Tester, Frank
Frank Tester teaches international social development studies and social theory in the School of Social Work, and is an Associate with the Institute for Resources and Environmental Sustainability, University of British Columbia. He is Adjunct Professor of Native Studies, University of Manitoba. He teaches a course on Inuit social history for the Department of History, UBC.
Frank has worked as an advocate, researcher and consultant to government, non-governmental and international organizations on social and environmental issues in the South Pacific, China, Latin America, East Africa and the Canadian eastern Arctic. He is the co-author of Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit relocation in the eastern Arctic, 1939-1962 and Kiumajut (Talking Back): Game Management and Inuit rights in the eastern Arctic: 1900-1970, both published by UBC Press, and many papers and reports dealing with a mix of social, human rights and environmental issues in Canada and internationally.
Frank is a recipient of the Gustavus Myers Award for the Study of Human Rights in North America and the Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize from the American Society for Ethnohistory, Cornell University. He is currently working on a community development project with Inuit youth in Arviat, Nunavut Territory. The Arviat history project involves youth and elders exploring their history and culture and filming the experience. The work of the project team can be viewed at http://nanisiniq.tumblr.com. Frank is also working with a team of researchers from Memorial University and UBC examining the impacts of mining and mineral exploration on Inuit of Nunavut. Frank has been involved in a number of films. He appears in Zacharius Kunuk’s documentary film Kiviak vs Canada and Joelie Sangya and Ole Gjerstad’s film Qimmit, dealing with the fate of Inuit sled dogs. He is the co-director (with Peter Irniq) and producer of Iglutaasaavut (Our New Homes), a film about the move Inuit made from the land to wood frame homes in the 1950s and 1960s.
Frank is a sailor and boat builder. His sloop, Pingungnuk, was named by his friend and Inuk mentor, Pierre Karlik, son of the famous Arctic physician, Leslie Livingstone. Frank has an interest in architecture, architectural history and photography. He has a small farm and home he designed and built on Denman Island, British Columbia.
McNicoll, Paule
Paule McNicoll joined the faculty in 1990. Prior to her academic career, she had 15 years of experience as a professional social worker in medical, psychiatric, educational and community settings. Paule collaborates with Frank Tester on a few studies related to the social history of Nunavut (SSHRC funding), and with Alice Home, a colleague from the University of Ottawa, on a research project about group work with parents of children with invisible disabilities. Paule was instrumental in founding the Multicultural Family Centre in East Vancouver at the beginning of the 1990’s. She is on the editorial boards the Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health and Social Work with Groups.
