Brenda l. Parlee
Professor,, Bieler Chair in Northern Climate Change and Sustainability
McGill University
Biography
Brenda L. Parlee is a 'settler' scholar from north-eastern Ontario, Canada. She has a B.A. from the University of Guelph (1995), and an M.E.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo (1998). She went on to receive her PhD from the University of Manitoba in Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM) in 2005. During 2004-2024, Brenda was a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) at the University of Alberta. She is currently Professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences and Bieler Chair in Northern Climate Change and Sustainability at McGill University. Brenda has worked in northern Canada and globally for over 27 years on a range of collaborative and community-based research projects related to community-based monitoring, social-ecological change in the Mackenzie River Basin, wildlife health, Indigenous knowledge of caribou populations, sustainable resource development, the impacts of mining on community well being, biodiversity conservation and cooperative (co-management) of lands and resources in Alberta.
Brenda is the Nominated Principal Investigator of the Ărramăt Project, a 6-year research initiative focused on supporting Indigenous-led research in Canada and globally on the interconnections between biodiversity and health and well-being.
Selected Publications
Climate Change and Governance in Northern Canada and the Arctic
Climate Change and Governance in Northern Canada and the Arctic
Climate Change and Governance in Northern Canada and the Arctic
MacKay, M., Parlee, B., & Parkins, J. R. (2021). Towards energy security in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region: insights from community members and local residents. Local Environment, 26(9), 1128-1144.
Dokis-Jansen, Kelsey L., Brenda L. Parlee, Łutsël Ke, Dëne First Nation, David S. Hik, Benoit Gendreau-Berthiaume, Ellen Macdonald, Christina Stinn, and Nicole Giguère. "These Trees Have Stories to Tell." Arctic 74, no. 3 (2021): 290-305.
MacKay, M., Parlee, B., & Karsgaard, C. (2020). Youth engagement in climate change action: Case study on indigenous youth at COP24. Sustainability, 12(16), 6299.
Khalafzai, M. A. K., McGee, T. K., & Parlee, B. (2020). Frequent flooding and perceived adaptive capacity of subarctic Kashechewan First Nation, Canada. Arctic, 73(4), 433-449.
Parlee, B. (2020). The Poltics of a Polar Bear Crash. In I. Krupnik & A. Crowell (Eds.), Arctic crashes: People and animals in the changing north. Smithsonian Scholarly Press.
Khalafzai, M. A. K., McGee, T. K., & Parlee, B. (2019). Flooding in the James Bay region of northern Ontario, Canada: Learning from traditional knowledge of Kashechewan First Nation. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 36, 101100.
Parlee B. (2016). Mobilizing to Address the Impacts of Oil Sands Development: First Nations in Environmental Governance. Adkin L. First World Petro-Politics: The Political Ecology and Governance of Alberta. University of Toronto Press: 329-355.
Parlee, B. (2012). Finding voice in a changing ecological and political landscape—Traditional knowledge and resource management in settled and unsettled claim areas of the northwest territories, Canada. aboriginal policy studies, 2(1).
Sustainable Northern and Arctic Economies
Climate Change and Governance in Northern Canada and the Arctic
Climate Change and Governance in Northern Canada and the Arctic
Southcott, Chris, Frances Abele, David Natcher, and Brenda Parlee, eds. Resources and sustainable development in the Arctic. Routledge, 2018.
Parlee, B. (2018). Resource development and well-being in northern Canada. In Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (pp. 132-155). Routledge.
Parlee, B. (2022). Impacts of Mining on Well-Being: A Disconnect between Theory and Practice. Extractive Industry and the Sustainability of Canada's Arctic Communities, 278.
Southcott, C., Abele, F., Natcher, D., & Parlee, B. (2018). Beyond the Berger Inquiry: Can Extractive Resource Development Help the Sustainability of Canada's Arctic Communities?. Arctic, 71(4), 393-406.
Parlee, B. L. (2015). Avoiding the resource curse: indigenous communities and Canada’s oil sands. World Development, 74, 425-436.
Amati, C., Parlee, B., & Krogman, N. (2015). Experiences of opportunity in the northern resource frontier. Northern Review, (41), 181-206.
Parlee, B. (2015). The social economy and resource development in Northern Canada. Northern communities working together: The social economy of Canada’s North, 52-73.
Parlee, B., & Furgal, C. (2012). Well-being and environmental change in the arctic: a synthesis of selected research from Canada’s International Polar Year program. Climatic Change, 115, 13-34.
Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use
Climate Change and Governance in Northern Canada and the Arctic
Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use
McDowell, G., Stevens, M., Marshall, S., Higgs, E., Jacob, A., Johnson, G. M. J., ... & Lancaster, S. (2023). Canadian Mountain Assessment: Walking Together to Enhance Understanding of Mountains in Canada. In Canadian Mountain Assessment. University of Calgary Press.
Mansuy, N., Staley, D., Alook, S., Parlee, B., Thomson, A., Littlechild, D. B., ... & Didzena, F. (2023). Indigenous protected and conserved areas (IPCAs): Canada's new path forward for biological and cultural conservation and Indigenous well-being. FACETS, 8, 1-16.
Fromentin, J. M., Emery, M. R., Donaldson, J., Balachander, G., Barron, E. S., Chaudhary, R. P., ... & Tittensor, D. (2023). Status, challenges and pathways to the sustainable use of wild species. Global Environmental Change, 81, 102692.
Clark, D. A., Brook, R. K., Doney, E. D., Frank, B., Jung, T. S., Lee, D. S., ... & Parlee, B. (2021). Collaborative and consensus‐based approaches for human–wildlife coexistence: response to Treves and Santiago‐Ávila 2020. Conservation Biology, 35(4), 1334-1336.
Oloriz, C., & Parlee, B. (2020). Towards biocultural conservation: Local and indigenous knowledge, cultural values and governance of the White Sturgeon (Canada). Sustainability, 12(18), 7320.
Fisheries and Watershed Management
Fisheries and Watershed Management
Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use
Silvano, R. A., Baird, I. G., Begossi, A., Hallwass, G., Huntington, H. P., Lopes, P. F., ... & Berkes, F. (2023). Fishers' multidimensional knowledge advances fisheries and aquatic science. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 38(1), 8-12.
Parlee, B., Huntington, H., Berkes, F., Lantz, T., Andrew, L., Tsannie, J., ... & Howlett, T. (2021). One-size does not fit all—a networked approach to community-based monitoring in large river basins. Sustainability, 13(13), 7400.
Martin, C., Parlee, B., & Neyelle, M. (2020). Fishing Livelihoods in the Mackenzie River Basin: Stories of the Délįne Got’ine. Sustainability, 12(19), 7888.
Spicer, N., Parlee, B., Chisaakay, M., & Lamalice, D. (2020). Drinking water consumption patterns: an exploration of risk perception and governance in two first nations communities. Sustainability, 12(17), 6851.
Caribou and Wildlife Health
Fisheries and Watershed Management
Community Health and Well-being
Parlee, B., Ahkimnachie, K., Cunningham, H., Jordan, M., & Goddard, E. (2021). “It’s important to know about this”-risk communication and the impacts of chronic wasting disease on indigenous food systems in Western Canada. Environmental Science & Policy, 123, 190-201.
Parlee, B. L., Sandlos, J., & Natcher, D. C. (2018). Undermining subsistence: Barren-ground caribou in a “tragedy of open access”. Science Advances, 4(2), e1701611.
Parlee, B. L., & Caine, K. J. (Eds.). (2018). When the caribou do not come: Indigenous knowledge and adaptive management in the Western Arctic. UBC Press.
Wheeler, H. C., Berteaux, D., Furgal, C., Parlee, B., Yoccoz, N. G., & Grémillet, D. (2016). Stakeholder perspectives on triage in wildlife monitoring in a rapidly changing Arctic. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 4, 128.
Parlee, B., Manseau, M., & Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation. (2005). Using traditional knowledge to adapt to ecological change: Denésǫłıné monitoring of Caribou movements. Arctic, 26-37.
Community Health and Well-being
Fisheries and Watershed Management
Community Health and Well-being
Bruno, G., Bell, R. C., Parlee, B., Lightning, P., Bull, I., Cutknife, B., & Oster, R. T. (2022). Mâmawihitowin (bringing the camps together): Perinatal healthcare provider and staff participation in an Indigenous-led experiential intervention for enhancing culturally informed care—A mixed methods study. International Journal for Equity in Health, 21(1), 1-10.
Chiu, A., Goddard, E., & Parlee, B. (2016). Caribou consumption in northern Canadian communities. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 79(16-17), 762-797.
Salokangas, R., & Parlee, B. (2009). The influence of family history on learning opportunities of Inuvialuit youth. Études/Inuit/Studies, 33(1), 191-207.
Parlee, B., & O’Neil, J. (2007). “The Dene way of life”: Perspectives on health from Canada’s North. Journal of Canadian Studies, 41(3), 112-133.
Gender and Resource Management
Gender and Resource Management
Gender and Resource Management
Parlee, B., & Wray, K. (2016). Gender and the social dimensions of changing caribou populations in the Western Arctic. Living on the land: Indigenous women’s understanding of place, 169-90.
B., Berkes, F., & Gwich’in, T. I. (2005). Health of the land, health of the people: a case study on Gwich’in berry harvesting in northern Canada. EcoHealth, 2, 127-137.
Teetl’it Gwich’in Renewable Resources Council, Parlee, B., Berkes, F., & Teetl’it Gwich’in Renewable Resources Council. (2006). Indigenous knowledge of ecological variability and commons management: a case study on berry harvesting from Northern Canada. Human Ecology, 34, 515-528.
Collaborative Research Methods
Gender and Resource Management
Gender and Resource Management
Wray, K., Soukhaphon, A., Parlee, B., D’Souza, A., Freitas, C., Heredia, I., ... & Spicer, N. (2020). Aligning intentions with community: Graduate students reflect on collaborative methodologies with indigenous research partners. Sustainability, 12(18), 7534.
Nesbitt, R., Hutchinson, N., Klein, H., Parlee, B., Hart, J., & Manzo, L. (2019). The “One Voice” method: Connecting Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit with western science to monitor Northern Canada’s freshwater aquatic environment. Polar Knowledge: Aqhaliat Report, 1, 70–77. https://doi.org/10.35298/pkc.2018.09
Tools for Community-based Monitoring
Wildlife Health
An important area of Brenda’s work is around community-based monitoring of wildlife health including Chronic Wasting Disease in ungulates in central-northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories,
Community-Based Climate Monitoring
Indigenous engagement in monitoring the impacts of climate change is growing. This overview document provides some guidance on provisos and related community-based monitoring that cna provide guidance for communities seeking to develop their own monitoring programs.
Indigenous Peoples and Chronic Wasting Disease - Video Story from Treaty 6, 8
Learning more about Chronic Wasting Disease important to Indigenous peoples in Alberta. This video was produced collaboratively with Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta and the Community Freezer Program of Samson Cree First Nation.
Land Acknowledgement
McGill University is on land which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. We acknowledge and thank the diverse Indigenous peoples whose presence marks this territory on which peoples of the world now gather.
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