About Us
Arctic Institute of North America
History
The Arctic Institute of North America was created by an Act of Parliament in 1945 as a nonprofit tax-exempt research and educational organization. Originally based at McGill University in Montreal, the Institute moved to the University of Calgary in 1976. In 1979 the Institute became part of the University of Calgary as a university research institute.
Our mandate is to advance the study of the North American and circumpolar Arctic through the natural and social sciences, the arts and humanities and to acquire, preserve and disseminate information on physical, environmental and social conditions in the North.
In 2005, the Institute celebrated two important milestones AINA's 60th birthday and its 30th anniversary at the University of Calgary.
For a more detailed history of the Arctic Institute of North America, please see Research Associate Robert MacDonald's publication on AINA's history, which appeared in the December 2005 issue of Arctic.
We conduct, support, preserve, and communicate Arctic research.
Kluane Lake Research Station
Kluane Lake Research Station (KLRS) is located 220 km northwest of Whitehorse, Yukon, on the south shore of Kluane Lake, on the traditional lands of the Kluane, Champagne and Aishihik, and White River First Nations. KLRS was established in 1961.
ADA: Arctic Discovery & Access
ADA is a digital educational service that provides access to scientific research publications, research projects derived from license and permit information, K-12 educational resources, data management resources for researchers, virtual exhibits, and AINA's online archives and special collections.
ARCTIC Journal
Now in its seventh decade of continuous publishing, ARCTIC contains contributions from any area of scholarship dealing with the polar and subpolar regions of the world. Articles in ARCTIC present original research and have withstood intensive peer review.
Publications
Since its creation, the Arctic Institute has published many books on the North. These reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the Institute, which is mandated to collect and disseminate information from the natural and social sciences and humanities.
