Sarah Kalhok Bourque

Sarah Kalhok Bourque is the Director of Northern Science and Contaminants Research with CIRNAC, and current A/Director of Arctic Science Policy. In these capacities, she leads the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP), chairing its multi-stakeholder management committee and managing its Secretariat, and also serves as the Canadian Head of Delegation to the Arctic Council’s Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). NCP and AMAP are well-established and highly regarded national and international programs, respectively, that focus on key Arctic environmental issues of pollution (POPs, mercury, plastics, SLCFs) and climate change, and provide sound science-based assessments and advice to inform policy and decision-making processes. Prior to this, Sarah was part of the core team that developed Canada’s program for the International Polar Year (IPY), and was subsequently Manager of the GoC’s IPY program. Early in her career, she worked at the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik, NWT, and as a fisheries Observer in the Bering Sea. Her perspective on northern/Arctic science, knowledge translation and the science/policy interface comes from program experience at the local, national and international level, in which she is a strong advocate for Indigenous engagement, partnership, leadership and self-determination in research. Ms. Kalhok Bourque received her Masters of Science from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.