Heather Exner-Pirot

The Canadian North: issues and challenges

assimilationist policies, there have been very few people qualified to receive these stories, much less interpret them. Similarly, before the opening of Russian and Soviet archives in the nineties, many of the historical records of the Russian American company and other Russian enterprises in Alaska were sealed to the West. These Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature far exceed the average anthology of narratives; they are more like expansive art exhibits, with contrasting images side by side, with clear glosses, and fine introductions to the writers/speakers. The overall organization of the book is like following the development of an idea through a museum or gallery. You can take a survey of the overall book or you can delve deeply into a single narrative with equal success. If there are two women I have always wanted to meet, they would be Lydia T. Black and Nora Marks Dauenhauer, whose work in collecting and collating and interpreting Alaska history is substantial. Black’s work on Russian American history and Dauenhauer’s work with her husband Richard in Tlingit culture and history are monumental works. Sadly, Lydia T. Black died during the final production of this volume and I will never have that opportunity in this life, but maybe one day, I will shake Nora’s hand and thank her for making her culture known and knowable and part of the larger human presence in the world.

What is the Arctic a case of? The Arctic as a regional environmental security complex and the implications for policy

This article examines the Arctic as an international region, outlining the ways in which it is similar to other international regions and ways that it is unique. The article argues that the Arctic, fundamentally, is a regional security complex built around interdependence on environmental and ocean issues, and that this has consequences for the kinds of issues it should address and the regional public goods it can provide.

Defence diplomacy in the Arctic: the search and rescue agreement as a confidence builder

In May 2011, the members of the Arctic Council, the pre-eminent inter-governmental forum for circumpolar affairs, concluded the first legally binding agreement in its 15-year history. The Agreement on Search and Rescue (SAR) cooperation in the Arctic, while not a particularly influential document in its own right, offers the circumpolar states an excellent opportunity to pursue defense diplomacy in the region: the peacetime cooperative use of armed forces and related infrastructure as a tool of security and foreign policy. This paper will discuss the current status of military cooperation in the Arctic and outline the prospects for defense diplomacy as a means to reduce tension and enhance geopolitical stability in the region, particularly in the context of the new search and rescue agreement.

Canada's Arctic Council chairmanship (2013–2015): a post-mortem

Abstract On 15 May 2013, Canada assumed the two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum established in 1996 that addresses common issues faced by Arctic states and indigenous peoples in the areas of environmental protection and sustainable development. The Canadian chairmanship disappointed many. By Arctic Council standards, it was controversial, in particular as regarded its focus on development, its hard line with Russia, and its difficult style of management under Minister for the Arctic Council Leona Aglukkaq. Based on its activity and outcomes, however, the Canadian chairmanship can be described as a success. Its achievements include the establishment of an Arctic Economic Council; the conclusion of framework action plans on reducing black carbon and methane emissions and preventing marine oil pollution; and many other projects, reports and institutional improvements led by the six Working Groups, three Task Forces and Permanent Secretariat. In outlining the 2013–2015 Canadian Arctic Councils defining events and outcomes, and documenting the perceptions held by relevant observers and stakeholders, this article concludes that while the Canadian agenda had merit, and the Arctic Council itself achieved a number of important outcomes, the Canadian chairmanship provoked deserved criticism and undermined Canadas reputation in the region.

Conceptualizing the Role of a Strategist for Outreach and Indigenous Engagement to Lead Recruitment and Retention of Indigenous Students

A number of universities have introduced Indigenous student-specific programming to improve recruitment. These programs target the needs of Indigenous students and often impart a sense of comfort or belonging that may be more difficult to obtain in a mainstream program. The University of Saskatchewan, College of Nursing, implemented a Learn Where You Live delivery model that challenged the university community to think differently about outreach and engagement. This is best described by redefining distance such that student services and supports would no longer be localized to a main campus but redesigned for distribution across the province. Sustaining this model meant the College leadership had to find new ways to support faculty to engage in teaching and learning opportunities that would be context relevant and aid student recruitment and retention. The new position of Strategist for Outreach and Indigenous Engagement was created to lead opportunities for faculty and staff to gain knowledge and expertise in policy development, negotiation and implementation for success in the distributed delivery model. The framework of Two-Eyed Seeing was adapted to guide the introduction and ongoing implementation (Bartlett et al. 2012).

The Arctic as a Region of Innovation

Innovation and entrepreneurship are prominent buzzwords in the modern lexicon, reflective of the knowledge economy in which we now dwell. While the possibilities in a world of big data, robotics, and the Internet of everything seem endless, they do indeed have limits. Cities, it has become routine to point out, are the harbingers of innovation and attract creative people who develop and apply the new technologies our economy now depends upon. But where does that leave those in rural, remote, and off-grid communities? Can regions such as the Arctic be places where new technologies are more readily adapted or even developed?

Front-line service providers’ appraisal of Saskatchewan’s HIV services and strategy: A qualitative study

ABSTRACT This qualitative study examined front-line health care providers’ understandings of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health’s 2010–2014 HIV strategy, their capacity building needs, and perspectives on how well they were implementing HIV services. Providers’ experiences of engaging people living with HIV, community leaders, and communities affected by the epidemic reveal a need to strengthen interprofessional networks. Our findings also indicate the need for HIV services to respond to coexisting challenges, including substance use, violence, and mental health care for people living with HIV. Programs in rural northern Saskatchewan should also address homelessness, disparities in access to care, and HIV stigma issues.

Under the Same Sky: Connecting Students and Cultures through Circumpolar Nursing Education

The recruitment and retention of health professionals in rural, remote, and northern regions is an ongoing challenge. The Northern Nursing Education Network brought together nursing students working in rural and remote regions of the circumpolar north in Innovative Learning Institute on Circumpolar Health (ILICH) events to create opportunities for shared learning and expose both students and faculty to local and traditional knowledge that informs health behaviors specific to regions with Indigenous populations. Using participant experience data extracted from program discussions, evaluations, and reflective notes conducted after ILICH events held in 2015–2017, this paper explores how these two-week institutes can contribute to knowledge that is locally relevant yet transferable to rural areas across the circumpolar north. The findings clustered around experiences related to (1) Language as a barrier and an enabler; (2) shared values and traditions across borders; (3) differences and similarities in nursing practice; (4) new perspectives in nursing; and (5) building sustainable partnerships. Students learned more about their own culture as well as others by exploring the importance of language, cultures, and health inequity on different continents. Shared values and traditional knowledge impacted student perspectives of social determinants of health that are highly relevant for nurses working in the circumpolar north.

Friend or faux? Trudeau, Indigenous issues and Canada’s brand

ABSTRACT Canada and Canadians often consider themselves to be a force for good in the world. Does that self-perception hold true with Indigenous issues? This article evaluates Canada’s brand with respect to international Indigenous issues historically, as well as contemporarily under the leadership of the Trudeau government, with a focus on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Arctic Council. Canada’s record is shown to be mixed, with a history of diminishment of Indigenous rights on the world stage, paired with real leadership and commitment to partnership in regional Arctic governance. However, there is little evidence that Canada’s treatment of its Indigenous peoples, which has risen as a key domestic policy issue in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has affected its international brand. More concretely, domestic angst and discomfiture with regards to Canada’s relationship with its Indigenous peoples could lead to a downplaying of Canada’s reputational strengths of diversity and tolerance.