The Living North

As an early-career scientist, Kayla has spent multiple summers working with researchers on all kinds of exciting projects, like caribou habitat use and muskox ecology. But, she also grew up in this landscape with her family. Join us as she shares her unique perspective on the Yukon North Slope.

In this episode, developing a management framework for muskox on Yukon's North Slope.

A podcast discussing the ways that the Wildlife Management Conservation Plan includes Traditional Knowledge to enhance important land use documents.

Online information is key for sharing information in today's world. Jen Parrot is one of the people using technologies like online mapping to document traditional knowledge. Parrot is the Spatial Project Coordinator for the Invialuit Regional Corporation. At the 2015 North Slope Conference, she talked about best practices for using online tools to document traditional knowledge. Here's her presentation.

As a lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law's Aboriginal and Natural Resources law team, Hannah Askew works on issues that affect land, resources, and wildlife management. Askew is a lawyer, but she also holds a Masters' degrees in history and in anthropology.

Evelyn Storr speaks about how youth contribute to the work of transmitting traditional knowledge

James Pokiak is a harvester from Tuktoyaktuk, and Brenda Parlee teaches and researches at the University of Alberta. These two have worked together closely to bring together traditional knowledge (TK) and western scientific method of understanding the environment when it comes to wildlife management across the North.

Bob Delury was the chief negotiator for the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the document that laid the legal foundation for Inuvialuit rights, preservation of Inuvialuit culture and use of arctic ecosystems. In this podcast, he discusses his work, the North Slope, and the importance of preserving this very special place.

For too long, Inuvialuit Traditional Knowledge has not been included in scientific research about polar bears in the North. Traditional knowledge holders across the Inuvialuit Settlement  Region took part in changing that with a groundbreaking report. In this episode of The Living North, traditional knowledge holders and scientists talk about what the report brings to understanding Northern polar bear populations. Photo: Flickr/Creative Commons Rubyblossom

This episode, we're talking TK: traditional knowledge, that is. Peter Armitage is an Anthropologist based in St. John's, Newfoundland. He has worked with the Innu Nation in Labrador for more than 30 years. In this lecture he shares his thoughts on how to bring together science and traditional knowledge for the benefit of all.

Dr. Chris Burn has spent 30 years working in the North, conducting scientific investigations into permafrost, and developing relationships with Inuvialuit people who travel and harvest on the Yukon North Slope. . At the 2012 Yukon North Slope Conference, he gave a talk about science, wisdom, and traditional knowledge. He also spoke about something else: mistakes.

The rich biodiversity of the North Slope attracts scientific researchers every year. Incorporating traditional knowledge into scientific data collected in the North has become essential to working in the region. In this podcast, we'll hear two voices speak about how aboriginal perspectives contribute to all aspects of scientific data collection. Scientists are now expected to work with aboriginal communities in building their research program - from project planning, through data collection, interpretation and reporting. In this podcast, two aboriginal perspectives on how traditional knowledge can contribute to scientific data collection.  

Managing natural resources in the North effectively means that many voices need to be at the table when decisions are made. Gregor Gilbert is the resource management coordinator for the Makivik Corporation and has been part of the co-management process in Northern Quebec. In this podcast he shares his thoughts on how it can work best.

Over the last 35 years, Aboriginal land claims have had great influence on the way peopel and industry use Northern landscapes. In this podcast, we'll hear from Nigel Bankes. He's a professor of law at the University of Calgary with a specialty in Aboriginal Law. 

Many Inupiak in Alaska depend on subsistence hunting to feed their families.  Taqulik Hepa believes that the benefits of hunting for subsitence go far beyond simply providing food. She says that subsistence hunting teaches valuable social lessons as well. Hepa is the Director for the Deparment of Wildlife Management for the North Slope Borough. She spoke to The Living North at the 2012 North Slope Conference in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Northern Labrador is home to Nunatsiavut, Canada's newest land claim, and the first land claim to incorporate self government. Co-management is a cornerstone of wildlife and natural resource management in this part of Canada. In this podcast, Aaron Dale talks about Nunatsiavut's developing co-management strategies.

Often land that has great value for traditional uses such as subsistence hunting is also land that has great potential for resource development. Pete Ewins, Senior Officer of Species Conservation for World Wildlife Fund Canada, talks about how "balanced development can be achieved in Canada's North.

Ernest Pokiak's father, Bertram Pokiak, was one of the influential Inuvialuit voices that worked to negotiate the Inuvialuit Final Agreement (IFA). Ernest's life has been framed by that agreement, which lays out the structures that govern wildlife management planning on Yukon's North Slope. He was there while his father worked to create it, he saw it signed, and he now serves as a member of the Wildlife Management Advisory council North Slope. In this podcast he talks about the years leading up to the IFA, and what it means for WMAC(NS) now.

The co-management model of wildlife management planning is in use across Canada's North. In this podcast the chair of the Wildlife Management Advisory Council (North Slope). Lindsay Staples, shares the history of how Aboriginal groups, government, and Parks Canada arrived at a cooperative model for managing wildlife in the North.

In this podcast, respected hunter Randal Pokiak talks about the challenges harvesters face in participating in wildlife decision-making processes in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.

When he was a boy, Danny C. Gordon walked with his family from Kaktovik, Alaska to Aklavik, Northwest Territories. He's been hunting and fishing in the area ever since. In this interview, recorded at an old table in a shelter on Herschel Island, Danny C. Gordon talks about what Herschel Island means for him and for the people who grew up living on the land on the Yukon's North Slope.

Polar scientist Dr. Christopher Burn explains the importance of permafrost to understanding the Herschel Island's geological history, and our understanding of climate change. As climate change loosens permafrost's hold on Herschel Island, the place still has an important role to play in human history along Yukon's north slope, and the entire northwest passage.

Northern peoples have been traveling and hunting in the Herschel Island area for thousands of years, and continue to do so. These days, Richard Gordon is the head park ranger for Herschel Island Territorial Park. Hear him talk about the magic of Herschel and play his song Kikkitaruq (Our Island) in this podcast from the Wildlife Management Advisory Council (North Slope).