Transcript: Community Relocations in a Changing Climate– Lessons from Tuktoyaktuk
[00:00:00 Video opens with animated CSPS logo.]
[00:00:06 Robert McLeman appears full screen. Text on screen: Canada.ca/School; Robert McLeman, Wilfred Laurier University. / Canada.ca/Ecole; Université Wilfred-Laurier.]
Robert McLeman: Hello everyone, and welcome. My name's Robert McLeman. Our event today is called Community Relocations in a Changing Climate: Lessons from Tuktuyaaqtuuq. It's the third event in a four-part series called Climate Change and Human Migration. I'm a professor in environmental studies at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo. I'm a co-creator of this series, and I will be your moderator today.
[00:00:38 Overlaid text on screen: Canada.ca/School; Community Relocations in a Changing Climate-Lessons from Tuktoyaktuk; Climate Change and Human Migration Series. / Canada.ca/Ecole; Ce que nous apprend Tuktoyaktuk sur le déplacement de collectivités causé par le changement climatique; Série sur le changement climatique et les migrations humaines.]
Robert McLeman: I would like to start with a land acknowledgement, that I'm joining you today from the shared territory of the neutral Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Peoples. This land is part of The Dish With One Spoon Treaty that was signed between the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabe peoples, and symbolizes the agreement to share, protect our resources and not to engage in conflict. From the Haldimand Proclamation of October 25th, 1784, this territory is described as being six miles deep from each side of the Grand River, beginning at Lake Erie and extending in proportion to the head of said river, which them and their posterity are free to enjoy forever.
The proclamation was signed by the British with their allies, the Six Nations, after the American Revolution. And despite being today the largest reserve demographically in Canada, those nations now reside on less than 5% of this original territory. Some of you today may be joining from other parts of the country, and I encourage you now to take a moment to recognize and acknowledge the territory that you occupy.
Now for today's event, we will hear short presentations from four speakers with expertise on how climate change is impacting the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq in the Northwest Territories. We will then have a panel discussion to dive deeper into some of the challenges and opportunities for the Tuktuyaaqtuuq community and for governments working in this area. I'm very pleased now to describe to you and introduce our speakers for today.
Our first speaker will be Deva Pokiak, who is a community liaison officer in Tuktuyaaqtuuq. She is part of the Nuna Project for which she works with a diverse team to study climate change and make more accurate predictions of future erosion rates in the North. In her role, Deva acts as a bridge between traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge to help corroborate and identify land changes and collect data. She is also a hunter, a trapper, and a harvester using skills that she learned from her father. She has been involved in community-based monitoring since 2018.
Our second speaker will be Dustin Whalen, who is a physical scientist at Natural Resources Canada in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He has participated in over 50 field expeditions to the Western Canadian Arctic to study coastal dynamics in a changing climate. His research is focused on the impacts of coastal erosion as it affects Inuit people, communities, marine ecosystems, and industrial development.
Our third speaker today will be Morgen Bertheussen, who is a PhD student working for the Canada Research Chair in Housing Community and Health at McGill University. Her interests broadly revolve around the social and environmental determinants of health in different cultural contexts. During her master's degree, she focused on integrating Indigenous conceptualizations of health and wellbeing in Western quantitative research. Her doctoral research integrates the impacts of climate change on community health and wellbeing to identify protective factors that can be integrated into adaptation planning.
Our fourth speaker will be Dr. Kearney Coupland, who is a visiting assistant professor of environmental studies at St. Lawrence University. Her research interests are informed by her training as a landscape architect and explore how people experience and adapt to changing environments, in response to climate change. She studies the social dimensions of climate mobility, including displacement and relocation, to slow and sudden onset events in the Caribbean and the Arctic. She's currently working with the hamlet of Tuktuyaaqtuuq on developing a relocation planning strategy.
Today, as I said, is the third of a four-part series in which we explore how climate change is affecting communities in Canada and abroad, with particular attention to how it influences, or may influence in the future, migration and displacement patterns. That's enough from me. Now, I would like to invite our first presenter, Deva Pokiak, to provide some thoughts on these issues from her perspective. Deva?
[00:05:00 Deva Pokiak appears full screen. Screen splits to show Deva, and a map of Northern Canada with the Inuvialuit Settlement Region outlined.]
Deva Pokiak: Hello everyone. I am in my home community and it's located within the ISR, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, within the Northwest Territories in a community called Tuktuyaaqtuuq. I feel like it's important to know where you feel grounded and belong, which is why it is so important to take care of the environment.
[00:05:29 Deva Pokiak appears full screen. Overlaid text on screen: Deva-Lynn Pokiak, Tuktoyaktuk Community Liaison Officer. / Tuktoyaktuk Agente de liaison avec la communauté.]
Deva Pokiak: I have a 2-year-old daughter whom I plan to pass on my knowledge of both traditional and cultural practices, along with new knowledge I'm gaining through working with the Nuna Project. I love working in the field and meeting new people.
My Tuktuyaaqtuuq community is a small community located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, east of the McKenzie River in the Northwest Territories, Canada, with a population of about a thousand people. In 2017, we've got connected to the rest of the world from coast to coast to coast. And I'd like to say that my community is a friendly community where everyone knows just about everyone, and people like to practice their cultural ways and continue seasonal hunting and harvesting, passing on traditional cultural knowledge to their families, children, and to whomever is interested and keen in learning, this is what I was taught.
[00:06:38 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: That's wonderful, Deva. Thank you so much for that introduction, and we're going to circle back to you in a few minutes to ask you a few more questions about the type of research you're doing, and the things that we are learning with the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq. So, thank you very much. Dustin, could I pass the microphone along to you, please?
[00:06:56 Dustin Whalen appears full screen. Overlaid text on screen: Dustin Whalen; Natural Resources Canada. / Ressources naturelles Canada.]
Dustin Whalen: Sure. Hi everyone. I'm Dustin Whalen. I'm a physical scientist with Natural Resources Canada. I'm honoured to work alongside Deva and others in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, but I actually call my home here in Nova Scotia on the East Coast, on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Mi'kmaq people.
My job with Natural Resources Canada, as Robert explained, is to really understand what's happening with climate change in the Canadian Arctic along the coastline. That's the job description as it was given to me almost 20 years ago. But I quickly learned that in order to understand what is truly happening, you need to understand the people that live there, and what they're going through as well. And that information combined with the science, I think, gives us the best picture looking forward.
A priority of the Government of Canada Research Plan, it has many different aspects, but it's really based around informing Canadians. Informing Canadians on what's happening in the North along the coast, whether you live there, or you don't. The information that we can provide as federal scientists helps to inform not just territorial, provincial, or national policy, but international policy as well.
So, our job is to provide that scientific context into some of these Pan-Arctic models, and decisions that are being made at the international scale. It's important for us to continue our research toward community-based monitoring, and monitoring of different aspects of change. And for me, that's erosion. And this is so important, as it allows us to connect the dots between the science, the Inuvialuit, or the Indigenous perspective, and the policy. Like I said before, the research that I do really isn't– we don't work in a bubble. We rely on others and everyone around us to contribute to this. The co-development of this research plan is so important and really, it's the basis for the work that I've been doing.
Nowhere else in Canada do we see changes like we see in the Western Arctic. Dramatic loss of sea ice; increased air temperatures; increased storminess in the region have really led to quite drastic changes on the coast. There's an island, Pelly Island, which you could say is one of the most eroded islands in the world, is eroding at 40 metres a year. Imagine 40 metres. Imagine an entire basketball high school gym eroding every year. Now imagine that that gym is 2, 3, 4 stories high and is disappearing every year. And lastly, imagine that happens in less than four months during the open water season.
So, as we look along the coast, we see this type of change all over the coast. Then we get to the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq where people live. Where people rely on the community for their everyday life, and this is where they've lived for hundreds of years. But this community is also faced with accelerated change.
[00:10:25 Split screen: Dustin Whalen, and two aerial images of Tuktuyaaqtuuq, one showing an extensively eroded shoreline.]
Dustin Whalen: Increased erosion; sea level rise; storm surges. It has a dramatic effect on the community's ability, really. So, within its current configuration and position, Tuktuyaaqtuuq is faced with challenges of what to do in the future for adaptation. And it is my job to work with the community, work with the stakeholders,
[00:10:55 Dustin Whalen appears full screen.]
Dustin Whalen: and work with the people who are also doing research and have interest in this community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq to make sure that we provide the utmost current information for future adaptation.
[00:11:13 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: Thank you, Dustin. That's a wonderful introduction and I think it really sets the stage for just how serious the risks are, that communities in the Western Arctic face, particularly Tuktuyaaqtuuq and the surrounding region. And we will come back to you for more details on what we're learning and what we can do about it in the future. So, thank you very much for that.
Morgen, I'm going to turn to you. Could you please give us an overview about yourself and what you're doing, please?
[00:11:37 Morgen Bertheussen appears full screen. Overlaid text on screen: Morgen Bertheussen; Community and Health, McGill University. / Communauté et santé, Université McGill.]
Morgen Bertheussen: Yes. Thank you, Robert. Thank you everybody. Thank you everyone for taking the time today. I am very grateful for this opportunity to be part of this series alongside my colleagues here today. As Robert mentioned in the introduction, I am a PhD student working under the supervision of Dr. Mylene Riva in the Department of Geography at McGill University which is located on the unceded territory of the Kanien'kéha Nation, who are recognized as the custodians of Tiohtià:ke, commonly known as Montreal. So, I was invited to work on the Nuna Project as a social scientist interested in seeing how different types of knowledges can work together in answering a specific goal. And so, in this case, the goal I'm referring to is adapting to climate change.
And so, as Robert and Dustin and Deva now briefly talked about, my colleagues here and I are all part of the Nuna Project, which was developed out of community concerns and questions that relate to air quality; erosion; permafrost thaw; waterway narrowing; and the socio-economic and cultural impacts of climate change on the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq. Being part of this large multifaceted project, I get to listen and learn from traditional and local knowledge holders; from physical scientists; and from social scientists.
As you all know, we have some colleagues, such as Deva, who are in Tuk, and others on the East coast of Canada and all the way to the United Kingdom that bring together different perspectives and expertise when it comes to studying and understanding climate change. And we all know that climate change doesn't only impact the physical landscape, but also the peoples' whose lives depend on it.
When brought together, these three different types of knowledge that I refer to, traditional knowledge, physical science, and social science, they can provide a complete picture and a more holistic understanding of what's happening in Tuk and inform the best ways to move forward. And I'm not saying that the Nuna Project is doing this perfectly, but that's something that we're striving towards doing as we work together.
To tell you a bit more about my role as a social scientist part of the Nuna Project, my work doesn't involve going to Pelly Island, and measuring erosion rates, but I get to work in the community, and I have the opportunity to talk with community members through interviews and other research activities whose goals are to identify priorities and concerns when it comes to climate change and adaptation. And so, without diving into too many details about the interviews and these activities, I'd like to spend the last few minutes of my introduction sharing with you one of the outcomes from the activity done with the youth last spring.
This activity involved taking pictures in the community and discussing what was important to them. And at the end, they all wrote a message that they wanted to share with the world, which I will pass on here, as well. The youth of Tuktuyaaqtuuq wrote:
[00:15:37 Split screen: Morgen Bertheussen, four photos of Tuktuyaaqtuuq, and the children's message, as described. / 00:16:00 FRENCH text, as described.]
Morgen Bertheussen: "We want more people to care about what is happening to our traditional land and how climate change is affecting our people's mental health. The land allows us to pass down our traditional knowledge to help the next generation teach their kids and grandkids to grow up like we did. We need more people to help us protect the land so that we don't lose Tuk."
So, this message is just one example of how working with and listening to what different community members have to say about climate change and how it's impacting their lives, and doing this is the very first step in adaptation planning,
[00:16:20 Morgen Bertheussen appears full screen.]
Morgen Bertheussen: whether this means adapting in place or having to relocate which is a little more about what Kearney will share with you all shortly. So, that was it for me. Thank you.
[00:16:32 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: Thank you so much, Morgen. Thank you very much for that contribution, and I really enjoy the fact that you're trying to frame what you're learning in the context of wellbeing in a very broad sense. And so we're going to circle back and ask for more input from you about what you're learning. So, thank you very much. Kearney, if we could pass it to you, please.
[00:16:52 Kearney Coupland appears full screen. Overlaid text on screen: Kearney Coupland, St. Lawrence University. / Université St. Lawrence.]
Kearney Coupland: Hi everybody. Thank you for the invitation to speak on this panel. My name is Kearney Coupland, and I'm an assistant professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where I teach environmental psychology and design, and courses on climate change adaptation. The university and my home are located on the unceded traditional territory and home of the Haudenosaunee peoples, specifically those of the Ahkwesahsne Mohawk.
As Robert mentioned, since 2022, I've been working with the hamlet of Tuktuyaaqtuuq to develop a planning strategy for relocation. Tuk has a long history of adapting to environmental change, particularly to erosion; flooding; storms; sea level rise. However, it's becoming obvious, both by observations on the land and Western science projections, that while adaptation in place can protect Tuk in the short term, plans are needed to relocate the community in the long term. And the long term means within the next 25 years. Which, in fact, is not that long at all.
The decision to relocate is a difficult adaptation to accept, particularly because of the cultural and traditional ties to the land that Morgen and Deva and Dustin have spoken about. This is compounded by lack of existing protocols to guide the movement of a community this size as a result of climate change. While there are some discussions of community relocation happening across Canada, there is no federal plan to address relocation as an adaptation. In fact, the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund explicitly states that it does not fund community relocation. The 2022 task force on flood insurance and relocation report did briefly address relocation, but most of the focus was on insurance. Newfoundland and Labrador perhaps have the most comprehensive approach to community relocation, although the focus is more economically motivated, than climate induced. Finally, some municipalities in Canada are taking ad hoc approaches to begin including managed retreat or community relocation into their climate change adaptation planning.
While there is no Canadian precedent, the Newtok, Alaska, phased approach to village relocation has been an incredible and useful tool in understanding the process of relocation. Tuktuyaaqtuuq is in the preliminary stages of relocation planning. This includes developing a relocation planning coordinator position, a relocation planning committee, and at the territory level, establishing support from municipal and community affairs. Though there are key differences between Newtok's relocation and Tuk's future relocation, there are important similarities that could provide critical insight into Tuktuyaaqtuuq's planning, particularly when it comes to protecting cultural and traditional livelihoods and attachments to the land. Recognizing the importance of knowledge sharing across these communities and addressing the challenges and opportunities of relocation, funding has been secured for the Tuk Relocation Planning Committee to travel to Alaska in 2025 to promote cross community discussions with different stakeholders and to provide an opportunity to see the impacts of relocation in person.
As part of these early stages, it's important to find out if people are willing to relocate, when they would be willing to relocate, and to identify concerns about relocation in order to communicate effectively and to co-develop ways to proactively address concerns with the design of the new community.
As Morgen mentioned, as part of the Nuna Project, we conducted interviews with residents of Tuktuyaaqtuuq, asking people to comment on their willingness to move; what would prompt them to move; and what they would prioritize in the development of a new community. For the most part, within this small sample, people were open to relocation, but only as a last resort, particularly if certain environmental thresholds were crossed. We'll now use these responses from the interviews to develop a survey to assess these questions related to relocation at a broader community scale. The responses from the survey will be used by leadership and the relocation planning coordinator to determine next steps in the process.
I'll end by emphasizing that relocation planning is an incredibly long process and requires more immediate adaptations in place. While I can't speak to all of the adaptations occurring in Tuk, from the household level to hamlet decision making about adaptation, I want to highlight the importance of continued investment in keeping the community in place for as long as possible. Leaving Tuktuyaaqtuuq to relocate inland will not be an easy decision or process. However, as a result of our global unwillingness to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Tuktuyaaqtuuq is the first of likely many Canadian communities that will be faced with planning to relocate amidst the increasing impacts of climate change. Thanks.
[00:21:39 Robert McLeman appears full screen. Overlaid text on screen: Canada.ca/School;Community Relocations in a Changing Climate-Lessons from Tuktoyaktuk; Climate Change and Human Migration Series. / Canada.ca/Ecole; Ce que nous apprend Tuktoyaktuk sur le déplacement de collectivités causé par le changement climatique; Série sur le changement climatique et les migrations humaines.]
Robert McLeman: Thank you, Kearney. And yes, a very sobering message that you conclude with, for all of us here. I think what we'll do next is we'll transition into more of a question and answer session, and we will follow the same order of procedure in that I'll start by having a conversation with Deva, and then move to Dustin, Morgen, and Kearney in that order. So, thank you very much, all four of you, for your introductions.
[00:22:09 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Deva Pokiak.]
Robert McLeman: Deva, I would like to start by chatting with you a little bit. One of the realities is that a lot of the people who may be watching this session have never been to Tuktuyaaqtuuq, may not be familiar with the sorts of challenges that the residents of Tuktuyaaqtuuq face, and certainly not about the details of this particular project. And it may be the first time that they're actually aware that these realities are facing this community right now. So, my first question for you is, as your role as a liaison in Tuktuyaaqtuuq working to bridge the community and the researchers who are coming into the community to assist, have you observed a positive reception from the community regarding these research efforts? And what are some of the challenges that you personally face in this role?
[00:22:58 Deva Pokiak appears full screen.]
Deva Pokiak: Yes. I've received a positive impact from the community as my role as a community liaison. I think for one thing it's because I have knowledge about my land and my culture, and then incorporating with Western science. So, it gives me the unique way of seeing both sides in the world. I know both the scientific world and the cultural and traditional side. I like to use those two to help the Nuna Project develop a great way to interact with the community, and also to have great communication between the two, researchers and the community, and the people involved.
Some of the concerns the community is facing, through the Nuna Project, is we struggle. Not struggle, but I'm learning how to bring that data back into the community and share it in a plain language where they could understand. And it's hard to tell the community that we're planning into moving and relocating. So, it's important for us to keep the community and the leadership informed so that decisions can be made.
[00:24:47 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Deva Pokiak.]
Robert McLeman: No, no, I think this is really important. I think a little follow up question is, you are in this position where this is your home. This is your place of residence. This is where your family has lived for generations. How could you communicate your role to someone who doesn't understand that? This, I suppose, is one of the challenges that you face as this bridge between community and research. So, just from you personally, how do you go about doing this?
[00:25:24 Deva Pokiak appears full screen.]
Deva Pokiak: How I bridge my traditional and cultural knowledge with scientific knowledge is that the science, the research comes, and I ask them, what do they want to research, or what are we looking for? And like Morgen mentioned it's about the community's concerns that we're trying to study and monitor. The great thing about this project, and I think why it's so successful, is that it's using community knowledge and scientific knowledge, and then also bringing in the community's concerns. And to bridge these two is to help with the researchers on where they want to study, where's the place that's most eroded, where do you see slumping? And where do you see changes? And the people in the community are the best to identify those areas because we've been here for years <laugh>. And it just makes it easier to work together in identifying these impacts.
[00:26:45 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Deva Pokiak.]
Robert McLeman: Yes. And, I don't think that can be understated, the criticality of that local knowledge that can only be gained from being part of a place. I want to follow up with a question regarding a past conversation we've had where you told us that the weather in Tuktuyaaqtuuq has changed a great deal over time, and it's very different today than when your father was your age. And so, maybe this is one way we can highlight the importance and the challenges of relying on traditional knowledge and trying to understand how climate change is affecting the Western Arctic.
So, looking ahead then, how do you think communities should work with traditional knowledge as part of the challenge in trying to adapt to these new realities of climate change? Do you have any suggestions?
[00:27:38 Deva Pokiak appears full screen.]
Deva Pokiak: Yes. I think how communities should work with traditional knowledge, when faced to adapt, is to first remember that we come from strong, resilient people, and we have always been adapting to the changing climate from generation to generation. Knowledge gained from our Elders can still be practiced from past to present. We have always been adapting, and to use the knowledge– it's still useful because you can be able to tell what sort of weather may be coming in a short period of time. You read the clouds and you could tell if there's a storm coming or not. Or if the wind dies down, that means that it's going to blow. So, those kinds of knowledges are still useful for us from Elders, and that's still passed down. And also what kind of ice conditions. So, those are still traditional knowledge that we hold, and also the harvesting and the hunting and seasonal practices of cultural activities. And also I think it's important to keep the community leadership and members involved throughout all aspects of the mitigation and adaptation planning.
[00:29:00 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Deva Pokiak.]
Robert McLeman: This is just a slight follow up on that, just to continue. So, do you have any advice to ensure that, in the future, the Elders' knowledge is passed on to future generations, even if it should come to pass that someday the community needs to relocate, how do we ensure that that knowledge continues to be passed along? I know you have said that you intend to pass this knowledge to your children, but do you have some advice for us in this regard?
[00:29:26 Deva Pokiak appears full screen.]
Deva Pokiak: Yes. To ensure that Elders' knowledge is passed on, is to always keep practicing. You have to keep practicing your traditional cultural knowledge. You have to keep it alive through always practicing and wanting to pass it on. Because I think having skills and knowledge is nothing compared to having it shared. So, it's important to share your knowledge and what you've learned and pass it on to your next generation, because they're the legacy that we leave behind. It's not just the science side, it's our livelihood. It's our children, it's our next generations, and they are the ones that are going to be facing relocation. So, we need to ensure that we have strong decision making leadership and also very accurate data collection.
[00:30:34 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: Thank you so much, Deva. That's really sound advice, and thank you for sharing your time today with the viewers of this recording. So thank you. We will come back to you in a few minutes, Deva, with some more questions, perhaps based on the conversation to follow.
[00:30:54 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Dustin Whalen.]
Robert McLeman: But I'd like to pose a few questions to Dustin, because Deva just raised the question of data. And that's a good segue for a question to you because I've seen you speak on many occasions, Dustin, and you've often talked about the importance of the data and the impacts that research and monitoring will have for the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq and others today, but also in the future.
So, can you tell us a little bit more about how climate change is affecting Tuktuyaaqtuuq, but on top of that, how have you approached your research and how might this research that you're doing with Deva, and with the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq, how might it benefit other Canadian communities that might find themselves in similar circ*mstances?
[00:31:35 Dustin Whalen appears full screen.]
Dustin Whalen: Great, thank you, Robert. Yes, data is really the baseline and the backing behind a lot of decisions. And whether that data comes from community members passed down through traditional knowledge, or that data comes from the scientific collection of environmental parameters, in either case, this is the most important and, I think, critical metric that we have for the future of the region. It's the data that can be collected today, or stored or observed today, that really will impact what happens in 10, 20, even 30 years for the community.
And so, from the physical natural science perspective, even something as simple as a shoreline position over time can tell us a lot about what's happening in the community. But it also poses a lot of questions as to why. Why is this shoreline position moving? Why has it moved faster in the last 10 years than it did in the previous 30? And so, answering these questions as to why will really provide the best knowledge for the community to adapt. And, like Deva said, the Inuvialuit people are very resilient. They will adapt. But things like roads, buildings, and other infrastructure, it does take some engineering background and natural science baseline to aid in that adaptation process.
So, to me, data, no matter what it is and where it comes from, is one of the most important things of this project. And really, this Nuna Project provides an excellent baseline for Tuktuyaaqtuuq going forward.
[00:33:44 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Dustin Whalen.]
Robert McLeman: And to follow up then, Dustin, so for other communities, I assume that Tuktuyaaqtuuq is not the only community in the Canadian Arctic that faces similar challenges. Are there lessons that we are learning, both in terms of the methodologies we're using, but also the findings of your research, that may be applicable for other communities?
[00:34:03 Dustin Whalen appears full screen.]
Dustin Whalen: That's a great question. There's been a lot of media attention and there's been a lot of attention on the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq because of the severity of climate change that the community is facing. But, possibly less severe but as important, are other communities across the Arctic, across the country, that are faced with climate change hazards, as you will. What people can learn from what we're doing in Tuktuyaaqtuuq is, I said this before, we cannot live in a bubble. And the scientific natural environmental research that experts like myself, and Deva, and the team at Nuna can do should not live in a bubble. We should continue to work with experts like Kearney and Morgen and their team to make sure that all aspects of these observations and research are coming together.
What can other communities learn? I think a lot of people are looking at Tuktuyaaqtuuq as an example, because Tuktuyaaqtuuq has to adapt right now. And that's adapting to climate change right now. And so, communities are thinking, will this be us in 10 years? Will this be us in 20 years? 5 Years? And so, a lot of communities are watching Tuk, and they're learning from Tuktuyaaqtuuq. And I think that as we move forward with some of our research, and recommendations for adaptation, or baseline science to help inform adaptation, I think other communities are seeing what it takes. Where that baseline should really come from, and what they should be focused on when they're faced with similar challenges.
[00:36:03 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Dustin Whalen.]
Robert McLeman: Wonderful. Thank you, and I agree. Unfortunately, and as Kearney mentioned earlier, unless we do something about greenhouse gas emissions quickly, Tuktuyaaqtuuq will not be the only community here in Canada, or indeed in the Arctic, or indeed around the world, that will be faced with the tough decisions. And so, the more that we can learn, and the more in depth we can learn about not just what's happening, but how to respond to what's happening, is also important as well. Which leads me into my next question for you, Dustin, which is that you were part of a team that won the Arctic Inspiration Prize along with the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq. So, congratulations for that. The project is called the Tuktuyaaqtuuq Community Climate Resiliency Project. And for people who are not familiar with that, could you please tell us a little bit about it? Where the project is now, and where you hope it will be in terms of benefits for the community?
[00:36:57 Dustin Whalen appears full screen.]
Dustin Whalen: Absolutely, thank you for the question, and yes, it's an honour to be part of the TCCRP, as I'll call it. So, I'll step back a bit and say that in this region, you can actually see climate change on a weekly, monthly, seasonal basis, so observations of climate change are very important. In lots of areas, climate change or the future change, is based on modelling. It's based on a perspective that might come. But in this region, it's something you can actually observe and record. So, this is the basis of the TCCRP: to observe and record climate change in their own backyard. And it's a community based approach built on the philosophy, for the North, by the North. It's to collect data on air temperature; ground temperature; coastal position, or erosion; water quality; things that community members have noticed are literally changing right before their eyes.
So, these observations are something that, when they're collected and then communicated back to the community, people understand, and people recognize these changes because they can see them. Now, it was really designed to give the community members: the youth; the subsistence hunters; and the Elders the confidence to understand what's happening in their backyard. And the program provides training, it builds capacity and it really puts a presence of–there's people in Tuk that are now measuring climate change. And this program is seen as a great success, and recipient of the Arctic Inspiration Prize, because it has a general interest in monitoring, now and into the future, which is one of the most important things we can do in this changing climate.
[00:39:03 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Dustin Whalen.]
Robert McLeman: And I love that. I love the fact that you're engaging the people of the community in the collection and interpretation of scientific data. I'm a huge believer in citizen science, citizen engagement in science, whether it's in small Northern communities, whether it's in big cities across Canada. That's the way that we make this research that we're doing useful and for the people who, at the end of the day, need this information to start making tough decisions as in the case of Tuktuyaaqtuuq.
One final brief question then, to follow up from that. Are there other innovations or technologies that have come out of your research over the years in Tuk that you'd like to share with folks on this who are watching this?
[00:39:46 Dustin Whalen appears full screen.]
Dustin Whalen: Yes, absolutely. I'll start by saying, imagine a space where everyone in the community, Deva said, a thousand people, are interested in what you're doing. They know exactly the environment. They know what's changing. As a scientist, we often try to communicate as a plain language summary. And we communicate this way. But in Tuktuyaaqtuuq, the level of interest and the level of knowledge about landscape change is on people's minds all the time. So, it's very high and we're basically working together right from the onset. So, things like the TCCRP were very easy to create because everyone's interested and they want to help, they want to be involved.
Another program that I'm really excited about, and we're just at the early stages, we mentioned crowdsourcing. And so, aside from the TCCRP, which is a trained group of individuals that are going out on a weekly basis to measure, we've actually been using the general population to collect observation as well. Why? Because like I said before, they're all interested. This is something everyone is observing on their own, and it's what people are talking about at the dinner table. So, one of these great projects we have is looking at the water, looking at the coastal bathymetry. Which, you can imagine a region that is eroding at 40 metres a year, how much material is actually being deposited into the ocean. Now imagine you're in a community or a region that relies on this space for fishing, for whaling, for transportation. So, we developed, or we're working with the communities, not just in Tuk: in Aklavik, and Inuvik, and Paulatuuq, to develop this crowdsourcing bathymetric mapping project.
Right now, there's 21 sonars that have been installed on people's boats. And when they go out during the four month open water season, you simply turn on their sonar and they collect the data, and then they bring it back, and then it gets uploaded to the cloud. And the accumulation of all of this collection of data in places where the community members want to go and are going already, it's not driven by anything but where the community members are going. The accumulation of this is generating these amazing products. We have over 10,000 kilometres already. And so, the innovation is developing a project with people that have a huge interest in understanding the change just as much as I am, or others on this call might be.
[00:42:50 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Dustin Whalen.]
Robert McLeman: That sounds really exciting. I would love the idea of being able to have sonar on the bottom of my boat as I'm out fishing, but what a great example of how we can work with residents and community members, again, bridging that gap between physical science and the lived experience of people on the land. Which is actually a good segue to a little bit of a conversation with Morgen.
[00:43:13 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: So, Morgen, in your research, you've often emphasized the importance of recognizing people's connection to the land when thinking about climate change and adaptation, and also thinking about health and wellbeing. So, I'm wondering if you could elaborate on why this is important?
[00:43:29 Morgen Bertheussen appears full screen.]
Morgen Bertheussen: Yes, absolutely. So, as a human geographer interested in community health and wellbeing, as you've said, a lot of what I do is focusing on the social and environmental determinants of health. And to give a very brief definition of what these determinants of health are, they can be understood as the factors that go beyond individual behaviours that ultimately contribute to health outcomes. So, to give an out of context example, if you think of an individual behaviour like eating habits, what you decide to eat on a daily basis. If all you're eating is junk food, maybe looking at the factors that influence your decision to eat junk food. Is it because the only food that's around you, or the only food available, is junk? So, looking at these factors that influence your behaviour also has an impact on health ultimately.
So, bringing it back to Tuk, and access to the land and going out on the land, the ability to do so and to practice traditional activities and access country food has been identified as a protective factor to health and wellbeing across many different Indigenous cultures in Canada. And so, when thinking about planning in the short, medium, and long term, whether this means adapting in place and relocation, having these protective factors of health, like being able to go out on the land; like being able to access country food and practice traditional activities, are really important if you want to protect community health and wellbeing. And they're not only important when you think of physical or mental health, but also on the importance of maintaining quality social relationships, because the land is also somewhere where people go out together and learn from each other. So, that's what I meant by putting that focus on the importance and connection to the land.
[00:45:53 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Morgen Bertheussen.]
Robert McLeman: One of the things we often hear about in health and wellbeing research is the importance of context. And you've alluded to it already in your first answer, but one of the things I was going to ask you was, when we think of health and wellbeing in Southern Canada versus an Inuit community's interpretation of what is health and wellbeing, are we talking about the same thing or are there differences or distinctions? And if there are, how do you as a researcher try to bridge these ways of looking at health and wellbeing?
[00:46:28 Morgen Bertheussen appears full screen.]
Morgen Bertheussen: Basically, the context in which everyone is brought up influences how we come to understand things and how we perceive certain things such as health. A concept that we all have assumptions and beliefs about what makes someone healthy, or what makes someone ultimately less healthy, and how you go about treating health.
In Western societies, our understandings of health have evolved being based on the biomedical model. And basically what this model brings forward is the attention to disease in silos. So, looking at individual problems or facets of health, and looking at these problems at the individual level rather than at the community level. And so, what this means is that physical health is seen as separate from mental health, and we go about treating these differently.
But in many Indigenous cultures, you don't separate these different facets of health. Everything is more so interconnected and physical, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual health are all elements that, when in balance, represent being healthy and well.
And so, because of these differences and how we understand health, being from the South and going to do research in another context requires for the researcher to be aware of some differences and not to assume anything. And I think that's the most important thing to just keep in mind, is that don't go into a community to do research and assume you know how something works. It's important to spend time listening to community members and understanding how they believe things work because if not, you're just going about research the wrong way.
So, trying to understand health in this case from different perspectives, and integrate this in the way that you go about doing research is one way that I would go about bridging these differences.
[00:49:03 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Morgen Bertheussen.]
Robert McLeman: Great. I know it's early days for your research as well, but are there any early findings that you think would be important to share with this audience, or that you would like to share with them?
[00:49:16 Morgen Bertheussen appears full screen.]
Morgen Bertheussen: In terms of findings for the context of Tuk specifically, I think we are in too early stages to say some findings. But one thing that I found, or that has been a huge focus in researching and in looking at Inuit conceptualizations of health, is not setting aside the importance of having quality relationships with other people, and the focus on relationships as a foundational facet of health being super important. And seeing how we can hone in on these, on utilizing these relationships, to promote being healthy and well. So, I'll leave it at that for now.
[00:50:05 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: That's a wonderful answer. Thank you.
Kearney, I think I'm going to transition to a few questions for you. So, you've been working in the community, beginning in the spring of 2023, you started working with them to engage on the topic of long-term planning for climate change adaptation. What are some of the community's concerns that you could share with us about the planning process itself, and what are both their concerns and maybe their hopes for this process?
[00:50:41 Kearney Coupland appears full screen.]
Kearney Coupland: Yes, as Deva mentioned, relocation means an ungrounding in certain terms. And so that becomes one of the biggest concerns, the biggest challenges, being introduced by the relocation planning process. How do you protect culture and tradition and access to ocean, access to waterways to ensure that livelihoods remain intact? And not just currently, but into the future, what does it look like to pass on that traditional knowledge to the future generations, to that future leadership, when there's so much uncertainty around what the future could look like? And while relocation is, again, ideally a last resort option, but in reality, very likely to happen, how can we think about that relocation planning process to ensure that those aspects of the community, meaning culture and traditional values, remain intact and are protected?
So, when it comes to the planning process, that is one of the main concerns that we hear about. Having that access to ocean, making sure that hunting and fishing and harvesting can remain intact, is of critical importance in thinking about this particular relocation. Having people being able to come together in the physical geographic location of Tuk to harvest, or to come together for celebrations is important. And thinking about the future, is it possible to still use Tuk for certain– current Tuk, I should say– for certain aspects of community and cultural life, but to live somewhere else in order to maintain safety? That question of safety though also brings up the question of permanency. And I think this really speaks to what Dustin's saying about that baseline data and the importance of having this Western science approach to measuring and assessing our geotechnical data about the location where Tuk may go. One of the questions that comes up with this planning is where are we going to, where are we supposed to go? And so that needs to be very heavily explored as to, will this location be safe for a long time? Nobody wants to move once, let alone more than once.
So, to invest in a relocation process, it's so important not only to include the data that Dustin's speaking about in terms of the land, but also understanding from the community perspective how that land is currently used, where its proximity to other uses of the land, and how people will be able to continue access to really important locations.
In thinking about the where to go, there's the question between staying close to the water which has its own uncertainties and challenges in terms of climate change in the future or moving down the highway. As Deva mentioned, in 2017 Tuk was connected to the rest of Canada via a highway. And so, there is a lot of thought about whether or not the community should be located further down the highway because of that access to other cities and other infrastructure in that sense. That in itself though is not necessarily a strong enough argument to say that that is where a community should go, so there will have to be a lot of discussion amongst community members to determine where that site is going to be. But I can say that that is one of the most pressing questions: where do we go?
And then finally, the more logistical question of, who's going to pay for this community relocation? Is this something that's coming out of the pockets of individuals in order to move homes? Without a precedent of how we're actually meant to fund a community relocation, it's really challenging, not only from a resident perspective of what this means, but also at the government level. At all levels, I should say. What does this actually look like, and how do we actually make this happen without making promises to people that can't be acted on? And that creates a lot more uncertainty and a reluctance, or a hesitancy, to be that decision maker, because if you say that something's going to happen, but there's nothing in place to actually support those actions, that can lead to a lack of trust that could be detrimental to actually moving forward with adaptation in the future.
And then again, logistically, the timing. When does this happen? We talk about 2050, but 2050 is a lot sooner now than it was five years ago about the time I started working on thinking about relocation with Tuk. Each year is significant because, as Dustin mentioned, the infrastructure that needs to be built in that time in order to support the movement of nearly a thousand people, it takes a long time. Not only with the designing that space but starting to build and moving critical infrastructure like hospitals, schools, roadways into this new location.
So, in general, there are many concerns about the planning for relocation, and the planning process as well in terms of who actually has responsibility and who is going to be the decision-making agency in this relocation. There's still a lot of questions that come up with this relocation planning, and myself and our team is here to support and to try to find the information that's needed so that decision makers in Tuk and in the territory can move forward with this relocation plan.
[00:57:06 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Kearney Coupland.]
Robert McLeman: Thanks. I picked up on the word trust that you used earlier, and it's a reality that in Northern Canada, trust between government and communities has often been poor, for a very good reason. Often communities were never consulted about relocations, or where infrastructure would be built. In some cases it was done without their consent. And so, I know it's still early days in your consultations with the community, but could you give us one or two specific examples of what you are hearing from people in the community about the process and the consultations and who makes the decisions in all of this?
[00:57:48 Kearney Coupland appears full screen.]
Kearney Coupland: I think this kind of veil of uncertainty is the overwhelming factor. There is a lot of trust in the science. There's a lot of trust in the community's own observations to what's happening. So, there's a deep knowledge that this actually does have to happen. It's really a question of, is this a federal decision to move a community? Is this a territory decision to move a community? Is this the hamlet's decision to move a community? And the current circ*mstances don't necessarily allow for a lot of collaboration. Now, that's changing. Now, as Tuk is becoming more of an example of what community relocation might look like, it's really prompting different agencies and departments to think about, okay, how are we going to collaborate and work together to ensure that this goes smoothly for the people of Tuk, but also as a precedent for future communities?
We have extreme examples of, as you mentioned, without having community input. From Aklavik to Inuvik, there's a history of people being told they need to relocate for particular reasons. And then those communities moving, and not necessarily seeing the impacts that they were told would happen. Additionally, places like Ke-KETchikan that have made agreements with the government continuously to be relocated without action, and as a result have had to evacuate over and over and over again, disrupting their lives and their relationships to each other and the land. So, unfortunately, there is precedence for mistrust in government and relocation in Canada. And that can be rectified by– well in part, not totally– but by having those conversations and really ensuring from the outset that there is collaboration with community members to the extent that they want to be involved, but decision makers and that there's an advisory committee within the community that is determining what research gets done, and how actions move forward in terms of relocation.
[01:00:12 Split screen: Robert McLeman, and Kearney Coupland.]
Robert McLeman: I think that's super important. And by bringing up Ke-KETchikan, you bring up the experience of other communities, and I know this has been of personal interest to you– to try and build bridges between other communities in Alaska, and outside the Northwest Territories, who are also facing difficult decisions.
Would you just briefly like to elaborate on some of the lessons that we can learn that may be applicable to Tuk that you have learned through connecting with other communities. Some of the practices you think may be important for both short and long run planning for community relocations?
[01:00:53 Kearney Coupland appears full screen.]
Kearney Coupland: Yes, having done a preliminary skim of the experiences of relocation led us to really think about Newtok in Alaska, and Isle de Jean Charles, their relocations because they have effectively moved people to new locations. So, Deva and I had an opportunity to speak to two people who worked on those projects, which was very exciting, and we were very grateful for that time. What we learned is that it takes a lot of time. This is not a short process from even just the decision making portion of relocation. Having those conversations with community members about what it looks like to relocate, and what those thresholds are to determine whether people will move, that takes one-on-one conversation. You cannot generalize across a community what people's needs will be in relocation. And that should be at the forefront of any decision making about relocation, is what the priorities are of the people who will be living there.
And so, thinking not only about our current generation, but really trying to tap into those future decision makers, and the youth now who have their own hopes and dreams and aspirations of their lives, and what could that look like in a new location? But all of those conversations take time and they shouldn't be rushed. We have a tendency to think consultation means, well, do consultation. But that's not the same as community engagement. That's not the same as actually understanding what people's experiences are, and what their hope for their future experiences are.
So, having the community be central in decision making was something that definitely was highlighted by both the Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana, and Newtok examples of relocation. In both of those cases, both Newtok and Isle de Jean Charles were significantly smaller populations than we see in Tuk. And they're in the American context. So, although we were able to gather information about different agencies that were able to fund, and the methods used to try to gather information, Tuk is in a different situation, being in a Canadian context and also being significantly larger. So, we can learn a lot about the best practices from these communities, but relocation in Tuk is going to be unprecedented, and will require a lot of government support at all scales in order to ensure that things go smoothly.
I think that's all I'll say about those best practices. There are best practices that can be learned throughout different stages or different phases of the relocation process. Ultimately what it comes down to at this preliminary stage that Tuk is at right now is having a coordinator in place, having people who are going to take responsibility. I should mention that that is one thing that came up amongst mayor and council in Tuk too, is while they're committed to long-term adaptation, we don't ask mayors and councils necessarily of other cities or other towns to think about these long-term planning strategies. They have everyday concerns that they need to be addressing. And so the development of how a particular group that will specifically look at relocation, and guide research so that when researchers come to the community, they can say, this is an area that we really need support in, can we refocus your energy and your resources to support our actions moving forward will be important. And to also be the face of relocation in Tuk.
So, sorry, I kind of went off track there, but learning from some of those best practices, in terms of organizational infrastructure, is critical at this point. And later we'll be able to pull from best practices from these groups in the more specific, more detailed planning of relocation.
[01:05:25 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: That's wonderful. Thank you. And so now we've had a chance to sort of go into each of your own areas of expertise a little bit more deeply, I think I'd like to transition and bring to a close our conversation today with some general questions. I'll start with Deva.
Deva, you've had this chance to become and develop experience in working as this liaison between Western scientists who come from outside the community, and members of the community itself. And so, drawing upon your knowledge and expertise that you've gained so far, are there any practices that we should try to avoid when we are thinking about relocation, whether it's in Tuktuyaaqtuuq or other communities?
[01:06:11 Deva Pokiak appears full screen.]
Deva Pokiak: Other practices? Keep the community involved in all stages, and also having the traditional knowledge and also using the scientific knowledge background. And the technological side as well, where you use technology to predict and come up with a bigger picture about climate change and adaptation within and around the surrounding community.
[01:07:01 Split screen: Robert McLeman, Deva Pokiak.]
Robert McLeman: And following up on that, Deva, in the community, when people are having coffee or just getting together for informal reasons, or going to drop kids off at the school or whatever, do conversations about climate change ever arise? And if so, what kind of things do people say about the community when the researchers are not around to record what they're saying?
[01:07:28 Deva Pokiak appears full screen.]
Deva Pokiak: Hmm. They just are concerned about, when is this going to happen? Because this is in early stages of talking about planning of relocating the community, so they just want to know when, and where do they plan, and where's all this information going to? So I have to tell them, it's going to leadership. It's not the researchers and us that are making the decisions, we're passing this on to leadership. And then we hold community meetings as well, community engagement meetings to try just get this out there, because it's kind of hard to imagine about moving and relocating a whole community with a thousand people and a bunch of buildings.
So, using leadership and research with all the technology and everything that is provided, I think that it could be possible as long as everybody's on the same page and understanding. And we got support from municipal, federal, and territorial governments and support from the community and everybody supports each other. I think if everybody works together, there's a great possibility that this can work out very well. And also using the community's, I'm going to say that again, community's knowledge. Because we are the people that are going to be moved, and we would want to move to a place where we could still practice our traditional knowledge and our cultural activities.
So, the other question you've asked me in the past is, how to ensure our Elder's knowledge is passed on is through that– to keep practicing our traditional and cultural ways.
[01:09:46 Split screen: Robert McLeman, Deva Pokiak.]
Robert McLeman: That's a wonderful, thoughtful response to my question, and I'm glad that you're able to point to the fact that if everybody does work collectively together, that there is hope that it can be done in a way that builds a more resilient community. Is that a fair summary of what you said?
[01:10:09 Deva Pokiak appears full screen.]
Deva Pokiak: Yes, and I think that the Nuna Project is very unique, too, because there's five work packages, and each work package has a team. And it's very interesting to see all these people with different backgrounds. And we all carry our own unique knowledges into this work, this Nuna Project. So, it is very interesting to see everybody's inputs and ideas come together to tackle the climate impacts that we're facing, and to come up with the solution because we're all trying to answer the same question.
[01:11:00 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: Wonderful. I've been slightly involved in the Nuna project at different stages, and I have to echo what you're saying is that it really is innovative, and it really is making some important progress. So, thank you for that feedback.
And maybe I'll throw it to Dustin. A similar question which is, it seems like working with the community, researchers, governments, leadership and residents bringing together all of this knowledge, we're on the right track, but are there key challenges that still remain for governments? For others who are working on challenges like this?
[01:11:37 Dustin Whalen appears full screen.]
Dustin Whalen: Great question, and absolutely. I think there are definitely key challenges and a lot of our team's message today has been about working together, but actually that is also one of the key challenges. The players that are involved in such a magnitude of adaptation or forward looking projects for Tuktuyaaqtuuq, there are a lot more than what you see here on the screen. And so, working together will always be the key challenge, whether you're the federal government, like me; territorial, or you're at the Hamlet level; or you're a community member that understands and observes climate change. And to put it at another level, you're the school student, the youth that is in grade three, that's actually going to have to make the decision in 20 years to what's going on.
I think one of the challenges is working together, but one of the solutions is communication. So, I'm so pleased that we are here today to communicate, and represent what we feel is the right model going forward, where we have all kinds of different groups, different levels, different backgrounds working together to really achieve the same priority. So, I'm very excited and happy to see that.
And another key challenge that, again, stems back to communication and working together is listening to different voices, because sometimes voices may say opposite things. They may say something different, or may not be saying the same things at the same time. So, Kearney mentioned the establishment of a relocation committee. To me, this is an excellent practice, and a really strong way forward for the future of Tuktuyaaqtuuq, because it's this committee that is taking in all these voices, and all this communication for many people who are involved and want to be involved. So yes, I think that's my answer.
[01:14:02 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: Thanks, Dustin. That's fantastic.
Morgen, I'm going to throw the same question to you, which is, we seem to be on the right path so far, but what remains to be done? What do we need yet to keep our focus on?
[01:14:15 Morgen Bertheussen appears full screen.]
Morgen Bertheussen: Dustin has practically stolen the words out of my mouth. Whereas communication and collaboration are super important, but also super challenging in some ways. We're all sometimes very focused on what we do, and the importance of what we do, and we sometimes forget that we're going into a community. Everyone has their lives and everyone has things they have to deal with, and they don't necessarily have time for researchers, and that's okay. But trying to navigate these spaces, and finding ways to engage with as many people as possible, and meaningfully engage as well. Not just check a box of who we've consulted, and we've returned results.
So, we've been doing a lot of that, but there's a lot more, we could do to do it better. And it's finding the best way to do it in Tuk, because every community, again, is different. And what works in one community to communicate results back, and to collaborate, is not necessarily going to work in another community. I'm super thankful to be able to work with Deva, and others because this kind of work wouldn't be possible without community members being involved in it.
[01:15:40 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: Great. Thank you, Morgen.
And, Kearney, I'll give a similar question to you, but with the recognition that, if and when the day comes that the people of Tuktuyaaqtuuq need to relocate, it will be one of the biggest planned relocations in Canadian history. It is, perhaps, a marker of things to come, as you mentioned, if we do nothing about the root causes of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
So, given the seriousness of– and it's not hypothetical, it's not abstract, these are practical things that we need to come to terms with– what do you personally see as things that we need to keep focused on in coming years?
[01:16:27 Kearney Coupland appears full screen.]
Kearney Coupland: The magnitude of this move will be influential on the Canadian scale, not to mention the influence it will have on the community. Not just being in a new environment, but also the social and economic and cultural impacts.
I think that one of the important aspects to focus on is keeping decision making as unpolitical as possible, because we know that political shifts mean different responses to climate change, and what that means for adaptation. The creation of an advisory committee provides an opportunity to make sure that, regardless of who's necessarily running the community, there's still a consistency in how decisions are being made and having that point person to make sure that there's a mode of communication, and somebody who has the institutional and the historical knowledge moving through the process of relocation.
At a grander scale, thinking politically in terms of the government in Canada, relocation needs to be thought about in the community context. And it can't be politicized. It's not that we fund adaptation, or relocation as an adaptation, during one four year cycle, and we change it when new people come into those seats of power. There is an opportunity here to really think about how we can do relocation well, and how we can support people in that movement. And focusing on, although it's hard to do at times, particularly for people in Tuk, of the opportunities that can come with relocation. Creating a community that meets some of the housing needs that are critical at the moment. That ensures that we have more investment in education. That traditional food storage is available, and that there's methods of sharing, and that can be designed into a community. Really focusing on what some of those opportunities are, while also helping people work through the challenges of relocation, need to be the focus of how this project moves forward.
There's the option now to either focus on relocation as adaptation, or to really invest in a disaster fund, because the only other option here in the coming years is to help Tuk with recovery. With these increased impacts of climate change, it doesn't just go away. So, if there isn't the investment, if there isn't the collaboration, if there isn't the support to ensure that Tuk is able to relocate in a justified, dignified, timely manner, then the impacts could be more dangerous, and that will require investment of a different kind that is not fair, knowing what we know right now in terms of how we can move forward with the relocation process.
[01:19:59 Split Screen: Robert McLeman, Deva Pokiak, Morgen Bertheussen, Kearney Coupland, and Dustin Whalen.]
Robert McLeman: Thanks for those very sobering conclusions. Before we go to the closing remarks, Deva, I would like to give you the opportunity of the last word from the panel. And to my knowledge, there's at least a thousand public servants across Canada who have signed up to listen to our panel session today. And so, it's a lot to ask, but is there one thing that you hope that someone watching this, who has never been to Tuktuyaaqtuuq, may never go to Tuktuyaaqtuuq in their lifetime, may be unfamiliar with your community, is there anything that we have not already talked about, that you would like them to know? Or indeed, if there's something we've already talked about that you think is especially important, what you would reiterate that they take away from this? Would you like to try that question on?
[01:20:57 Deva Pokiak appears full screen.]
Deva Pokiak: Sure. I'd just like to emphasize that my community and the people in it are very strong and resilient, and we like to keep our traditional practices alive. And I like that we're always willing to adapt and accept things that cannot be changed. Such as stuff that's inevitable, such as climate change, and you can't stop Mother Nature. And I just like to mention that I'm really enjoying working with the Nuna Project. It's going to be my second year this year, and throughout these two years, I have learned so much about the science side, and the technology, and the processes, and learning how to share the data back to the community. And learning from everybody and just being able to come up with a broader picture of climate change, and adaptation, and mitigation within my community and around.
The world is changing quite drastically, not just within my community now. Climate change is happening globally now. And you can't deny it down South now, as you can see over the news. So, now it's finally getting out there that it's about time for people to take responsibility, and to take better care of the planet because it's dying. We need to take care of it to ensure that our future generations and beyond can have a healthy life, and to just be able to continue on living. But working with the Nuna Project, it's really amazing and I'm not only learning how to collect data and going out in the field, but I'm also learning how to analyse it and interpret it back to the community.
[01:23:47 Robert McLeman appears full screen.]
Robert McLeman: Thank you very much, Deva, for those concluding remarks. This brings us to the end of today's event. On behalf of myself, and the School of Public Service, I would like to thank each and every one of you,
[01:24:02 Split Screen: Robert McLeman, Deva Pokiak, Morgen Bertheussen, Kearney Coupland, and Dustin Whalen.]
Robert McLeman: Deva, Dustin, Morgen, and Kearney, for being part of today's discussion. As well as those of you who have joined us, and who are watching this panel discussion. I think one of the things you can take away from this, you the viewer, is that this is not hypothetical. This is not an abstract concept. These are real people with real lives who have some very serious challenges facing them as a result of climate change, which is in turn something that each and every one of us contributes to through our daily activities.
[01:24:36 Robert McLeman appears full screen. Overlaid text on screen: Canada.ca/School; Community Relocations in a Changing Climate-Lessons from Tuktoyaktuk; Climate Change and Human Migration Series. / Canada.ca/Ecole; Ce que nous apprend Tuktoyaktuk sur le déplacement de collectivités causé par le changement climatique; Série sur le changement climatique et les migrations humaines.]
Robert McLeman: And so, it's super important, as Canadian public servants, that we appreciate the gravity of the situation that communities like Tuktuyaaqtuuq face, and that we work collectively as well to ensure that we address the root causes of these challenges.
I would also like to conclude by saying that the School of Public Service has more to offer. There is another event to take place in this series on March 18th,
[01:25:09 Overlaid text on screen: Browse the learning catalogue! It includes courses, events and other learning tools. Visit Canada.ca/School. / Consultez le catalogue d'apprentissage! Il vous propose des cours, des évènements et des outils d'apprentissage; Visitez Canada.ca/Ecole.]
Robert McLeman: and we will have a panel discussion discussing how Indigenous knowledge can be woven into decisions that relate to migration and displacement associated with climate change. So, please keep an eye on the School's website and on the newsletter for more information in coming months.
So, once again, thank you– all of you– for joining us. Thank you so much. Thanks to the community of Tuktuyaaqtuuq for allowing us to train our eyes on the challenges they face. And I hope everybody who is joining us on this panel discussion has a very good day ahead of them. Thank you.
[01:25:43 The CSPS animated logo appears onscreen.]
[01:25:46 The Government of Canada wordmark appears, and fades to black.]
