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Hik, David S.; Bubela, Tania; Nickels, Scot --- "Respecting and Aligning Knowledge Systems in Northern Canada: Beyond the International Polar Year" [2012] ELECD 337; in Bubela, Tania; Gold, Richard E. (eds), "Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge

Editor(s): Bubela, Tania; Gold, Richard E.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848442238

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Respecting and Aligning Knowledge Systems in Northern Canada: Beyond the International Polar Year

Author(s): Hik, David S.; Bubela, Tania; Nickels, Scot

Number of pages: 27

Extract:

10. Respecting and aligning knowledge
systems in Northern Canada: Beyond
the International Polar Year
David S. Hik, Tania Bubela and Scot Nickels

INTRODUCTION

During the past decade there has been growing interest in reconciling the
influence and rights of Arctic residents within existing and emerging legal,
governmental and scientific frameworks.1 Community-driven and collabora-
tive research, where traditional and local knowledge (TK) has been considered
an equally valuable knowledge system alongside Western science, has
emerged. In Canada, these programmes include the Northern Contaminants
Program, some research projects associated with the International Polar Year,
and with the large Networks of Centers of Excellence project devoted to Arctic
research, ArcticNet.
The existing legal framework in Northern Canada, described by Metcalf
and Bubela in the previous chapter, requires scientists working in Canada's
north to consult with First Nations and Inuit communities when conducting
research within their territory, but there is no requirement for sharing benefits.
As noted by Metcalf and Bubela, the duty to consult with Aboriginal peoples
and to integrate their perspective, including TK, in decision-making and
administrative processes that affect them is apparent in a wide range of federal

1 Aspen Institute, `The Shared Future: A Report of the Aspen Institute
Commission On Arctic Climate Change' (Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, 2011)
available at: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/shared-future-report-aspen-
institute-commission-arctic-climate-change (last accessed November 2011) [Aspen
Institute]; M.T.Bravo, `Arctic science, nation building and citizenship', in Francis
Abele, Thomas J. ...