Dr. Ian Mauro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Winnipeg. He holds a BSc in Environmental Science and PhD in Geography, from University of Manitoba, and was a SSHRC Postdoctoral fellow in Ethnoecology at the University of Victoria. He previously held a Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Environmental Change at Mount Allison University.
As both a community-based researcher and filmmaker, Mauro works at the interface between the social and ecological sciences, and is a pioneer of multi-media methodologies, scholarship and education. He uses participatory video to collect, communicate and conserve local and indigenous knowledge, an approach that allows people who live on the land to tell their own stories, in their own language, and within the landscapes where their knowledge has been generated. He was awarded an “Apple Distinguished Educator” award for his approach in 2011.
His films - focused on genetically modified crops, sustainable agriculture and climate change - have been translated into numerous languages and screened globally at academic conferences, film festivals and venues such as the United Nations, Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic and the Royal Ontario Museum. He co-directed the influential Inuktitut language documentary Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change (www.isuma.tv/ikcc) with acclaimed Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk and they continue to collaborate on a project focused on industrial development in the Canadian Arctic. Mauro’s most recent research documentary, Climate Change in Atlantic Canada (www.climatechangeatlantic.com), was toured across the region with Dr. David Suzuki.
Mauro has spent over a decade living with Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic, hunting and eating country foods, and learning to speak Inuktitut. His ongoing research in the Arctic, Atlantic and Prairie regions of Canada endeavours to help us better listen to the language of the land, and offer the world strategies for healthy human interaction with the biosphere.
Dr. Mauro can be contacted at: i.mauro@uwinnipeg.caSee more
In 2012, the National Council of Aboriginal Midwives was invited into five Aboriginal communites that expressed interest in bringing birth services closer to home.
In 2012, the National Aborignal Council of Midwives travelled to five communities across Canada. Each community developed their own vision for materntity care services and the return of birth to their land.
In 2012, the National Aborignal Council of Midwives was invited into five communities across Canada to speak about birth, past and present, the return of birth and what that would mean to Aboringal cultures, health, and nationhood.
Ian Mauro is a forthcoming Canada Research Chair in "human dimensions of environmental change" at Mount Allison University, in New Brunswick. He is both a researcher and filmmaker, with a PhD in environmental science, and his work focuses on hunter, farmer and fisher knowledge regarding environmental change, specifically issues related to food security and global warming.… Read more
Book screenings, rent or buy copies of Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change from our distributor Vtape. Contact Wanda at +1.416.351.1317 or email wandav@vtape.org.
Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change had its world premiere October 23, 2010, at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto. The complete film also streamed online simultaneously watched by more than 1500 viewers around the world. Following the film, a Q&A with filmmakers Zacharias Kunuk and Dr.… Read more
Additional Voices on Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change are being uploaded every day to the channel http://www.isuma.tv/ikcc/voices. Some in Inuktitut, others in English.
More discussion about Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change, other related human rights issues, see also IKCC at www.isuma.tv/ikcc
The National Aboriginal Council of Midwives exists to promote excellence in reproductive health care for Inuit, First Nations, and Métis women. We advocate for the restoration of midwifery education, the provision of midwifery services, and choice of birthplace for all Aboriginal communities consistent with the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.… Read more
The Arctic is warming double the global average, decreasing sea ice, making it easier to access and extract mineral and oil resources from the region, and this cumulative climatic and economic change has significant human and environmental health implications for Inuit and their communities.… Read more
The ice is not that solid anymore and it's no longer good for spring camping. We can't get to our spring fishing place anymore. The ice wants to breakup sooner.
Teaching how to live well amongst people. If I see any fellow man poor, give them something small, even if it's small. I was told to help others with food. I was told to watch the sky, but I never learned anything. But I tried to use the teaching and predict the weather when I have to go hunting.
Peter Kanayuk from Pangnirtung speaks about his childhood and hunting bears. "The most enjoyable, my favorite hunt, is the polar bear. You have a different feeling when you're after the bear. It's fierce and you're feeling happy. Not every day you catch a bear. Those were my favorite times."
We weren't supposed to make fun of animals because they are our only food. Even insects. We weren't supposed to have make fun of them. I don't know about mosquitoes. There were strict rules regarding animals. If you're not going to kill them for food, don't bother them.
There used to be a lot of mosquitoes and it was warm.
Therese Mattaq of Pond Inlet speaks about Inuit teaching: "They wanted me to know the environment. They wanted to me to know the stars. Things that are not made by Inuit but made by things we do not know. God made them from the beginning. That was our teaching."
Abraham Ulayuruluk of Igloolik speaks about changes in polar bear behaviour. "In the past, polar bears weren't around that much. Once in a while, they would come from the floating ice, and we would catch them. Back then, in summer time, when someone got a bear, they were all healthy and fat.… Read more
Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change - Interview with Deborah Qaunaq.
I think sometimes our earth has tilted. When the fall comes and ice should be forming, it doesn't happen right away. In the spring, when it should be melting, it stays cooler. It now seems to stay cooler longer than in the past.
Ian Mauro's interview with John Ralston Saul, internationally acclaimed writer, about aboriginal philosophy and the importance of indigenous knowledge in a changing world. This conversation took place in Iqaluit, Nunavut, in the spring of 2009.