Our projects are currently based at McGill University's Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment (CINE). Our research team is guided by the knowledge and experience of the people we meet in communities, the researchers we collaborate with, and the land we work on. Graduate students are supervised by Professor Murray Humphries at the Northern Wildlife Knowledges Lab (see lab page here).

The Team

Catherine geoffroy (MSc)

research & training coordinator

Catherine joined the Northern Wildlife Knowledges Lab in 2021 and since then is coordinating research projects on a variety of species across Nunavik, the Eeyou Marine Region, and Nunavut. Trained as an ornithologist, Catherine has worked with seabirds in the high Arctic and New Zealand and with a variety of passerine birds in eastern Canada.

Specialized in the complex logistics of community engaged and community-led research and remote fieldwork activities, Catherine leads workshops, coordinates multi-stakeholder community meetings, and guides undergraduate and graduate students, among many other things! As part of the polar bear team, she coordinates finances and fieldwork activities, leads permitting applications, liaises with community and partner organizations, and participates in fieldwork outings along the coast of James Bay.

Alexandra Langwieder

Program Lead

Following an undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo, Alex began working in the Eeyou Marine Region as a master's student at McGill University. After a pilot season testing the use of hair snares and camera traps in community-led polar bear research, this project expanded to a PhD.

Alex's research focuses on working with communities to answer regionally relevant questions about polar bear ecology across the Arctic. Her PhD addresses knowledge gaps related to polar bear distribution, genetics, and diet in James Bay.

Alex is a NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral) recipient, a Weston Family Northern Scientist, a Weston Family Foundation Boreal Research Fellow, and is supported by Polar Knowledge Canada's Northern Scientific Training Program.

Samantha Delisle

MSc Student

Climate change poses a critical threat to biodiversity, even more so in northern parts of the world where species are at the limits of their range. The Eeyou Marine Region (EMR) of James Bay represents an ecotone where arctic and boreal species meet, making it vulnerable to rapid changes but long term monitoring data is missing. Since 2021, Cree communities in the EMR have been leading the deployment of a camera trap network to gather data on polar bears and other wildlife species. In 2024, three Autonomous Recording Units were paired with cameras at selected stations to record the soundscape. Samantha is using passive field monitoring tools with Cree Knowledge to compare spatial and temporal patterns of species co-occurrence across the EMR. She aims to work with communities to build a foundation for long-term community-led biodiversity monitoring in the region.

Samantha is supported by an NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship, a FRQNT master’s training scholarship, and Polar Knowledge Canada's Northern Scientific Training Program.

Sarah blincoe

MSc student

Sarah is studying how climate change is impacting polar bears at the southern edge of their global range in the Eeyou Marine Region (EMR) of James Bay. In this unique system, polar bears face longer ice-free seasons, which can affect their movements, behavior, and interactions with the environment and local communities. Analyzing four years of camera trap data, she is investigating how environmental factors—like temperature, island size, and distance from the mainland—shape polar bear activity. She’s also examining how age, sex, and body condition influence their behavior, combining camera observations with genetic data.

Sarah’s work will provide valuable insights into this understudied polar bear sub-population, helping to inform safety measures and management strategies as the effects of climate change continue to unfold.

olivia moy

honours thesis student

Olivia is identifying annual trends related to polar bear demographics in the Eeyou Marine Region (James Bay), particularly cubs, and the spatial behavior of mother bears. She is further investigating the role of air temperature as an environmental driver of spatial demographic patterns. This project aims to fill knowledge gaps needed to better understand polar bear behaviour at the southern edge of their range.

Olivia is supported by the George Dion Memorial Scholarship and the McGill Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Award

Fieldwork

Alex, Sarah, Sam and Catherine after a day on Charlton Island

George, Henry and Sarah scoping an island

Final sampling station goes up in Waskaganish

Waskaganish trailer BBQ with Anderson, Harry, Dinah, Jr, Felix and Angela

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Partners

We are fortunate to partner with organizations across the North to address relevant questions about polar bears and the systems they live in. We have worked and continue to work with First Nations and Inuit wildlife management organizations and communities as well as regional, provincial, territorial, and federal governments.