摘要：As guest editor, I am honoured to have participated in the development of this special volumewith my friend and colleague Dr. Siv Oltedal, and Henrik Dvergsdal, University of Nordland, Norway. The history of its creation is quite long and complicated and starts with the launch of the University of the Arctic in June, 2001. The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a cooperative network of about130 northern universities, colleges and other related organizations committedto education, research and the promotion of Indigenous and local peoplesand sustainable development in the circumpolar North. (www.uarctic.org, 2012). Out of this network, a number ofthematicnetworkshave been formed to address specific issues or concerns. In the springof 2006, colleagues at University of Nordland (formerly Bodo University College) hosted a thematic conference on social work of which I had the great pleasure of participating. From this social work thematic group, faculty and researchers from Russia, Finland, Sweden, Canada and Norway collaborated on a number of projects. Later colleagues from Alaska, Iceland and Greenland joined the group. In 2011, the UArcticthematicnetwork hosted an international conference on social work in the north. The conference was titled Supporting Healthy Communities through Social Workand was held in Reykjavik, Iceland, August 2011 (sorry that you missed it).The conference was well supported by Canadian scholars and from the papers presented at the conference, we worked at developing this special issue with heavy biasfrom Canada.All of the articles but one explore social work education and practice issues in Canadian Arctic and northern communities
