Laval nets $98 million for new Arctic research

Some of the $98 million going to Université Laval will help researchers understand more about the health benefits of aqpik (cloudberry) berries. (FILE PHOTO)

Arctic research efforts got a boost July 31 when, before jumping into the federal election campaign, the Tories handed out nearly $100 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund to Université Laval in Quebec City.

The money — the largest research grant ever received by Laval — goes to its huge, Arctic-focused Sentinel North research program.

“With Sentinel North, both Canada and Canadians will be able to anticipate changes in tangible ways and reduce the impacts of the climate conditions currently changing across the entire planet,” said a backgrounder on the program.

The areas to be studied under Sentinel North include the relationship between human health and nature in the Arctic — along with a closer look at he health benefits of Arctic berries.

Research by Laval health expert André Marette already suggests that Arctic aqpiks (cloudberries), among other berries, can increase healthy microbes in your intestines and prevent or even diminish the symptoms of diabetes.

And Arctic berries, which proved their potency in Marette’s studies on mice, may reverse or prevent diabetes among Inuit.

Money from Sentinel North will also go to support the Takuvik centre, set up in 2011 between Laval and France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique research institute.

Takuvik researchers will track the response of Arctic marine ecosystems to climate change and fine-tune remote sensing tools, such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, for use in ice-covered waters.

This past spring Takuvik operated a project called the 2015 Green Edge field campaign near the Nunavut community of Qikiqtarjuaq. The camp, set up in mid-March, monitored snow and ice until wrapping up its activities July 15.

Laval already manages the ArcticNet research program which includes the research activities on board the CCGS Amundsen icebreaker.