Inuit Research Advisors

Phase 3 (2011-2014)

IRIS 1 (Western & Central Arctic)

The Western and Central Arctic IRIS focuses on the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and, for reasons of ecosystem continuity, extends into the SW sector of the Canadian Archipelago for the study of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Demographically, the ISR Land-Claim Region is home to about 3000 Inuvialuit distributed in six communities. Among all regions of the Canadian Arctic, climate warming has been most intense in the Western High Arctic with temperature increases of 2 to 3°C in the last 50 years. The relatively productive ecosystem of the Mackenzie River Delta contrasts with the low-diversity coastal plain and islands which belong to the Southern Arctic ecozone (rolling uplands and lowland plains; long cold winters and short cool summers; dwarf shrub decreasing in size northward; musk ox, wolf, arctic fox, grizzly and polar bear, and caribou (Furgal et al. 2003). Throughout the region, the silty clays and organic terrain are rich in massive ice and the unlithified coast is subject to intense erosion as ground ice melts and the protection afforded against waves by landfast sea ice declines. The coastal ISR borders the south-west Beaufort Sea, including the shallow Mackenzie Shelf which is strongly influenced by the Mackenzie River plume, and the deeper Amundsen Gulf that connects to the Canadian Archipelago. The Beaufort sea is home to the largest stock of beluga whales in the world, a large population of bowhead whales in summer, polar bears and ringed and bearded seals. Marine diversity is generally low and productivity is weak to moderate except in a few biological hotspots such as the Cape Bathurst polynya on the eastern margin of the Mackenzie Shelf. Marine ecosystems north of the Amundsen Gulf remain largely unexplored.

Navigation on the Mackenzie River system, hard minerals mining (e.g. around Kugluktuk) and exploration for oil in the Delta region dominate the industrial sector. Exploration for oil was extended offshore in 2007 and 2008 with the sale of concessions at the continental margin of the Beaufort Sea.

Leader: Gary Stern
Coordinator: Ashley Gaden

Projects and Project Leader(s):

Smit, Barry (University of Guelph)
Project 1.1 Adaptation in a Changing Arctic: Ecosystem Services, Communities and Policy (Community Adaptation). Contributes to all 4 IRISes.

Stern, Gary; Macdonald, Robie and Wang, Feiyue (University of Manitoba/Fisheries and Ocean Canada)
Project 1.2 Effects of Climate Change on Contaminant Cycling in the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems (Contaminants). Contributes to all 4 IRISes.

Lamoureux, Scott and Lafrenière, Melissa (Queen’s University)
Project 1.3 High Arctic hydrological, Landscape and Ecosystem Responses to Climate Change (Hydrology). Contributes to IRIS 2.

Wrona, Fred (University of Victoria)
Project 1.4 Hydro-Ecological Responses of Arctic Tundra Lakes to Climate Change and Landscape Perturbation (Tundra Lakes).

Hughes Clarke, John (University of New Brunswick)
Project 1.5 The Canadian Arctic Seabed: Navigation and Resource Mapping (Seabed Mapping). Contributes to all 4 IRISes.

Byers, Michael (University of British Columbia)
Project 1.6 The Law and Politics of Canadian Jurisdiction on Arctic Ocean Seabed (International Law). Contributes to IRIS 2.

Goodman, Karen (University of Alberta)
Project 1.7 Community-Driven Research on H. pylori Infection in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (H. pylori infection).

Fortier, Louis (Université Laval)
Project 1.8 The Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) ecosystem under the double pressure of climate change and industrialization (Arctic cod).

Babin, Marcel (Université Laval)
Project 1.9 Remote Sensing of Canada’s New Arctic Frontier.