Base de données de recherche des TNO

Régions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, North Slave Region

étiquettes: social sciences, climate change, northern perspective

Objectif(s): To understand the perspectives of residents in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk and government representatives on the replacement of the seasonal ice road with a permanent all-weather road.

Description du projet: In light of rapid environmental alterations due to climate change and the Canadian North’s history of boom-and-bust cycles, this research has two objectives. The first is to understand the perspectives of residents in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk and government representatives in Yellowknife on the replacement of the seasonal ice road with a permanent all-weather road. The second is to discern who will benefit from ostensibly more permanent access to Tuktoyaktuk: residents, oil companies, or Canada? The Principal Investigator (PI) will conduct semi-structured interviews with Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk residents, Inuvialuit Settlement Region representatives, and government officials in Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk, and Yellowknife. The PI will drive on the winter road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk in its last seasons (March 2016 and March 2017), ideally by accompanying a local resident. If the highway to Tuk is complete by 2018, The PI will return to drive on that as well and speak with past interviewees about how the road has impacted themselves and their communities. The PI will speak with and interview local residents in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk to discuss their perspectives on the replacement of the seasonal ice road with the all-weather highway. The potential social benefits from this research are that people in the two towns could learn more about each other’s views towards the project. At a larger scale, these views could also inform decisions about whether to replace ice roads with all-weather highways elsewhere in Canada. Particularly as climate change shortens the ice road season and increases the need to build more permanent infrastructure, such research into people’s views towards new roads, and their socioeconomic impacts, is timely. Once the results from this study are complete, the PI will share then with the interview participants, along with photographs taken while performing fieldwork. The PI will also communicate the results of this study to other communities in the NWT or elsewhere in the Canadian North, such as in Manitoba, that are considering replacing their winter roads with all-weather highways. More broadly, results will be communicated to individuals and communities in the NWT through a long-running blog on the Arctic, Cryopolitics (http://www.cryopolitics.com). Special care will be taken to ensure that the identities of participants are not divulged in these blog posts, and everything will remain anonymous. Blog posts are written in an accessible and non-academic manner so that the general public can relate to it. Additionally, posts from the blog are regularly syndicated by Radio Canada International, which allows them to reach individuals and communities in the NWT. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from March 1, 2016 to March 27, 2016.