NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: community development, women, diamond mining, family, violence

Objective(s): To analyze the way women's labor in Yellowknife (both paid and unpaid labor, including care for children and family members) has changed as a result of diamond mining.

Project Description: The objective of this research is to analyze the way women's labor in Yellowknife (both paid and unpaid labor, including care for children and family members) has changed as a result of diamond mining. Related, it will explore the way relations within families may or may not have shifted, and the ways the nature of violence against women in Yellowknife may or may not have shifted as a result of these processes. This project will combine broad political and economic analysis (drawing on scholarly work, government and industry reports) with qualitative interviews and focus groups, which will be undertaken in Yellowknife, with the support of community workers. The Principal Investigator will interview self-selected women living in Yellowknife who identify as having a relationship with the diamond mines. There will be 15-30 semi-structured interviews with these women. The Principal Investigator will engage with community workers in Yellowknife, both to help facilitate interviews with key informants and as participants in interviews and focus groups in an attempt to both offer space for full articulations of organizational history and to explore and analyze the relationships within and between organizations, Both semi-structured interviews and focus groups will be conducted. The focus groups will be a two-hour guided group discussion about the community development and anti-violence landscape in Yellowknife, NWT. 6-8 interviews and 2-3 focus groups will be conducted (with a minimum of five and no more than ten participants per focus group). Among the organizations the Principal Investigator will approach are: •The Centre for Northern Families •The Native Women’s Association •The Coalition Against Family Violence •Victim Services Unit •Status for Women of the Northwest Territories •The Alison McAteer House (shelter in Yellowknife managed by the YWCA) •The Coalition on Family Violence This list of organizations represents a wide variety of approaches to violence against women. Interviews with selected diamond industry management and government personnel in positions related to diamond mining, will also be conducted. 2-4 interviews with diamond industry management and 6-8 interviews with government personnel. The purpose of these interviews will be to discuss approaches to ‘community impact’ and ‘gender’ in relation to diamond mining. These will be analyzed, as well as related government and industry communications, reports and research publications. This research will be conducted in Yellowknife, NWT. It will be conducted in collaboration with local organizations involved in community development and women's well-being, including the Native Women's Association of the NWT and the Centre for Northern Families. The interview process will include focus groups with representatives from different community agencies, which will facilitate cross-agency discussion, learning and collaboration around issues of women's work, violence against women and care-giving responsibilities. The researcher is committed to ongoing conversation and communication about the research with local organizations, with the aim of providing research support to ongoing community work (including the Inter-Agency Protocol on Family Violence; the Family Violence Coalition, as well as individual organization initiatives). 1. The Principal Investigator will approach the interviews and focus groups, not as a site of knowledge extraction, but as a site of collaboration and exchange - as such, it is planned to be an ongoing discussion about the research with community agencies. Focus groups will be used as a forum for discussing ways forward. 2. This research will culminate in a PhD dissertation, as well as planned scholarly articles. These will be made available to community agencies. 3. The Principal Investigator will also discuss means of knowledge dissemination with the community agencies: in particular, ways that this research can be useful for them, and ways to make the research accessible. The Principal Investigator plans to go through community agencies in knowledge dissemination because the goal is to offer information that is relevant and accessible in ongoing community work. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from June 1, 2014 to August 22, 2014.