Inuit Uses for Weather, Water, Ice and Climate Information: Messages for Polar Service Providers

Consensus-building surrounding Inuit Uses and Needs for Weather, Water, Ice and Climate Information in Nunavut: Messages for Polar Service Providers

Natalie Carter, McMaster University

Weather, water, and ice conditions in Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homelands in the Canadian Arctic) are increasingly unpredictable. Social and political change has impacted intergenerational transfer of Inuit knowledge and subsistence harvesting practices, creating challenges for Inuit to travel safely on the land, water and ice. Weather, water, ice, and climate (WWIC) information and services are not meeting Inuit Nunangat communities needs. Our goal is to build a broader understanding of available WWIC information, and how it is shared and used in communities.

We will share our collaborative approach that follows the Aajiiqatigiingniq Research Framework and involves: 1) building relationships and meaningful community engagement; 2) building understanding; 3) using narratives and diverse methodologies to document lived experiences; and 4) relational consensus building. We will emphasize how we used this process throughout survey development, facilitation, and collaborative analysis working with 13 Local Research Coordinators (LRCs) across 5 five Nunavut communities: Arviat, Gjoa Haven, Iqaluit, Pond Inlet, and Sanikiluaq. Emerging from a collaborative analysis workshop, LRCs identified key messages for local, regional, national, and international polar service providers surrounding: 1) provision of real-time weather information; 2) the level of detail and specificity of information needed; 3) installation of additional weather and tide stations; 4) raising users awareness of services; 5) enhancing access to web and mobile applications; and 6) improving communication sources reliability. We will present these messages in the context of societal and economic implications of (not) having accessible, relevant, and useable forecasts, and describe the process involved in building consensus around these messages.