Frank James Tester, B.Sc., D.Phil., M.E.Des., M.S.W.
School of Social Work, UBC
Department of Native Studies, University of Manitoba
Contact
Frank Tester
School of Social Work
University of British Columbia
2080 West Mall
Vancouver, B.C.
V6T 1Z2
Dr. Tester has been a Professor at UBC since joining the School of Social Work in 1990. He is also adjunct Professor of Native Studies, University of Manitoba and an Associate of the Institute for Resources and Environmental Sustainability, University of British Columbia. He previously taught in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University Toronto. He received his D.Phil. in geography from the University of Waikato New Zealand. Dr. Tester is interested in social and environmental issues in relation to colonial histories.
He has been a research consultant to Qikiqtani Truth Commission, the Auditor General of Canada, the Nunavut Department of Education, and organizations, commissions and study groups examining the social implications of resource development projects and policies in Canada. He is a former chair of the City of Vancouver’s Family Court, Youth Justice Committee and a co-chair of the board of CUSO, one of Canada’s largest international development NGOs. He is currently a board member of the Georgia Strait Alliance and the Vancouver Association for Restorative Justice.
Frank has lived and worked extensively in the eastern Arctic. His current research interests are centered in Nunavut. These include Inuit social history, the problem of young Inuit suicide, the social and personal implications of housing shortages and overcrowding, and the history of Inuit residential schools. Frank has been involved in a number of film projects dealing with the social history of Nunavut.
Frank has also worked in east Africa on projects dealing with Indigenous land rights in Tanzania, the development of Indigenous NGOs and the disarmament of the civilian population of Mozambique. He is interested in the work of non-governmental organizations, volunteers and the evaluation of their efforts. A commitment to social justice and the use of critical social theory inform his work.
Frank is the editor and author of over 30 books and papers dealing with social and environmental issues. Tammarniit (Mistakes) [UBC Press, 1994], deals with Inuit relocations and the social history of the eastern Arctic. Kiumajut (Talking Back) [UBC Press, 2007], takes a critical look at attempts to manage Arctic wildlife and Inuit resistance. Both are co-authored with Peter Kulchyski, Department of Native Studies University of Manitoba. In 1998 Frank was awarded the Gustavus Myers Award by the Gustavus Myers Centre for the Study of Human Rights in North America.
Publications :
Download :
IGLUTAQ (in my room)
the implications of homelessness for Inuit
Books
Social Impact Assessment : Theory, Method and Practice. Calgary, Detselig, 1980. (editor, with Bill Mykes).
Lessons : Maori land tenure and resource development – implications for Canadian northern development and northern indigenous people. Ottawa, Circumpolar Affairs, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1984.
Critical Choices, Turbulent Times Volume I : A companion reader on Canadian social policy reform. Vancouver, UBC, 1996. (editor with Chris McNiven and Robert Case).
Critical Choices, Turbulent Times Volume II : Retreat and Resistance in the Reform of Canadian Social Policy. Vancouver, UBC, 1999. (editor with Robert Case).
Critical Choices, Turbulent Times : A community workbook on social programs. (2nd edition), Vancouver, UBC, 1999. (with Nancy Pollak and Richard Vedan).
Tammarniit (Mistakes) : Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic 1939-63. Vancouver : UBC Press, 1994. (with Peter Kulchyski).
Kiumajuk : game mangement, community development and Inuit rights in the eastern Arctic. Vancouver, UBC Press. [in press, to be released, spring, 2007 (with Peter Kulchyski)].
Recent Refereed Papers
‘Why Don’t they Get It ?’ Talk of Medicine as Science. St. Luke’s Hospital, Panniqtuuq, Baffin Island. Social History of Medicine. Vol. 19, No. 1 : 87-106. 2006. (with Paule McNicoll).
Art and Disarmament : Exchanging Arms for Tools in Mozambique. Development in Practice. Vol.16. No. 2 : 169-178, 2006.
Iglu to Igluarjuaq. In : Pamela Stern and Lisa Stevenson (editors), Critical Inuit Studies : An Anthology of Contemporary Arctic Ethnography. Lincoln and London. University of Nebraska Press. 2006. pp. 230–252. (book chapter).
Isumagijaksaq (Mindful of the State) : Social constructions of Inuit suicide. Social Science and Medicine. Vol. 58 : 2625 – 2636. 2004. (with Paule McNicoll).
The Evolution of Health and Social Services for Nunavut : class, ethnicity and public versus private provision. Canadian Review of Social Policy. Vols. 49-50 : 199-225. 2002.
Writing for Our Lives : the language of homesickness, self-esteem and the Inuit TB epidemic. Etudes/Inuit/Studies. Vol. 25. Nos. 1-2 : 121-140. 2001. (with Paule McNicoll).
With an ear to the ground : The CCF/NDP and Aboriginal Policy in Canada. 1926-93. Journal of Canadian Studies Vol. 334. No. 1 : 52-74. 1999. (with Paule McNicoll and Jessie Forsyth).
Arctic Abstersion : The Book of Wisdom for Eskimos, modernism and Inuit assimilation. Etudes/Inuit/Studies Vol. 23. Nos. 1-2 : 199-220. 1999. (with Paule McNicoll and Peter Kulchyski).
Recent Professional Research Reports and Studies
IGLUTAQ : The Implications of Homelessness for Inuit – A case study of housing and homelessness in Kinngait, Nunavut Territory. Vancouver, UBC, April. 2006.
Peace, Reconciliation, and Trading Arms for Development Tools in Mozambique : An assessment. Report prepared for CUSO, The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the Canadian High Commission, Mozambique. 2004. (with Sandra Teeves).
The Yaeda Chini Project (Tanzania) : An Assessment. Ottawa. Report prepared for CUSO (Canada) and NOVIB (The Netherlands). 2002.
CUSO/NOVIB : The Small Projects Fund. Ottawa. CUSO. Report prepared for CUSO (Canada) and NOVIB (The Netherlands). 2002.
Other Publications
Anti-Oppressive Theory and Practice As the Organizing Them for Social Work Education : the Case Against. Canadian Social Work Review. Vol. 20 : 127-132. and Rebuttal : 137-138. 2003.
Social Work in an Augean Age. (editorial). Canadian Social Work Review. Vol. 19. No. 2. 2003.
Can I wipe your windows ? : Coming of Age in a Global Economy. Canadian Review of Social Policy. Vols. 45/46. 2000. (with Robert Case).
Work and the Changing Labour Market : Issues for Social Work. (editorial). Canadian Social Work Review. Vol. 17. No. 1 : 5-7. 2000.
Graduate Supervision
Frank also supervises graduate students in the Institute for Resources and Environmental Sustainability at UBC. He currently has doctoral students working on human rights, globalization and corporate ethical responsibility and the corporate backlash against the environmental movement’s stand on global warming. He also has Master’s students working on matters of Aboriginal mental health, and the detainment of refugees in Canada, and community development and crofting on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. He has also supervised students examining approaches to dealing with child soldiers in Africa, lending circles and women’s economic development in Ghana, homelessness and street youth in Canada, Inuit mental health services and the adequacy of the social work curriculum in Canadian schools of social work. Frank welcomes students interested in working on issues of social justice in Canada – especially the Canadian north - and internationally.