Energy, housing and homelessness nexus in northern Indigenous communities in Canada

The high costs of purchasing, transporting, and storing hydrocarbon fuel have a direct impact on housing insecurity, which is a major policy concern in Canada’s North. Building on the PI’s ongoing research works examining intertwined issues related to Northern housing, the project will explore connections between energy supply (primarily provided by diesel generators), relevant public policy, and housing and homelessness in the Tlicho, Sahtu, and Beaufort Delta regions of NWT. It aims to promote the significance of Indigenous community-led housing planning, policy, and provision in advancing reconciliation, contributing to the TRC Calls to Action. The proposal could lead to an application to funding programs targeting Northern issues.


This foundational research will establish relationships and understandings that enable future energy-and-housing research to be conducted in NWT and across the north, enabling future funding applications to federal council programs. The project will identify connection between an existing energy system and tangible societal problems of housing and community resiliency in northern communities, potentially identifying sites for new energy systems developed by FES research.