Regions: Sahtu Settlement Area
Tags: social sciences, mining impacts, community consultation
| Principal Investigator: | Simmons, Deborah L (22) |
| Licence Number: | 14626 |
| Organization: | Native Studies, University of Manitoba |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2009
|
| Issued: | Nov 18, 2009 |
| Project Team: | Orlena Modeste (Collaborator, Deline Contaminants Coordinator), Edith Mackeinzo (Collaborator, Deline Knowledge Project), Edward Reeves (Program Governance, Deline Renewable Resources Council), Danny Gaudet (Program Governance, Deline Self-Government Team), Morris Neyelle (Program Governance, Deline First Nation Council), Sarah Gordon (Research Assistant, Folklore, Indiana University), Pauline Roche (Program Governance, Deline First Nation), Ruthann Gal (Collaborator, Aurora Research Institute (Fort Smith)), John Sandlos (Co-Investigator, History, Memorial University), Arn Keeling (Co-Investigator, Geography, Memorial University), Anna Stanley (Collaborator, Geography, National University of Ireland) |
Objective(s): To work with community members to scope out whether and how the community would like to be involved in research related to abandoned mines.
Project Description: The objectives for year one of this three year program is to work with community members to scope out whether and how the community would like to be involved in research related to abandoned mines. Some topics for discussion will be: • Looking back on the Canada-Déline Uranium Table process and recommendations • Giving guidance about how new research can benefit the community and create new knowledge • Discussing the way that abandoned mines research in Déline can be connected with community experiences elsewhere. This first year is proposed only as a scoping exercise, and will involve two main activities: a joint presentation by a Deline team at the Northern Governance Policy Research conference in Yellowknife during November 3-5 (proceedings to be recorded and transcribed as the basis for reportback to the community), and a focus group in Deline in December. The focus group will involve approximately twelve delegates including elders, Deline Renewable Resources Council members, and Deline First Nation Council members. This is a participatory research program initiated by the Deline First Nation community as part of a vision for research, education and capacity-building. Community researchers are provided with training, and community members participate in structuring every phase of the research, including project design, implementation, analysis and education activities. Communications products and community presentations related to the research process and outcomes are provided on a regular basis, and activities in the school ensure that students are educated about research process and results. The aim is to understand how Dene knowledge and stories can be used in decisions about resource development for the present and future. Knowledge shared through this project will be owned by the Deline First Nation, and will be shared only by permission of the First Nation. Subject to Deline First Nation guidance and permissions, we will provide a forum for northern Native people to share their experiences of mining development and devise their own strategies to address the negative social, environmental, and economic impacts associated with historic abandoned mine sites. The researcher plans a comprehensive communications strategy with communities, including newsletters, web-based communications, and face-to-face workshops and presentations. The researcher will have a pledge of $5,000 in-kind support from the Network in Canadian History and the Environment (NiCHE), a SSHRC-funded strategic knowledge cluster, to construct the website, take advantage of their vast research networking capacity, and develop a public communications strategy involving online reports, electronic discussion of key issues through blogs, electronic lectures, etc. This will help disseminate the research results to other indigenous communities in northern Canada and globally that have experienced the impacts of mine closure. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from November 20 to December 31, 2009.
