On October 5, 2020 at 1:00 pm EDT, the Canadian Academy of Engineering will be presenting a virtual seminar on the concept of a Northern Infrastructure Corridor. The Keynote Speaker will be John McDougall, FCAE, Co-Founder of the C2C2C citizen’s initiative, and former president of the National Research Council. He will talk on developing a national infrastructure corridor in partnership with Indigenous leaders and communities. This will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Axel Meisen, FCAE; Réal Laporte, FCAE, former president of the James Bay Energy Corporation (SEBJ) and Hydro-Québec Innovation; and Marshall Kern, President of the Bowman Centre for Sustainable Development.
In June, 2017 the Government of Canada Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce published a report titled National Corridor, Enhancing and Facilitating Commerce and Internal Trade. The report “calls for the construction of an east-west corridor through Canada’s northern regions, which would unlock significant economic opportunities”.
The Senate study took as its starting point a 2016 paper from the University of Calgary and the Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO) in Québec which took a new look at an idea popularized by Richard Rohmer and presented at the 1969 Mid-Canada Development Conference in Thunder Bay.
Today, faced with the need to create substantial economic growth consistent with a future green, net-zero economy in partnership with Indigenous communities, the Northern Infrastructure Corridor concept has enormous “nation-building” potential. In this seminar John McDougall will outline the concept and lay out first practical steps in achieving this objective and the role that engineering will play in its success.
Click here to view the panel of speakers.
This virtual seminar is limited in space and registration is required. Register online here.
