The Arctic Institute of North America was created by an Act of Parliament in 1945 as a nonprofit tax-exempt research and educational organization. Originally based at McGill University in Montreal, the Institute moved to the University of Calgary in 1976. In 1979 the Institute became part of the University of Calgary as a university research institute.
Its mandate is to advance the study of the North American and circumpolar Arctic through the natural and social sciences, the arts and humanities and to acquire, preserve and disseminate information on physical, environmental and social conditions in the North.