Literature Review on Building Envelope, Heating and ... - Beeshive.org

The People
Strub (1996) provided a detailed history of the natives of the polar regions as of the ice
age. He described the population profile, the people, and their lifestyles and habits. To
demonstrate the sparseness of the northern population, he compared the population
density of the Northwest Territories to the City of Toronto and Canada:
The Northwest Territories: 0.019 persons per square km (1 person for 52 sq. km)
The City of Toronto: 6300 persons per square km
Canada as a whole: 2.5 persons per square km (6.5 persons per sq. mile)
In the 1950s, The Canadian government obliged the northern populations to live in
designated centres — settlements — to facilitate delivery of basic services, such as
schools and health care. In Strub’s opinion, the Northern regions are mostly undeveloped;
they can lack a stable pool of technical skills and are rich in non-renewable resources but
unable to exploit them because of high development costs and an inadequate system of
highways to ship goods to markets.
Housing
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (2002-3) examined the housing conditions of
North American Indian, Métis, and Inuit households. The study included households in
urban and rural areas, and on reserves. Three housing standards — adequacy, suitability,
and affordability — were used to assess conditions. The dwelling unit is considered
“adequate” when its condition does not require major repair, “suitable” when the unit has
enough bedrooms, and “affordable” when shelter costs are less than 30% of the beforetax
household income. Due to a lack of data, only the adequacy and suitability standards
were used to examine housing conditions on reserves.
The study concluded that on reserves, 50% of Native households had housing, which met
or exceeded the adequacy and suitability standards. For those households in belowstandard
housing, most did not meet the adequacy standard.
Lifestyle
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (2003-3) also investigated lifestyle to
determine if the domestic activities of Inuit families are compatible with the floor
configuration of Euro-Canadian house models currently built in Northern Canada. The
study examined the differences in the patterns of domestic activities by Inuit and Euro-
Canadian families living in Arviat, Nunavut. The study found that activities of Inuit
families differ significantly from those of Euro-Canadian families.
• The cultural values of the Inuit society emphasize the social solidarity and mutual
assistance of the extended family. Thus, a collective form of social interaction
characterizes the lifestyle of Inuit families. A wide range of activities are
PERD-079: Task 2 - <strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> 88