Originally from a small Northern Ontario town, Brenda Parlee’s early experiences shaped her understanding of the divide between those who profit from resource development and those left to shoulder its environmental costs. This drove her to explore alternative approaches to environmental stewardship.
Now, building on the foundation of long-term relationships, and by supporting and strengthening Indigenous leadership and youth, the newly appointed Bieler Chair which is jointly appointed to the Bieler School of Environment and the Department of Natural Resource Sciences, will confront tough questions on climate change, large-scale development and their impacts on fragile northern ecosystems and community health and well-being.
“Seeing large-scale development and the impacts over time of climate change, got me thinking how people in their environment are interconnected and how there are other ways we can think about land, our role and our stewardship responsibilities about the environment,” says Parlee, who joined McGill in January 2025.
Concerned about similar issues – sustainability research is one of the University’s highest priorities – McGill established the new Chair, thanks to a philanthropic gift from McGill alumni Marc, DipAgr’58, BA’64, and Marie Bieler, BSc(Agr)’80, long-time supporters of the University and passionate advocates for environmental sustainability.
Bridging science and Indigenous knowledge
Parlee aims to highlight the importance of supporting northern peoples to engage in research and to share their own knowledge about their experiences. She explains this place-based research approach is fundamental to her role and essential for understanding local environments and communities.
“There are many ways people produce knowledge about their environment and their communities. An interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary lens involves respect for Indigenous knowledge systems,” says Parlee.
Great Slave Lake near Yellowknife in 2023
A compelling example of this approach, bridging science and Indigenous knowledge, is Dr. Parlee’s collaboration with Dene communities in Canada’s Northwest Territories, where the Bathurst caribou herd has plummeted from 475,000 to fewer than 5,000 in under three decades. The alarming decline threatens not only food security but also the cultural fabric of the Dene way of life, for whom caribou are a cornerstone species.
This work, combining oral histories of caribou movements with dendrochronological analysis of trample scars on exposed tree roots in the tundra, in collaboration with Dene communities, enabled researchers to estimate historical herd sizes, trace migration patterns, and identify possible human-induced causes of population decline.
According to Parlee, this collaborative and transdisciplinary research approach will not only enrich McGill students’ education but can open doors for northern communities to engage with university-level learning. She says it is critical to work from the ground up and collaborate with all people at all stages of the research from design to reporting.
“It is about creating opportunities for northerners to build their own evidence about some of these issues, not just at conferences, but as co-authors on papers, or at local events such as the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations where there have historically been limited opportunities,” she says.
These kinds of opportunities are essential. The risks and stresses for northern communities, such as contaminants, microplastics, and climate stress, which are acutely felt in the north, did not originate there. According to Parlee, fostering dialogue and learning between northern communities and global organizations is thus key to understanding many current and emerging stresses to find meaningful and sustainable solutions.
Supporting networks of people across the north and with global organizations is a major interest in the work of the Bieler Chair. “At the end of the day the work is not really just research, it’s about reconciliation and social and environmental justice by creating meaningful relationships,” says Parlee.
Looking ahead, Parlee is eager to collaborate with fellow McGill scholars and students to establish a core group of changemakers. She is excited about opportunities and new technologies that can support the work and nurture interdisciplinarity and learning.
A window into climate change impacts
To bridge science and society, she aims to create a unique Geographic Information System lab (GIS) – a collaborative community learning space where students, the public and policymakers can visualize climate impacts on landscapes and species like the caribou.
“I think as academics, we need to push ourselves a bit more to find different ways to mobilize the outcomes of our work, not everyone's going to read scientific papers.” This kind of lab would be key to strengthening networks between the University, communities, NGOs and governments in Quebec and abroad.
Dr. Parlee also sees opportunities to reconnect and support work in Canada’s provincial north. “There are a lot of communities in the provincial norths that are not necessarily on the radar of public awareness and have more limited access to research opportunities than other regions of Canada.”