Northern Research Legacies and the Future: A University Perspective

Abstract

I am writing as a Canadian who was involved in northern research as a post-doctoral student in the 1970s and who, since then, has been involved as a researcher and educator in southern university-based northern studies. My goal is to bring together some comments on research databases and the lost generation of northern researchers, .... The North and Northerners have always faced major changes; in the 20th century, these included the air industry, the DEW Line, hydroelectric dams, mines and roads. Now Northerners are facing the greatest acceleration of changes on landscapes and in communities since the 1970s. On landscapes remote from communities is a diamond industry that could supply the world with 15% of its diamonds within three years; several thousand people will be employed. Petroleum exploration (seismic and drilling) is operating today at the highest level since the 1970s. Pipeline construction projects of a size greater than ever seen in North America are being proposed: the "Texas of the North" is the new vision. ... What are the research needs? Researchers are being urged to collect more and better data and to make better predictions. They are urged to adhere to ethics guidelines, to demonstrate the impacts of their research at the proposal stage, and to effectively transmit research results to the community. Those responsible for management policy and implementation in the North are now searching for solutions, and they are finding many gaps in our knowledge. They emphasize that data are obsolete and capacity building is needed. ... Questions are being asked about jobs for university researchers who work on northern topics: are there opportunities for long-term employment, or are these dead-end jobs? How do we maintain long-term northern research programs - at least one generation in length? How can we develop value-added industries with local benefits that are complementary to the programs of multinational giants? ... Who is responsible for research that will lead to understanding, solutions, and management strategies? A few decades ago, the federal government provided research support, management policies, and policing. Now political devolution has resulted in multi-layers of governance in the North. Can we assume that this new governance system will invest in research that leads to new approaches? For example, who will invest in the monitoring of cumulative effects? If the linkage between government regulators and industry is too close, who will provide the long-term perspective so that environmental damage will not accrue to future generations? ... Maybe we should re-think the traditional role of government in light of the new power of industry. Many feel that industry-sponsored university research tarnishes the image of universities as honest brokers. ... Without budgets that reflect the realities of expensive northern research, researchers must stay close to their home institutions - and that is what they did in the 1980s and 1990s. ... I believe we need more northern research endowments in Canada. I believe we need more research and think tank nongovernmental organizations in Canada, and I believe these are increasingly important as the role of government changes from watchdog to stimulator of industry. ... There is also a need to reinterpret the 1970s information and to convert it into more usable forms. Much of this information was collected and stored in libraries and databases as private and public research collections were consolidated in the 1980s and 1990s. ... We must not forget that these resources are now much more accessible than they were in the 1970s. Finally, there is a need to capture the experience of many northern and southern people involved in the petroleum industry and many other activities in the 1970s and 1980s. ...