Thoughts on Education, the Training of Arctic Scientists and Arctic Research - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 325

wide range of different responsibilities in academia can recognize a need, see an opportun-
ity to bring it to fruition, translate that opportunity into a critical path and run with it.
My only disappointment is that it is not clear that the University of the Arctic has been
able to significantly meet the needs of Arctic indigenous peoples in Canada. Perhaps this
was too much to expect. As identified in the National Strategy on Inuit Education, Canada
needsauniversitylocatedintheArcticthatistrulydesignedtoservetheneedsoftheregion
anditsindigenouspeoples.Ithinksuchaninstitutionshouldhavemorethanonecampus.If
an institution of this nature could be established, its dimensions could be extended through
participation in the circumpolar University of the Arctic. However, Arctic Canadians may
have a long wait for any of these needs to be addressed. In the last few years, even Ca-
nadian funding for the University of the Arctic has become insecure and we still have no
Canadian university in the Arctic.
It must often be frustrating for Arctic peoples to constantly listen to expertise from the
South.Inthe 1980s,awell-intentioned groupofsouthern Canadians formed acommittee to
essentially function as an Arctic lobby group. The aim was to pressure the government in
Ottawa aboutArctic environmental protection inthefaceofeconomic development. Ithink
their efforts were generally appreciated in the North. However, when I was listening to a
presentation by one member of this committee in Inuvik, a respected Inuit leader turned to
me and whispered: “David, up here, we are thinking of setting up a committee to advise on
urban sprawl in the Toronto-Windsor corridor!”
To enable Arctic indigenous peoples to genuinely participate in debates concerning
the future of their homelands and the utilization of their renewable and nonrenewable re-
sources, they must have the same ease of access to higher education that is available else-
where.Onlythencantheyberelativelyfreefromthosesoutherners“whoknowbest”-par-
ticularly those who would like to turn the Arctic into a wildlife park and those who would
like the freedom of resource exploitation at any cost.
5. Producing and maintaining a research community to serve the Arctic . Historically,
universities described their function as being to educate and conduct research. More re-
cently, these two functions have been joined by or framed around addressing the needs of