NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: social sciences, climate change, traditional food, food security, place names

Objective(s): To work with elders in Whatì and Wekweètì to identify and map place names in relation to discussions around traditional foods.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5014. The overall objective of the project is to work with our Indigenous partners, the Tli?cho Government, to identify, develop and implement initiatives to enhance capacity to plan for and address food security issues in the face of climate change and other related stressors in the communities of Whatì and Wekweètì. The specific objective is to work with elders in Whatì and Wekweètì to identify and map place names in relation to discussions around traditional foods. Participants (4-5 from each community) will take part in semi-structured interviews lasting 1-2 hours. With participants’ consent, interviews will be recorded. The research team will interview Elders, both men and women. The recordings will be transcribed. Where necessary, translators will be present in the interviews to facilitate discussion in the Tli?cho language, and will also assist with transcription into English. In light of risks associated with COVID-19, it is the priority to keep the communities safe from the risk of infection. GNWT COVID-19 protocols will be followed closely. Depending on current public health measures and Tli?cho Government directives, the team will employ one of two ways of conducting the interviews: (a) in-person interviews conducted in the communities, in Behchokò, or in Yellowknife. The student researcher, Razvan Michael Birlea, is already located in the NWT and works for the Tli?cho Government; and, (b) remote interviews, with participants attending Zoom-linked sessions run out of the Tli?cho Government office in each community. The proposal has been significantly shaped by Michael Birlea, who as a Tli?cho Government employee is already familiar with the communities. The proposal has evolved through engagement with representatives of Tli?cho Government: Director of Culture and Lands Protection, and Manager of Research Operations & Training. Also with Culture and Lands Protection, provided further detailed comments. Finally, the team have received close oversight from Senior Advisor to the Tli?cho Government. COVID-19 has prevented the team from any direct community engagement to this point. During the licencing process, the research team will engage the Tli?cho Government offices in each community for further feedback and will also reach out to the Band Council in each community to provide further information as necessary. Depending on COVID-19 conditions, the research team anticipate holding community meetings early in 2022 to share the results and to engage the communities in conversations about the next steps in the research. Participants will receive transcripts of their interviews to have for their own records and to review and comment if they wish. Efforts will also be made to reach them with plain-language summaries of any research outputs. In cases where lack of literacy may prevent them reading transcripts and outputs, the team will offer to go over materials with them. Meetings in the communities will be important for ensuring that those outputs also reach a wider audience. With Tli?cho Government approval, all research outputs, along with plain-language summaries, will be uploaded to the Mackenzie Datastream. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from September 17, 2021 to December 31, 2021.