🇨🇦 New technical report advances data interoperability and accessibility in Canada
New Technical Report Advances Data Interoperability and Accessibility in Canada
“With so much information siloed across various government, academic and regional institutions, it’s critical that data be made accessible and interoperable for Canada’s increasing investments in Arctic research to be effective,” said Tom Henheffer, ARF CEO.
(OTTAWA, Ontario, July 8, 2025) – The Arctic Research Foundation (ARF), the Canadian Polar Data Consortium (CPDC), Red River College and the Digital Governance Council partner on a new Technical Report aimed at advancing data interoperability, accessibility, and standardization in Arctic research.
As climate change accelerates and investments in Arctic research increase, there is a growing urgency to improve the impact of research across communities, governments, and academia. Ensuring data is easy to find, combine, analyse and use will strengthen the strategies needed to adapt to and manage rapid environmental and geopolitical change.
This report emphasizes that common data standards can make information more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable, helping to transform isolated datasets into powerful tools for adaptation and decision-making.
Highlights
- This report uses a case study analysing the adaptation of ARF’s Arctic Research Database into a broader ecosystem of databases.
- It demonstrates how organizations can achieve metadata interoperability, thereby making previously siloed datasets discoverable through the unified Polar Data Search (PDS) platform. This approach opens the door to large-scale, cross-disciplinary research and a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of Arctic ecosystems.
- The report offers a practical guide for other organizations seeking to contribute to a more connected Arctic data landscape. This is a step toward formalizing and implementing shared standards that will improve how Arctic data is collected, managed, and used across Canada and beyond.
- The Data Standards Initiative, launched through this partnership, brings together Arctic scientists, Indigenous rights holders, policymakers, and other stakeholders to ensure that shared data supports both scientific discovery and Indigenous data sovereignty.
- This initiative builds on the shared goal of supporting communities, researchers, and decision-makers responding to the accelerating impacts of climate change in Canada’s North. It builds on the efforts of ARF, the Canadian Consortium for Arctic Data Interoperability (CCADI), and Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR) to improve coordination among data users and producers.
“With so much information siloed across various government, academic and regional institutions, it’s critical that data be made accessible and interoperable for Canada’s increasing investments in Arctic research to be effective,” said Tom Henheffer, ARF CEO. “This technical report provides a practical example of how to ensure different databases can work together, representing an important step forward that we hope many organizations and stakeholders will follow.”
“By enabling cross-disciplinary research and fostering collaboration, we’re enhancing the value of data collected across the North – while providing a practical guide and case study for other organizations and databases seeking to unite previously siloed, diverse datasets in meaningful and consistent ways to improve standardization and accessibility,” said Johnathan Niziol, Instructor at RRC Polytech’s ACE Project Space. “This project provided our students with invaluable experience solving a real-world challenge and demonstrated RRC Polytech’s commitments to deepening partnerships, promoting sustainability and respecting and integrating Indigenous knowledge.”
“At the Council, we have seen how foundational data governance principles apply across sectors — but what makes this technical report so valuable is its practical, real-world application in the Arctic research context, where tailored, responsible data practices are essential to supporting collaboration and scientific integrity,” said Cherlene Tay, Senior Manager of Standardization at the Digital Governance Council.
“Canada’s ability to understand and respond to change in the North depends on how well we connect the dots across data, disciplines, and communities. This work with ARF and CPDC is a step toward building the shared digital infrastructure and standards needed to make Arctic
research more interoperable, inclusive, and actionable,” said Keith Jansa, CEO, Digital Governance Council.
“The process documented in the technical report is an excellent example of how collaboration and co-development at the international scale can be adopted, adapted and improved at the national scale in Canada to improve the interoperability and value of Arctic data,” said Peter Pulsifer, Technical Lead of the Canadian Polar Data Consortium.
Click here to read the Technical Report (English)
Click here to read the Technical Report (French)
For more information or to book an interview or broadcast segment, please contact:
Tom Henheffer
Email: tom@arcticresearchfoundation.
About ARF
The Arctic Research Foundation is a Canadian non-profit charity that supports innovation, infrastructure, and community-driven research in the North.
About CPDC
The Canadian Polar Data Consortium is a not-for-profit organization which brings together data management institutions and experts across Canada to improve the stewardship and interoperability of polar data.
About the Digital Governance Council
The Digital Governance Council is a member-driven, not-for-profit organization that works to provide Canadians with confidence in the responsible design, architecture and management of digital technologies.
Originally published on 8 July by Arctic Research Foundation.
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