NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: social sciences, communication, leadership

Objective(s): To develop better understanding of the roles that risk communication has played in influencing individual and social trust in decision-maker action on key public health issues involving Canadian Aboriginal peoples.

Project Description: This project seeks to develop better understanding of the roles that risk communication has played in influencing individual and social trust in decision-maker action on key public health issues involving Canadian Aboriginal peoples. Overall objectives of this study are: 1. to develop a common evaluative structure for assessing the impact of risk communication activities on aboriginal people's trust in decision-maker action; 2. to determine if (and what aspects of) three specific risk communication activities have had an impact on aboriginal people's trust in decision-maker action on key issues; and 3. to make recommendations, based on overall results from three prominent Canadian case studies, for risk communication policy that will enhance trust and partnership among aboriginal people in future events. This application is for the case study involving the examination of trust and risk communication related to the Giant Mine Remediation Plan, with specific focus on the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) communities of Ndilo and Dettah. Data collection will involve a mufti-method approach. Data will be collected in Yellowknife and at sites near Yellowknife in the communities of Ndilo and Dettah. Specific interview locations will be those most convenient for the interviewees (e.g places of work or other public locations such as a coffee shop). Focus groups/interviews with YNDFN members will take place at locations most convenient to the participants, such as the local band offices or at community centres in Ndilo and Dettah. In recognition of their time and shared knowledge, community participants will receive an honorarium of $50 each. Consent: Consent will be obtained by all participants. This will be in the form of signed consent forms or explicit oral consent. Oral consent will be obtained if: (1) participants require assistance in reading and understanding the information sheet and consent form; and/or (2) participants are more comfortable providing oral consent. Participants will be offered the choice of providing written or oral consent. Oral consent will be witnessed by one of the researchers. Semi-structured interviews: These will be held with YKDFN community leaders and relevant personnel (4-7 people) (e.g.the Chiefs, band CEO, Community Health and Wellness Director, environmental staff assigned to the Giant Mine issue). Interviews will also be held with key regulatory informants (3-6 people) involved in either making risk management decisions or communicating decisions to YKDFN members and the general public (e.g., staff from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and the GNWT government). Finally, interviews will be conducted with other interested and affected parties (3-5 people) associated with the YKDFN response to the remediation plan and consultation efforts (for example, the City of Yellowknife, environmental advocates, etc.). Interviews will be audio recorded (with permission) and will take 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Recordings will be transcribed verbatim. Interview participants will be purposefully selected on the basis of having a direct relationship to decisions and/or a vested interest in decisions being made with regard to the development and implementation of the Giant Mine Remediation Plan process (with particular focus on individuals directly or indirectly involved in the consultation and engagement of members of the YKDFN). Purposive maximum variation sampling will be used {i.e. people who are representative of members of the YKDFN community and key informants from identified organizations). Contacts may be augmented by snowball sampling techniques, i.e. potential participants may be identified by other relevant community leaders or regulatory informants. Focus groups/interviews: Building on interviews with community leaders and regulatory informants, issues of public trust will be explored through focus groups and/or interviews with age and gender stratified members of the affected YKDFN communities (Ndilo and Dettah). Conducting research in aboriginal communities requires consideration of cultural and social factors (such as interpersonal dynamics) and their impact on focus group discussions. A series of stratified homogeneous groups will facilitate sharing. One to three pilot focus groups will be conducted as a pre-test of the focus group guide and trust instrument, after which these will be modified if necessary to improve understanding. Six focus groups representing three age groups (18-34; 35-54; and 55+) will then be conducted. There will be two focus groups for each age group, one consisting of males, the other of females. Each group will consist of 4-8 people. Individual interviews may replace focus group discussions with elders if this is more acceptable to the participants. Simultaneous translation will be provided for participants who are more comfortable speaking in their own language (i.e. Weledeh). This is most likely to involve those in the +55 age range who identify as 'elders'. Participants will be selected using a series of relevant broad socio-economic characteristics (e.g. education, income, etc.), coupled with availability criteria. Final composition of groups will be determined after consultation with community partners. Participants will be recruited with the assistance of local research assistant, Laurie Ann Lines. Focus groups will begin with qualitative open-ended questions designed to explore prior attitudes towards health risks and the environment, and trust in decision-makers. Following these general opening questions, the case study involving remediation of the Giant Mine site will be introduced and explored. This will allow participants to ground their ideas on the specific case. Participants will then be given a quantitative set of trust related items to rank individually, followed by open-ended discussions of rankings. At the end of the discussion people will be asked if they would like to change any of their earlier quantitative answers. Except for minor adjustments to contextualize content, the quantitative questions related to the trust instrument will be consistent across case studies. Discussions will be audio recorded {with permission) and will take 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Data analysis: Interviews and focus group discussions will be transcribed verbatim; pseudonyms or numbers will ensure confidentiality. Transcript review and analysis will be facilitated by qualitative data analysis software (N-Vivo1QTM). Interviews will be coded using a constant-comparative/concept-development approach based on emergent themes which evolve through the course of the research. Results will be communicated in the form of a plain language summary for everyone involved in the study. Methods and processes for communication will be guided by the preference of the community so that delivery meets local expectations for appropriate format, content and delivery of information. Community dissemination will likely occur through presentations at community meetings and distribution of a summary of study results through the regular band council mail-out to all households. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from January 3, 2014 to March 31, 2014.