New U of M research facility honours former NWT premier Nellie Cournoyea

Nellie Cournoyea gets ready to help cut the ribbon March 18 on a new Arctic research facility at the University of Manitoba that will be called the Nellie Cournoyea Arctic Research Facility. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

The University of Manitoba officially opened its new $8-million Arctic research facility on March 18.

The Nellie Cournoyea Arctic Research Facility is named after Cournoyea, the first female premier of a Canadian territory, who attended the March 18 ribbon-cutting ceremony in Winnipeg.

“It is a privilege and a great honour to have been recognized in this manner,” said Cournoyea, premier of the Northwest Territories from 1991 to 1995, in a university news release.

“Throughout my life I have been a strong advocate for the advancement of research across the Canadian Arctic that will both enhance the protection of the sensitive Arctic environment and advance economic opportunities for the aboriginal peoples and other Canadians who have made these regions their home.”

The facility adds a fifth floor to the university’s Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources building.

Riddell, the namesake of the building, donated $2.5 million to the university to construct the new floor.

“The opportunity for U of M to become the leader in Arctic Research is very exciting. The addition of the Nellie Cournoyea Arctic Research Facility recognizes a great Canadian whose tireless efforts have and continue to benefit the North and its residents,” Riddell said in a news release.

The 60,000-square foot space will house new specialized laboratories and classrooms for graduate students and researchers who are expected to come to the university as a result of a new $10-million research chair in Arctic geomicrobiology and climate change announced in May 2010.