NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: social sciences, travel safety

Objective(s): To make recommendations on how to best support coastal municipalities in implementing hazard responses that are effective, adapted to their specific context and addressing the priorities of their community.

Project Description: The overarching goal of this research project is to make recommendations on how to best support coastal municipalities in implementing hazard responses that are effective, adapted to their specific context and addressing the priorities of their community. First, the team plans to provide recommendations to provincial and federal levels on how to best support municipalities’ efforts in line with their priorities. Second, the research team plans to offer advice to assist communities in selecting appropriate hazard responses for the future. Official municipality staff or representatives from incorporated coastal municipalities in the Northwest Territories (i.e. Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour, Tuktoyaktuk and Paulatuk) will be invited to respond to a short questionnaire designed to gain a better understanding of the context of local capacity to respond to marine hazards. Invitations will be done via email and/or phone, using publicly available information on the municipality’s website. The questionnaire is a pdf form and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. It is largely multiple choice and only asks questions linked to participants’ professional capacity. Participants will be asked at the end of the questionnaire for comments which may elicit personal opinions and insights. They will also be asked if they are available for follow-up in which case they might be contacted to clarify or discuss in more details some of their answers to the questionnaire. Follow-up interviews will be conducted by phone, video conference or email, according to participants’ preference. While these will focus on factual information and professional perspectives, participants might openly share some personal opinions and insights which could be relevant to this study. The distinction between professional/factual information and personal views will be clearly explained at the beginning of the interview. In the case where the interviewee would wish to share personal information, written consent will be sought (see informed consent form). Participants interested in the questionnaire results or the results of our overall research project can request a copy by contacting Annie Lalancette. Research highlights will also be available on the MEOPAR website. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from August 16, 2018 to December 21, 2018.