a community to "recognize and address threats to, and to fulfill opportunities for meeting, its inhabitants' basic needs and developing a basic level of resiliency," the report states in part.

Rheaume said changes to the northern climate can result in natural disasters, rising sea levels and thawing permafrost all possible security threats in northern communities if the federal government is not paying attention.

Nick Arnatsiaq of Igloolik, Nunavut, who was interviewed for the Conference Board report, said Inuit believe Arctic security has more to do with the environment because it directly impacts them.

"I think the security in Nunavut is more from the environment like oil spills and other man-inflicted accidents that may have caused some damages to the land, the water and the wildlife," Arnatsiaq said.

According to the report, northerners believe they need to build the capacity in their communities to respond to security threats, from improving access to emergency services to having effective community governments.