Olivia Hee (University of Calgary)

Purpose

This project will strengthen community-based wildlife health surveillance for caribou and muskoxen in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut by expanding monitoring, improving data sharing, and increasing northern training opportunities. Led through partnerships among northern communities, Indigenous organizations, governments, and researchers, the project combines Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western science to better understand wildlife health threats, support conservation and public health decisions, and enhance food security and sovereignty. By maintaining a northern research hub in Yellowknife and growing surveillance efforts into new regions, the project will build local capacity and improve long-term monitoring of Arctic wildlife health.