Discussion at the Centre d’études nordiques at Université Laval

Created in 1961, the Centre d'études nordiques (CEN) is Université Laval’s oldest research centre. Its mission is to contribute to the sustainable development of northern regions by improving our understanding of environmental changes and their repercussions.

This visit allowed the Governor General to become more familiar with the projects led by the Research Chairs at the CEN. The CEN is a research centre involving three academic institutions, the Université Laval, the Université du Québec à Rimouski and the Centre Eau, Terre et Environnement of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS). CEN researchers are also found at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and at the Université de Sherbrooke.

Mr. Warwick Vincent, Director, briefly presented the Centre d’études nordiques (CEN). At the Université Laval, six departments are involved (Biology, Botany, Geography, Geology, History and Land Use Planning) in the CEN.

The Governor General listened carefully to the researchers with an expertise on the Far North. She also had the opportunity to share her own northern experience when she traveled to Canada’s North last May, and visited Norway in April. The Rector of Université Laval, Mr. Denis Brière, also attended the discussion.

Mrs Monique Bernier, co-director of the Centre, is professor at Centre Eau, Terre et Environnement of the INRS since 1993. Her research activities include the monitoring of the water resources over all its forms (snow, river ice, wetlands, soil moisture, frozen ground) using different remote sensing sensors.

Her Excellency continued the discussion with students and teachers after the meeting. Centre d’études nordiques membership comprises approximately of thirty researchers, more than one hundred graduate students and twenty employees.