Science in the changing North.(Opinion)(Viewpoint essay)

Abstract: In the last five years, northern science has been rejuvenated as national and international attention has been drawn to the Arctic. The principal forces driving the increased interest in the Canadian North are the worldwide demand for minerals and hydrocarbons, and the opening of the Northwest Passage as a result of climate change. The renewed scientific activity is taking place in a social context that has evolved, primarily as a result of land claims' settlements, so that local agencies require considerably more consultation regarding research projects than they did in the 1980s. Northerners aspire to have research conducted "in the North, for the North, and by the North," but it is likely that collaboration with outsiders will be necessary for some time before there is sufficient capacity in the North to set or fulfill a comprehensive research agenda. This phase in the development of a full northern research capacity requires scientists from outside to engage communities as partners, and to develop the research skills of the resident population.

Introduction

This essay is a personal perspective on the evolving practice of environmental science research in northwest Canada. The paper draws on experience in the Yukon and Northwest Territories (NT), and so it is an account from a specific geographical context. It is also an account from a specific time, 1982 to 2008, during which research interest in the North declined before a renaissance leading to the International Polar Year, 2007-2009. The period has witnessed settlement of many land claims, devolution of responsibilities to territorial governments, and, particularly in the NT, resurgence in resource development. Climate change has become an international issue and its impacts on the North have been at the forefront of an evolving discussion.

Brief autobiographical details are presented next, in order to sketch the context from which this perspective has emerged. The three principal sections of the essay discuss the forces driving environmental research in northwest Canada, the changing context of fieldwork in the North, and some reflections on the respective responsibilities of researchers and the communities they visit.

Autobiographical Context

Our field research on permafrost began in the Yukon in 1982 and has been continuous there since then, with projects in the Mackenzie Delta area since 1987. In the Yukon, the fieldwork has been based at Mayo, where we have experienced great kindness, and in the western Arctic at the Aurora Research Institute, a critical logistical support centre. In the last few years, our investigations have extended to Old Crow, Dawson City, and Herschel Island, in the Yukon, and to Paulatuk in the NT. Throughout, I have been in the university system. I have always worked in a department of geography, a discipline which emphasizes human-environment relations at its core, and which stretches over, and sometimes tears at, the interface of the natural and social sciences.

My interest is primarily in the application of general physical principles to landscapes and landforms, or regional physical geography. My academic training bears the imprint of the guidance of Michael Smith through graduate school (e.g., Smith and Burn 1987; Burn and Smith 1990), and the subsequent mentorship of J. Ross Mackay (e.g., Mackay and Burn 2002, 2005). The research is primarily field based, but explanation of the observations usually requires analytical or numerical techniques.