By Canadian Press

Bergs to berries: $32 million Arctic research grant funds wide variety of work

Apr 18, 2019 | 11:04 AM

OTTAWA — Canada’s largest program of Arctic research will receive more than $32 million in funding over the next five years, the federal government announced Tuesday.

Louis Fortier, head of ArcticNet, said the money will be used to help understand the challenges faced by a rapidly changing North due to climate change and industrialization.

“It’s really science to inform decisions, to prepare people in the North and also the government in the south,” said Fortier. “It’s really applied research.”

ArcticNet, founded in 2004, brings 30 Canadian universities and dozens of scientists together with northerners, private industry and foreign research agencies. It funds work in the natural, health and social sciences.

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“We study the marine environment and the terrestrial ecosystems,” Fortier said. 

“We look at the health of the people and also their economy and society. You need to align those fields to get answers.”

He said ArcticNet researchers have worked on problems from changing berry harvests in northern Quebec to the risks of offshore oil drilling in the Beaufort Sea. Fortier counts more than 130 cases where ArcticNet research has influenced policy decisions.

He said the federal money will be at least tripled by resources that other groups bring to Arctic science.

The current grant is slightly lower than the previous one. That seven-year grant provided nearly $10 million per year.

Fortier said Tuesday’s announcement funds the group at about the same level it was when it began.

The Canadian Press