Abstract:
A fireside chat, with audience polling and open Q&A, will explore the future of Canadian Arctic Science amid rapid climate change, geopolitical challenges and limited funding options. Arctic Science plays a crucial role in supporting arctic sovereignty, security and defence, ensuring long-term resilience and informed decision-making. Understanding the needs of the north is crucial and scientific research must integrate and respect the vast knowledge of northern communities who have lived on the lands for generations. In this session we will discuss current and future needs in the north and the role science must play!

Summary of Conversations

The discussion focused on the Arctic’s inherent complexity, its role as a sovereign territory and Canada’s anchor in the Arctic, and its vast economic and social potential. Participants agreed that knowledge is foundational for a comprehensive approach to Northern sovereignty, securing national interests and driving sustainable development for community well-being and environmental stewardship. Climate change is critically impacting infrastructure, with issues like permafrost thaw and shortened seasonal access necessitating major projects, such as all-season roads, to improve connectivity, lower substantial living costs, and ensure residents’ safety. Geopolitical instability has disrupted traditional international cooperation, demanding a broader “Arctic Research” approach that recognizes multiple knowledge systems and mobilizes science diplomacy to sustain vital international collaboration. Large, long-term investments are being made in national defense modernization, with a focus on dual-use science and technology for infrastructure and power generation to enhance presence and resilience. A key principle emphasized was the necessity of integrating traditional knowledge and co-developing all initiatives with Indigenous partners to avoid past colonial patterns of engagement.

Take Away Messages/Current Status of Challenges

• Urgency for Northern Infrastructure: Climate change is rapidly shortening the operational window for critical winter roads, changing permafrost and lowering water levels—creating severe logistical, safety, and cost challenges, effectively isolating communities and jeopardizing supply chains, impacting the cost of living, health and food security and their access to essential goods and services—without immediate and sustained investment in science for adaptation and economic resilience.
• Science Underpins Canada’s Northern Sovereignty and Security: Arctic science including the integration of Western science with Indigenous Knowledge, is essential – it strengthens sovereignty, informs defence readiness, and supports responsible economic development that is credible and aligned with Northern communities’ needs.
• Geopolitical Strain on Collaboration: The traditional environment of Arctic science cooperation is under pressure due to shifting geopolitics, creating a need to sustain collaboration through non-traditional, more inclusive avenues (e.g., science diplomacy and research partnerships) while navigating new national security risks.
• Fragmented Data Infrastructure: Researchers face significant barriers due to the scarcity of systematically shared monitoring data and the lack of a coordinated Arctic data strategy, often remaining in organizational “silos” rather than being broadly accessible to inform research, planning, and sovereignty.
• Need for Holistic Science and Research Foundation: Decisions on national security, sustainable economic development, and environmental stewardship are deemed challenging without comprehensive, high-quality information and knowledge, which must serve as the central foundation for a Northern Strategy.
• Security Narrative vs. Cultural Values: There is a tension between the necessity to address new security threats and the simultaneous need to prevent a growing security narrative from eroding the established culture of inclusivity, accessibility, and engagement with diverse knowledge systems in Arctic research.
• Misconceptions of Sovereignty as Barrier: The concept of sovereignty, while important, risks being confused with building barriers, which could inadvertently impede North-to-North and international cooperation necessary to address complex, pan-Arctic challenges.

Recommendations/Next Steps

• Consider Co-development and Knowledge Integration: Major projects and research should be co-developed with Indigenous governments, formally integrating Traditional Knowledge as a component that is equally valuable and essential to scientific data for accurate and effective decision-making.
• Leverage Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for Diplomacy: Governments should actively partner with NGOs, community groups, and practitioners to advance critical research and cooperation when geopolitical or political constraints limit direct governmental engagement, ensuring vital work is not stalled.
• Defense Modernization Major Opportunity for Dual-Use Benefits: Significant defence investments to meet military requirements in the Arctic can also improve community infrastructure and energy systems through co-development of “mutually beneficial” dual-use science and technology (S&T) with Defence, science, and local partners.
• Strategic Investment in Next-Generation Capacity: Systematically build and integrate programs for mentorship, education, and skill development to engage the North’s youth—who comprise a significant demographic—thereby securing the future workforce and fostering local sources of leadership, innovation, and resilience.
• Advancing Long-Term Defense and R&D Investments: NORAD modernization investments include dedicated Arctic research and development enabler projects, focusing on military implications of climate change, Arctic mobility, infrastructure, energy solutions and environmentally sustainable power and human health performance in the North.
• Strengthen North-to-North Cooperation: Proactively foster diplomatic and research ties with other Arctic nations, specifically Greenland, Nordic countries, and Alaska, to advance shared interests and prevent the concept of national sovereignty from becoming a barrier to essential regional collaboration.
• Transition to Holistic Arctic Research: Recognizing the shift from “Arctic Science” to “Arctic Research” encourages a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary approach that explicitly includes social sciences and various knowledge systems for a more complete understanding of regional complexities.
• Prioritize Food Security through Energy Innovation: Target investments in alternative power (e.g., deep well geothermal, microgrids) to reduce reliance on conventional fossil fuels for logistics and mobility, which can indirectly elevate food security by reducing the costs associated with transporting supplies.