In this episode, we learn more about the Canadian Mountain Assessment, which is a flagship initiative of the Canadian Mountain Network that will clarify what we know, do not know, and need to know about Canada’s diverse and rapidly changing mountain systems. This assessment is led by Dr. Graham McDowell, who is supported by a team of international and Canadian advisors that help steward the project as it moves forward. The assessment is the first of its kind in Canada and the first in the world to put a primary focus on working and collaborating with Indigenous peoples.

Host: Ethan Ward

Guests:

Dr. Graham McDowell is the Project Leader of the Canadian Mountain Assessment. He has also led community-level projects in the Nepal Himalayas, Peruvian Andes, Rocky Mountains, Greenland, and the Canadian Arctic as well as numerous large-scale assessments of the human dimensions of climate change in cold regions.

Dr. Carolina Adler is a member of the Canadian Mountain Assessment’s International Advisory Committee and Executive Director at the Mountain Research Initiative. She is an environmental scientist and geographer with broad international professional experience with a career spanning both research and practice in the public and private sectors.

Dr. Philippus (Flip) Wester is a member of the Canadian Mountain Assessment’s International Advisory Committee, who provides guidance on the project based on his extensive work on other mountain assessments, specifically the Hindu Kush assessment that examined the Himalaya mountain range.

In this extended-length special edition of the Canadian Mountain Podcast, hear all about conserving natural and cultural heritage through sustainable mountain tourism. This episode includes the virtual recording from the Canadian Mountain Network’s webinar for International Mountain Day 2021 that took place on Jan. 26, 2022. The event was originally scheduled for December 2021 but was postponed out of respect for the communities mourning the passing of Nii Gaani Aki Inini (Elder Dave Courchene).

Hear panellists Barbara Wilson (Haida Nation), William Snow (Stoney Nakoda Nation), Isabelle Falardeau (Université Quebec à Trois-Rivières) and Stephanie Yuill (M.Sc, Gov’t of NWT) discuss their insights on sustainable mountain tourism, including the role of conventional vs. ecological tourism, fostering reconciliation, and sustaining and recovering biodiversity. David Suzuki also makes an appearance at the end of the episode to provide his comments on these issues.

This is our longest podcast yet, but this is to preserve many of the thoughtful and insightful ideas and perspectives during the event. If you weren’t able to attend on Jan. 26, then this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn more about sustainable mountain tourism on your own time.

On this episode of the Canadian Mountain Podcast, we look inward and discuss the hosting and production process of the team working behind the scenes of this series. We’ve expanded! As the podcast enters its fourth season, we now have new storytellers and co-hosts joining us. And so, we’ve decided to introduce ourselves as a team and share our perspectives with you.

Co-hosts Catalina Berguno and Eric Tanner lead two group panels with members of the Canadian Mountain Network podcast team. The two discussions dive into the team’s history and experiences in the podcast, as well as the expectations for future episodes and other audio endeavours. Each discussion group also touches on the evolution of the podcast’s land acknowledgement and knowledge mobilization initiatives since they’ve joined the team.