In Canada, the designations remote, isolated, outport and fly-in refer to a settlement that is either a long distance from larger settlements or lacks transportation links that are typical in more populated areas.

Definition

In responding to the avian flu outbreak of 2009, a Canadian government body (Public Health Network H1N1 Task Force) published the following

working definitions A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...

. The definition of isolated is borrowed from

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

(INAC) and the definition of remote is borrowed from

Health Canada Health Canada (HC; french: Santé Canada, SC)Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary unit ...

. Canada also has ''fly-in communities'' that lack road, rail, or water connections and rely entirely on bush aviation. Other remote communities lack road and rail but have water access, such as the Newfoundland ''outports'', and those that have road access part of the year on

ice roads An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Inte ...

, or can only be reached by gravel road. One academic measure of remoteness used in Canada is nordicity, i.e. "northerliness".

Healthcare in remote and isolated communities

In Canada, there were 79 nursing stations and over 195

health centres A healthcare center, health center, or community health center is one of a network of clinics staffed by a group of general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare services to people in a certain area. Typical services covered are family pr ...

servicing remote communities in

Northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, territor ...

or on Indian reserves in the south. In about half these facilities,

registered nurses A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

are employed by

, a ministry of the

government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

. In the other communities, nurses are employed by the Band Council.

Policing in remote and isolated communities

Policing in remote areas presents many challenges, most obviously logistical, but also social and even psychological. The

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

had 268 "isolated posts" in 2009. Isolated posts are defined by the Treasury Board of Canada as communities that face "unique challenges" related to small populations, harsh climates, and/or limited access by commercial transportation or all-weather roads. All posts located in Canada's three northern territories are considered isolated as well as many in the ten provinces. Many of these posts are "fly-in only"; the police force has its own RCMP Air Services, which does everything from ferry prisoners to court to bring in new computers to offices. In 2009, in the territory of

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

there were 25 detachments, all fly-in (no roads), and only one RCMP airplane.

References

{{reflist Geography terminology Types of populated places Geography of Canada Northern Canada Demographics of Canada *

Definition

Healthcare in remote and isolated communities

Policing in remote and isolated communities

See also

References