Sunday, April 22, 2012
510B Palais des congrès
Montréal, Québec
1:00pm

In partnership with the Canadian Society for Circumpolar Health Annual General Meeting and the International Network for Circumpolar Health Research Annual General Meeting

Featuring:

• Sheila Watt-Cloutier
  Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and World Leader on Global Climate Change and Human Rights
• Jeff Reading
  Professor and Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Health Research, University of Victoria
• Birgitta Evengård
  Professor in Clinical Microbiology at Umeå University and Co-Chair of the Human Health Expert Group of the Arctic Council
• Kue Young
  President of INCHR and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Circumpolar Health

For more information contact: susan.chatwood@ichr.ca • 867 873 9337

An international conference is being organized by the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research on October 31, 2011 to celebrate the inauguration of the Statistics Canada branch research data centre (RDC) in Yellowknife, the first to be established north of 60º and outside a university.

The conference will feature international experts from circumpolar countries and regions to discuss existing health data sources and how they can be managed and utilized to improve population health and health systems performance.

The proposed program will include the opening of the Statistics Canada Regional Data Centre at the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada.

Conference themes include:

• metrics, health systems, and health policy
• circumpolar health data sources and applications

For more information, please contact:

• Susan Chatwood, susan.chatwood@ichr.ca
• Kue Young, kue.young@utoronto.ca

or visit:

• metrics.circumpolarhealth.org

November 22-23, 2011
Yellowknife, NT

In 2011, the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada will be convening a final Northern Summit on the Social Economy from November 22 to 23 at Northern United Place in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Over the last five years, these gatherings have provided participants from all over the North with a forum to share research information, engage in public discussions, and broach a variety of topics relevant to the needs of local social economy organizations. Past gatherings have been held in Inuvik, Iqaluit, Whitehorse, and Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

This summit will also be the last opportunity for SERNNoCa to convene its pan-Northern network as it winds down its activities in early 2012.

Further details about registration and the agenda will be published on the NWT nodal website in the coming months.

If you are interested in being part of a panel discussion or meeting and strategizing with other groups, please contact us at:

Tel: 867.873.9337 | Email: info@social-economy.net

Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) is the most comprehensive, multidisciplinary, multi-sector national forum on science, technology and innovation policy in Canada. Building upon this mandate and the immense success of last fall’s CSPC 2010 in Montreal and CSPC 2009 in Toronto, which was hailed by Nature Magazine as “one of the signs of hope in Canadian science policy”, we are pleased to present the CSPC 2011.

CSPC 2011 will provide a unique opportunity for various science policy stakeholders to get together at the national level to network and discuss the present and the future of science policy in Canada, a future based on a strong and dynamic science policy community that projects an innovative Canada for all Canadians.
This year’s themes will include:

• Science, Politics and Culture in Canada
• Enabling Private Sector Innovation
• Exploring the True North: Reflections on Northern Science Policy
• Special Focus: International Year of Chemistry
• Major Issues In Canadian Science Policy
• Special Optional Workshops, such as “The Nuts and Bolts of Science Policy”

Under the motto of “Building Bridges for the Future of Science Policy”, and with over 500 people expected to attend this year’s conference, CSPC 2011 will provide an ideal opportunity for participants to develop innovative policy solutions, contribute in establishing a national and inclusive dialogue among various sectors of science policy, learn more about the most important issues in science, technology, and innovation policy, and network with others across the community.

Who Should Attend:

The Canadian Science Policy Conference is an ideal event for:

• researchers across all sectors
• industrial R&D managers and senior management from the private sector
• government policy-makers (federal, territorial, provincial, and local)
• research granting agencies and funding bodies
• non-governmental organizations
• writers and journalists
• communications and government relations professionals
• scientific associations
• students and trainees

We hope to see you there!

Visit www.cspc2011.ca for more information.

The Annual Meeting of INCHR will take place on June 14-15 (1.5 days) at the premises of the Institute of Management and Technological Training (POHTO), located by the sea about 4.5 km from the Oulu city centre.

As in 2010, the INCHR meeting and scientific sessions will take place in between the 1.5 day courses of the Summer Institute of Circumpolar Health Research (SICHR), from 13-14 June to 16-17 June on Contaminants and Human Health, and Risk Communications.

A Sami Health Workshop is also being held in conjunction with the meeting.

For more information, visit the meeting website at: arctichealth.oulu.fi/suomi/INCHR.html

What Topic?

The main objectives of the workshop/side event would be to provide researchers from the Canadian North/South (especially students/youth) a chance to share their experiences and understanding of climate change whether in their daily lives or through their research. We are focusing on climate change and health research; however, the goal is to ‘share experiences’ broadly related to the impacts people are facing everyday. The world will be your audience!

Why York University?

York University currently has observer status for COP 17 (Durban, South Africa – Nov 2011) and we would like to send a delegation of students from York and from across the Arctic. IRIS representatives have attended both COP15 (Copenhagen, Denmark) and COP16 (Cancun, Mexico). Delegates’ previous experiences and involvement have included: presentations at Klimaforum, COP Side Events and other academic seminars; published media and journal articles; and, the formation of international research partnerships.

What About the Cost?

Rachel Hirsch is preparing a proposal to send to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to request money to host a workshop as a side event at the COP 17 meeting. The main theme of the proposed workshop will be: “‘Our Actions Have Consequences’: Student Perspectives on Climate Change and Health from the North.”

Highlights…

We are very excited that, as part of our proposals to SSHRC and for a COP Side Event, we have been granted permission to include a screening of the film “Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change” co-directed by acclaimed Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk and Dr. Ian Mauro.

For more information about the film please see this link.

The Process

Our timeline for securing funding and then to submit a full side event application will be:

1. April 25: Deadline to send title/abstract (150 words) to Rachel Hirsch (rhirsch@yorku.ca) indicating interest in presenting at the proposed workshop/side event
2. May 2: Final deadline for application to SSHRC for workshop funding
3. August 16-19: Application window for COP 17 side-events

Thank you for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you.

Data Management and Local Knowledge: Building a Network to Support Community-Based Research and Monitoring

15-17 November 2011
Boulder, Colorado

The Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) is accepting abstracts for a three-day workshop entitled “Data Management and Local Knowledge: Building a Network to Support Community-Based Research and Monitoring.” The workshop will be held 15-17 November 2011 in Boulder, Colorado.

The purpose of the workshop is to bring together researchers, community members, organizations, and projects working on issues surrounding data management for both Local and Traditional Knowledge (LTK) and information from community-based research and monitoring. The workshop will include:

• Presentations from a diverse group of projects working on community-based research and monitoring, with emphasis on data management (challenges, issues, questions, systems, etc.);
• Group discussions of key topics on the theme of data management, local knowledge, and community-based research; and
• Discussions on continued development of an international network on data management and local knowledge through collaboration and partnership.

ELOKA is accepting abstracts from individuals, organizations, projects, and communities to present at the workshop. Organizers are interested in projects and initiatives that work with LTK and are addressing data management issues in some way–from asking questions about how to archive data and information for future generations, to fully operational data management systems. ELOKA is focused on the Arctic, but also interested in receiving abstracts from any region in order to exchange experiences and information.

All travel costs will be covered for a limited number of selected abstracts. All participants will be expected to give a 15-20 minute presentation on their work and be part of group discussion. If you are interested in attending the workshop, please send an abstract (no more than 500 words) about the relevant interest and/or work on data management for LTK or community-based research to Heidi McCann (heidi.mccann@nsidc.org).

Submission deadline: Friday, 1 April 2011.

For the complete call for abstracts, please go to: http://www.eloka-arctic.org/.

For questions, please contact:
Heidi McCann
Phone: 303-492-6069
Email: heidi.mccann@nsidc.org

19-21 July 2011, Mexico City

Deadline for Abstracts: 18 March 2011

An international workshop on Indigenous Peoples, Marginalized Populations and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation and Traditional Knowledge will be convened in Mexico City, Mexico (19-21 July 2011) by United Nations University (UNU), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in collaboration with the Mexican National Institute of Ecology (INE). A second workshop focusing on adaptation and mitigation will be held later in 2011 in Cairns, Australia. The aim of the workshops is to identify, compile and analyze relevant indigenous and local observations, knowledge and practices related to understanding climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation. The workshops will provide a key opportunity to ensure that experience, sources of information and knowledge (scientific, indigenous and local), along with data and literature (scientific and grey), focusing on vulnerable and marginalized regions of the world are made available to the authors of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report and the global community. Information on the second workshop will be provided at a later date.

Submissions will be accepted through the online submission form (http://www.unutki.org/abstract_submission.php) until 18 March 2011. For more information about the workshops please visit http://www.unutki.org/default.php?doc_id=187.

The conference will include talks by invited keynote speakers, oral presentations selected on the basis of submitted abstracts, poster presentations, and short oral presentations of selected posters. A panel discussion will develop messages to be communicated to the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting that will take place in Greenland one week after the conference.

The topics to be covered at the conference are:

• Climate Change and its Impacts on the Arctic Cryosphere
• Past, Present, and Future
• Pollution of the Arctic – Sources, Pathways, and Effects
• Global and Arctic Systems – Feedback Mechanisms
• Arctic Ecosystems – How Resilient Are They?
• Human Aspects of Climate Change and Pollution
• Science and Policymaking

Abstracts for proposed oral and poster presentations (maximum 750 words) should be forwarded to the conference organizers at: amap@amap.no. Submissions must be received by Saturday, 15 January 2011. Selection of oral and poster presentations will take place within one month and speakers and presenters will be informed of the outcome before 15 February 2011.

If you are interested in participating in the conference, please send an email to the AMAP Secretariat (amap@amap.no) for a preliminary, nonbinding registration. This will ensure that you receive further information about the conference as it becomes available.

Abstract submission deadline: Saturday, 15 January 2011.

For further information, please go to: http://www.amap.no/.

Or email: amap@amap.no

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was established pursuant to a settlement agreement arising from Canada’s largest ever class action lawsuit. The Commission is one part of the multi-part settlement agreement, relating to settling claims arising from the treatment of Aboriginal children in residential schools over approximately a century of Canadian history.

Part of the Commission’s mandate calls on the Commission to establish a National Research Centre that will exist after the Commission has completed its work. During the life of the Commission, the Parties to the settlement agreement are required to provide all relevant documents to the Commission. In addition, the Commission will be documenting the experiences of Survivors via audio and video recordings. These statements will also be housed in the National Research Center.

Although the Commission’s mandate will not be concluded until 2014, it is time to begin planning for the National Research Centre and this forum represents a significant effort on the part of the commission to hear from various experts around the world.

We believe that the establishment of such a National Research Centre in Canada will be an important and perhaps the most lasting legacy of the settlement agreement.

We have assembled a group of international experts on this topic that is perhaps unique in Canadian history and should be enriching for all, whether they are considering making an application to be chosen as part of the National Research Centre, or whether they wish to learn more about the work of the Commission or the various international experts who will be speaking at the National Research Centre conference.