For more than a year, the national dialogue has been focused – rightfully so – on the affordability crisis gripping Canadian households. This is an important discussion, that has been brought into even sharper focus by the ongoing economic uncertainty caused by souring U.S. - Canada relations in the last few weeks.
Urban centers like Vancouver and Toronto typically dominate headlines surrounding the cost of groceries, utilities, and housing, but one thing we can be sure of is that if costs are high in the big cities and in the southern provinces, then they’re likely worse in remote areas and completely unsustainable in the North. There are a number of reasons for this; chief among them is the issue of “diesel dependency”.
While most Canadians rely on large electricity grids that are powered by a range of sources - including hydro, natural gas, solar and wind - remote communities and the three northern territories must produce all the electricity they need locally, and cannot export or import any electricity from neighbouring jurisdictions. Around 70% of remote communities depend on diesel fuel almost exclusively to generate their power. Diesel that has to be transported vast distances by air, road, or sea.
This fragile system comes with steep costs to both governments and communities, most of which are Indigenous. Pembina Institute analysis shows, for example, that people in remote communities pay six to ten times more for energy than the rest of Canada. And that’s with the roughly $300-400 million dollars annually that governments spend to subsidize the transport and use of diesel every year. Any threat to the fuel supply chain, whether that be fluctuating weather patterns due to climate change or changes to the way fuel is transported in, comes with dramatic cost increases – see, for example, the recent fuel crisis affecting the entire community of Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories.
But the costs don’t stop at the pocketbook. This system complicates almost every aspect of community life from air quality to community health. Persistent pollution in homes and buildings leads to high rates of respiratory illness and put pressure on public healthcare systems. Frequent fuel spills disrupt local ecosystems and affect the availability of traditional food sources. The inadequate supply of power in some remote communities stands in the way of building homes and realizing economic development opportunities. The list goes on and on.
But, over the past decade or so, communities and regional governments have been building solutions in the form of locally-produced renewable energy. Rather than relying on imports, these projects enable communities to build and benefit from cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable electricity systems that reflect their visions for energy, economy, and environment. The results of this work are yielding inspiring and powerful results. From 2015 to 2020 renewable energy projects in remote communities nearly doubled, leading to a reduction of more than 12 million litres of diesel use per year. Some communities like Waglisla/Bella Bella in British Columbia are seeing their energy bills go down by almost $1500 a year due to their award-winning clean energy initiatives. In Ontario, a First Nations majority owned transmission project is set to transition two thirds of remote First Nations off-diesel for good. In Old Crow, Yukon, the Sree Vyah solar project has now reduced 190,000 litres litres of diesel since it’s gone online and has generated roughly $500,000 dollars a year, allowing Vuntut Gwichin First Nation to invest in local priorities.
These stories of progress are in large part thanks to the drive and leadership of community energy champions – often youth – who are taking stock of the many issues that come with diesel dependency and saying enough is enough.
But serious hurdles to more widespread progress remain. Many remote communities are still struggling with outdated regulatory barriers that make it incredibly challenging to build and benefit from their own clean energy projects. In the territories, serious funding and infrastructure gaps add multiple layers of difficulty to regional goals for cleaner and more affordable energy. For every community to have fair access to the benefits of clean energy and see meaningful progress on diesel reduction, Canadian governments will need to address these challenges and increase funding, modernize regulation and policy, and support skills development and local job creation.
That’s why, this spring, the Pembina Institute is again bringing together roughly 300 community leaders, alongside policymakers, industry representatives, and others, in Whitehorse, Yukon. We’ll be convening discussions on the need to modernize regulation and policy, so that communities can be empoweredand better supported by governments and utilities as they implement the energy projects that would work for them. Our gathering is also about building local, long-term deep knowledge and fostering leadership so communities can benefit from and advance their own energy systems over the long term. A great deal of this work starts from a place of simply recognising that remote communities deserve clean, affordable, and reliable energy. Just like we all do.
Erika Tizya-Tramm serves as the Manager of Community Partnerships with Northern Energy Innovation at Yukon University and an Indigenous Advisory Committee member for the Pembina Institute’s Renewables in Remote Communities conference. As a member of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, she is deeply committed to Indigenous Nation-building by advancing environmental stewardship and sustainability priorities. Erika is also the co-director of Old Crow a Philosophy, a documentary film which explores the role of youth leadership in advancing the development of the largest solar power installation in Canada’s north.
Lynne Couves is the director of the Pembina Institute's renewables in remote communities program, supporting the clean and equitable energy transition of remote communities in Canada. She is mixed blood Inuk, raised in the place known as Calgary, within the Treaty 7 territory of Southern Alberta and Otipemisiwak Métis Government (Districts 5 and 6).
