“A Great Investment in Our Communities”: Strengthening Nunavut’s Whole-of-Society Search and Rescue Capabilities

Community-based organizations along with territorial, provincial, and federal agencies are responsible for search and rescue (SAR) in the Canadian Arctic. In delivering response capabilities at all hours of the day and for 365 days a year, the community-based organizations face a wide array of challenges. Using the data collected through the Kitikmeot Search and Rescue Project and the Kitikmeot Roundtable on SAR, coupled with academic and non-government organization literature, this article explores the major challenges facing community SAR organizations in Nunavut and builds a case for how targeted investment can best bolster community-based capabilities. We suggest novel, practical, and holistic solutions that have been proposed by or co-devised with community partners, are rooted in the unique context of Nunavut’s communities, and are reflective of a community resilience-building approach. One set of recommendations involves strengthening current programming, including the expansion of Nunavut Emergency Management’s inReach program, continued support for the enlargement of the CCGA, streamlining the process to activate Canadian Ranger patrols, and encouraging greater cooperation in the provision of training by federal and territorial agencies. We also propose new approaches, including a whole-of-society preventative SAR program centred on educational and youth programming, the adoption of a SAR equipment usage rate model, and the launch of a Community Public Safety Officer program in Nunavut. Finally, to justify greater investment at the community level, we argue that policymakers must change how they conceptualize community-based SAR capabilities in Nunavut. An effective SAR system is about more than the ability to respond to emergency events. It is a critical enabler to broader objectives and goals prioritized in the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework and other federal, territorial, and Inuit strategies.

South Korea–Russia Rapprochement

The relations between South Korea and Russia have qualitatively improved with Moon Jae-In’s New Northern Policy. Although a Russia–South Korea– North Korea trilateral cooperation remains unclear, South Korea has institutionalised bilateral relationships with Russia. Both geopolitics and geo-economy play prominent roles in the ROK–Russia relations and increasing support for an economic agenda is a considerably achievable goal for both countries.

Turkels – a Turkic Family in the Byzantine Civil Service

Introduction. The paper considers the two Byzantine lead seals of the second half of the 11th century, the owner of which was a translator (ermeneutes) with a non-Christian name Turkeles. Analysis. The correct reading of the owner’s name was possible by comparing the sigillographic texts with the inscription on a silver bucket found in Perm region (Russia). This richly ornamented vessel made in the last third of the 11th – 12th c., belonged, according to the inscription, to a Christian person called Theodore Turkeles. The most probable etymology of this very rare name is Turkic. Because both seals originate from the territory of the Old Rus, we can suppose that he was involved in the northern policy of Byzantium. Results. It can be assumed that the owner of the seal, Turkeles, became the first Rhomaios in his family, entering the service of the Emperor as a translator from Turkic languages. The owner of the bucket, Theodore was called by the second name Turkeles, either from his father or as a family name. Since no other Turkeles is attested in the Byzantine sources, the bearers of this name were not very successful in cultivating their family tree, and the patronymic could simply not have time to turn into a family nickname.

Eurasian Vector of Foreign Policy of the Republic of Korea: the Factor of Central Asia

The article studies the role of cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Central Asian countries in the context of a continental strategy for Korea’s New Northern policy. The authors consider the main political discourses of the continental policy of the Republic of Korea, such as the problem of resolving the “Korean issue”, the problem of balancing interests in the East Asian region, and the problem of diversifying traditional partnerships. Korea’s foreign policy is interpreted within the framework of the “middle power” concept. An important part of the study is the analysis of cooperation between RoK and Central Asia both on a multilateral and bilateral basis. It is obvious that uneven two-way interaction of Korea with the Central Asian countries, encourages the RoK to implement specific projects relevant to the partners, at the same time, the RoK uses multilateral cooperation, to predict the cooperation prospects in the most relevant areas of cooperation — health, environment, digital policy. Attracting data of the current situation in the region and the world, the author notes important changes in the foreign policy of RoK, first of all, the ODA strengthening as an important tool for strengthening Korea in a specific region, as an important resource for solving problems of the pandemic COVID-19 impact. As the research result, the author comes to the conclusion that the implementation of the Eurasian vector in Korea’s foreign policy is a natural and necessary condition for the further development of Korea as a regional and global player. Cooperation with Central Asia is a priority resource for developing RoK’s international influence and an important component of the new Northern policy.

Canada's arctic strategy in 2010s

The article analyzes the text of the «Canada's Arctic and Northern Policy Framework», published in September 2019. The author conducted a comparative analysis with a comparable document «Canada’s Northern Strategy: Our North, Our Heritage, Our Future» of 2009. As a result, new approaches to the development of Canada's Northern policy were revealed. There were detected unchanged priorities and goals, as well as emphases of the Canadian government in the shaping of Arctic and Northern policy on addressing the socio-economic problems of indigenous peoples and residents of the North of Canada.