Alaska Sea Grant co-leads program to learn about resilient economies in the Canadian Arctic

An Alaska Sea Grant specialist helped develop and lead an innovative field school in northern Quebec for a small group of interdisciplinary students from the Arctic. The students learned from local and Indigenous residents and engaged in a rigorous program of natural and social science relevant to the well-being of Arctic societies and economies.

The Wealth of the Arctic Group of Experts (WAGE) Circumpolar Partnership is a group of over 90 researchers, practitioners, Indigenous leaders, and students seeking to address inequalities in how wealth created in the Arctic is distributed. Alaska Sea Grant’s Davin Holen is a researcher with the WAGE Partnership and chairs their training commission. Holen worked with partners at the Université Laval in Quebec over the past year to develop and host the International Graduate School on the Emergence of Innovative Blue Economies in the Arctic in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec in October. 

This field school, a partnership between WAGE and Sentinel North, both programs at Université Laval, was unique in that it consisted of an equal number of students from the natural and social sciences. Over nearly three weeks, students focused on equity and local self-determination in innovation and adaptation in a changing Arctic, including taking advantage of migrating fish stocks, mariculture, emerging small-scale tourism, innovation in subsistence activities, and promoting locally based research that embodies Inuit values and way of life. Through the intersection of biological, chemical, and physical oceanographic data collection and social science research, students explored interdisciplinary science approaches.

According to Holen, “We learned that northern communities across the Arctic are proactively building economies of the future to adapt to the changing climate, leveraging local innovation, traditional knowledge, and culturally embedded adaptive ingenuity to improve well-being.”

The field school’s 18 students and mentors started in Kuujjuaq, Quebec, and met with local leaders, community members, and regional organizations. Next was a helicopter ride to a research vessel, the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen, where they spent 11 days collecting data and drafting multidisciplinary papers in small teams.

Jake Cohen, a second-year Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow working with Holen, attended the field school. Cohen has collaborated with partners in Alaska on tribal climate resilience and adaptation. Reflecting on his time in Kuujjuaq, Cohen said, “It was incredible to stay in a village, hear firsthand from the Inuit, and see how scientific research can support community resilience in the region.”

As part of his fellowship, Cohen is organizing an “Adapt in Place” workshop to be held in Anchorage in 2025 for Arctic communities facing displacement due to climate change. He noted, “Nunavik has undergone tremendous change since its recent colonization and continues to adapt to shifts in the Arctic environment. These development strategies provide an innovative, Indigenous-led adaptation framework for communities in Alaska and beyond.”