When you say Northern-Western Ontario, people paint lots of pictures in their heads, but sustainable community living is not a common picture. To facilitate in creating this picture, Northern Community Solutions (NCS) acts as the liaison to develop economically sustainable businesses and jobs, utilizing the abundant natural resources in our own Northwestern community.
Andreas Zailo and Ari Elo founded this community service company after discovering the potential in a grassroot approach to problem solving in the north by tapping the resources in its own backyard.
As strong believers of community-driven development, the NCS hopes to be the enablers in creating an economically, infrastructurally developed living in the North. They provide a second set of hands and eyes to help the community discover tangible solutions to the problems from tapping the resources in their own community.
The NCS identifies are also catalysts in achieving sustainable growth in the Northern community by identifying companies that already have handmade solutions for challenges like clean energy, housing, finance, and funding. Currently, the NCS operates in Northern Ontario and Manitoba to assess assets and create rich infrastructure, especially in the First Nations community.
For Ari Elo, one of the founders of the NCS, being an actionable ally is important. The NWO mining report, a single document to bring all information related to the mining in Northern Western Ontario is regarded as a great example of being an actionable ally by Elo. It is a great start for opportunities even though it just touches the surface of mining in NOW.
Similarly, Elo commends the CEDC (Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission) for taking the role of being an anchor for sustainable development in NOW. He recognizes the role of CEDC in bringing more infrastructure and businesses, both foreign and Canadian business to NWO, which reflects the future of Northern Community living at large.
Vocalizing his views on the future of sustainable development in Northern living, he proceeds to say, “I see more and more communities having more knowledge of their own communities and resources. Their ideas on how to create our community is expanding. Even though the distance is a challenge for Northwestern Ontario, we have our own resources in our backyards to make us more energy-efficient, and the community a better place to live. For example, currently, remote communities pay exorbitant prices for gas although they have resources for natural gas, which should change. That is the end goal. So, increasing the knowledge of the youth could help tremendously. We have come a long way, and by educating the people, especially the youth, we will reach a point when we would be able to utilize the technology that is already available, but untapped to provide a more sustainable living in the North.”
