The CMHC North Star Award for northern or remote research

The North Star Award is a bursary for graduate students and early career researchers conducting research in northern and remote areas. It supports the engagement and consultation related to housing research and fieldwork in those regions. This includes supporting researchers who are already in the north for collaboration and travel between regions or to southern Canada. This helps researchers collaborate directly with communities and build strong relationships with them.

By supporting research, the award also promotes the education and career development for graduate students and early career researchers. This helps the next generation of Canadian housing researchers develop and hone their skills as they build their careers.

Project scope and expected outcomes

Connecting with northern and remote communities

The What we Heard report outlined the importance of northern and remote housing research. It highlighted the need for better data and information about housing in northern and remote communities. Without that data, it is difficult to understand and act upon their housing conditions and needs.

We are in a unique position to support research to fill those data gaps. Through the award, it helps researchers connect with northern and remote communities and address National Housing Strategy priority areas. Funding can be used to support travel expenses or collaboration activities. It helps graduate students and early career researchers continue their education, develop skills and build their careers.  

Award recipients

As of 2020, there have been 3 recipients of the North Star Award:

• Household Formation, Residential Arrangements and Cultural Preferences among Inuit (Charles-Olivier Simard, Université de Montréal). This doctoral thesis seeks a better understanding of how Inuit households in the Canadian Arctic are formed and dissolved. It involved in-person interviews and relationship-building in the Inuit village of Kangiqsualujjuaq.
• Yellowknives Dene First Nation Housing Strategy (Shannen Doyle, Ryerson University). Yellowknives Dene First Nation has identified adequate, affordable and appropriate housing for their membership as a critical priority. In partnership with Ryerson University’s Together Design Lab, they are looking to create and implement their Housing Strategy. North Star funding will help the student researcher participate in the ongoing development of that community-based strategy.
• Nishnawbe Aski Nation Housing Strategy, Holly Monkman (Ryerson University). This 3-year project works with Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political territorial organization with 49 member First Nations in northern Ontario. It seeks to create occupant-focused housing assessments, determine local housing need and develop housing action plans and solutions. The student researcher will support the research design, liaise with community partners and assist with data collection, entry and analysis.