The creation, by federal letters patent, of The University of Canada North (UCN) in March 1971, is an important event in the history of education in the Canadian North. The brain-child of Richard Rohmer, a prominent Toronto lawyer, and some fifty-seven residents of the two northern territories, the UCN initiative was intended to be a grass-roots northern institution responsive to specific northern needs. The idea was good and the motives noble. Yet, practically from its inception, UCN was beset by problems serious enough to first stunt its growth and eventually to suffocate it entirely. Those problems were rooted in philosophical and conceptual differences about the kind of institution the new university and exacerbated by financial and administrative difficulties.
The start-up discussions around the University of the Arctic, about how it should be operated, how it should be created to meet the needs of people of the Circumpolar North, and what it should be teaching, make the University of Canada North attempt an important warning. The UCN failed because, among other things, it was impossible for one institution to be all the things it was hoped it would be. We must be vigilant to ensure the same thing does not happen to the University of the Arctic.
Note that the pagination in this pdf version is somewhat different from that in the official, deposited and microfilmed one. To avoid confusion, please cite this edition as the PDF edition, 2000.
"Not a Perfect Solution but a Good Illustration: The Life and Times of The University of Canada North, 1970-1985." The Northern Review #12/13 (Summer/Winter 1994): 117-132. Pfd file (53 KB).
A short account of the University of Canada North and some of the more important reasons for its failure. This article appeared in The Northern Review.
"Seats of Learning/Centres of Conflict: Contradictory Expectations for Northern Universities."
A paper presented to the Fourth International Circumpolar Universities Cooperation Conference, University of Northern British Columbia, 24-26 February, 1995. This paper was published in the conference proceedings.
"Some Trends in Northern Studies Undergraduate Course Offerings at Canadian Universities, 1972-1997."
An excerpt from this unpublished paper that focusses on the history of Northern Studies in Canada.