The Canadian Arctic Research Initiative

Research in the Canadian Arctic is the subject of a recent project of the Council of Canadian Academies. The Council brought together a multi-disciplinary, international expert panel to discuss the science priorities proposed for the Canadian Arctic Research Initiative (CARI).

CARI will be a signature deliverable of Canada’s Northern Strategy. The Government committed in the October 2007 Speech from the Throne to building an arctic research station “on the cutting-edge of arctic issues, including environmental science and resource development”. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) is the lead federal department for this initiative.

To develop the Canadian Arctic Research Initiative, INAC consulted with various Canadian stakeholders to create a Visioning Workshop report, “Defining Science Priorities for Canada’s New Arctic Science Station”. INAC then commissioned the Council of Canadian Academies to establish an international panel of experts to review the priorities outlined in the Visioning Workshop report and to provide an independent, external perspective on its findings. The panel’s report, entitled, Vision for the Canadian Arctic Research Initiative: Assessing the Opportunities captures the deliberations of an intensive two-day panel session held in Helsinki, Finland in July 2008.

Vision for the Canadian Arctic Research Initiative: Assessing the Opportunities(1 mb) – Full Report (Visioning Workshop report as Appendix A)

Report Summary(65 kb)

News Release(38 kb)

The International Expert Panel on Science Priorities for the Canadian Arctic Research Initiative

Elizabeth Dowdeswell (Panel Chair)

Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee, Council of Canadian Academies; Former UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP; Founding President of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (Canada)

Michael Bravo

Convenor, Circumpolar History & Public Policy, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)

Torben Christensen

Professor, Lund University (Sweden)

Karl Erb

Director, Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation (USA)

Robert Finney

Senior Environmental Advisor, BP Exploration (United Kingdom)

Peter Harrison

Skelton-Clark Fellow, Queen’s University (Canada)

Paula Kankaanpää

Director, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (Finland)

Anders Karlqvist

Director General, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (Sweden)

Peter Lemke

Director, Division for Climate Research, Alfred Wegner Institute (Germany)

Lars-Otto Reierson

Executive Secretary, Arctic Monitoring Assessment Program (Norway)

Matti Saarnisto

Secretary General, The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (Finland)

Joern Thiede (GER)

Former Director, Alfred Wegner Institute (Germany)

Kue Young (CAN)

Professor, Public Health Sciences/Aboriginal Health, University of Toronto (Canada)

(11/08)