Agency Name: | Polar Knowledge Canada |
Type: | Departmental corporation |
Nativename: | French: Savoir polaire Canada |
Jurisdiction: | Canada |
Employees: | ~90[1] |
Headquarters: | Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada |
Minister1 Name: | Hon. Dan Vandal |
Minister1 Pfo: | Minister of Northern Affairs |
Chief1 Name: | Jennifer C. Hubbard |
Chief1 Position: | President and CEO |
Parent Department: | Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada |
Formed: | June 1, 2015 September 9, 1991 (historic) |
Polar Knowledge Canada is a departmental corporation of the Government of Canada under the Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) portfolio.
It is responsible for monitoring, promoting, and disseminating knowledge of the polar regions (both Arctic and Antarctic), contributing to public awareness of the importance of polar science to Canada, enhancing Canada's international profile as a circumpolar nation, and recommending polar science policy direction to government.
The organization was established when the former Canadian Polar Commission, formed in 1991, and the Arctic Science and Technology Directorate within CIRNAC that is responsible for Canadian High Arctic Research Station was merged into one unit on June 1, 2015.[2] Its main office is at the Canadian High Arctic Research Station in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, which opened in August 2019.[3]