Abstract: Few places in Canada illuminate the reality of climate change more visually than the Columbia Icefields. The glaciers that reach down to the Icefields Parkway in Jasper and Banff National Parks have been retreating before our eyes over the past century, mirroring the behaviour of almost all of the world’s alpine glacier systems. I will present an overview of the distribution and health of global icefields, as constructed from both monitoring and modelling studies. Changes in mountain glaciers as well as polar ice sheets have an accelerating impact on global sea level and regional water resources. I illustrate these concerns and discuss a number of outstanding scientific questions with reference to ongoing field studies in the Canadian Arctic and the Haig Icefield, Canadian Rockies.