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Inuit have lived along the shoreline of the frozen Arctic Ocean for centuries. Our wellbeing, culture, and identity are closely tied to safe and dependable ice access. As the ice becomes more unpredictable with a changing climate, Elders and experienced ice users recognize that their accumulated wisdom and experience of safe ice travel—their Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ; a term used to describe Inuit knowledge and values) of sea-ice—must be shared and applied in new ways for the benefit of younger generations. Here we illustrate one such application that enables young Inuit scientists to learn and apply the tools and skills they need to create operational community-scale sea-ice maps (Sikumik Qaujimajjuti, or “tool to know how the ice is”). Our cross-cultural partnership approach—called the Sikumiut-SmartICE model—focuses on developing the skills of young Inuit to create the maps, while non-Indigenous partners provide mentorship, tools, and training. Our novel maps incorporate culturally relevant ice terminology, on-ice monitoring data and observations, and IQ-grounded interpretations of ice features and travel conditions from near-real time optical and radar satellite imagery. The layers of data are integrated into a local GIS, enabling the creation of maps that reflect local and seasonal travel patterns and meet our information needs in information content, extent and frequency. The maps are posted and shared through social media platforms preferred by the community. The maps are a trusted source of travel information because they are made by one of our own, using local language, experience, and IQ. The Sikumik Qaujimajjuti program illustrates the incredible potential of Indigenous self-determination in cryospheric science when the scientific merit of IQ is fully recognized, when Indigenous researchers are able to access technologies and training to apply their IQ, and when non-Indigenous partners mentor and support young Indigenous scientists.

Efforts to date have not advanced Indigenous participation, capacity building and knowledge in Arctic environmental science in Canada because Arctic environmental science has yet to acknowledge, or truly practice decolonizing research. The expanding literature on decolonizing and Indigenous research provides guidance towards these alternative research approaches, but less has been written about how you do this in practice and the potential role for non-Indigenous research partners in supporting Inuit self-determination in research. This paper describes the decolonizing methodology of a non-Indigenous researcher partner and presents a co-developed approach, called the Sikumiut model, for Inuit and non-Indigenous researchers interested in supporting Inuit self-determination. In this model the roles of Inuit and non-Indigenous research partners were redefined, with Inuit governing the research and non-Indigenous research partners training and mentoring Inuit youth to conduct the research themselves. The Sikumiut model shows how having Inuit in decision-making positions ensured Inuit data ownership, accessibility, and control over how their Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is documented, communicated, and respected for its own scientific merit. It examines the benefits and potential to build on the existing research capacity of Inuit youth and describes the guidance and lessons learned from a non-Indigenous researcher in supporting Inuit self-determination in research.

Increased variability in weather and sea ice conditions due to climate change has led to high rates of injury, trauma, and death for Inuit travelling on the sea ice. Contributing to these high rates are the ongoing effects of colonial policies that diminish and disrupt the intergenerational transfer of sea ice Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ). Despite these challenges, place-based experiential IQ continues to be the most important information source for safe travel on the sea ice. This paper presents an Inuit-led, coproduced, cross-cultural research project in which Inuit youth documented and mobilized sea ice IQ in Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet), Nunavut for safe community sea ice travel. We outline the Inuit youth training to facilitate the terminology and participatory mapping workshops and to document this IQ. We also discuss the IQ that was most important to share, and the mapping and artistic methods used to mobilize this IQ into a booklet, maps, and posters. Inuktitut sea ice terms are the foundation to enable youth with the skills to learn about sea ice IQ with experienced hunters. IQ enables Inuit to interpret and synthesize information from weather forecasts, earth observations, and community-based monitoring to apply to local conditions. Seasonal IQ maps of safe and hazardous sea ice conditions provide travel planning information at spatial and temporal scales that supplemental information sources cannot address. The IQ products mobilize preparedness, situational awareness, navigation, and interpretation skills so Inuit youth can become more self-reliant, as access to technology is not always possible once out on the sea ice. Key words: Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit; knowledge mobilization; sea ice travel safety; climate change adaptation; Inuit self-determination in research La fluctuation accrue des conditions meteorologiques et de l'etat de la glace de mer decoulant du changement climatique se traduit par des taux plus eleves de blessures, de traumatismes et de deces chez les Inuits se deplafant sur la glace de mer. A cela s'ajoutent les effets permanents des politiques coloniales qui amenuisent et perturbent le transfert intergenerationnel de l'Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) au sujet de la glace de mer. Malgre ces defis, l'IQ tire de l'experience sur les lieux continue de representer la source d'information la plus importante pour favoriser des deplacements securitaires sur la glace de mer. Cet article presente un projet de recherche interculturel dirige et co-realise par des Inuits dans le cadre duquel de jeunes Inuits ont documente et mobilise l'lQ sur la glace de mer a Mittimatalik (inlet Pond), au Nunavut, en vue de deplacements communautaires securitaires sur la glace de mer. Nous mettons l'accent sur la formation refue par les jeunes Inuits visant a faciliter les ateliers de terminologie et de cartographie participative ainsi qu'a documenter l'IQ en question. Nous discutons egalement de l'IQ le plus important a partager de meme que de la cartographie et des methodes artistiques utilisees pour mobiliser l'IQ dans un cahier, sur des cartes et sur des affiches. Les termes inuktituts propres a la glace de mer servent de fondement pour doter les jeunes des connaissances necessaries pour apprendre l'IQ de la glace de mer avec les chasseurs d'experience. L'IQ permet aux Inuits d'interpreter et de synthetiser l'information en provenance des previsions meteorologiques, des observations de la terre et de la surveillance communautaire afin de l'appliquer aux conditions locales. Les cartes saisonnieres de l'IQ illustrant les conditions securitaires et les conditions dangereuses de la glace de mer fournissent de l'information pour la planification des deplacements a l'echelle spatiale et temporelle que des sources supplementaires ne pourraient fournir. Les produits de l'IQ permettent de mobiliser les competences en preparation, en connaissance de la situation, en navigation et en interpretation pour que les jeunes Inuits puissent devenir plus autonomes, car l'acces a la technologie n'est pas toujours possible lorsqu'ils se trouvent sur la glace de mer. Mots cles : Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit; mobilisation des connaissances; securite des deplacements sur la glace de mer; adaptation au changement climatique; autodetermination des Inuits dans la recherche Traduit pour la revue Arctic par Nicole Giguere. Inuktitut Abstract and Acknowledgement tranlsations by Mishak Allurut, Ikpiarjuk, NU., INTRODUCTION Studies over the past 17 years have shown that climate change is resulting in increasingly dangerous sea ice travel conditions for Inuit (Fox, 2004; Tremblay et al., 2006; Laidler [...]

The IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate (SROCC) highlights with high confidence that declining Arctic sea ice extents and increased ship-based transportation are impacting the livelihoods of Arctic Indigenous peoples. Current IPCC assessments cannot address the local scale impacts and adaptive needs of Arctic Indigenous communities based on the global, top-down model approaches used. Inuit maintain the longest unrecorded climate history of sea ice in Canada, and to support Inuit community needs, a decolonized, Inuit knowledge-based approach was co-developed in the community of Mittimatalik, Nunavut (Canada) to create the Mittimatalik siku asijjipallianinga (sea ice climate atlas) 1997–2019. This paper presents the novel approach used to develop the atlas based on Inuit knowledge, earth observations and Canadian Ice Service (CIS) sea ice charts, and demonstrates its application. The atlas provides an adaptation tool that Mittimatalik can use to share locations of known and changing sea ice conditions to plan for safe sea ice travel. These maps can also be used to support the safety and situational awareness of territorial and national search and rescue partners, often coming from outside the region and having limited knowledge of local sea ice conditions. The atlas demonstrates the scientific merit of Inuit knowledge in environmental assessments for negotiating a proposal to extend the shipping seasons for the nearby Mary River Mine. The timing and rates of sea ice freeze-up (October–December) in Mittimatalik are highly variable. There were no significant trends to indicate that sea ice is freezing up later to support increased shipping opportunities into the fall. The atlas shows that the first 2 weeks of November are critical for landfast ice formation, and icebreaking at this time would compromise the integrity of the sea ice for safe travel, wildlife migration and reproduction into the winter months. There was evidence that sea ice break-up (May–July) and the fracturing of the nearby floe edge have been occurring earlier in the last 10 years (2010–2019). Shipping earlier into the break-up season could accelerate the break-up of an already declining sea ice travel season, that Inuit are struggling to maintain.

Abstract Large‐scale biomonitoring of Arctic coastal marine communities is essential to track temporal changes in ecosystems. Despite the potential of environmental DNA (eDNA) as an innovative coastal biomonitoring tool, important questions remain pertaining to its temporal and spatial variation and how this may affect the evaluation of ecosystem changes over time in hydrodynamic ecosystems. In this study, we used eDNA metabarcoding of coastal water samples in two Canadian Arctic ports to evaluate the potential of eDNA to detect temporal transition in marine coastal communities. We sequenced eDNA from approximately 20 surface water samples collected each month (N ≈ 150 samples) covering the transition period between summer and late fall using four different universal primer pairs (two pairs of COI mitochondrial genes and two pairs of 18S rRNA genes). Our results from both primer pairs highlighted a significant transition from the summer to the fall marine community. We also observed a putative link between eDNA peaks of read abundance and timing for different life stages (e.g., spawning and larvae) of several species with the most abundant sequence reads. As such, our results show that temporal variation must be considered in ensuring comprehensive coastal biomonitoring with eDNA. Although much remains to be investigated about the ecology of eDNA, our results contribute to fundamental knowledge on the origin of eDNA and highlight the importance of considering temporal variation in developing guidance for coastal biomonitoring with this approach.