Put more than one research station in Canada's North: study

Scientists and people living in the North want more than just one northern research centre, according to the Canadian Polar Commission.

The commission, a federal government agency specializing in polar research, is currently completing a one-year study on the status of research logistics and infrastructure in the North.

Officials plan to present their findings and recommendations to the government at the end of May.

In its throne speech last October, the federal government promised to build a world-class Arctic research centre.

But Steven Bigras, the commission's executive director, told CBC News that while scientists and northerners support a major research facility, they are also looking for more than just one facility.

"What we're hearing from the communities and from the research community itself is they'd like to see a network of research stations working, perhaps with one central station as the hub," Bigras said Wednesday.

A suggested network would include the three territories, as well as Labrador and northern Quebec, he said.

Andrew Applejohn, director of the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik, N.W.T., said he favours a "hub-and-spoke" approach, with smaller research centres across the North linked to a central facility.

"The simple size of the Canadian Arctic and the northern parts of the provinces would make it very difficult, I think, to fully service those areas from a single central or not-so-central location," Applejohn said.

Where Ottawa would establish its promised research centre remains unknown.

As for existing facilities, Bigras said, the North's inventory of research centres — which vary from small huts to elaborate government-run stations — show that some need to be upgraded and renovated, while others should be closed altogether.