Wrapping Up Water Safety Research Activities in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut
Posted on
June 24, 2025
Post
Published on June 24, 2025
A year after beginning a research project on drinking water safety in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholar Caroline Duncan, along with her supervisor Dr. Stephanie Gora from the Safe and Sustainable Water Research Group, returned to the community in June 2025 to share the results of their work. Over the past year, Caroline has conducted two water sampling campaigns (with the assistance of youth researchers and team members Audrey Tam and Mohammad Ibraheem) and multiple workshops to better understand and address local water safety challenges.
Their recent visit included one-on-one conversations, a drop-in session to discuss results at the municipal office, a public presentation at the Canadian High Arctic Research Station, and an in depth discussion with the municipal council and key stakeholders. These engagements were vital as Caroline begins to wrap up her project, which focuses on optimizing water safety through participatory system dynamics modelling.
This trip served as a crucial step in returning research findings to the community. It created space to address any concerns about sharing the information more widely and to learn from residents about the changes they believe are needed to improve water safety.
The project has identified a range of drinking water hazards, offering a foundation for developing a water safety plan for Cambridge Bay. This research has provided new insights into water safety issues linked to buildings—an area of risk with limited existing data in Arctic contexts.
Caroline expresses deep gratitude to all the community members who contributed. Whether by participating in workshops or volunteering their homes for testing, their input has been invaluable. The success of this research would not have been possible without the ongoing support and generosity of the people of Cambridge Bay, in particular a few key champions of the project: Mayor - Wayne Gregory, SAO – Jim McEachern and GN-TIN Municipal Works – Madeline Cole.
The water quality results have been submitted for publication and are pending peer review. Meanwhile Caroline will continue to develop the system dynamics model. She is aiming to defend her PhD thesis in November 2025.
"DI Travel Fund made this trip possible for us to communicate our findings back to the community. This was a crucial element for meeting the Ethics and Nunavut Research Licence.We are on the cusp of major change in the Arctic driven by global climate and societal shifts, including increased access to previously frozen areas for resource development, emerging geopolitical conflicts between Arctic nations, and ongoing attempts to address the impacts of colonization on Indigenous communities. The complex interactions of these trends with drinking water safety in the region remain underexplored."
