Alberta
Greenhouses aim to bring fresh produce to North, putting a dent in food insecurity

INUVIK, N.W.T. — Rows upon rows of raised beds growing tomatoes, zucchini, beans, wildflowers and herbs line the inside of the Inuvik Community Greenhouse.
Sunlight streams through the panes of the curved ceiling above as children sprinkle their crop with green plastic watering cans.
The commercial greenhouse in the western Arctic community in the Northwest Territories is in a former hockey arena. There, community members can rent plots to grow vegetables and other plants, and learn about gardening.
“Every time I come in here, I only ever see people smiling,” said Adi Scott, who co-ordinates the greenhouse.
Remote and Indigenous communities, particularly in the North, are increasingly using greenhouses to grow their own produce, promote self-sufficiency and in some cases create economic opportunity, said Andrew Spring, an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and a Canada Research Chair in northern sustainable food systems.
“Food security has been an issue across the North because of the high cost of groceries … (and) the long-term impacts of colonization on northern Indigenous communities,” Spring said.
Data from Statistics Canada indicates that 46.1 per cent of people in Nunavut, 23.1 per cent in the Northwest Territories and 15.3 per cent in the Yukon lived in food-insecure households in 2019 compared with a national average of 10.6 per cent.
Much of the food flown North is processed, not to mention expensive, and access to fresh fruits or vegetables is limited, said Spring. Meanwhile, participation in traditional activities like gathering or hunting have been declining for decades in many communities, meaning they rely more on food from stores, he said.
Climate change “makes a vulnerable situation even more precarious,” said Spring, as it causes disruptions in air travel or on long-used ice roads.
Scott said the Inuvik greenhouse, which runs from April to September, can help put a dent in the grocery bill, but isn’t enough to truly reduce reliance on food from outside the territory. Instead, the greenhouse’s main focus is on education and community-building.
These days, it’s not difficult to get the funds to start up a greenhouse in a remote community, said Spring, with lots of federal programs available for agriculture and climate adaptation.
In December 2022, the federal government announced $19.5 million in support for up to 79 new projects across the country related to food security in Indigenous, remote and Northern communities as part of the fourth phase of the Local Food Infrastructure Fund. Since 2019, it has supported around 900 projects across the country, including greenhouses in remote and northern communities.
It’s important that organizations helping to start up greenhouse and other agriculture projects work with the community, said Raygan Solotki, executive director of Green Iglu. The non-profit helps remote communities plan, build and run projects, specializing in geodesic dome greenhouses.
“We’re not coming in on a horse, riding in with a greenhouse,” said Solotki. “We’re here to work with the community to make sure we are doing what the community wants.”
The biggest challenges often come once the greenhouse has been built, Spring said. Some communities have had more success than others building a sustainable long-term greenhouse or garden project, and it often revolves around having one person or a small group of people willing to commit to running it, he said.
“This community champion, who is passionate about it, and who has the kind of skills and the knowledge to do the work. And having those people stay in the community is often the challenge.”
Tom Henheffer, co-chief executive officer of the Arctic Research Foundation, also stressed the importance of building relationships with communities for projects to be successful.
The foundation partnered with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, National Research Council Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and the community of Gjoa Haven, Nvt., on the Naurvik project, a community-led hydroponic food system that started in 2019.
“A number of similar projects have failed and what differentiates this is really the people building it from the ground up with the community,” Henheffer said.
The work in the greenhouse is done by local technicians and its location was chosen by elders, Henheffer said. He added community members know best which vegetables local people want to eat to pair with foods like caribou stew and Arctic char.
Betty Kogvik, one of the technicians at the greenhouse, said it’s important for the community.
“The cost of food or produce we get from the store is really high … and when we finally receive them, some are already mouldy.”
Kogvik said high food costs are especially challenging for elders and people reliant on social assistance. She’s proud that everything grown at the greenhouse goes to elders and children.
The main food sources in the community are hunting and fishing, Kogvik said, and people share what they have harvested with friends and family.
Kogvik said she’d like to see the greenhouse project extended to other communities, adding it also provides employment opportunities.
The Naurvik project’s system is made from three retrofitted shipping containers and primarily uses wind and solar power year-round. Many northern communities are reliant on diesel, which can be costly and produce harmful emissions.
Conditions in Gjoa Haven, about 250 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, make it difficult to grow vegetables. Access to fresh produce in the community is limited and expensive, Henheffer said, with vegetables nearing expiration by the time they reach shelves.
He said part of the project aims to replicate the system in other communities to increase access to fresh produce. The Canadian Space Agency is also interested in the technology to potentially grow food in space.
Hydroponics is a higher-tech way of indoor growing that doesn’t use soil, and is often used to grow herbs and leafy greens. Spring noted that in order to truly make a dent in food insecurity, northern growing projects need to be able to produce heartier vegetables that can be stored — “things that go in stew” as opposed to “salad.” Because of this, he said he’s wary of high-tech solutions like hydroponics.
But it all depends on what the community is looking for, he said, whether that’s a commercially viable greenhouse or a place to grow salad as an addition to the food available.
“Anything helps,” he said.
But the key to putting a dent in the food insecurity problem is “doing agriculture in a way that actually is the side dish to the traditional food system.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2023.
— With files from Rosa Saba in Toronto
Emily Blake, The Canadian Press
Alberta
Red Deer Justice Centre Grand Opening: Building access to justice for Albertans

The new Red Deer Justice Centre will help Albertans resolve their legal matters faster.
Albertans deserve to have access to a fair, accessible and transparent justice system. Modernizing Alberta’s courthouse infrastructure will help make sure Alberta’s justice system runs efficiently and meets the needs of the province’s growing population.
Alberta’s government has invested $191 million to build the new Red Deer Justice Centre, increasing the number of courtrooms from eight to 12, allowing more cases to be heard at one time.
“Modern, accessible courthouses and streamlined services not only strengthen our justice
system – they build safer, stronger communities across the province. Investing in the new Red Deer Justice Centre is vital to helping our justice system operate more efficiently, and will give people in Red Deer and across central Alberta better access to justice.”

Government of Alberta and Judiciary representatives with special guests at the Red Deer Justice Centre plaque unveiling event April 22, 2025.
On March 3, all court services in Red Deer began operating out of the new justice centre. The new justice centre has 12 courtrooms fully built and equipped with video-conference equipment to allow witnesses to attend remotely if they cannot travel, and vulnerable witnesses to testify from outside the courtroom.
The new justice centre also has spaces for people taking alternative approaches to the traditional courtroom trial process, with the three new suites for judicial dispute resolution services, a specific suite for other dispute resolution services, such as family mediation and civil mediation, and a new Indigenous courtroom with dedicated venting for smudging purposes.
“We are very excited about this new courthouse for central Alberta. Investing in the places where people seek justice shows respect for the rights of all Albertans. The Red Deer Justice Centre fills a significant infrastructure need for this rapidly growing part of the province. It is also an important symbol of the rule of law, meaning that none of us are above the law, and there is an independent judiciary to decide disputes. This is essential for a healthy functioning democracy.”
“Public safety and access to justice go hand in hand. With this investment in the new Red Deer Justice Centre, Alberta’s government is ensuring that communities are safer, legal matters are resolved more efficiently and all Albertans get the support they need.”
“This state-of-the-art facility will serve the people of Red Deer and surrounding communities for generations. Our team at Infrastructure is incredibly proud of the work done to plan, design and build this project. I want to thank everyone, at all levels, who helped make this project a reality.”
Budget 2025 is meeting the challenge faced by Alberta with continued investments in education and health, lower taxes for families and a focus on the economy.
Quick facts
- The new Red Deer Justice Centre is 312,000 sq ft (29,000 m2). (The old courthouse is 98,780 sq ft (9,177 m2)).
- The approved project funding for the Red Deer Justice Centre is about $191 million.
Alberta
CPP another example of Albertans’ outsized contribution to Canada

From the Fraser Institute
By Tegan Hill
Amid the economic uncertainty fuelled by Trump’s trade war, its perhaps more important than ever to understand Alberta’s crucial role in the federation and its outsized contribution to programs such as the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
From 1981 to 2022, Albertan’s net contribution to the CPP—meaning the amount Albertans paid into the program over and above what retirees in Alberta received in CPP payments—was $53.6 billion. In 2022 (the latest year of available data), Albertans’ net contribution to the CPP was $3.0 billion.
During that same period (1981 to 2022), British Columbia was the only other province where residents paid more into the CPP than retirees received in benefits—and Alberta’s contribution was six times greater than B.C.’s contribution. Put differently, residents in seven out of the nine provinces that participate in the CPP (Quebec has its own plan) receive more back in benefits than they contribute to the program.
Albertans pay an outsized contribution to federal and national programs, including the CPP because of the province’s relatively high rates of employment, higher average incomes and younger population (i.e. more workers pay into the CPP and less retirees take from it).
Put simply, Albertan workers have been helping fund the retirement of Canadians from coast to coast for decades, and without Alberta, the CPP would look much different.
How different?
If Alberta withdrew from the CPP and established its own standalone provincial pension plan, Alberta workers would receive the same retirement benefits but at a lower cost (i.e. lower CPP contribution rate deducted from our paycheques) than other Canadians, while the contribution rate—essentially the CPP tax rate—to fund the program would likely need to increase for the rest of the country to maintain the same benefits.
And given current demographic projections, immigration patterns and Alberta’s long history of leading the provinces in economic growth, Albertan workers will likely continue to pay more into the CPP than Albertan retirees get back from it.
Therefore, considering Alberta’s crucial role in national programs, the next federal government—whoever that may be—should undo and prevent policies that negatively impact the province and Albertans ability to contribute to Canada. Think of Bill C-69 (which imposes complex, uncertain and onerous review requirements on major energy projects), Bill C-48 (which bans large oil tankers off B.C.’s northern coast and limits access to Asian markets), an arbitrary cap on oil and gas emissions, numerous other “net-zero” targets, and so on.
Canada faces serious economic challenges, including a trade war with the United States. In times like this, it’s important to remember Alberta’s crucial role in the federation and the outsized contributions of Alberta workers to the wellbeing of Canadians across the country.
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