What is a Remoteness Quotient and Why is it Important?
Remote or isolated communities face increased costs for the same quality and quantity of goods and services found in larger Canadian urban centres. Consequently, measuring remoteness and associated cost is important to provide remote or isolated First Nations and Northern communities with the goods and services that support a quality of life comparable to that found in urban centres.
A remoteness quotient suggests how much additional funding, relative to a benchmark amount, would be needed to overcome the detrimental effects to quality of life caused by remoteness. Remoteness quotients can be applied to health, business, legal, retail, and education services, for example.
Many different variables can factor into measuring remoteness: distance, geography, climate, infrastructure, jurisdiction, and social factors can all contribute to remoteness. Similarly, variables can change in accordance with how they are measured. Is distance measured in kilometres or the amount of time it takes to travel to a location? Is the distance measured to the nearest point where the service is provided or a large metropolitan area?
Determining how remoteness is measured and costed is an important consideration for remote or isolated First Nations communities.
Measures of Remoteness
Currently, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) uses the Geographic Zone classification for costing goods and services for remote or isolated First Nations communities. This information can be found in the Band Classification Manual and has been in use since 1987. The four zones organize communities by distance-traveled to the nearest services centre, defined as “the nearest community from which a First Nation can gain access to government services, banks and suppliers.” Zone 4 is the most remote, lacking year-round road access, and is further organized into sub-zones.
Band Classification Manual: Geographic Zone
| Zone 1 | Located within 50 km of the nearest service centre with year-round road access. |
| Zone 2 | Located between 50 and 350 km from the nearest services centre with year-round road access. |
| Zone 3 | Located over 350 km from the nearest service centre with year-round road access. |
| Zone 4 | The First Nation has no year-round road access to a service centre and, as a result, experiences a higher cost of transportation. |
In 2017, Statistics Canada released a model where the population of a population centre is divided by the cost of travel from a Census Sub Division (CSD) to all population centres within a 150 minute travel time. These calculations are converted to a index between zero and one, although confusingly, changes in the scale do not correspond to proportional changes in distance and population.
A multivariate approach integrates several different factors that could impact remoteness, considering how multiple different factors might impact remoteness. An example in Canada would be the Federal Isolated Post classification systems, based on population, climate, and access to transportation. Similarly, Federal Isolated Post data can be used to calculate labour costs, which serves a proxy for the cost of services, while shipping costs can be used as a proxy for the difference in cost for goods.
ISC is also able to apply provincial funding models to First Nations on-reserve schools on a province-by-province basis. A myriad of factors can contribute to provincial funding models, including average daily enrollment (ADE), latitude, distance to another school under the same school board, or distance to a specific urban centre.
Current Developments
In addition to the existing work of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation – Canada Remoteness Quotient Table, a secretariate within ISC and the National Assembly of Remote Communities (NARC) are working to develop more effective ways to cost remoteness to First Nations and Northern communities. In 2022, the Honourable Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu has expressed support for the development of a new remoteness quotient based on NARC and NAN’s research. Consideration must be given to what variables will be relevant to determining remoteness and how it influences funding for remote and isolated communities.
Future Considerations
Any future index should not be overly reliant on geographic distance or time as a measure of remoteness. While easier to quantify, qualitative factors such as lack of all-weather roads, fly-in communities, or access by ferry, must all be considered an impediment to accessing goods and services, even if the commute is brief or over a short distance. Impediments to access do not have to be physical either. Jurisdictional boundaries or lack of culturally appropriate and linguistically-accommodating services can also contribute to remoteness.
This raises the issue of selecting the appropriate factors to include in a calculation of remoteness. When costing education-related goods and services, care must be given to the unique circumstances of remote or isolated First Nations and northern communities.
The collection of data to inform the development of an appropriate index will also be paramount in regard to the applicability of an index to different communities. A remoteness index must also provide a clear picture of how remote a community really is. Remoteness must be defined and use a predictable standard of measurement, and the relation between index values must be easily understood for policymakers and remote community members alike. If remoteness can be costed appropriately, then the impetus is on the different levels of government to provide policy solutions and funding to overcome the negative effects of remoteness for remote, isolated or northern First Nations communities.