Dear readers
the organisers of the conference outlined below welcome international participation in person, on-line and by video-conferencing.
Please circulate to interested parties.
Paul Henman
Research Manager
Centre for Research on Social Inclusion
Macquarie University
Sydney
Nunavut @ 5:
The Nunavut Policy Research Symposium
An International Event Celebrating the 5th Anniversary
of the Creation of the Territory of Nunavut and it Government
May 5 - 7, 2004
K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre
and Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens
Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Acadia University is hosting an international symposium, 5 - 7 May 2004, to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the creation of the Territory of Nunavut and its Government.
The Nunavut Policy Research Symposium provides an important 5th Anniversary benchmark occasion for Inuit leaders to gather to consider the achievements, choices, challenges, and priorities in the distinctive, made-in-Nunavut public sector. Equally important, following Nunavut's second territorial election in February 2004, the Symposium provides a timely opportunity to reflect on the next stages of administrative innovation and policy development. The Nunavut Policy Research Symposium follows-up on the Inuit-led roundtable discussions on public sector development initiated at the international Making of Nunavut Conference held at Université Laval in March 2000.
At The Nunavut Policy Research Symposium, Inuit policy-makers and community leaders will drive the agenda and lead the discussion with invited northerners, academics, officials from all levels of government, private sector decision-makers, and community representatives. The Nunavut Policy Research Symposium provides the opportunity for participants to examine the realities and objectives that are shaping the public agenda.
In Canada's newest territory, a new organizational model, integrated policy processes and a culturally-informed innovation system are emerging in the made-in-Nunavut public sector. The creation and evolution of Nunavut provides a new model of governance that is informed by:
* a legacy of traditional knowledge;
* the pre-disposition, by necessity in the Eastern Arctic, towards innovative, adaptive knowledge systems;
* a commitment to decentralization and inclusive decision-making;
* an innate respect for and deliberate recognition of the inter-connectedness of policy issues;
* a long-term decision-making orientation;
* and the significance of a community's cultural compass in an era of globalization.
The Nunavut Policy Research Symposium has been organized to provide a retreat for Inuit participants 1) to lead roundtable discussions about current and emerging policy opportunities and challenges; 2) to identify a culturally-informed policy research agenda; and 3) over the course of the next year, to build a long-term policy research network to support the policy objectives and efforts that are defined by Inuit participants at the Symposium. The two and a half day event will include a focused discussion of policy issues in areas such as education, employment, the environment and economic sustainable development
Situating the gathering at a small campus located in a quiet, rural setting will provide an opportunity to develop an Inuit-defined and -led policy research agenda. The Symposium will inform four to six policy-focused seminars to be held in 2004-2005, with the policy focus of each seminar determined by the May 2004 meetings at Acadia University. Importantly, The Nunavut Policy Research Symposium responds to the Federal 2003 Budget's call for long-term, partnered research initiatives in the service of northern communities.
Citizens, decision makers, and scholars in Canada have identified the need for decision-making systems that identify and address: the needs and interests in our rural and remote communities; the increasing ethnically diverse composition of our citizenry; and the over-lapping socio-political and economic issues that we face in the 21st Century. Pressures for responsive and responsible decision-making are being faced by all governments and indeed, by all complex institutions, including those in the private and voluntary sectors. Changing expectations about community-based organizational behavior require innovative knowledge systems, approaches and models. Consideration of Nunavut's first five years of public sector development provides new patterns of engagement within and between the Territory's diverse stakeholder communities (including multiple ethnic linguistic communities), and vis ŕ vis other governmental actors and private sector interests in Canada and abroad.
The Nunavut Policy Research Symposium will draw on traditional knowledge using state-of-the-art technologies (video- and tele-conferencing) at Acadia University. The sustained, Inuit-led policy dialogue will provide Canadian government officials, private sector decision-makers, cultural, rural and other community leaders, scholars and students, the interested public and the media the opportunity to learn about, contribute to*and take lessons from, one of the most important political achievements in recent Canadian history.
Contact the Organizer:
Dr. Cynthia J. Alexander
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
BAC 221
Acadia University
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Phone: (902) 585 1451
Fax: (902) 585 1070
email: [log in to unmask]
|