Alex Latta

My research career began with more than a decade of work in Latin America, with a focus in Chile. During that time, I worked broadly across topics such as ecological citizenship, water governance, and socio-environmental conflicts over hydroelectricity and mining, frequently with a focus on Indigenous rights.

Since 2015, I have conducted research primarily in Northern Canada, with a focus in the Northwest Territories. I have been Co-Investigator or PI on several research projects in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) and Northern Ontario, with a focus on Indigenous-led action on climate change, food sovereignty, and environmental stewardship. That work has also crossed into water policy and infrastructure-environment interactions. My work has been supported through affiliations with three Laurier research centres: the Cold Regions Research Centre, the Laurier Institute for Water Science, and the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems. 

I am currently Principal Investigator on a research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, focussed on Indigenous-led environmental stewardship and conservation. This work is conducted in partnership with Dene First Nation communities in the Dehcho region of the NWT.

I am not currently not taking on any new PhD or thesis-based master's students but am available for MRP supervision and co-supervision of master's thesis students. 

Peer Reviewed

• Ireland Margaret, Gladys Norwegian, Marilyn Hardisty, Alex Latta, Julia Gyapay, Miguel Sioui, Brandon Pludwinski, Arial Sanguez, Ashley Falconer and Mackenzie Bell (2026). Reviving connections: Dene wellbeing and climate adaptation in Tthets'éhk'edélı̨. Frontiers in Climate. 7:1694811. doi: 10.3389/fclim.2025.1694811
• Melody E Morton Ninomiya, Nicole Burns, Nathaniel J Pollock, Nadia T G Green, Jessica Martin, Janice Linton, Jenny R Rand, Laura Jane Brubacher, Arn Keeling, Alex Latta (2023). Indigenous communities and the mental health impacts of land dispossession related to industrial resource development: a systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health, 7(6), e501-e517. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00079-7
• Price, Mindy Jewell, Alex Latta, Andrew Spring, Jennifer Temmer, Carla Johnston, Lloyd Chicot, Jessica Jumbo, and Margaret Leishman (2022). Agroecology in the North: Centering Indigenous food sovereignty and land stewardship in agriculture “frontiers”. Agriculture and Human Values. doi: 10.1007/s10460-022-10312-7
• Latta, Alex (2019). Derechos Humanos y las Industrias Extractivas ¿Heracles y la Hidra de Lerna? [Human Rights and the Extractive Industries: Heracles and the Hydra of Lerna?]. In José Tole Martinez (ed) Derechos Humanos y la Actividad Empresarial en Colombia: Implicaciones Para el Estado Social de Derecho. Bogotá: Universidad Externado de Colombia.
• Latta, Alex (2018). Indigenous Rights and Multi-level Governance: Learning From the Northwest Territories Water Stewardship Strategy. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 9(2): 1-22. doi: 10.18584/iipj.2018.9.2.4
• Cid Aguayo, Beatriz and Alex Latta (2015). Agro-ecology and food sovereignty movements in Chile: Sociospatial practices for alternative peasant futures. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 105(2): 397-406. doi: 10.1080/00045608.2014.985626
• Latta, Alex and Jimena Sasso (2014). Megaproyectos Hídricos y Conflicto Socio-ambiental en Latinoamérica: Perspectivas Teóricas Desde Gramsci y Foucault (Hydraulic Megaprojects and Socio-environmental conflict in Latin America: Theoretical Perspectives from Gramsci and Foucault). Agua y Territorio, 4: 70-83. doi: 10.17561/at.v1i4.2166
• Latta, Alex and Hannah Wittman (2014). Ecological Citizenship in Latin America. In E. Isin and P. Nyers (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Global Citizenship Studies. London: Routledge, 265-273.
• Botaro, Lorena, Alex Latta, and Marian Sola Álvarez (2014). La politización del agua en los conflictos por la megaminería: Discursos y resistencias en Chile y Argentina (Politicizing water in mining conflicts: Discourses and resistances in Chile and Argentina). European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 97: 97-115. doi: 10.18352/erlacs.9798
• Latta, A. (2014). Matter, Politics and the Sacred: Insurgent Ecologies of Citizenship. Cultural Geographies, 21(3): 323-341. doi: 10.1177/1474474013495642
• Latta, Alex and Hannah Wittman (Eds) (2012) Environment and Citizenship in Latin America: Natures, Subjects and Struggles. New York: Berghahn.

Reports to communities, organizations, and governments

• Latta, Alex (2023). The Edéhzhíe Stories Project Final Report. Submitted to Dehcho First Nations.
• Teillet, Matthew, Alex Latta, and Derek Gray (2021). Evaluating the impacts of ferry operations on water quality, sediment loads, and the traditional fishery in the Gwich’in Settlement Area, Northwest Territories. Completed for the Department of Infrastructure, Government of Northwest Territories. 
• Latta, Alex (2020). Dehcho K’éhodi Strategy: Sambaa K’e First Nation. Report to SKFN Band Council, Sambaa K’e, NWT.
• Latta, Alex (2020). Dehcho K’éhodi Strategy: Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation. Report to KTFN Band Council, Kakisa, NWT.
• Latta, Alex (2020). Dehcho K’éhodi Community Strategy Processes: Best-practice learnings from 2018-2019 work with Ka’a’gee Tu and Sambaa K’e First Nations. Fort Simpson, NWT: Dehcho First Nations.
• Latta, Alex and McLeod, Robyn (2017). Dehcho K’éhodi Community Inventory. Fort Simpson, NWT: Dehcho First Nations.