Monday, 14 May 2012 10:34 Written by Mia Bennett

Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent makes its way through the ice in Baffin Bay, Canada. Photo:Jonathan Hayward, The Canadian Press

The Royal Canadian Navy's plans to acquire six to eight ice-capable Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) are facing yet another obstacle. On Tuesday in the Canadian House of Commons, the 2012-13 Reports on Plans and Priorities were tabled.

The reports sum up the expected revenue, expenditures, and projects of each government agency and department in Canada. National Defence's plans and priorities show that the AOPS will be delayed another three years, with delivery now scheduled for 2018.

The first ship will not be operational until 2019, and that full operational capability of all of the ships will not be reached until 2023. The Treasury Board gave preliminary approval to the project in May 2007, so by the time the project is finally completed, over fifteen years will have elapsed.

Friday, 11 May 2012 11:44 Written by Eilís Quinn

Thousands of containers of contaminated soil and other waste sit at an old Distant Early Warning System site at Cape Dyer, Nunavut, awaiting transport south in July, 2011. DEW line sites are some of the 142 contaminated sites that required clean up across Canada according to the most recent data. (Dave Eagles/DND/Canadian Press)

A round-up of stories that made headlines across the North this week.

Canada

Dozens of contaminated sites need to be cleaned up in Canada and among the biggest problems, abandoned mines in the country's North.

Finland

A controversial decision will allow a gold mine in west Finland to discharge its waste water.

Norway

Sweden's Accident Investigation Authority releases a report on the Norwegian plane crash in Sweden's Arctic earlier this year. 

Russia

Vladimir Putin was sworn in as president this week and there's already indications the Arctic is among his priorities.

Sweden

News that pharmacies in remote regions could be shut down has many worried in the North.

United States (Alaska)

Health was in the news in Alaska this week, with an announcement that health care in rural Alaska would be provided for veterans. Elsewhere, a wave of suicides in remote Alaskan villages has many wondering how to improve mental health services for residents in these communities.

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

Monday, 07 May 2012 11:03 Written by Mia Bennett

View of the Norvegian fjord Kongsfjord outside the scientist base of Ny-Alesund, one of Svalbard's permanent settlements, on June 5, 2010. AFP PHOTO / MARTIN BUREAU

Lloyd's of London, the British insurance company, and Chatham House, a London-based think tank, have released a report together entitled, "Arctic Opening: Opportunity and Risk in the High North." The report states that four key industries will be the "biggest drivers and beneficiaries of Arctic economic development." They are: mineral resources (oil, gas, and mining), fisheries, logistics (including shipping), and Arctic tourism.

Thus, governments and corporations are much more likely to profit from growth than the people and wildlife living in the circumpolar region.

Friday, 04 May 2012 15:08 Written by Eilís Quinn

Greenland glacier. AFP PHOTO: SLIM ALLAGUI

A round-up of stories that made headlines across the North this week.

Canada

Activists for women's rights claimed a major victory for aboriginal woman this week. A United Nations committee ruled against the government of Canada's Northwest Territories after the territorial housing corporation let an aboriginal woman's non-aboriginal, abusive husband have the family home in the community of Behchoko, Northwest Territories.

Finland

The Talvivaara mine in east Finland dominated headlines throughout the week. The mine produces nickel and cobalt and has plans to begin producing uranium. Some locals and environmentalists accuse the mine of polluting areas around their operations.

Greenland

A study of Greenland's glaciers suggests they may not contribute as much to projected catastrophic sea levels as previously thought. Meanwhile, Inuit hunters travel to Copenhagen to protest  a department store's decision to stop selling seal products.

Norway

Norway's long-awaited climate paper is released.

Russia

Talks advance between Russia's two biggest oil companies over drilling in the Barents Sea.

Sweden

The Finnish icebreaker Nordica has been brought to Sweden after Greenpeace activists boarded the vessel to protest Arctic drilling near Alaska.

United States (Alaska)

A study by US Geological Survey shows polar bears and their cubs swim further and longer than was previously thought, suggesting the animal may be less prone to drowning than is sometimes portrayed in the media.

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

Thursday, 03 May 2012 16:39 Written by Eilís Quinn

Parr (1893-1969) m. Printmaker: Lukta Qiatsuq (1928-2004) m., Cape Dorset , Men Pulling a Walrus, 1964 #60, stonecut, 41/50, 12.75 x 23 in, 32.3 x 58.4 cm sight, 21 x 31 in, 53.3 x 78.7 cm framed Est. $2,500/3,500 Image: Walkers Auctions

Walker's Auctions, one of Canada's major auction houses, is hosting an Inuit and First Nation auction tonight.

The auction catalogue says some of the works are from the personal collection of William Larmour, who once worked for Canada's then-named Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources in the 1950s.

The works going on the auction block are from all over the Canadian Arctic including well known art hubs like Cape Dorset and Baker Lake in Nunavut and communities in Nunavik, the predominantly Inuit region in northern Quebec.

Monday, 30 April 2012 10:29 Written by Mia Bennett

Defence Minister Peter McKay and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk lead a parade of Canadian Rangers and regular-force soldiers up the runway of this remote military post on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island at the close of Operation Nunalivut, the latest military mission intended to reinforce Canada's control of the North. The operation included the participation of a Danish military sled dog team, the first time foreign personnel have taken part in such an operation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bob Weber

The Canadian Forces have just commenced one of their annual sovereignty exercises in the Arctic, called Operation Nunalivut.

One-hundred fifty Canadian Forces personnel from the Navy, Air Force, Army, and Canadian Rangers are participating. This year, the exercises are taking place around Cornwallis Island and on the western portion of Devon Island in Nunavut.

Sovereignty and search and rescue (SAR) training compose a large portion of the operations this year. Royal Canadian Navy divers dove under six feet of ice in Gascoyne Bay to simulate a medical rescue.

Two Royal Canadian Air Force CC-138 Twin Otters also performed ski-landings to resupply a temporary camp in Viks Fiord.

Friday, 27 April 2012 17:21 Written by Eilís Quinn

Ice Fjord of Ilulissat in Greenland. AFP PHOTO/ SLIM ALLAGUI

The 2012 International Polar Year Conference wound up today in Montreal, Canada.

Some 2,000 scientists were in town for the week-long event.

Panels and discussion forums touched on every region of the Arctic and Antarctic and covered themes ranging from science and housing to shipping and indigenous knowledge.

Here's a round up of some of our top stories from the event:

• Feature Interview: Canada hosts international Polar conference, The Link, Radio Canada International

• Arctic Ocean may open to regular shipping by 2017, Max Paris, CBC News

• A man in a 'banged-up Subaru' puts up $1 million for an Arctic Inspiration Prize, Levon Sevunts, Radio Canada International

• Canada's federal scientists closely monitored during polar conference, CBC News

• Polar experts call for robust regulation of Arctic shipping, Levon Sevunts, Radio Canada  International

• Researchers must be honest with Arctic peoples about food contaminants: doctor, Eilís Quinn, Radio Canada International

Write to Eilís Quinn (at) eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

Friday, 27 April 2012 17:07 Written by Eilís Quinn

Closing ceremony at 2012 International Polar Year conference. Photo: Eilís Quinn, Radio Canada International.

The 2012 International Polar Year Conference has drawn to a close. An extimated 2000 scientists from around the world attended the week-long meeting to discuss all things Arctic and Antarctic-related. The closing ceremony was hosted by Peter Harrison, Chair of the 2012 IPY Conference.

 Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Chair of the Indigenous Knowledge Exchange part of the conference, got some of the biggest applause of the day with her closing comments:

'The most important resoure of the Arctic is our people. We the people have to matter. ... After the researchers are all gone, we'll still be there. We want to be more important to researchers, to our countries and to the world than just the polar bear and the seal."

Related Link:

2012 International Polar Year

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

 

Friday, 27 April 2012 17:05 Written by Eilís Quinn

Greenland doctor Henning Sloth Pederson at Pleneary Panel: Communities and Health at the 2012 International Polar Year Conference. Pedersen was present at a number of sessions during the 2012 International Polar Year Conference discussing health and wellness in Greenland. Photo: Eilís Quinn, Radio Canada International.

Earlier today I was at the Human and Environmental Well-Being session at the 2012 International Polar Year conference.

Henning Pedersen, chief medical officer at the Queen Ingrid's Hospital in Greenland's capital, Nuuk gave a talk on the amount of contaminants found in traditional foods like seal and blubber.

He says levels of certain comtaminants are so high, he's been recommending that Greenlanders avoid these foods, especially for those in their childbearing years.

His talk sparked an animated question period afterwards.

Thursday, 26 April 2012 18:23 Written by Eilís Quinn

Dr. Suzanne Stewart, a Professor of Aboriginal Healing in Counseling Psychology, University of Toronto, addressing the 2012 International Polar Year plenary panel on Communities and Health. Photo: Eilís Quinn, Radio Canada International.

Dr. Suzanne Stewart, a Professor of Aboriginal Healing in Counseling Psychology, University of Toronto, and a member of Canada'sYellowknives Dene First Nation in the Northwest Territories, addressed the Plenary Panel: Communities and Health session at the 2012 International Polar Year conference in Montreal today. 

Her discussion of the ways that the southern-based mental health care system doesn't always well serve Canada's First Nations communities seemed to resinate with a lot of people in the room who nodded their heads in agreement as she spoke.