The "Change and Economic Development in Arctic Canada" project team takes a break from research planning to skate on the Ottawa canal.

L to R: Kathryn Lupton (student research, University of Ottawa), Heather Stager (project coordinator, University of Ottawa), Margaret Johnston (School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks, and Tourism, Lakehead University), Jessy Carlson (student researcher, Lakehead University), Miriam Jorgensen (Udall Center & Native Nations Institute, The University of Arizona), and Jackie Dawson (Dept. of Geography, University of Ottawa). Not pictured: Angela Cameron (Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa), Stephen Cornell (Udall Center & Native Nations Institute, The University of Arizona), and Brenda Macdougall (Dept. of Geography, University of Ottawa).

Native Nations Institute Researchers to Collaborate on Arctic Project

Stephen Cornell, Udall Center Director and NNI Faculty Associate, and Miriam Jorgensen, Udall Center Research Professor and NNI Research Director, are co-researchers on a new project, titled "Climate Change and Economic Development in the Arctic." Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, this multi-university, interdisciplinary research effort considers secondary effects of climate change on communities in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Jackie Dawson, Chair of the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Ottawa, leads the research team. More information can be found here.

The project's starting point is that climatic conditions affect not only the Arctic environment but also the Arctic economy ---- and that increases in shipping, tourism, and resource development are both opportunities and risks for northern communities. The project addresses the urgent need for research on how isolated Indigenous communities can exercise greater self-determination and develop greater self-governance in the face of renewed colonial-mercantilist interests. While project case studies will focus on Nunavut, Dawson, Cornell, and Jorgensen anticipate that findings from the research will have implications for communities across the Arctic ---- in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, Alaska, Greenland, and beyond.