What We Do

The Nunatsiavut Sea Ice Observer Program (NSIOP) supports a network of expert knowledge holders representing each of the Nunatsiavut communities. Knowledge holders document ice and environmental conditions throughout the winter and spring in their own words, from their own perspectives. Their observations are preserved in the NSIOP database, where they will be preserved for future generations.

Inuit knowledge systems can and should be central to understanding and responding to climate change. We hope that compiling these observational accounts of climate change impacts in Nunatsiavut, the warmest Inuit region, enhances their visibility and use for environmental policy makers, researchers, and young learners. Please click the button below to learn about the different ways you can access and use this data.​

Our Team

Todd Broomfield
Todd Broomfield has lived in Makkovik for 63 years and lives a traditional lifestyle of hunting, trapping and fishing until the closure of the cod and salmon fisheries when he had to change his lifestyle to full-time employment. Observing the weather patterns and environment are natural occurrences from a lifetime on the land.  Inuit learned mostly by watching and observing the actions of others and of the environment around them. Although Todd works full- time, he still maintains his traditional lifestyle and activities.
Reuben Flowers
My name is Reuben Flowers, I am 57 years old and from Hopedale, Labrador. First and foremost I am a knowledge keeper and educator. I am currently working at Inotsiavik here in Hopedale as educator and maintenance. This is a community based nonprofit organization. I had previously taught at the school here for a few years as life skills instructor. I spend a lot of time on the land and sea hunting and gathering. My hobbies include weather/climate, carpentry, music, carving to name a few. I like to follow the old ways of Labrador but also blend in the new as well.
Ross Flowers
My name is Ross Flowers, fisherman and hunter, been doing that all my life. I'm 71 and been in the commercial fishery 52 years. Seeing big changes in climate over the years, snow an ice. Earned my first .22 rifle when I was 10 yrs old my uncle came out of shungo in speedboat an picked me up at old davis inlet. Nothing left there now, everything gone building an all, only 1 old house standing an it’s almost down, mother nature taking over. We went out seal hunting an I got 5 seals with his .22, got back home an my momma cleaned them an sold them an ordered me .22, my first 1. I done 1 year in Labrador interior prospecting in 1995 never going back in there again, almost got eat by the flies. I went to residential school 2 yrs passed my grade 9 an quit, glad I did too. Drowned when I was 5 yrs old saw a really bright light an came back. My story. ​
Maurice Jacque
Maurice is married with four girls, 3 are foster kids. He started working at a salmon counting fence in 1999 and he's now the supervisor. He also works for Dalhousie and Queens university doing research on the ice and how it affects the people of the north. He has lived in Postville for his whole life, hunting, trapping and fishing as an integral element of his lifestyle.
Derrick Pottle
Derrick Pottle is a 69 year old Inuk, married with 2 children and 4 grandchildren.  He lives a traditional lifestyle of hunting, trapping and gathering. Inuit traditional values are very important to him.  He is a commercial fur harvester and guide.  He is owner / operator of BearSafe Planning, which certifies bear guards and educates clients regarding bear safety.  For the past 25 years Derrick has been involved in different aspects of the study of global warming and how it is impacting all people in the North.  He has also travelled to Nunavut, Nunavik, Inuvialuit and Greenland as an Inuit Culturalist with Adventure Canada.
Ron Webb
My name is Ronald Webb. 68 years young, born in Nain, grew up in Webb’s Bay until my kids had to go to school then I moved to Nain. After I left school I was a full time trapper, hunter and fisherman: cod, charr and salmon. After fishing was a truck driver delivering freight then owned my own trucking company. Went on to being a partner in an environmental company Sikumiut Environmental Management Ltd. for over 20 years, helped with design of pontoons for the winter shipping into Voisey’s Bay, also had the contract to maintain the ship track during winter. Learned all my weather and ice skills from my dada and many brothers. Volunteer for Nain ground search and rescue team for many years, volunteer on harbour authority Nain, and present Ice Observer for the Nain area. Very interested in helping out with weather and climate change and member of the NG Wildlife Board.  
Eric Oliver
Eric Oliver is an inuk from Labrador. He grew up in Goose Bay and his father’s family is from Tikkoraluk Island and Rocky Cove, along the north shore of Aiviktok (Groswater Bay) in central Labrador. On his mother’s side, he is descended from German and English settlers to Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. These family roots have provided him with the ability to see and understand both Inuit and non-Inuit perspectives in the world. Eric works as an Associate Professor in the Department of Oceanography at Dalhousie University, with a focus on physical oceanography and sea ice science, a position he has held since 2017. Eric’s research focuses on the coastal ocean and sea ice in Nunatsiavut, in particular working on ways to bridge natural science and Inuit Knowledge. 
Sue Ziegler
Sue Ziegler enjoys learning from and working with individuals with lived experience “on the land”. This is an experience she has been privileged to have as a field-based researcher who focuses on regions close to where she lives. One major lesson from her 25 years researching how ecosystems are responding to climate and environmental change is the need for local and regionally focused understanding. The NSIOP enables environmental research to be focused on effective ways to address local and regional needs. This is needed more than ever and not only in Nunatsiavut. Sue hopes the NSIOP serves as an example stimulating more communities, both indigenous and non-indigenous, to preserve and rely on their local knowledge and seek out collaborations that help them navigate, mitigate and adapt to climate change. 
Emma Harrison
I grew up in Arizona, USA, in a multi-national, European and settler family. My parents are both scientists and I was raised in their labs, so I have always felt like I am part of the academic community. The way I choose to do my own research expresses optimism about science as a social good when it is accountable to its historical legacies. Some of my most formative work on this path was with the Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice (the-ciej.org), collaborating with scholars and activists to retool science as a means for community liberation. Today, I am a Research Associate at Dalhousie University and a mother. My home is bilingual and multicultural, and raising my daughter to feel firmly rooted in her cultural heritage is my most important job. I’ve loved being part of the Nunatsiavut Sea Ice Observer Program - the relationships we’ve built as a team have deeply enriched my life. ​
James Jacque
James Amos David Jacque is from Postville, Nunatsiavut. He is named after his father, and the fathers of his grandmothers. He is an artist, and that’s what drew him to the Nunatsiavut Sea Ice Observer Program. In 2023 he was invited to attend an NSIOP workshop in Rigolet, and it was there he felt all the components needed to help create an art of change, and he knew with the dexterity of our team that it was time to draw the framing. He later joined the team as Project Coordinator, and has been helping with the progression of our program into a sustainable model for cultural preservation in the face of chaotically untraditional dynamics hindering our navigation of geographic and socioeconomic changes.