Wages up across some sectors in N.S., but still lag behind inflation, experts say

Danielle Edwards - CBC-8h ago

New data from Statistics Canada shows that wages in the Atlantic provinces grew at almost double the national rate between April and June of this year due to wage increases in key sectors across the region.


Lars Osberg, a Dalhousie economist, says the buying power

 of wages in Nova Scotia has been trending downward.© CBC

But despite the growth, some experts say the buying power of wages is still falling because of inflation.

"Wages haven't kept up with inflation, so real wages have been trending down," said Dalhousie University economist Lars Osberg.

In its most recent report on GDP, income and expenditure for the period between April to June this year, the federal agency detailed an increase in employee compensation across Canada, led largely by wages in mining, oil and gas extraction, and professional and personal services.

Nova Scotia saw the third-highest wage growth among the provinces and territories at 3.9 per cent, behind New Brunswick at 4.1 percent and Newfoundland and Labrador at four per cent.

Some sectors in N.S. see wage boost

The professional and personal services industry was instrumental in pushing up wages across the Atlantic region and in Nova Scotia specifically. Wage increases in health and social services, finance, real estate and company management were recorded, as well.

Canada's inflation rate slows to 7%

Jobs in the professional, scientific and technical services include those in legal services, architecture and engineering, computer systems, scientific research, advertising and public relations, said Statistics Canada spokesperson Maryse Carrière.

Inflation, however, has climbed much more quickly than wages in the province. Data from Statistics Canada show the consumer price index — which tracks how much the average Canadian household spends on a fixed selection of goods and services — rose about 8.7 per cent in Nova Scotia from July 2021 to July 2022.

According to Osberg, the difference between inflation and the wage increase is the decline in the real value of wages, which in Nova Scotia's case would be about 4.8 per cent.

Buying power slides

Casey Warman, a fellow economics professor at Dalhousie, echoed the sentiment and said Nova Scotians are in a worse position financially than they were before the pandemic, due largely to the spike in inflation.

"Inflation is seven, eight per cent, so it's a major issue. If inflation is two per cent a year, it takes prices 35 years to double. If inflation is around seven per cent a year it takes prices 10 years to double," Warman said, though he added the inflation rate is not expected to stay at this level over the next decade.

"If [Nova Scotians] wages don't keep up, they're going to lose purchasing power," Warman added. "If we can't get inflation down quick enough then all of a sudden, everyone starts asking for higher wages, it gets even harder to combat."

Osberg said inflation is affecting all of North America and some parts of Europe. The Canadian and Nova Scotian market, specifically, also has to deal with "the pressures on the housing stock that come from population growth, a surge in rent, in rentals and the decline in vacancy," he said.

Some good news

It isn't all bad news, though. Both Osberg and Warman said that nationally and provincially, the number of jobs has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

"The labour market has definitely recovered from COVID-19," Warman said. "If we look at the average between 2015 and 2019, we're right around that level for the employment rate and, actually, below it for unemployment," in Canada, he added.

COMPASSIONATE CAPITALI$M

Better governance, oversight give reasons to remain optimistic about the future of ESG investing

Special to Financial Post - 8h ago

Hydrocarbon giant Exxon Mobil Corp. is included in the 

S&P 500 ESG Index.© Provided by Financial Post

Over the past two decades, environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investing has enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity with more and more investors deploying their capital in pursuit of not only better returns, but a better world.

ESG investing has grown into a US$35-trillion practice globally, but market volatility, buffeted by rising interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty in Europe, global supply chain challenges and fears of an impending economic recession, have not spared ESG funds.

After years of net new deposits, investors withdrew US$3.5 billion from ESG mutual funds in the United States in May 2022, marking the first quarter of outflows in more than five years. In Canada, the iShares ESG Advanced MSCI Canada Index ETF — an ESG index by BlackRock Inc. — is underperforming the S&P/TSX composite by seven per cent year to date.

Of course, market conditions have not been kind to most equities and sectors, but bad returns have also been compounded by mounting allegations of industry malpractice and inaccurate labeling of ESG funds. This difficult year for ESG investing has served as a wake-up call, with concerted efforts now being made to better inform investors on what sustainability practices are being applied.

Thankfully, this has also sparked meaningful action across market regulators and investors, giving reason to remain optimistic about the future of the ESG movement. The industry will need time and improved governing structures to address its issues, but reform from both governments and institutional investors alike is a great cause for optimism.

For example, new European Union regulations are forcing funds that want to use the ESG label to disclose how their strategies address environmental, social or governance issues. No such regulation exists in North America, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Service Administrators are lobbying for enhanced reporting on ESG measures.

Knowledge and access are key to ESG investing. A common critique of ESG funds is whether managers screen for ESG metrics or if they only consider ESG principles on a high level.

For example, many investors are surprised to learn that there are ESG exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold oil and gas companies. This is a result of the “best-in-class approach,” which is the process of selecting companies from various sectors, such as oil and gas, that obtain a higher ESG rating than their competitors.

A particularly shocking example of this practice was when Tesla Inc., a pioneer in the adoption of electric cars, was removed from the S&P 500 ESG Index, while hydrocarbon giant Exxon Mobil Corp. remained on the index.

Another common example of greenwashing in the industry is “screening,” which occurs when fund providers omit so-called sin stocks, such as tobacco and weapons, as a strategy to justify an ESG tag on their funds.

Increased government intervention and regulations will provide greater transparency in relation to the methodologies and reporting standards that funds are using, and will ultimately help investors understand whether a fund’s underlying investments correspond with its ESG label.

Along with the ongoing regulatory campaigns pushing for enhanced disclosures on ESG measures, investors are also demanding more action from companies. A notable example was the 2021 campaign by Engine No. 1 LP, a U.S. hedge fund that only held a 0.02-per-cent stake in Exxon Mobil yet successfully ousted three members of the company’s board of directors in favour of replacements who were more committed to combating climate change.

This David and Goliath story exemplifies a growing wave of active engagement from investors. Instead of simply withdrawing money from one place to invest in another, investors are engaging directly with corporate leadership to strategically wield the power of shareholder voting to effect change.

We can expect to see this trend continue. In Canada, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board has announced plans for the $242-billion fund to buy more controlling stakes in companies so that it can keep a closer eye on ESG performance.

As an investment adviser, I serve clients by listening to their needs, goals and values, while ensuring that our industry is well versed in the constant changes that define ESG investing. That is why it is important to speak to an investment adviser who will provide you with a holistic approach to ESG investing based on your unique needs and situation.

Before making any investment decision, determine what goal or cause is important to you. Think of your long-term convictions and which of them would be a powerful way to feel less uneasy about market volatility.

The issues ESG investing faces are the growing pains of an evolutionary process, not a feature. There is so much more to be written in the history of ESG investing and I believe that the next chapters will be filled with opportunities for the engaged investor.

Andrew Feindel is a portfolio manager at Richardson Wealth and author of Kickstart Your Corporation: The Incorporated Professional’s Financial Planning Coach.

New UNB law clinic to offer free legal services for low-income clients

People who can't afford a lawyer and don't qualify for legal aid now have another option.


As of 2009, the New Brunswick Law Society Act allows

 law students like Robyn Forbes to work under faculty supervision.

© UNB Media Services

The Faculty of Law at the University of New Brunswick is now offering free legal services provided by some of its students.

It's part of a class that gives students the opportunity to manage civil case files and provide free representation to those in need.

The UNB Legal Clinic is led by supervising lawyer and faculty member Jeannette Savoie, who has years of experience working with clients experiencing poverty.

Savoie said the students under her supervision will be dealing with cases related to tenancy, employment, social assistance and small claims.

She said low-income people in these situations are often in a vulnerable spot.

"That's where the students with their training could be helpful in presenting your case, because a lot of these administrative tribunals, the central issue is natural justice … the right to be heard," said Savoie.

"Sometimes when people are vulnerable, they don't always know that they have those kinds of rights."

As of 2009, a legislation added to the New Brunswick Law Society Act allows law students at UNB or the University of Moncton to practise law under faculty supervision.

Legal aid doesn't provide assistance for civil matters except for some aspects of family law, such as child protection and filing for divorce.

Hands-on experience

Robyn Forbes, in her final year of law school, said this will "give us a better understanding when we are out there in our own practice."


Law student Ana Mihajlovic said law school is often a lot of writing papers, reading textbooks and reviewing cases with not too much hands-on experience

"It will just be really good to sort of get that one-on-one experience with someone who has worked in this field for a very long time," she said.

An underrepresented population

Forbes said low-income individuals are underrepresented and simply don't have access to legal services without free programs like the clinic, citing the example of low-income students moving to Fredericton for the first time.

She said since laws relating to tenancy vary by province, this can leave landlords with the upper hand.

"This can lead to situations where [students are] taken advantage of," she said.

Forbes said when legal services are not available to those without financial means, they may be stuck navigating the legal system by themselves.

"If you have somebody such as a lawyer or a student who can act as guides under their instruction, then it just makes it a little bit easier," she said.

Mihajlovic said the clinic will provide an important service to the community, focusing on housing issues such as rent increases, renovictions and housing insecurity.

Savoie said this program will hopefully fill some of the gaps not covered by legal aid.

She said the clinic has a financial means tests for potential clients, similar to the test used by legal aid, but slightly more lenient since the clinic doesn't take fees from clients.

She said most people on income assistance, pension, minimum wage or people with no income at all will likely qualify for the clinic's services.

A stigma-free hub

The law clinic is currently being set up in the Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre on King Street.

Savoie said this spot already serves as a training location for nursing students and social work students and now UNB Law will be joining the experiential hub.

She said it's a good location because people who are marginalized already use services offered there.

"This is already comfortable for the clients, they're used to coming here," said Savoie. "So we're just another service that's going to be provided."

UNB assistant prof helps study ways to detect alien life

How can extraterrestrial life be identified if it looks nothing like organisms on earth?

An illustration of our Solar System© NASA

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has funded a project to find an answer to that question. And Allison Enright, an assistant professor of environmental geochemistry at the University of New Brunswick, has been part of the team helping to do that.

"Examples of that would be things like looking for DNA," Enright said. "We don't know that DNA would evolve the same way on another planet. So rather than look chemically for the structure of DNA or something similar, we might look for energetic bio signatures."

"Or we might look for evidence of the existence of cells, but not based on the chemistry or the structure that we would expect to observe on earth."

Enright spent the summer as a visiting scholar at Harvard University working on the project, which falls within the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Astrobiology Research (ICAR). ICAR supports NASA's astrobiology program, which examines the distribution, evolution and origins of life in the universe.

She worked with a small team of researchers studying electrochemistry at Harvard. But a professor at Georgetown University is leading the five-year project, which also includes work from 50 to 100 scientists at other universities.

Despite the potentially far-reaching aim of the project, its work will also be useful on this planet.

"Just because this particular project is really exciting, and we're thinking about life outside of Earth, it's not just an investment in an idea that doesn't benefit people," Enright said.

She said her work can help with wastewater management or environmental monitoring on this planet.


The large five year project should be wrapping up in the coming months, she said. But timelines were delayed by the pandemic and as she's not the project leader, Enright couldn't say for certain when it will end.

All life has energy

One thing that unites every living thing on earth is the "process of having to take in energy from the environment, and then harness it to fulfill some kind of purpose or function and then release waste products," Enright said.

She said this is likely the case for organisms on other planets as well.

"What would be a life process if there was no conversion of energy? Life is energy."

So the team looked to detect evidence of biological energy transfers that take place through electron and ion interactions. The energy transfer can be used as a biosignature – meaning evidence of past or present life.

The team also experimented with conditions that might be found on other planets. They were able to identify patterns in how bacteria organize under specific chemical conditions, conditions that humans could seek out on other planets.

"So by looking at environments that we could find with the technology and instruments we have, and then knowing what evidence to look for once we get there," Enright said. "We're sort of narrowing down into what would be a proof positive or a good life detection."

The thrill of working on a project for NASA

Enright said that a project of this size fosters a powerful and collaborative atmosphere for scientists.

'When you have projects that are of this magnitude…and you have lots of different contributors with different expertise, it creates an environment where you can be more innovative just because you have so many people with this similar shared goal," she said.

She said that the chance to work on something like this is a full-circle moment for many scientists.

"I think a lot of us end up becoming scientists, because we're interested in science fiction, maybe as children or earlier in our career. And coming even into labs and onto research teams where we get to sort of explore these ideas can be really exciting."

Satellite 'trains' are lighting up B.C. skies but astronomers say they're bad for research

Winston Szeto - CBC - Sunday

It was an unusually starry night in Kitimat, B.C., Tuesday when Lois Godfrey saw a trail of light move through the sky.

Godfrey spotted the star-like object around 9:15 p.m. while on a walk with her husband — one of more than 40 they saw that night, moving eastward in a straight line, she says.

"I happened to look up as we turned the corner into the dark space, and noticed a string of lights like little pearls dancing across the sky," she said.

"You couldn't miss them."

Godfrey is one of many in B.C. who have seen trains of satellites being launched into space by SpaceX, the California-based spacecraft manufacturer founded by Elon Musk in 2002.

During the first two years of the project, residents of Eastern Canada — in places such as Newfoundland, Ontario and New Brunswick — observed the satellites above them.

More recently they've been spotted in B.C., with sightings from Vancouver Island to northern B.C., according to a website that tracks their visibility.

Since 2019, SpaceX has launched more than 3,000 communications satellites into orbit for its Starlink network, at an altitude of about 550 kilometres, to provide internet services to remote and rural areas around the world.

Traditional telecommunications satellites generally orbit more than 20,000 kilometres above earth, but Starlink's are lower in order to reduce network latency and delays.

Last weekend, the company launched 34 Starlink satellites from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to its website. SpaceX says it plans to launch an additional 40,000 satellites in upcoming years.

Concerns for the night sky

But the increase in low-orbit satellites has prompted concerns from astronomers the world over who note the bright objects make it more difficult for people to observe other objects in the sky, including stars and distant planets.

Malhar Kendurkar, president of the Prince George Astronomical Society, says one of his key worries is that the satellites could interfere with astronomers' ability to see other near-earth objects such as asteroids, which could pose a risk should they collide with the planet.



On Sept. 10, SpaceX launched 34 Starlink satellites into orbit 

from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.© SpaceX

In 2013, for example, a meteor over Russia injured more than 1,000 people as it exploded over western Siberia.

Kendurkar said that although the probability of such events is "quite low," it is still crucial to be able to spot such objects before they enter our planet's atmosphere.

The Paris-based International Astronomical Union (IAU) has expressed similar concerns. In 2019, the union said in a statement that satellite constellations built with highly reflective metals "can be detrimental to the sensitive capabilities of large ground-based astronomical telescopes."

Earlier this year, the IAU announced the formation of the Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference.

Their goal is to push for the regulation of the number of satellites private companies can launch over the earth in an effort to preserve people's ability to see the night sky.

There are also worries about collisions and pileups, resulting in the satellites crashing to earth.

In February, several Starlink satellites re-entered the atmosphere after being struck by a solar storm.

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SpaceX appeals U.S. FCC rejection of rural broadband subsidies

By Joey Roulette - Sept 9

An exterior of the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne© Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -SpaceX on Friday challenged the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) decision to deny the space company's satellite internet unit $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies, calling the move "flawed" and "grossly unfair," in a regulatory filing.

The FCC last month turned down applications from billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX and LTD Broadband for funds that had been tentatively awarded in 2020 under the commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a multibillion dollar program in which SpaceX was poised to receive $885.5 million to beam satellite internet to U.S. regions with little to no internet connections.

"The decision appears to have been rendered in service to a clear bias towards fiber, rather than a merits-based decision to actually connect unserved Americans," SpaceX's senior director of satellite policy, David Goldman, wrote in a scathing appeal filed Friday evening.

The FCC declined to comment.

SpaceX's Starlink, a fast-growing network of more than 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit, has tens of thousands of users in the U.S. so far, with consumers paying at least $599 for a user terminal and $110 a month for service.

Announcing the rejection in August, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Starlink's technology "has real promise" but that it could not meet the program's requirements, citing data that showed a steady decline in speeds over the past year and casting the service's price as too steep for consumers.
SpaceX under the program had sought to provide 100/20 Mbps service to 642,925 locations in 35 states. The company in its appeal said the FCC erroneously evaluated Starlink's performance.

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr in a statement last month opposed the FCC's decision and slammed the agency for rejecting the funds without a full commission vote.

"To be clear, this is a decision that tells families in states across the country that they should just keep waiting on the wrong side of the digital divide even though we have the technology to improve their lives now," Carr said.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Additional reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Aurora Ellis)

AIMCo CEO says execs who force employees back to the office are 'tone-deaf'



CALGARY — The CEO of one of Canada's largest institutional investors didn't mince words Thursday when speaking about the recent push by some corporate leaders to order employees back to the office full-time.



"I’m amazed at, frankly, how many tone-deaf, white male CEOs are saying, 'you must come back to the office.' I think they’re asking for fights with their employees," said Evan Siddall, head of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) and a former CEO of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

"I think there's been a relatively permanent shift."

Siddall made the comments Wednesday during an interview in Calgary, where he was attending the grand opening of AIMCo's new office in that city.

AIMCo — which is responsible for the investments of pension, endowment and government funds in Alberta, with $163.8 billion of assets under management as of the end of last year — has approximately 600 employees spread across offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, London, U.K., and Luxembourg.

Since the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, those employees have been able to decide within their individual teams how often they want to come into the physical office — with the company suggesting that two days a week be the "starting place" for that conversation, but no firm rules to that effect.

“Our philosophy at AIMCo is we’re all adults," Siddall said. "Where you do this work doesn’t matter. There’s some orthodoxies around culture, where people say, ‘you can only preserve a culture if people are in the office full-time.' I just don’t agree with that.”

For Canada's white-collar workers and employers, the pandemic was a years-long experiment in flexible, remote work.

This September has pitted some bosses and workers against each other with a renewed push by some companies to get employees back into office buildings.

And instead of the voluntary return-to-office guidelines that were a feature of earlier points in the pandemic, many employers are now mandating office attendance through corporate policies.

Those policies don't make sense at a time when companies are still struggling with ongoing labour shortages, high turnover rates and the much-talked-about "quiet quitting" phenomenon, Siddall said.

"Incidentally, our turnover – it’s higher than it’s been because of COVID — but we’re outperforming our peers because we’ve got a different offering for employees. And so they’re staying,” he said.

“We think it’s made us an employer of choice actually, and it’s enabled us to recruit some terrific people that we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to recruit.”

Siddall said he's keenly aware that different demographics have different needs and preferences about where they do their work. Immigrant and culturally diverse populations, for example, have a greater tendency to have elderly family members aging in place within their homes, while young families face particular challenges related to child care.

"Large family units, or if you’ve got aging parents, or young children ... it’s a different kind of lifestyle, and now we can welcome those people and expand our talent pool,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2022.

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Habitat restoration shifts predator-prey dynamics of Alberta's caribou and wolves, study says


New Alberta research suggests that the restoration of habitat may improve at-risk caribou populations.

Alberta's Caribou Monitoring Unit has released new research suggesting that the restoration of habitat may improve caribou populations.© Andrew Kurjata/CBC

Katarina Szulc - CBC -Thursday, 15/09/22

The study by the caribou monitoring unit of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute looked at restoration efforts on human-made "linear features" in boreal forests and whether that work deters predators from hunting woodland caribou.

These linear features — like seismic lines, pipelines and roads used to access oil and gas reserves — act as highways for wolves to prey on caribou, the unit says.

Melanie Dickie, the unit's research co-ordinator, said revegetating these areas is key to restoring natural predator-prey dynamics.

"These restoration treatments are designed to re-establish the forest cover over the long term, but they also create obstacles which may slow down predators, which could lead to reduced predation on caribou," Dickie said.

The study set up cameras to look at whether revegetated areas would slow down both wolves and caribou. The results showed the restoration slowed down the speed of wolves by 23 per cent and of caribou by about 40 per cent, Dickie said.

"Slowing both the predators and their prey is then expected to reduce the encounter rates. If you're moving around your environment less, you're less likely to encounter somebody else," she said.

The data was collected over a three- to four-year period, comparing restored areas with areas that had not been revegetated.

Carolyn Campbell, conservation director with the Alberta Wilderness Association, said the institute's work is encouraging but said more research is needed.

"There needs to be more and longer term research and a larger sample size," Campbell said. "But meanwhile it seems as though this should continue."

Campbell added since it takes years for the area to revegetate, it is important to continue treating the areas for long-term effects.

A 2019 University of British Columbia study published in the journal Biological Conservation showed that most predators and prey used the restored seismic lines about as much as they used the unrestored lines.

Campbell said in spite of this, restoring the original state of Alberta's boreal forests over time will force the natural dynamic between wolves and caribou to return.

"We really need to keep studying, and I think, keep taking actions to reduce that overall disturbance so that we're sure we're doing the right things, not just for caribou, but because they indicate good habitat conditions for other sensitive wildlife."

INVISIBLE 
Worker was dead in Belk department store bathroom for 4 days

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A 63-year-old worker died in the public bathroom of a South Carolina department store, but her body was not discovered for four days, authorities said.

Bessie Durham, a janitor at the Belk at Columbiana Centre, was found dead Monday in a bathroom stall, Columbia police said. Her cleaning cart was outside the restroom.

Durham was last seen Thursday at work and her body was found shortly after her family filed a missing person report, Columbia Deputy Police Chief Melron Kelly, told WIS-TV.

The Lexington County Coroner's Office said there are no signs someone killed Durham or that she was using drugs. An autopsy is planned to determine her cause of death.

The store was open regularly over those four days and Kelly said police are investigating to see if anyone was negligent.

“We’re still working with the store to find out what their process is to closing down the store, inspecting the store and things of that nature,” Kelly said.

Belk didn't return an email seeking comment.

IN OUR CRAFT AS JANITORS/CUSTODIANS, WE KNOW WE ARE INVISIBLE WORKERS

Researchers dive for kelp in the Arctic

Chantal Dubuc - CBC - Monday

Divers are wrapping up an expedition in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, after weeks of studying seaweed biodiversity.

It's an area that's been rarely studied.

Over the past few weeks, researchers have been working to track and understand what effect climate change is having on seaweed along the coastal waters of Canada's Western Arctic. They also hoped to map and study the ecology of Arctic kelp forests in the area.

Dr. Amanda Savoie, who is leading the project, spoke with CBC a couple weeks into the trip.

"There's kind of an idea that there's not really any kelp forests around here and there's not as much seaweed. And so we're kind of looking to see if that's true," Savoie said.

Savoie is a research scientist with the museum of Nature in Ottawa and the director for The Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration.

Ocean temperatures play a big role in where seaweed grows around the world, Savoie said. As waters warm, the distribution of different seaweed species changes. The Arctic and Antarctic are expected to be the most negatively affected by this, as once those waters warm there will be nowhere colder for seaweed to go.

"We know that the species composition will change and Arctic kelps will have nowhere else to go when the water gets too warm. But other kelps will move up from the South," Savoie explained.

"We're really trying to just figure out what's going on right now so that if things change in the future, we'll have a baseline to look back to for this area."

Mapping an underwater forest

Joining her as part of the research program is a team of scientists affiliated with the ArcticNet-funded project ArcticKelp along with Laval University and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. So far, the ArcticKelp project has studied and mapped kelp forests in the Eastern Arctic and this partnership will extend the knowledge to the Western Arctic.

Savoie visited Cambridge Bay this spring to meet with community members and the local Hunters and Trappers Organization, where she learned that some in the community are interested in seaweeds as a food source. She said local knowledge has been crucial to finding diving sites.

"We have a local guide who's been taking us out scuba diving on his boat and without him this study wouldn't be happening. He's so important to our work," she said.



John Lyall Jr., from Cambridge Bay, has been showing researchers

 good diving spots.© Matisse Harvey/Radio-Canada

"I think people are interested to know what we find in the marine environment in general around Cambridge Bay — if there is potential for harvesting kelp in this area."

Because tides are smaller there, researchers need to scuba dive to access the seaweed.

"We actually brought some kelp to the elders for them to try … and they loved it. That was a really cool experience," Savoie said.

John Lyall Jr., their guide in Cambridge Bay, regularly guides tourists and divers on the water.

He said it creates an exchange of knowledge — he helps them, and in turn he sometimes finds new spots for diving or learns more about the land.

"It's really cool," he said. "I'm just happy they're involving us regular people [as] guides."

A 'baseline' for future Arctic kelp research

There are an estimated 175 species of seaweed known in the Canadian Arctic. The most recent taxonomic survey dates back more than four decades from the work of museum researcher R.K.S. Lee. The Arctic specimens collected from Lee's work from the 1960s and 70s number in the hundreds and are curated in the museum's National Herbarium of Canada in Gatineau, Que.

Savoie and her colleagues hope to add to that collection and will be collecting and identifying seaweed species along with DNA data.


Amanda Savoie is leading a research project in Cambridge Bay to study Arctic seaweed.

© Matisse Harvey/Radio-Canada

"I'm going to be sequencing things that I collect back at the museum to compare their DNA essentially to other seed collections from the Arctic and from the Atlantic and Pacific," she said.

Savoie said there is evidence of kelp but scientists have yet to observe an actual kelp forest. These habitats are like tropical rainforests — hotspots for biodiversity, hosting other seaweeds and providing food and shelter for fish and invertebrates.

"We have found kelp, which is really exciting. So there is definitely kelp around here."

The multi-year program began in August and wraps up on Tuesday. Savoie said she hopes to return next year.

"With this baseline, we'll be able to compare and see the change. We don't know what the Arctic's going to look like in 20 or 30 years, and I think it could be quite different than what we're seeing now."