The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario have extended their partnership agreement for the next ten years.
According to a GNWT news release, the university and the territorial government have been working together for the past decade bringing research expertise and training opportunities to the NWT.
The partnership has also deepened community connections and research opportunities for Laurier scholars.
“The collaboration between Laurier and the Government of the Northwest Territories has resulted in more benefits than any of us envisioned when we began our partnership in 2010,” said Laurier president and vice chancellor Deborah MacLatchy. “Together, we have broken new ground in research important to Canada and the planet, trained many students and research associates and built state-of-the-art infrastructure that will facilitate research for years to come. Continuing our partnership will enable us to deepen our understanding of the challenges facing Canada’s North.”
The first ten years of the partnership saw Laurier opening a research office in downtown Yellowknife to establish a year-round presence, training more than 280 undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, some of whom have stayed to work in the Northwest Territories, leading projects in the NWT involving over 15 different universities across Canada and attracting $33.5 million in external research funding.
“The GNWT-Laurier Partnership is a prime example of how researchers and the public service can work together to advance research priorities that respond directly to the needs, concerns and questions of northerners,” said GNWT Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Robert C. McLeod. “By collaborating as learning partners, the GNWT and Laurier have fostered significant advancements in monitoring and research that ensure we are able to make decisions based on the best available scientific, local and traditional knowledge for the people of the Northwest Territories.”
That partnership will continue for another 10 years, with a recently signed 2020-2030 partnership agreement.
