On Oct 6th and 7th, 2015 I attended the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) fall Management Committee meeting representing APECS and to present the APECS Canada application for increasedpartnership with NCP. The purpose of the fall meeting each year is for the management committee to review the mid-year reports, identify any challenges or problem areas, and make an action plan to address an issues that arise. The NCP management committee is made up of representatives from northern territorial and regional governments, indigenous people’s organizations, partners from other federal departments with interests in northern contaminant research and the chairs of the regional contaminants committees (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut).
One of the recurring themes throughout the meeting was the desire for projects to develop communication plans and to increase the inclusion of traditional knowledge in research plans. The management committee also went through mid-year reviews of the projects and identified several that needed assistance in meeting their annual goals in these regards.
The NCP annual results workshop this year will be held in conjunction with the ArcticNet Annual Science Meeting in Vancouver, BC. The goal of this annual workshop is to have researchers, community members, and the wider NCP community to get together and discuss updates, results and future plans. The management committee discussed what the theme will be for the annual results workshop, how to better engage northern participants in the workshop, and tried to maximize the funds that will be available for travel for partners to attend the conference.
Lastly, I presented the NCP management committee with the proposal developed by a working group from the APECS Canada board in increase involvement of APECS members. Due to multiple applicants applying for a seat on the management committee it was determined that a more in-depth discussion beyond the meeting was needed to properly evaluate the applications. We hope to hear back from NCP in late November regarding APECS involvement.
