Providing IT to the Canadian High Arctic Research Station Campus
Planning, designing and installing the information technology (IT) infrastructure for a new building is a complex job. Add to that: a campus being built more than 3100 km away, in a remote Canadian Arctic location, where the average temperature for more than half the year ranges between -15 and -36, and the complexity level rises.
But that’s exactly the challenge Shared Services Canada (SSC) faced when tasked with providing the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) campus with the IT infrastructure needed to help make it state of the art.
The campus’ IT infrastructure is one of the key elements that underpins how those working there function or conduct research. The research performed at the CHARS campus will be very important to Northerners, Canadians and the world. It will include topics such as climate change and its global impacts, plus studies on the health and wellbeing of ecosystems in the Arctic. SSC is proud of its role in helping this research campus become more operational.
SSC provided all of the following to the CHARS campus:
- Hardware and wiring install in the server room and telecommunications rooms
- Multiple networks to connect different types of users (researchers, government employees) in different ways, internally (within the campus, within government) and externally (across the country, and around the world)
- Satellite communications
- Government of Canada (GC) Wi-Fi
- Phone service over the Internet (Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP))
- Videoconferencing
- Government of Canada email service
- Government of Canada Secure Remote Access service, giving GC employees a secure gateway to their work files and emails from any location
Transcript – Providing IT to the Canadian High Arctic Research Station
Fade in to a faded image in the background of professionals working happily in a boardroom.
The words Shared Services Canada appear at the top of the screen, underlined in blue The Shared Services Canada and Canada wordmark appear at the bottom.
Background music begins to play and continues to play throughout the video.
The words Providing IT to the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) slides onto the right of the screen.
The screen transitions to an image of the CHARS campus. A blue background takes over the left half of the image. The Shared Services Canada logo and the following words slide onto the blue background: Shared Services Canada is proud to be part of the team that helped make the Canadian High Arctic Research Station campus a reality.
The screen transitions to an image of a boardroom at the CHARS campus. The boardroom has a long table with teleconferencing equipment in the middle. There are chairs all around the table and a wall at the top of the image has two televisions mounted. One of the televisions in on a ready to connect to a device. A blue background takes over the left half of the image. An icon of hands connecting appears with the words: We outfitted this cutting-edge research campus with the best information technology to help people connect, communicate and collaborate.
The screen transitions to an image of a laboratory. A blue background takes over the left half of the image. An icon of two beakers appears with the words: The IT infrastructure we provided underpins how those working at CHARS function and conduct important research.
The screen transitions to a swirling image of blurred colours. When the image stops moving, the blurred colours remain and several faded patterns of the number zero and one are visible in the background. A blue background appears over the left half of the image. An icon of a circle with microchip components inside the circle appears with the words:
SSC is the Government of Canada’s IT provider.
The image and icon remain and the words transition to new text that says: We provide other federal organizations with the digital tools and services they need so that they can deliver programs and services to Canadians.
The screen transitions to a blurred image of a female scientist looking into a microscope with laboratory imagery in the background. A blue background appears over the left half of the image. An icon of a checkmark and arrows circling it appears with the words: Enabling science is an SSC priority. We’re working with the federal science community to define IT services that better serve their unique needs.
The screen transitions to an image of the town of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, with an open, snowy field to the left. The following words appear at the top of the screen: “When it comes to supporting our partners and their workplaces, we work hard to deliver, modern, secure and reliable services, like:”
These words remain onscreen as the following words and icons slide on and then off the screen:
- An icon of a server and a gear with arrows going from one to the other with the words: Hardware and wiring for server and telecommunications rooms
- An icon of a globe with several connections coming out from it in all directions with the words: Networks that connect users in different ways, such as within buildings, across government or around the world
- An icon of a server with a cloud on top of it with the words: Data storage, processing and sharing through the Cloud and Enterprise Data Centres
- An icon of a tower with waves radiating from the top with the words: Satellite communications
- An icon of the Wi-Fi symbol with the words: Government of Canada Wi-Fi
- An icon of a circle with a telephone receiver inside with the words: Phone services
- An icon of a laptop with a person on screen and a speech bubble coming from the person with the words: Videoconferencing
- An icon of two envelopes moving in opposite directions to symbolize coming and going, with the words: Government of Canada email service
- An icon of a person seated at a desk with a screen in front of them with the words: Government of Canada Secure Remote Access service, giving the public service a secure gateway to their work files and emails from any location
The screen transitions to an image of people who are backlit and only visible from behind. They are all holding up Canadian flags. A blue background takes over the left half of the image with an icon of a wrench and the words: We’re the backbone of federal government programs and services that Canadians rely on every day.
The screen transitions to an image of a person holding out their palm. In the palm is the Earth and lines of connection criss-cross all over the globe. A blue background appears on the left half of the image with an icon of two people on stairs with one person helping the other person up the stairs with the words: We may often be behind the scenes, but we’re also one of the federal departments leading the way for a digital government.
The image fades away and a black screen appears. A copyright symbol and the following words appear at the bottom of the screen: Her majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by Shared Services Canada.
The words fade away and the Government of Canada wordmark appears and then also fades away. Music fades out.
All bases covered
IT infrastructure is the blend of hardware, software, networks, facilities, resources and equipment needed to deliver, manage and secure IT services, like Wi-Fi, videoconferencing, and telephony. SSC worked with partners to make sure the campus’ IT infrastructure was comprehensive.
“They have all the bells and whistles,” says Charbel El-Helou, Acting Project Portfolio Director who oversaw the SSC project team. Over the course of the project, more than 100 SSC staff were a part of the project team.
Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR) operates the CHARS campus, which was built in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, a small hamlet along the Northwest Passage with a population of just over 1,700. It was built to support Canadian leadership in polar science and technology and to welcome researchers from around the world. It was also built to be a space where local Indigenous communities and scientists can meet and discuss and exchange information, ideas, and experiences. Indigenous knowledge is recognized as fundamentally essential to the co-creation of the best new knowledge.
SSC worked closely with POLAR and we look forward to our continued partnership to maintain and modernize their IT infrastructure in the future. We also worked closely with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC, formerly Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada). CIRNAC led and managed the overall construction of the CHARS campus, including architectural design, construction, equipment and fit-up of the campus.
Another key partner, Public Services and Procurement Canada, was responsible for the overall project management of the campus’ construction, as well as for buying goods and services relating to the campus’ fit-up and for POLAR in general.
SSC provided all of the following to the CHARS campus:
Hardware and wiring install in the server room and telecommunications rooms
Multiple networks to connect different types of users (researchers, government employees) in different ways, internally (within the campus, within government) and externally (across the country, and around the world)
Satellite communications
Government of Canada (GC) Wi-Fi
Phone service over the Internet (Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP))
Videoconferencing
Government of Canada email service
Government of Canada Secure Remote Access service, giving GC employees a secure gateway to their work files and emails from any location
Rising to the challenges
The IT infrastructure extended to all of the campus’ buildings: the Main Research Building, the Field and Maintenance Building and the accommodation buildings, which can lodge up to 44 visiting researchers at a time.
The campus’ remote location was challenging. It wasn’t possible to have SSC staff on the ground at all times. The SSC team had to work virtually but closely with POLAR employees in Nunavut.
“The POLAR staff is wearing many hats,” says Christopher Chisholm, Facilities Manager for the CHARS campus. He lives and works in Cambridge Bay and worked with SSC to finalize the design, development and roll-out of the IT infrastructure plans. “SSC demonstrated much patience and provided help.”
Chisholm met with the SSC project team weekly via teleconference. He says he also appreciates that team members did make trips up North.
El-Helou notes that SSC had to be flexible when sending people or equipment to Cambridge Bay, often because of the weather. “We needed to build in lots of contingency time into our plans. When shipping equipment, what would normally take a week could take two.”
There are also limited planes and cargo space heading North and equipment sometimes got bumped from flights if the space was needed for travellers.
Security was another major project piece. The CHARS campus is open to researchers from around the world as well as the local community. “Everything went through lots of checks,” El-Helou says. “Extra due diligence was required in order to avoid any potential risk to government systems. We gave security a higher level of consideration and attention. At the same time, we made sure we weren’t compromising the services to POLAR in fulfilling their mandate.”
Both El-Helou and Chisholm agree that it took a lot of communication and coordination to make sure all those involved in the project understood the IT needs and the reasons behind infrastructure decisions, but it was worth it.
“IT improves work performance. If you can’t connect with the outside world, it’s extra challenging,” Chisholm says.
Canadians and the world look forward to the great things to come from this cutting-edge research campus.
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