Science and Research Committee on June 11th, 2024

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you to both witnesses for being here.

Dr. Wilson, you talked about co-developed training. We heard in the previous panel from Natan Obed from the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. One of their research priorities is building capacity in Nunangat. Could you perhaps expand on the role that SmartICE might play in that? Does the training you provide or facilitate enhance broader capacity among communities to do research?

[Dr. Katherine Wilson]

Absolutely. Many are familiar with the monitoring technology on the ice, but in the group that I work with, I'm training youth how to use geographic information systems and how to interpret satellite imagery, which are skills that you get at a college or university degree level.

The way we approach research in the north is that we're training Inuit so they can do the research themselves for Inuit self-determination and research. When we think about science and research, we also have to think about this young generation, this booming population, that will need employment. Being able to provide the training in the communities, without their having to come south, means they can stay with their families.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you.

We've been hearing from various witnesses in this study, and we heard it in your opening statement, about the need for community space for research. There are scattered research centres across the Arctic, but so many communities lack community space to do this work, to house projects like SmartICE. If you were setting priorities across the Arctic, would that be one of your priorities, to have space available to each community to do this kind of work?

[Dr. Katherine Wilson]

Absolutely. You've heard in other testimony about the crowded housing conditions. It's very difficult for people to work from home, from kitchen tables, when the house is full. Even when we get proposals and we put in required funding so that we can rent space and we go to communities and say that we're happy to rent an office for our staff, we can't find an office to rent.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

I'll turn to Ms. Seccombe-Hett with that same question about infrastructure. Again, we've heard, as I just mentioned, about this need for infrastructure across the north. Perhaps you could comment on that and what role Aurora might play.

[Pippa Seccombe-Hett]

Certainly, it's well known that infrastructure is limited in the north. I did highlight some of our deficiencies in college infrastructure, but I also think there is some opportunity with that infrastructure given that we currently have 21 community learning centres that we try to use for college programming and upgrading and for courses within the community, but we're also making these available to support alternative options within the communities, whether it be for supporting research or training opportunities. However, it is a challenge for all of us.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

You have almost two minutes.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Oh, my goodness. It seemed like the time was flying by there.

I'll stay with Ms. Seccombe-Hett. You talked about research licensing, and I've seen that in some of the other documents with regard to this study. What is research licensing? What goes into it? Is it looking at ethical issues? Is it looking at consent issues or community involvement, at how the research is governed and structured?

[Pippa Seccombe-Hett]

The research licensing process in the Northwest Territories—I believe they're different in each of the territories—requires an application that outlines the research proposal, where the work will be done, the settlement regions that it will be conducted in, and it asks a whole series of questions around community engagement and data handling. Any social or health research is required to provide ethical reviews, so they must be approved by an ethics review board.

There are a certain number of requirements. These change depending on the settlement region as well. The different indigenous governments have different requirements for the researchers, but there is a requirement for community engagement and communication around the research.

That's more or less an overview of the process, but typically it takes two to three months to obtain a research licence in advance of conducting any research in that region.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Are the ethics review boards that you're talking about attached to the universities that may or may not be in the north?

[Pippa Seccombe-Hett]

Largely, the researchers attached to southern universities use those research ethics boards, but northern organizations or indigenous organizations that do not have their own ethics committees available to them rely on the Aurora College research ethics committee to help support that as a stopgap measure.

There are instances of collaborative reviews with—

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Thank you so much. That's over time now.

Now we will turn to our second round of questioners. We'll start with MP Rempel Garner for five minutes, please.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Again, we're at the point in the study where we're trying to come up with some recommendations for the government with regard to Arctic research. We've heard from many different witnesses about the challenges encountered due to the lack of coordination and essentially the lack of focused research priorities of the federal government for the Arctic.

Do you believe that the committee should be recommending to the government the development of some sort of coordinated and specific Arctic research strategy, which could both help facilitate coordination among disparate players with an interest in Arctic research, as well as help focus the government's funding on core priority areas?

I'll start with Ms. Wilson, but then throw it over to Aurora College.

[Dr. Katherine Wilson]

I do think there needs to be some level of coordination happening. It's a challenge, as you know, because our north is so diverse and distinct. Sometimes, with one overarching strategy, we wonder whom that really serves. Often, communities don't see themselves in these strategies. Perhaps, it's about breaking up this strategy, making it regional and starting from the bottom up instead of a top-down approach.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Now to Aurora College.

[Pippa Seccombe-Hett]

Thank you.

I do think a strategy would bring benefits to the north. I think it might be the right approach, but perhaps Katherine's suggestion of starting from the bottom up.... I like that suggestion. It certainly needs to include the indigenous governments, the federal government and a lot of the applied and local players. I think it needs the northern educational institutions, certainly, but the local community governments are important in that as well.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

We have also heard that there is perhaps a lack of focus or availability of funding for a broader range of research priorities that would have an Arctic focus, for example, Arctic infrastructure needs that are specific to the Arctic, economic development, natural resource planning or potential postures for Canada on geopolitical issues. Would you say that this assertion is accurate and could be perhaps bolstered or remediated via a formal Arctic research strategy?

I'll send that to Aurora College.

[Pippa Seccombe-Hett]

I do think it has the potential to address multiple issues. I think maintaining both, you know, the big picture climate science and the local applied piece within that picture.... I do think so.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Perhaps I'll direct this to Dr. Wilson.

Do you think there are opportunities as well to have a research strategy aligned with commercial interests, for example, actually building receptor capacity for technological innovations in Canada's Arctic, with, of course, cultural sensitivity to indigenous persons? It struck me that there's a lack of that sort of capacity in Canada right now.

[Dr. Katherine Wilson]

I can't comment on the example that you gave, but we're looking at moving our facilities for manufacturing into the Arctic so that they're made in the Arctic by northerners. It just creates that employment and opportunities going forward.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Could that be an objective of an Arctic research strategy, to build more, essentially, receptor capacity for technological development based on Canadian research?

[Dr. Katherine Wilson]

I think, again, it's a question of who's making the decisions around this. If it's something that the regional government and community wants, then that would make sense.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

We will now turn to to MP Kelloway for five minutes, please.