Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet) and Qikiqtarjuaq communities of Nunavut will soon welcome two new reseach stations that will be managed by the CEN and Québec Océan. Those two new projects will be funded by Canada Fund for Innovation (CFI), Quebec government, Université du Québec à Rimouski, and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. The manager of these projects are Marcel Babin, director of the International Mixed Unit Takuvik and Gilles Gauthier, scientific director of the Centre for Northern Studies.
Reasearch all year long, in partnership with local communities
The common objectives of both research stations is to study the state of marine and terrestrial ecosystems of the Baffin Island area and predict their response and adaptation to accelerated climate change occurring in this area of the globe. More than 30 researchers in biology, oceanography, geography, geology and human health will collaborate to perform studies in these cutting edge research stations all year long. These new infrastructures will facilitate the study of arctic ecosystems in critical periods of the year: winter and early spring. Research projects will aim, among others, at studying micro-organisms of the soil and the ocean, small mammals living under the snow and algal bloom at these periods of the year.
The Inuit communities will play a key role in this project. Indeed, the Canadian Inuit community now has a strategic plan for the development of research in which they state their intention to develop and lead arctic research projects. In this respect, to ensure that the research projects that will be carried at these two stations are anchored with the local interests and needs, the research stations will be managed by committees involving local communities representatives and members of the CEN and Québec Océan. After 15 years of operation, the stations will be transferred to the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.
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