The Canadian Arctic resource frontier: Renegotiations of space in a changing environment

This thesis is concerned with analysing different imaginations of space within the Canadian Arctic mining sector. As the Arctic is perceived to be changing, this thesis is specifically interested in how this very change is influencing the geographical imaginations of the region. Aiming to describe the structure of understandings of space in the context of the Canadian Arctic mining sector, this thesis examines these geographical imaginations in a critical discourse analysis. Doing so, this thesis understands the analysed interactions and renegotiations of different geographical imaginations as frontier dynamics. After having analysed the general discursive structure of these understandings of space, the thesis then specifically focuses on contested parts of the discursive structure and highlights how these contested parts are negotiated in between different levels of government, but also in between different federal administrations. The main findings of the thesis are fourfold: Firstly, the identified nature of the dominant discourse within mining in the Canadian Arctic is centred around an imagination of the future being based on „apolitical“, socio-economic growth. Secondly, the main rift in the discourse can be found between the perception of the distribution of power being just or unjust, where Indigenous groups specifically criticize the distribution of power as a main feature hindering the prosperity of Northern communities. Thirdly, even though stark rhetorical differences exist between the Harper and the Trudeau administration in regard to mining and development in the North, the discursive continuities between the two administrations are more pronounced than the rhetorical differences and it is assessed that there is no substantial change in the understanding of Northern space between the Harper and the Trudeau administration. Lastly, it is also assessed that the interplay of different discursive elements reinforces dominant discourse about the Canadian North, thereby making an engagement with the criticized distribution of power and a change in the continued extractive relationship between Canadian North and Canadian South rather unlikely