Excitement breeds imagination.  The blind passion of excitement often leads to intuitive leaps of imagination that can lead scientists into new and innovative fields of inquiry.  As a scientist who works in Antarctica, I can attest to this excitement not only in myself but also in my graduate students.  They arrive in Antarctica with eyes as wide a saucers and minds wide open to new ideas.  However, as they step foot on the continent, they bring Canada.

These young Canadian scientists bring -40°C winters, January thaws, quinzees, migrating caribou, seals lounging on the ice looking out for polar bears and the history of the Hudson Bay company men.   As they stay on Antarctic, our Métis, First Nation and Inuit culture surfaces and they view the landscape unlike any other people can.  Canadian’s live and thrive under conditions as hostile and extreme as what is routinely encountered in Antarctica.  As such, Canadian’s don’t view Antarctica as a hostile, foreign land but as a long forgotten home and thus, we are not there to conquer but to nuture.

In turn, Antarctica brings to Canada a level of excitement and innovation that is only possible for extreme explorers. It attracts technical entrepreneurs who are interested in science and risk taking. These students thrive on taking science out of the classroom and into the world.  Students such as these will found Canada’s next high-tech commercial success story.

Canada needs to be working in Antarctica because we are unique in the world.  Our Nation’s history was forged in the North and I believe our future will be as well.  By working in the South, we can demonstrate our national expertise in Polar Regions, confirm our National identity as a polar people and inform our northern science. This will help affirm our northern sovereignty claims and stimulate our innovation economy by providing unique opportunities to the best of our science cadre.