NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: renewable energy, social sciences, policy development

Objective(s): To contribute to facilitating the transition to nature-friendly ways of generating energy through consistent policy innovation.

Project Description: This study intends to: 1) contribute to the theoretical understanding of the concepts of integrated policy design and identify the factors that facilitate or impede integrated policy-making in the Canadian context; 2) provide the insights on how NWT consensus government works, including implications for integrated policy-making; and, 3) identify existing barriers to renewable energy penetration in the NWT, and contribute to the development of a renewable energy policy design most suitable for the Canadian territories. The ultimate purpose of this research is to contribute to facilitating the transition to nature-friendly ways of generating energy through consistent policy innovation. The research design is based on process tracing as a method that allows the research team to identify chains of events from the setting of a policymaking agenda to the practical implementation and evaluation of policies. Research methods will include semi-structured individual (and possibly group) interviews, case studies, document analysis, literature review, and analysis of existing data. Interviews will vary in length, mostly expected to be about 1-1.5 hours. Interviews will be recorded by means of digital audio recording. Some interviews may be conducted by phone. Informants will be recruited by means of snowball sampling, where interviewees will be asked to refer to other potential informants among their peers. The informants will be selected among public servants, Members of Legislative Assembly’s (MLA’s), non-governmental organization (NGO) employees, utilities, and possibly industry, who are in some way involved in making or influencing renewable energy policy in the Northwest Territories (NWT) within their official or work-related duties; they will be contacted by email or phone. Documents for analysis will be obtained from publicly accessible online sources such as official websites of the NWT Government, NWT Legislative Assembly, NGOs, and research organizations. Publications in peer-reviewed journals, in books, and in the media will also be used. Given the methodology of research, local involvement will be limited to agreeing to take part in the interviews and to the provision of information required for this research, including referring the Principal Investigator to other potential interviewees. Research results will be shared with all respondents who indicate on their consent forms that they are interested in obtaining the results. In case the research leads to the development of any recommendation or action plan from which the Government of the NWT, municipal governments, or NGOs could potentially benefit, the GNWT or other relevant entities will also be informed about the results of this research. Notification in both cases will be made after the results are ready, by e-mail, followed up by a phone call if necessary, and by asking to choose the format for sharing research results, such as delivering an executive summary of research findings, a whole research report, a presentation of key research findings, or a combination of these methods. Due credit will be given to all informants who will contribute to this research in a substantial manner and agree to be mentioned in the "acknowledgements" section of the final research paper. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from October 6, 2015 to December 31, 2015.