#20 BIG Podcast – “US/Canada Border and Cross-Border Cascadia Region”
featuring Laurie Trautman, Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, USA
The objective of this podcast is to better understand both the Cascadia cross-border region and the US/Canada border in this specific region of the Pacific Northwest. The Cascadia region is a plurinational and cross-border region between mountains and ocean, between Canada and the United States, inhabited by Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial, and animated by very dynamic political and economic networks. BIG_Lab sat down with Laurie Trautman to learn more about the strengths of this region, soft diplomacy, and current and upcoming challenges, including the importance of thinking regionally and transcending jurisdictional boundaries for better cross-border integration.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube!
Dr. Laurie Trautman is the Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, where she engages in a range of research activities focused on the U.S. – Canada border, and the ’Cascadia’ region between Washington State and British Columbia. In addition to working with faculty and students, she collaborates with the private sector and government agencies to inform policy solutions and advance cross-border collaboration. Laurie actively serves on a number of working groups that are engaged in the U.S. – Canada relationship, and co-chairs committees for the Pacific Northwest Economic Region and the Future Borders Coalition. Dr. Trautman is also on the steering committee for the Cascadia Innovation Corridor. She is a Global Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Oregon.