A Voice in the Room
For Candice Sudlovenick, science didn't always feel like a space that welcomed her. Growing up in the North, she found her entry point through Ikaarvik — a program designed to connect Inuit youth with researchers and show them that their community's knowledge has a place in the scientific conversation.
Years later, Sudlovenick is now on the other side of that table. As outreach programs manager at SIKU (the Sea Ice Knowledge and Use project), she works to strengthen the very kind of collaboration that shaped her own path.
"I have a voice," she says — and that shift in perspective is exactly what programs like hers are trying to create, one partnership at a time.
What Is SIKU?
SIKU is a digital platform and community initiative that documents sea ice conditions and traditional Inuit knowledge about the Arctic environment. The name itself means "sea ice" in Inuktitut, and the project reflects a core belief: that Inuit have been observing and understanding their environment for generations, and that science is stronger when it listens.
The platform allows community members to contribute observations, photos, and traditional place names — creating a living record of Arctic change that combines lived experience with data collection. It's citizen science with deep cultural roots.
Bridging Two Ways of Knowing
The relationship between Western scientific research and Indigenous traditional knowledge has historically been fraught. Researchers have sometimes extracted information from communities without meaningful consent or reciprocity — a pattern that's left lasting distrust.
Programs like Ikaarvik and SIKU are working to change that dynamic. Rather than positioning traditional knowledge as a supplement to "real" science, they treat it as a distinct and valuable knowledge system in its own right — one that can inform research questions, field methodologies, and how findings get interpreted and shared.
For Arctic and climate research in particular, this matters enormously. Inuit elders and hunters have spent lifetimes reading sea ice, tracking animal behaviour, and observing seasonal patterns. That depth of knowledge is irreplaceable, especially as climate change accelerates changes that scientific instruments are only beginning to capture.
A Model Worth Watching
What's happening in Canada's North offers a template for how research partnerships can be done with more integrity and more impact. It starts with trust-building — showing up consistently, respecting protocols, and making sure communities see real benefit from their participation.
Sudlovenick's story illustrates what's possible when young Inuit people see themselves reflected in science. The goal isn't to turn everyone into a researcher; it's to make sure that when research happens in Inuit territories, Inuit are shaping it — not just subject to it.
As climate change reshapes the Arctic faster than anywhere else on Earth, that kind of collaboration isn't just good ethics. It's good science.
Source: CBC News — Indigenous Science & Technology. Read the original story at CBC.ca.
