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An example and challenge
to Canada's Northland policies

™Mo—they are like the snow geese. If
&n Eskimo forgets. his language and
kimo ways, he will be nothing but
just another mosquito. It is up to the
kimos of today to use their Eskimo

‘Strength of word and thought. It is up

to the young people.”
In the past four decades the Soviet

“Union has developed its vast north-

land and simultaneously raised the
Cultural level of its northern peoples.
dustrialization began in the early
30’s and since then the population
S tripled and many large cities have
€n built in the European part:
Murmansk, with a population of
Over 300,000, is an Arctic port that
Stays free of ice the year-round —
anks to a warm current branching
off from the Gulf Stream. I déscribed
My visit to this city in the Kola Pen-

‘WMsula in two feature articles in the

e last year. But I would like to
add the comment of Professor T. Lloyd
4 ada: “As a specialist on the Arc-
IC I knew that one does not meet polar

ts in the streets of Murmansk. I

presents major problems. For instance,
what kind of housing is most suitable
for the Arctic zone? Some time ago I
attended a press conference where
architects specializing in the subject
presented their views and described.
some of the types of towns under con-
struction.

“The smallest settlements house
only 35 to 40 people,” said Comrade
Kartoshova, chief architect at the In-
stitute of Construction, “while the
largest range from 35,000 to 40,000.
The task is to prepare different de-
signs for northern cities. We prefer
to build several-storey buildings, as
much as 16 storeys in some places.
One design is for a town of 20,000 peo-
ple, with two main apartment blocks
housing 10,000 people each, and a

-number of smaller buildings for shops,

offices, theatres and so on.”

Because of the severe climate in the
Far North—sometimes the tempera-
ture goes as low as 60 degrees Centi-
grade—people stay indoors for months
and this means larger areas are need-

AMT

The town of Apatity is the youngest in Murmansk Region (northern part of the

ES

RSFSR), At present it has a population of about 40,000, Being built in the town
<— many residential houses and municipal buildings. And fast year alone, about
400 new flats, a big cinema called Polyarny, a Palace of Culture and new shops

Were built.
oy that it was a growing city. But
a 1 saw surpassed all my expecta-
tiful It is the largest and most beau-

City in the Arctic Circle.”

© 100,000 inhabitants. of Norilsk,
ane 70th parallel, (Murmansk is on
5 69th) proudly claim that theirs is

arthest north city in the world.
aed have no Gulf Stream to keep
ang vom. “Twelve months of winter
the rest summer,” is how they

on
th

di .
“scribe the climate in their town. The

round is eternally frozen; both the sea
for he Yenisei River are navigable
Snly two months of the year.
Rickey is a mining town—copper,
Profita and other minerals are mined
is abe: But all the talk these days
Whe Out Talnakh, some 20 miles away,
Te the ore deposits are much rich-
d will guarantee a long and pros-

Pe
— future to the whole Norilsk

ti Other leading towns inside the Arc-

c 3
it Circle include Kirovsk, which owes
apatiresPerity to the big deposits of

in i € and nepheline ores discovered

ta, he Khibiny Mountains; and Vorku-
Sits in Ich depends on the coal depo-

i the Pechora River Basin.

&’nt deposits of oil and gas lie be-
rofes € Arctic Ocean. According to
heads Sor Mikhail Kalinko, one of the
Pectin Of the U.S.S.R. Geological Pros-
to thee Institute, they stretch at least
at a ESath Parallel and lie on the shelf
Ti el of only 75 feet. Soviet oil
Tepion woes are already active in the
Vielg ened their work is expected to

ac results in 20 to 30 years.

Sy 'Mg new towns in the Far North

Me | é n

ed for kindergartens, indoor sports and
recreation centres, schools and ‘nur-
series. Covered corridors connect all
the buildings. Everything has to be
built on the surface, there is no dig-
ging into permafrost. Rooms are larg-
er than in Moscow apartments. Build-
ing adequate sewage systems presents
many difficulties. Where possible towns
are built on a slope.

There are special inducements for
adventurous young people to go North.
They get larger apartments and more
pay, as well as longer holidays. Some
prefer to “save up” their holidays for
two or three years and then take a
long trip “outside.”

“People from the northern nationali-
ties indigenous to the Arctic are
among those working to tame this area
of constant frost,” writes Alexel Niko-
layev in the magazine Smena. “Among
the sons and daughters of hunters and
reindeer breeders are many engineers,
scientists, doctors and teachers. The
national minorities of the North, to-
talling 130,000 people, include the
Yakuts, Evenks, Nenets, Chukchi,
Khanty, Matisi and others. A few de-
cades ago they could not read or
write. Today they have their own writ-
ten languages and their own authors.”

And just listen to what I. Chistya-
kov, chairman of the Magadan Re-
gional Soviet of Working People’s De-
puties, has to say about the advances
made by the Chukchi under. Soviet
power:

“Our region, spreading out across
the extreme north-eastern part of the
country, on the shores of the cold

ee OS F

Polar seas, is indeed very large. The
climate is severe and the ground is
clad in perma-frost. The Kolyma sends
us its cold winds, and wild Chukotka
her,.savage blizzards. Yet, just~ like
everywhere else, there are mines and
other enterprises functioning the whole
year. round, and construction projects
are always on the move: people live

‘and work, and children go to school.

Just as everywhere, we have teachers
and doctors, actors and musicians
working side by side with men of
courageous professions — miners, fish-
ermen and hunters.

“Many books have been written
about the North. Yet, perhaps up till
now these have not paid due tribute
to the exploits of Soviet intellectuals
on the Kolyma and in Chukot. And it
should be remembered that sometimes
they find themselves in situations just
as romantic as those of the heroes in
Jack London’s books. They : certainly
have just as much love of life and peo-
ple, staunchness of spirit, courage, in-
itiative and ability to overcome dif-
ficulties.

“The Chukchi are very familiar with
Dmitri P. Korzh, one of their first
teachers, who had to give his first les-
son in the street and so he had to
draw the letters in the snow...

“Smart schools with the latest equip-

ment, furniture, visual aids and sports
facilities have now taken the place of
temporary school buildings. The re-
gion’s first institution of higher learn-
ing is now in operation—the Institute
of Education. We also haye a poly-
technical school, agricultural school,
and a music school. The educational
level of the northerners is seen from
the fact that every fifth local citizen
has a college or specialized secondary
education. There is no illiteracy, and
there is not a single village in the
region without a club and a library.
Most of the deer-breeding collective
farms and state farms are catered for

by mobile clubs, and district centres ©

have palaces of culture and national
theatre companies. This indeed is a
tremendous achievement in the condi-
tions of the North.” ;

One does not have to be a socialist,
or even sympathetic to the ideas of
socialism, to accept the fact that the
Soviet Union is doing more to improve
the culture and living standards of its
northern people than either Canada or
the United States.

The Soviet Union presents a good
example of what can be accomplished
when the problem of opening up Arc-
tic regions is approached in a realistic
and humanistic way.

PACIFIC:TRIBUNE= APRIL 3,.1970--— Page 7