ArcticNet annual conference aims spotlight at Arctic climate change

Dr. Tristan Pearce and Linnaea Jasiuk lead a session called Community and Researchers Relationships in Arctic Research Dec. 5 during the first day of the ArcticNet 2016 conference on in Winnipeg. (PHOTO COURTESY ARCTICNET STUDENTS ASSOCIATION)

As ArcticNet hosts its 12th annual scientific conference this week in Winnipeg for 800 students, academics, traditional knowledge holders, northern leaders and policy makers, the focus will be on climate change and all of its complexities.

The ArcticNet research community comes together at a key time: while social, environmental and political issues are transforming the North, Canadian Arctic research stands at a crossroad, said its scientific director, Dr. Louis Fortier.

“A new roadmap must be formulated that will enable us to maintain the collaboration initiated by ArcticNet between producers and end users of research,” Fortier said in release, “to create new northern research and training capacity; and to consolidate national and international partnerships in the study of the Canadian Arctic.”

In 60 sessions over the conference’s five days, from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9, you can find presentations and talks touching on the environmental, social, economic and political challenges facing Canada’s Arctic regions.

Speakers and presenters include Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada President Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed and Gjoa Haven’s historian, Sammy Kogvik, who led a Dec. 6 session on traditional knowledge.

This year’s ArcticNet conference has partnered with the Winnipeg Art Gallery, home to the future Inuit Art Centre, to showcase a contemporary Inuit art exhibit called “Our Land.”

The conference also plays host to the Arctic Inspiration Prize awards gala Dec. 8, to be co-hosted by Canadian Olympian Clara Hughes and Kangiqsualujjuaq youth Andrea Brazeau.

You can see a full program of the conference sessions here.