Since the remote Canadian territory of Nunavut attained self-government a quarter of a century ago, Pascual Rubio says there has been a resurgence in the region’s native Inuit cultural identity.
More recently, however, the new self-governing administration has had fresh challenges to meet as old public assets have deteriorated and Nunavut has faced the impacts of climate change, such as glacier retreat and the thinning of sea and lake ice.
“I’ve been here for 13 years and every winter is different,” says Rubio, whose role is the Sustainability Coordinator for the Government of Nunavut.
“The weather right now should be colder, but its strangely mild. So the weather goes up and down in ways that it didn’t used to, and its impacting on things which have always been here like the permafrost. And of course that is having an impact on our infrastructure and assets.”
Nunavut is one of the largest but most sparsely populated areas in the world. Comprising a large part of northern Canada and the Arctic Circle, it has a population of just over 35,000 living in 24 communities in an area spanning 1.83 million square kilometres.
In 1999, Nunavut separated from the Northwest Territories to become the first of several new Canadian territories to be self-governed by First Nations people, who make up around 75% of the population.
Only one of the 24 communities, the capital of Iqaluit, is a “tax community,” so the bulk of Nunavut’s funding comes from the Canadian Government in Ottawa, which in turn derives revenue from the mining industry which has expanded rapidly in some of the communities in the territory.
Canada has a number of infrastructure funds, and like other territories Nunavut receives funding through the Canada Community Building Fund and the Green Municipal Fund, which offers both funding and capacity building.
Nunavut has a parliament, the Legislative Assembly, where each community is represented by a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and decisions are made on infrastructure and asset management projects.
These issues are becoming more urgent, says Pascual Rubio, as much of the critical infrastructure is ageing and under pressure and prone to failure.
Other assets include community centres, sporting arenas and water treatment plants.
“What we are doing is trying to get asset management plans up and running with each of the communities, but we are at an early point and building our capacity is a challenge,” says Rubio.
“What we are trying to do is do pilot projects in small, medium and bigger communities so we can get an asset management plan up and running, so we can all learn and the other communities can replicate the process.
“These assets provide a service, and we understand that if they don’t do that then our communities will be struggling to continue to live as they do now.”
A key part of building an asset management approach is to ensure that asset registers are up to date and condition assessments are accurate.
Each community has a council which decides on the particular asset management priorities, and this is then submitted to Community and Government Services in Iqaluit.
“A community might want a new high school, health centre or community hall, and we put all these priorities into ranking the pot, so to speak, and then the government of Nunavut will rank them,’ says Rubio.
“Whatever we have with the funds at the government’s disposal, that’s what we do in the community.”
The development of asset management plans is critical to capacity building in Nunavut, and Rubio says this is developing from a low base.
While some communities are laying strong foundations in asset management, others are right at the beginning of the journey.
“There is a big difference between managing an asset and an asset management plan,” says Rubio.
“Having a plan can make the difference between an asset lasting 10 years or 25 years, and it depends on the investment you make in operations and maintenance and now much is put in the reserves for renewal and replacement or even disposal of an asset.”
The government of Nunavut has been “pushing and pushing” to build capacity in asset management because “we realise how urgent this is.”
While recognising the challenges, Rubio says there is momentum and he is optimistic that Nunavut can build a strong asset management culture which can help communities be more resilient.
“We are getting buy in from the communities, hamlets, council and staff, and if we can get people trained and get them moving on implementation then I think we can succeed,” he says.
