UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
School of Environment
and Sustainability
USASK.CA/SENS
TALKING SENSe
Winter Term 2016
Delta Days Brings Shared Experiences
For some, it was an occasion to talk and to
contribute. For others, it was a time to ask
some hard questions.
For Alice Martin of Fort Chipewyan,
Alberta, Delta Days was a time of hope and
opportunity.
ancestors, lives in a territory called Big Eddy
located within the Saskatchewan River
Delta. The flows released from the nearby
E.B. Campbell Dam can greatly affect the
ecosystems. The changing levels also impact
the number of animals he is able to catch, he
says.
“It will be a miracle if we can bring the water
back, but at the same time, we want to be
positive, and we have the youth here and our
teachings from our grandparents, ancestors
and forefathers to lead by example,” she said.
“It would be nice if we could have more of
a constant flow coming out of there at the
right times. It seems like they are not finding
that balance of giving the river its water at
the right time,” he said.
Delta Days, a three day workshop which took
place in April, saw people coming from inland freshwater deltas: the Peace-Athabasca
Delta (Alberta), Saskatchewan River Delta
(Saskatchewan/Manitoba) and the Slave
River Delta (Northwest Territories) to share
their common experiences.
The flow of water that gives life to the
Saskatchewan River Delta also appears to be
gradually diminishing, says Carriere.
These deltas are some of the country’s
most important wetlands. The marshes
surrounding these areas form one of most
biologically diverse places in Canada, with
the flows feeding a collection of plants,
animals and birds. A source of unparalleled
natural beauty, these areas also provide
a traditional livelihood for many of the
residents of the deltas.
Sadly, it’s a livelihood that is changing for
many of those residents.
Solomon Carriere, a trapper who still carries
on many of the traditional practices of his
“It is going to be really challenging in the
future to try and maintain water in the deltas
because we know we need water and it’s a
pretty important thing,” he said.
Graham Strickert, research associate with the
Global Institute for Water Security, was on
hand at the event to speak to the research
that is being conducted at the Saskatchewan
River Delta.
“The decline in productivity is obvious. We
have to isolate the main causes from the
myriad of influences: changing water flows,
declines in water quality, warming climate,
pressure from harvesting, invasive species,
and others, so that we identify ways we can
improve the health and productivity of these
important ecosystems and the people who
depend on them,” he said.
In addition to the lively discussions and a
film screening, the participants of Delta
Days also created a traveling exhibit, which
involved the university’s drama and art
departments as well as the youths of the
deltas.
“We want to bring the traditional and
scientific knowledge back the communities
using this display,” said Strickert.
“We want to enable the communities to
refine this display and then take it to the
decision-makers in the provinces and
territories and in Ottawa.”
Highlighting the changes of these wetlands,
many of the residents who attended Delta
Days say they left with a sense of positivity.
“When you come into these gatherings and
you see other people who are of the same
mind and who still practice these ways of life
… it’s encouraging,” said Martin.
“It gives us hope that finally, after all these
years with all of the knowledge that’s within
this room by the researchers and by the
people of the land, that maybe we can start
something for the future.”
Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016 2
IN THIS ISSUE
1 - Delta Days Brings Shared
Experiences
Delta Days, continued
3 - Executive Director’s Message
4 - SENS Profiles
6 - SENS Symposium 2016
7 - Arctic Communities Address PolarBear Human Conflicts
8 - World Water Day
9 - Opening Eyes Through New
Observational Method
10 - President Stoicheff’s Visit
10 - Award-Winning Faculty
On the cover: The participants of Delta
Days gather around the travelling exhibit.
School of Environment and Sustainability
University of Saskatchewan
Kirk Hall, Room 323
117 Science Place
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5C8
Executive Director
Toddi Steelman, PhD
Newsletter
Sharla Daviduik, MRM
Administrative Officer
Chris Morin, BA
Communications Specialist
Henry Glazebrook, BA
Communications Coordinator
Please submit comments to
sens.info@usask.ca
Delta Days gave SENS faculty and students the opportunity to meet with people living in the Peace-Athabasca
Delta, the Saskatchewan River Delta, and the Slave River Delta. From top: SENS PhD student Prabin Rokaya
contributes to the travelling exhibit; Alice Martin of Fort Chipewyan speaks during the Delta Days seminar
“Opportunities and challenges for working with traditional knowledge and science,” and SENS Assistant Professor
Tim Jardine and Solomon Carriere from the Saskatchewan River Delta speak during the same seminar.
3 Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016
Executive Director’s Message
At our Third Annual SENS Symposium, on
March 18 this year, we celebrated nearly 50
students from our Master of Sustainable Environmental Management, Master of Environment and Sustainability, and PhD programs
presenting their research on topics ranging
from water quality modelling to boreal forest
growth dynamics to food security to environmental governance. Dr. John Parkins, from the
University of Alberta, also delivered a provocative talk entitled “Energy Transition in Canada:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Energy
Development Alternatives.”
I love Symposium Day—almost as much as
I love Graduation Day. I love it because it
offers a time for us to reflect on what we do
and why we do it. One of the great privileges
associated with being involved in higher
education is that I think we all want to create a
good world—one that is better, and certainly
not worse, than the one we entered. I think
that this is one of the common motivating
impulses for all of us in SENS, because we are
interested in the environment and sustainability.
We live in trying times: climate change, terrorism, refugee crises, the spectre of Donald
Trump becoming US president. I take heart in
knowing that we strive to be part of the solution. And we should feel good about that.
We, and by that, I mean you—our students,
staff and faculty—are engaged in problemoriented, interdisciplinary, community-based
work. Your work has impact. We are on the
cutting edge of practicing transdisciplinary
sustainability science. Whether you are
working with finding future water solutions,
with First Nations or Métis peoples, preserving biodiversity, creating new solutions to
toxicological challenges—we are on the front
lines working to create resilience in a world
changing before our eyes.
The symposium is a chance for us to celebrate
your work, and for you to share your passion
about your research. There are probably some
days where you are ground down, exhausted,
questioning your decision to come back to
school and wondering if you are going to get
out of here alive. But Symposium Day is not
one of those days!
Congratulations to all of the students who
presented, and to our faculty and staff who
worked to make Symposium Day a reality.
The work that you are doing truly does help
to create solutions to make this world a better
place.
Toddi Steelman, PhD
Executive Director
It’s not every day that an astronaut
visits! Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt’s lab
group met with Canadian astronaut
David Saint-Jacques in February. The
team is conducting research using
the satellite RADARSAT-2, which
monitors river ice from space. From
left: Associate Professor Karl-Erich
Lindenschmidt, PhD student Fan
Zhang, Astronaut David Saint-Jacques,
PhD student Hammad Javid, PhD
student Prabin Rokaya, and Postdoctoral Fellow Thuan Chu. Learn
more at http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/
eng/blog/2016/02/09/a-new-watermanagement-program-usingradarsat-2.asp.
Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016 4
Student Profile: Maciej Stetkiewicz, MSEM Program
Research interests: Hydrologic systems in cold
climates and how they are responding to climate
change. My current research is looking at how the
frequency of ice-jam induced flood events may be
changing over time due to climate change in the
Peace River Basin.
Most significant achievement: I rank returning to
school to complete a MSEM as a high achievement. I
was in a pretty comfortable spot career-wise. I was in a
field that interested me and there was plenty of room
for moving up. It wasn’t an easy decision to uproot
and return to school, but I did and it is paying off. I feel
I have increased my capacity and broadened my perspective on sustainability and look forward to seeing
where it leads me.
Favourite music: Everything! I really appreciate diversity in music. If I had to choose, I listen to mostly indie
and hip hop with some blues, jazz and bluegrass on
occasion (sorry, this is a cliché and/or boring answer).
Influences: I have been very influenced by my friends
and family. They are the most important people in my
life and their influence is what has led me to where
I am.
What impact do you hope your research will
have? Being from the Yukon, it is easy to see how
important river systems are in the north. I hope my
research will help increase our understanding of
how hydrologic systems are changing in response to
climate change and what impact this will have on us
and the environment. I hope to return to the Yukon
and be part of the research and work that is being
done there to ensure the river systems are around
and healthy for future generations.
How do you define sustainability? There are three
main components often included in definitions of
sustainability: The environment as well as the social
and economic wellbeing of the residents. For me,
sustainability means recognizing that they are part of
the same system and and shouldn’t be treated separately. This means different things for different places
but keeping this in mind helps guide my perception
and decision-making.
Maciej’s MSEM project
concerns climate change and
its possible effect on ice-jam
induced floods in the Peace
River Basin.
Faculty Profile: Greg Poelzer, Professor
Place of birth: Edmonton, Alberta
Most significant achievement: Raising two
boys with my wife, Anna.
Favourite music: It depends on what I am doing. For writing: classical (Beethoven, Mozart,
Hayden) and baroque (Pachelbel, Vivaldi); for
sports and training: Rammstein, Metallica,
Nirvana; for chilling: Eric Clapton and George
Harrison.
Influences: My late father and my mother—
no two people have shaped who I am today
more than my parents.
Professor Greg Poelzer joined the SENS
faculty on April 1, 2016. His research interests
encompass comparative politics and policy as
it relates to northern circumpolar regions and
to Aboriginal-state relations, and sustainable
development in the north.
What impact do you hope your research
will have?
My dad often said, “There is always a better
way to a better way.” As university teachers
and scholars of sustainability, our quest—
through our research and scholarly activity—
is to unceasingly look for those better ways:
open constructive debates, discover new
insights, provide tools that enable individuals, communities, and our society to reach
their full potential and at the same time to
provide a platform for the next generation to
achieve more than the last. My hope is that
the research I do contributes to those goals,
particularly as it relates to Northern and Indigenous communities.
How do you define sustainability?
I have always liked the Brundtland definition
as a starting point that “sustainable development is development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.” Sustainability, to me, means, striving to increase the life chances of individuals
and communities today, while creating the
conditions for expanded life chances for future
generations.
5 Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016
Alumni Profile: Allison Henderson, Class of 2014
As a member of SENS’ first student cohort, Allison Henderson has had the opportunity to see SENS grow from ten
students to a hundred, from occupying a few offices in the
Law Building in 2008 to occupying most of the third floor
of Kirk Hall, with faculty and students also housed in the
Toxicology Centre and the Global Institute of Water Security, in 2016. “As SENS’ first PhD student, I took somewhat of
a leap of faith,” she reflects. “I hoped SENS would become
a diverse and renowned centre for high-calibre graduate
education in sustainability science. And it has!”
Allison’s initial academic training was in biology, and she
was working as a field biologist when she became interested in how people relate to nature, and what drives habitat
stewardship at a personal level. When she was ready to
begin her doctoral studies, she wanted to go beyond the
boundaries of her primary discipline, and was seeking a
place where she could incorporate elements of social science research into her dissertation.
In addition to studying the ecological dimensions of conservation of prairie songbirds in southwestern Saskatchewan for her doctorate, Allison met with ranchers and other
stakeholders to determine their attitudes towards conservation. Incorporating the human dimensions of conservation into her research gave Allison an edge when seeking
employment after completing her PhD—not many field
biologists are familiar with social science research methods.
Today, Allison is the Area Wildlife Ecologist for Southeastern
Saskatchewan and the Provincial Deer Manager with the
Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. “The public perceive deer in many different ways,” comments Allison.
Looking back on her time at SENS, Allison remembers the
ten members of the School’s first student cohort as excited,
eager, and ambitious. This is the group that launched
SENSSA, the School’s student association, which continues
to play a critical role in community-building at SENS to this
day. “Because there were so few of us, we were a tight
group who leaned on each other to meet the challenges
of graduate work,” says Allison. “These relationships were
integral to my SENS experience and I still value them today.”
For students and recent graduates seeking employment,
Allison offers this advice: “Be sure to stay connected to
your reasons for pursuing graduate studies in sustainability
when you choose a place of employment. I’ve found the
realities of finding employment can sometimes ask us to
compromise our values. In order to be happy and productive, students need to find work that aligns with their skills
and experience and values and ambitions.”
SENS’ first PhD student and
the first president of SENSSA,
Dr. Allison Henderson is now
the Area Wildlife Ecologist for
Southeastern Saskatchewan and
the Provincial Deer Manager with
the Saskatchewan Ministry of
Environment.
Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016 6
SENS Symposium 2016
SENS students, faculty, and staff came together on March
18, 2016, for the third SENS Symposium. With nearly fifty
students presenting on a diverse array of environment
and sustainability topics, the opportunities to learn and to
celebrate student research were plentiful!
Clockwise from upper right: Dr. John Parkins, University of Alberta,
delivers the keynote address, Energy Transition in Canada: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Energy Development Alternatives; PhD student Sheri Andrews; MSEM student Kwadwo Effah-Donyina; MSEM
student Maciej Stetkiewicz; and, PhD student Bimala Khanal.
7 Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016
Arctic Communities Work Together on Polar BearHuman Conflicts in Hudson Bay
Conflicts between people and polar bears are an ongoing challenge
facing many of Canada’s northern communities. That’s why several
of these residents, including those in Churchill, Manitoba; Arivat,
Chesterfield Inlet, Whale Cove, Nunavut; and Nunavik, Quebec, came
together for a polar bear conflict workshop to share and understand
how they are all facing the same issues.
The three-day Front-Line Operators Workshop, which took place in
Churchill in April, was coordinated by Douglas Clark of SENS, along with
World Wildlife Fund-Canada and Polar Bears International.
This workshop, which engaged northern communities, provincial and
territorial governments, and safety training companies, was the first
regional collaboration across all jurisdictions in order to minimize polar
encounters.
In addition to highlighting prevention and response, the workshop
also represents a growing spirit of collaboration in order to keep both
people and polar bears safe, said Clark.
“Churchill has an active polar bear program along with a patrol and a
bear jail. But many of the folks in Nunavut communities farther north
face many of the same scenarios,” said Clark.
those residents in another.
“One of the people at the workshop described a situation where a bear
had ignored warning shots and noise-makers,” said Clark, who added
that the bear was ultimately shot and killed.
“The people involved in that situation learned about bear spray at the
workshop. Those involved said having access to these tools would likely
help prevent future incidents resulting in a bear being shot.”
It takes a certain amount of skill and experience to prevent and safely
respond to polar bear incidents, said Clark. This is why many who
attended the workshop would like to see approved training and
common standards being adopted by polar bear guards and tour
guides in order to prevent these incidents from happening.
It also helps to create a local business opportunity in a place where
economic opportunities are limited, said Clark.
“There is a lot of local adaption and this was a way for folks to learn the
best lessons from one another.”
What happens between humans and a bear in one location could affect
Attendees at the Front-Line Operators Workshop in Churchill. Photo courtesy WWF-Canada.
Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016 8
World Water Day Highlights U of S Excellence
For Tim Jardine, World Water Day (WWD) was more
than an opportunity to highlight research. It was an
opportunity to raise the profile of the University of
Saskatchewan.
“I think the U of S is rapidly becoming Canada’s hub
for water research, and the day is chance for us to
remind Saskatoon and Saskatchewan of that fact,” he
said.
World Water Day is an annual international
celebration aimed at drawing greater public
attention to Earth’s water issues. This year, the Global
Institute for Water Security marked the occasion by
hosting a day-long event on March 23 spotlighting
the important work being done among its staff,
faculty and students through presentations from
award winners and researchers, a student poster
contest and socializing among members.
Jardine, an assistant professor with SENS, was on
hand to accept the Water Security Excellence Award
and present “Do Rivers Need Floods?” as the event’s
keynote. His work focuses on biological responses
to flooding and outlines some of the similarities
between Australian and Canadian river networks
in this area, which he said are an important aspect
when considering the many broad uses for water in
Saskatchewan’s river systems and beyond.
“It’s hard to argue against using water to grow
food, or generate electricity, or fight fires. Those
are important ways society has harnessed water to
improve our collective lives,” Jardine said. “But it’s
my job to ensure that managers and other scientists
are also aware of these downstream users, including
river-dependent wildlife and people.”
Elvis Asong, co-winner of Best Doctoral Thesis Award
in Water Security Research, took the stage at WWD to
present “Multivariate Multisite Statistical Downscaling
of Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Model
Outputs over the Canadian Prairie Provinces.”
As a young researcher taking early steps into his career, Asong said
that WWD was a great opportunity for himself and others like him to
gain confidence in their chosen direction.
“It is very motivational and acts as a pace setter, both for me as well
as my peers. There is that overall feeling that one can do even greater
things, or that it brings out the hidden talent in you. It is a feeling of
success,” he said.
Most of all, Asong said that the day marked an opportunity for
recognition of water’s importance, and the responsibility that comes
along with humanity’s use of it.
“Recognizing water as the most valuable resource to humankind via
WWD sends a message to the broader community about the need
to do more to sustain water resources,” Asong said. “It is the only day
when people from diverse backgrounds meet and share perspectives
on emerging challenges to water resources globally.”
Above: Assistant Professor Tim Jardine (at left) accepts the Water Security Excellence
Award from Howard Wheater, Director of the Global Institute for Water Security; and,
Elvis Asong, co-winner of the Best Doctoral Thesis Award in Water Security Research,
speaks at the World Water Day event.
9 Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016
Opening Eyes Through New Observational Method
This story originally appeared in On Campus
News. Lalita Bharadwaj holds associate status
with the School of Environment and Sustainability.
Lalita Bharadwaj wants people to view the
world around them with both eyes wide
open.
In her work with the Slave River Watershed
Environmental Effects Program (SWEEP), Bharadwaj, an associate professor in the School
of Public Health, has helped pioneer the idea
of two-eyed seeing in monitoring scientific
activity in nature.
The term, which has been adopted from
Mi’kmaq First Nations Elder Albert Marshall,
refers to the blending of Aboriginal tradition
and Western science to gain a greater depth
of understanding.
“It refers to seeing and learning through one
eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledge and then through the other eye with the
strengths of Western knowledge—blending
those eyes and learning to build a better place
for everyone,” Bharadwaj said.
The SWEEP project is aimed at establishing a
community-based monitoring program for
the Slave River Watershed water system. Led
by principal investigator Paul Jones, associate professor in the School of Environment
and Sustainability, Bharadwaj and other U of
S researchers have been working since 2012
with Salt River and Smith Landing First Nation,
as well as the Northwest Territories Métis Nation, to develop a method that would be both
scientifically thorough and culturally familiar
to those living in the involved regions.
What the team came up with was a system
built on a dual foundation of type one and
type two indicators.
While type two indicators are primarily ideas
most water researchers would be familiar
with, including overall water quality, snow or
ice levels and characteristics of area wildlife,
Bharadwaj said type one indicators were specifically chosen to be easily recognized by the
local community.
“Does the water have spirit? Is the water
utilized for social and cultural activities? Those
would be the
sorts of indicators that would
be utilized,” she
said. Traditional
knowledge
indicators are
based not only
on observations,
Bharadwaj explained, but also
on ethics, values,
management of
resources and
how people use
those resources.
Berries that have
been picked to
exhaustion, for
example, might
be an indicator
that a region is
not as healthy as
expected.
Bharadwaj said
that the partnership with local
communities has
thus far proven
an easy development—one
strengthened by
these populaAssociate Professor Lalita Bharadwaj
tions’ inclination
toward treating the
ecosystems in which
will be stored in info- graphic form, can be
they live with respect and admiration.
used by any number of other teams that set
their sights on the Slave River Watershed.
“It’s really driven out of concern for their ecosystem and their part within that ecosystem,
Though this particular project has honed in
and their dependence on it to survive. As we
on a two-eyed seeing approach, Bharadwaj
know, Indigenous People are really connected emphasized that the concept could be exto the place in which they live and the relapanded to fit other regions.
tionship that they make with the things that
are non-human and non-living,” she said.
“Everyone has their own perspective and
they walk in the world with different eyes.
“They have a really strong sense of place and
The Indigenous eye really represents all
identity with that place. Their culture, tradiIndigenous People and the Western eye really
tions and their whole worldview is really tied
represents all Western perspectives,” she said.
to their place of being“
“Really, you could have a four-eyed-seeing or
ten-eyed-seeing approach depending on the
Now that SWEEP is wrapping up its formal
different people and cultures that are being
research period, the communities it has been
represented.”
working with will be tasked with carrying
forward with monitoring. Their data, which
Talking SENSe | Winter Term 2016 10
President Stoicheff Visits SENS
University of Saskatchewan President Peter Stoicheff visited SENS
on March 8, 2016, to discuss his vision for the University. He also
fielded questions from the faculty, students, staff, and post-doctoral
fellows in attendance. The discussion ranged from the importance
of the University to the province of Saskatchewan, the importance of
exploring and implementing Indigenous knowledge on campus, and
the leading research being done by SENS and its affiliates.
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 27, 2016 - Sustainable Energy
Options for Saskatchewan Conference,
ARTS 241
May 31, 2016 - Spring Convocation
SAVE THE DATE! SENS marks its 10th
birthday in 2017. Celebratory events
will be held on April 1, 2017 ... more
information to come!
CONGRATULATIONS TO
OUR AWARD-WINNING FACULTY
Two SENS faculty recently received awards for their outstanding contributions to research
and education:
Maureen Reed received the YWCA Women of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dr. Reed’s research focuses on the social dimensions of environmental management,
particularly in the areas of forestry and biosphere reserves. Her contributions have
furthered understanding of how humans engage with the natural world. Dr. Reed was also
instrumental in establishing the School of Environment and Sustainability in 2007.
Vladimir Kricsfalusy received an RCE Saskatchewan Education for Sustainable
Development Recognition Award for his work in developing the Master of Sustainable
Environmental Management program. This unique professional Master’s program allows
students to develop applied skills as they complete a sustainability assessment in the field
at the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve and complete a research project in partnership
with a community organization. To date, more than seventy students have graduated from
this program.