Opportunities for Standards to Contribute to Health, Safety, Resiliency, and Environmental Protection in Canada’s North

The Northern Review 48 (2018): 33–50The objective of this research and article is to investigate potential opportunities for standards to contribute to increased health, safety, resiliency, and environmental protection in Canada’s North.  Specifically, we focus attention on four key topic areas where there are both unique considerations in Canada’s North relative to the potential role for standards and also a number of identified challenges: the provision of clean and accessible water, the provision of adequate emergency response, having safe and resilient buildings to live and work in, and environmental protection and management. Fourteen different opportunities for standards have been identified across these topic areas. It is also highlighted that there are also needs and opportunities in terms of better allowing for the inclusion of northern perspectives and input into northern standards, and three distinct ideas for helping to achieve this are presented in the article. This article includes very minor edits made October 23 after original publication.