Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier to speak at Laurier’s Cold Regions Research Centre conference

Nov. 24, 2020

Wilfrid Laurier University’s Cold Regions Research Centre (CRRC) is welcoming Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier for a virtual keynote address on Friday, Nov. 27. Watt-Cloutier, an environmental and human rights advocate, will speak about climate change and its impacts on Arctic communities, as well as her personal journey toward advocacy and policy-making at local and international levels.

Watt-Cloutier’s speech will be the closing remarks for the 33^rd annual CRRC Days conference, a gathering of northern researchers focused on giving graduate and undergraduate students, and postdoctoral fellows, a chance to share their research. 

“Sheila’s message directly connects to our research themes of climate change and its impacts on northern communities, and should be very inspiring for the young researchers in the ‘room,’” says Colin Robertson, director of the CRRC and associate professor of Geography and Environmental Studies. The talk will be hosted in collaboration with Laurier’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Northern Water Futures research project. 

In 2007, Watt-Cloutier was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy work showing the impact of global climate change on human rights. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and was elected the Canadian president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) from 1995 to 2002, before becoming the International Chair of the ICC until 2006. Watt-Cloutier is the author of a memoir titled The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet.

Anyone is welcome to register for Watt-Cloutier’s keynote address, which will take place via Zoom on Nov. 27 from 3 to 4:15 p.m.