Canadian Polar Commission gets a new board

Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, commended John Duncan, minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada, for making several new appointments Nov. 3 to the board of directors of the Canadian Polar Commission, Ottawa’s lead advisor on science Arctic issues.

The commission had been without a board for two years.

The appointments include chairperson Bernard Funston, vice-chairperson Nellie Cournoyea, and directors Barrie Ford, Martin Fortier, Robert Gannicott, David Hik, Robert Huebert, John Nightingale, Darielle Talarico and Maxim Jean-Louis.

“I am delighted at these exceptional appointments, and I am confident that this group, under the capable leadership of Bernard Funston and Nellie Cournoyea, will excel in their capacity as advisors to the federal government on Arctic research,” Simon said in a Nov. 4 news release. “I wish them well in their task and offer any help I can provide.”

Oceans North Canada also applauded the appointment of the new board.

“The appointment of a new board of the Canadian Polar Commission, comprised of people with strong connections to the north and the aboriginal peoples sends a strong signal about Canada’s commitment to dealing with its Northern territory,” said Trevor Taylor, policy director for Oceans North Canada, which promotes science-and-community-based conservation of Canada’s northern seas, in a Nov. 4 news release. “We commend Minister Duncan on this action and wish the board members well as they consider the many issues confronting Canada’s North.”

Funston is a constitutional lawyer with an extensive knowledge of legal, policy and science matters regarding the Arctic. He served as a special advisor on constitutional affairs and aboriginal self-government to the Government of the Northwest Territories, and was an advisor to Canada’s Arctic Council delegation.

Cournoyea is a former premier of the Northwest Territories and current CEO and chair of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the land claims organization representing Inuit in the NWT. She is also a member of ITK’s Board of Directors.

Other directors include:

• Barrie Ford, a wildlife biologist at the Nunavik Research Centre in Kuujjuaq. After completing a diploma in natural science at John Abbott College and a Bachelor of Science at McGill University, Ford returned to the Nunavik Research Centre in Kuujjuaq to continue his work tagging polar bears and monitoring Arctic char, this time as a wildlife biologist.

• Martin Fortier, executive director of ArcticNet and chair of the Polar Continental Shelf Program’s advisory board;

• Robert Gannicott, a geologist, president and CEO of the Harry Winston Diamond Corp.’

• David Hik, a University of Alberta Biological Sciences professor, who has conducted extensive research on Arctic ecology and climate change, and the director of the Canadian International Polar Year secretariat;

• Rob Huebert, a political science professor at the University of Calgary;

• John Nightingale, president of the Vancouver Aquarium;

• Talarico, a research associate at the Arctic Institute of North America; and,

• Darielle Jean-Louis, president and CEO of Contact North, northern Ontario’s distance education and training network.

The Canadian Polar Commission’s promotion of polar research comes as Canada prepares to host the 2012 conference “From Knowledge to Action” in Montreal, the final event to conclude research conducted during IPY.

The Canadian Polar Commission was estbalished in 1991 to monitor and promote scientific research on the polar regions.