Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Northern Governance and Public Policy

Though urbanization and homelessness in circumpolar Arctic communities have both been the focus of recent media and research attention, these two phenomena have only been examined separately, with little attention given to the role of northern social policy and governance, uneven rural-urban geographies, and rural-urban movement in rising visible homelessness in urbanizing Arctic locales. My research as a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Northern Governance and Public Policy addresses this gap by examining the diverse processes and forms of social marginalization in northern communities, and highlights the significance of social policy to the contemporary challenges and opportunities encountered by northern peoples and communities. In particular, it addresses a dearth in the spectrum of northern policy research around the specific role of the changing social welfare state on northern social, cultural and health geographies.

The principal aim of my CRC research program is to understand the social dimensions of Arctic urbanization and homelessness across the Canadian North, Alaska and Greenland. Six interrelated research objectives include: 1) exploration of the roles of social health and social welfare institutions in northern rural-urban relocation; 2) examination of the development of social welfare institutions in each context; 3) promotion of culturally-safe social policy and practice; 4) examination of the social challenges and opportunities of an urban Arctic; 5) development of broader conceptualizations of urbanization and homelessness in Arctic contexts; and, 6) advancement of new methods for community-engaged research.