Ministers and representatives of Canada’s northern territories and regions affirmed their commitment last week to partnership and sharing their experiences.

“We have much in common among our regions and, as technology and growth transform our economic landscapes, our similarities will only increase,” Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Scott Kent said during a press conference last Thursday in Whitehorse.

“Those similarities, along with the growth on the horizon, make co-operation across the jurisdictions that much more valuable.”

Kent pointed out 11 jurisdictions from across the country were represented at last week’s two-day Northern Development Ministers Forum in Whitehorse.

It was an opportunity to learn from the northern neighbours and to see how they approach the same issues facing the Yukon, he told reporters.

Minister Dave Ramsay of the Northwest Territories and Minister Monica Ell of Nunavut joined Kent for the press conference.

The annual Northern Development Ministers Forum began in 2001. Nunavut will host it next year.

“Over the last few days, it was our privilege to talk about some of the ways partnership and northern ingenuity are working in Yukon, and how aboriginal involvement in economic development is crucial to the North’s future success,” said Kent.

The minister, for instance, said food security is a common issue in the North. The Yukon can look to the Northwest Territories, which has a community garden in each community, he said.

Kent said 10 per cent of the food in the Yukon is locally grown or hunted.

“Expanding on this will help,” he said.

But Ell pointed out while each jurisdiction faces similar challenges with providing infrastructure, not all those challenges are identical.

In Nunavut, every community is isolated because there are no roads connecting them, said the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation.

Ell said while infrastructure is an issue, Nunavut has still seen a substantial economic upswing over the last two years with the development of two world-class mines and several major construction projects, including a new international airport.

The airport, she noted, is being built with a public-private partnership – 3P.

Ell noted she’s always said government can’t do it alone.

“Discussions like this northern forum give us an opportunity to discuss common issues and how to move forward to address those issues,” she said.

The N.W.T.’s Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment said his government believes in partnerships, whether it’s with aboriginal governments or other territories and provinces.

The N.W.T. is working with Alaska to monitor ship activity in the Beaufort Sea, Ramsay said.

He said the Northwest Territories continues to emphasize whatever happens in the North is important to Canada as a whole, and not just for the sake of sovereignty.

The $300-million year-round-road connecting Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk is good for the territory but it’s also good for the Yukon, he said.

Ramsay said most of the road work is being done by northern companies and workers, which is great for a region that was experiencing an economic downturn.

“The money is staying in the North,” he said. “That was key to it being successful.”

Another major diamond mine is being built at a cost of $1 billion, and it will supply five million carrots to the market every year, he said.

Ramsay said it’s estimated there are 200 to 300 billion barrels of oil in the central Mackenzie Valley, most of it in shale deposits requiring hydraulic fracturing, though there are three or four are conventional deposits.

Getting the oil to market is the challenge, which is why partnership and continuing dialogue with Alberta are important, he said.

Ramsay said there is talk about a new pipeline south to Alberta to replace an aging and smaller pipeline running south from Norman Wells.

There’s also talk about a pipeline up the Mackenzie Valley to the Beaufort coast to move not only oil from the N.W.T., but oil from Alberta as well, he said.

One-third of a new pipeline, he pointed out, would be owned by the Aboriginal Peoples.

Ramsay said the N.W.T. is currently spending $90 million to lay a fibre optic line up the Mackenzie Valley to Inuvik, which should open up great opportunities for the town.

Inuvik, he pointed out, is one of the best places in the world to monitor orbiting satellites.

The minister said the N.W.T. is building a new regional hospital in Yellowknife for $350 million, making it the largest public project on record.

“We have to continue to invest in infrastructure development in the Northwest Territories,” said Ramsay.

“Our government is committed to doing that.”