The Arctic Institute of North America: The Future

Abstract

Two fundamental premises I think can be accepted at the outset. First, if the Institute fulfils a useful and needed role in contributing to man's knowledge and understanding of the polar regions, and does it through bold, perceptive, and imaginative leadership, its future is secure. The second premise is that the future of the Institute itself is indisputably locked to the future of the polar regions. With these in mind let us consider briefly, by way of introduction, the founding of the Institute and the circumstances surrounding it. A question may be posed. Would the same kind of Institute be founded today as was founded in 1944. I think the answer would be no. In 1944 the Institute was founded to meet specific needs that were very real and pressing at that time. It is important to note that, as outlined in a previous chapter, the needs in Canada were quite different from those in the United States. In the United States there was in simple terms a desire to preserve for future use the knowledge and information that had been assembled by the U.S. Army Air Force's Arctic, Desert and Tropic Information Center, since it was almost taken for granted that this activity would just fade away in the rapid demobilization which could be expected at the end of World War II. In Canada, however, action stemmed from a comparatively small group of dedicated citizens who recognized the importance of the North to Canada and desired to cultivate more broadly a national concern and awareness of this. Curiously enough the common cause of World War II brought together those individuals from the United States and Canada who were then more intimately concerned with these needs and many of whom shared a common background of experience and interest in the North. Thus, at War's end a binational organization was founded to meet the differing needs of the two countries with responsibilities vested in the Board of Governors with joint Canadian and United States membership. The fundamental basis was a common desire to continue and foster this existing interest in the North, which had been brought into focus by wartime circumstances. To meet these differing needs the Institute was constituted to provide for two general areas of endeavour. The normal mission of a scientific organization to acquire and preserve knowledge was provided for and implemented initially through a grant-in-aid program, the scientific journal Arctic, the establishment of the Institute's library, and the publication of Arctic Bibliography. But in order to create a more general interest and awareness of the North and its emerging significance, an Institute Associate program was also established. This was later extended by the establishment of a class of Fellows, who are elected by the Institute's Board of Governors in recognition of their contributions to polar research and who participate in Institute affairs through election of a portion of the Institute's governing body. One must note that at this time, reflecting the need first for basic scientific knowledge of the North which had been emphasized by the military requirements of World War II, the early interest and concern of the Institute was almost exclusively within the natural sciences. As a result the people called upon in the early days of the Institute because of their experience were drawn largely from the ranks of the natural scientists. In perspective it must also be noted that at the time there were few social scientists with any interest or experience in the North except for a small group of archeologists and anthropologists. Now, twenty years later, circumstances are far different from those at the time the Institute was founded. The immediate needs which the Institute was intended to fill are now being met. The over-all importance of the polar regions to the modern world is recognized. A broad national effort in northern study has emerged in Canada with an increased recognition of the economic, social, and political significance of Canada's northern territories and a responsibility therefor. Prima facie evidence of the very basic concern for the future is demonstrated in the proposed Centennial Fund for Northern Research in Canada, in which the Arctic Institute can be said to have had the guiding hand. The United States now recognizes equally the significance of the North and additionally has mounted a vast national program of scientific endeavour in the Antarctic. Through these efforts there has been a manifold increase in polar research during the last twenty years, and a whole new generation of "polar scientists" has been trained in the process. The appropriate government agencies have recognized their mission and responsibility through the establishment and support of active programs. A number of universities in both Canada and the United States have developed programs of polar, boreal, or northern research through the interest of individual faculty members or in some cases through the establishment of special institutes. And of perhaps greatest practical importance, new funds and resources have become available to create and support these programs. Thus there would in fact be far less need today for the type of institute that was conceived in 1944. Correspondingly the Institute of today bears little resemblance to the Institute of twenty years ago. In response to the changing environment it has altered and expanded its scope of activities in directions which never could have been foreseen twenty years ago. The multiplicity of present Institute activities, all of which contribute effectively to a primary objective of increasing man's knowledge and understanding of the polar regions, has been amply covered in a previous chapter, thus little need be said here, but I do think it is important to consider the principal environmental changes that have affected the over-all field of polar research. ...