Northern Science and Technology

The North. For many Canadians the term evokes polar bears, ice and the northern lights. Add science to that list. 

A combination of factors has moved the Canadian Arctic to the scientific forefront. Scientists predict that the most dramatic climate changes will occur in the North making it a bellwether for broader change. This vast region has enormous untapped oil, natural gas and mineral wealth. And greater self-government in the region, including the creation of the territory of Nunavut, means the need for better understanding of local resources.

This is why the Government of Canada has northern science and technology as one of its top priorities for integrated science and technology. It's a focus that extends from the role of local traditional knowledge to unprecedented international cooperation.

The brightest example of this northern scientific flurry is ArcticNet, Canada's most ambitious northern research project ever. This new consortium of Canadian universities and Government of Canada departments and agencies, involves more than 150 scientists. It's primary goal is to document climate change and its impacts in the far north. To do this, biologists, oceanographers, physicists and others, will rely on the newly outfitted CCGS Amundsen, Canada's first dedicated Arctic science icebreaker. The vessel recently successfully completed its first nine month scientific mission, the Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Survey.

Finding oil and gas in the north depends on knowing where to look. To aid this process, the Targeted Geoscience Initiative of Natural Resources Canada is creating detailed geoscience maps of the North that will guide future exploration. The environmental effects of issues such as contaminants and resource development are at the core of Environment Canada’s long-term Northern Ecosystem Initiative.

Federal science is also playing a key role in understanding and limiting the health impacts of contaminants in the North through the Health Canada-led Northern Contaminants Program. Supporting healthy communities and fish and aquatic mammal populations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada works closely with northern co-management boards to provide the information needed for sustainable harvesting.

To aid all of these projects, Industry Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and Communications Research Centre Canada are collaborating on the development of the National Satellite Initiative. The initiative will provide low-cost, two-way broadband communication for telemedicine, teleteaching and teleworking to the most remote regions in the North.

Collaborative research in the North is even reshaping our understanding of its history, and helping shape its future. The Canadian Museum of Civilization’s Helluland Archaeological Project, involving several government agencies and universities, is documenting contact between Europeans and Inuit in the eastern Arctic 500 years before Columbus. And Canadian scientists are playing a key role in planning landmark Arctic research for International Polar Year in 2007-2008.