Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area
| Principal Investigator: | Southcott, Chris (8) |
| Licence Number: | 14822 |
| Organization: | Lakehead University |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2010
|
| Issued: | Nov 29, 2010 |
| Project Team: | Dr. Frances Abele (Co-investigator, Carleton University), Dr. David Natcher (Co-investigator, University of Saskatchewan), Dr. Brenda Parlee (Co-investigator, University of Alberta), Dr. Lee Huskey (Collaborator, University of Alaska Anchorage), Dr. Valoree Walker (Coordination, Yukon College), Rajiv Rawat (Coordination, Institute for Circumpolar Health Research), graduate student (Co-investigator, TBD), community researcher (Co-investigator, TBD) |
Objective(s): To examine the impact of transience on the social cohesion of Arctic communities.
Project Description: The proposed project will examine the impact of transience on the social cohesion of Arctic communities. Using Inuvik, Northwest Territories as a case study the researchers, in partnership with community groups, will investigate: 1) the extent of mobility in the community, 2) determine what the major negative impacts of this mobility are on community organizations, and 3) discuss what can be done to mitigate these negative impacts. The study will entail a detailed statistical analysis of mobility and interviews with community organizations followed by a community workshop to validate the findings. Following this project, it is hoped that the research could be extended to other communities. In addition to the research objectives listed above the researchers involved in this project have other objectives for this particular project. First they hope to enhance the research capacity of community organizations in Inuvik. By providing training and experience in a community-based research project the researchers hope to increase the ability of these organizations to research and understand the challenges that they face. Secondly the researchers hope to increase the linkages between university-based researchers and these community organizations. This will serve to better inform the scientific research being conducted in the region and facilitate an exchange of knowledge between researchers and community partners. Thirdly the project team hopes to enhance connections between Northern social science researchers and ArcticNet researchers with the hopes of assisting ArcticNet in their attempts to integrate the social sciences into their research. It is the belief of the researchers in this proposed project that the most effective methodological framework for researching the social issues in Northern communities is Participatory Action Research (PAR). It should be noted that the research questions described above are derived from preliminary discussions between researchers and between community partners. It is expected that these questions will evolve as the project progress. The proposed project will be composed of several phases. The first phase would start with discussions about the project with community partners on the research project and provide an opportunity for feedback on the procedures and processes for the project. The next step would be a detailed analysis of census data relating to mobility for the community of Inuvik and the surrounding area. This will include the communities of Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Inuvik, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Tsiigehtchic, Tuktoyaktuk and Ulukhaktok. The results of the analysis will be compared with results of similar analysis for followed by comparisons with the Northwest Territories, and Canada. The third phase will be a face-to-face meeting with researchers and community partners in Inuvik once a NWT research licence has been obtained. At this meeting researchers would present the findings of the initial census analysis and validate the results though a workshop of community partners. Following validation of the initial findings researchers and community partners will develop a list of organizations and individuals to be interviewed along with a schedule of interview questions. A community workshop would be organized where the results of the research would be presented to community organizations for their validation. Following this validation a plain language report for the community will be prepared followed by a series of research publications. The main community partner will be the Inuvik Interagency Committee, a non-profit network of community representatives collaborating to implement community-driven social change and the main representative body of social economy organizations in the community. The committee members will assist in the development and coordination of the research in the community and will assist in the hiring and logistical support of the community researchers. Their work will be supplemented by advisory assistance from the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the Gwich'in Tribal Council. The project will involve training of community researchers. The community researchers will assist in interviews, data collection, data compilation and other areas involved with conducting social sciences research in their community. Priority has been given to finding innovative ways of involving and informing the community about the research process and the research results. Two community workshops will be held to both inform the community about the research results and validate these results. Following the model used by SERNNoCa these workshops will include a session where representatives of community groups are invited to attend and an open session where everyone in the community is invited to attend. The open session will be advertised in the local paper, on local radio, and on the community television station. A website will be created where all documents relating to the project will be made available to both the community and other researchers. All documents will also be provided to the Inuvik Interagency Committee for posting on their website. Draft documents will also be provided to the Interagency for their review and comments before posting on websites. Following the final workshop, a plain language community report will be written. When completed the release of the report will be advertised in the local media and the report will be posted on the website. Printed copies of the report will be mailed to all libraries in the region. A summary of the findings will also be made available in ‘Uummarmiutun’ if required. A series of academic publications will also be prepared likely in the form of articles submitted to journals such as Arctic and Polar Research. The results will also be presented in several academic fora such as the Northern Research Forum, the International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences, and the Arctic Science Summit Week. All documents and copies of presentations will be provided to the Inuvik Interagency Committee. The Inuvik Interagency will be acknowledged as a partner in this research in all publications, presentations and materials. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from November 30, 2010 to December 31, 2010.
