A report on NorthCAN was prepared by Dr. Sinead Earley and her student research assistant, Sarah Korn, using the April 2023 NorthCAN workshop at UNBC as well as a survey and interviews with NorthCAN participants. The report identifies four features that emerged as part of the network’s establishment:

• The diverse sectors from across the economy that are represented by participants  
• The acknowledgement of co-benefits associated with climate action that benefit northerners’ quality of life  
• The aspiration of northern leadership  
• The isolation and smallness of northern communities that pulls participants towards collaboration

“It’s easy to get bogged down in kind of a sense of hopelessness. Climate change, the transitions to clean energy, and leaving behind fossil fuels: these are huge, fundamental changes in the way we’ve been doing things for the last few 100 years. And it’s easy to get bogged down and go, ‘Oh God, it’s hopeless, right? We’re screwed.’ I don’t feel that way after a NorthCAN meeting. Every time you go to one of their meetings, most of the meeting is about what other people are doing and why they’re doing it and who they are and how you can participate… I feel like there’s a lot of people doing amazing things up here and then filled with hope and inspiration just by seeing and meeting these other people. We need inspiration. We need examples of what other people are doing and NorthCAN does that brilliantly.”