NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Dehcho Region, North Slave Region

Tags: economic development, economic potential, feasibility study, northern community, infrastructure

Objective(s): To hear about and document resident and community perspectives on local and regional socioeconomic priorities, concerns, and goals in the context of existing, planned, and potential infrastructure development in the territory.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5281. The key objective of the Community Engagement Program is to hear about and document resident and community perspectives on local and regional socioeconomic priorities, concerns, and goals in the context of existing, planned, and potential infrastructure development in the territory. This will provide decision makers and stakeholders at all levels of government — as well as in academia, non-governmental bodies, and community development organizations — with community level, place based information to assess the feasibility, desirability, and acceptability of the corridor concept. There is also a lack of qualitative data collected at this level on the subject of infrastructure needs, discrepancies, and interests, which this research program seeks to remedy. A broader objective of this research program is to build a clearer understanding of the conditions, and considerations, required in order to establish a coherent, inclusive, and pragmatic strategy for national infrastructure planning and development that is sensitive to regional preferences, differences, and goals. Canada currently lacks a unified, long-term approach to national infrastructure; as a consequence, large-scale infrastructure projects are currently ‘one-offs’, single projects executed at inflated expense and high risk for financers, whether private or public. This scattered approach also fails to meaningfully consider cumulative impacts of projects and whether, or how, they contribute to improving national connectivity or reducing regional inequities. One of the central activities of the Research Program is a series of in-person visits by research team members and external consultants (from Cascade Projects, a Calgary-based, Indigenous-owned and –operated group) to 19 community sites across northern Canada including the NWT; these visits will involve a community discussion event as well as more informal conversations with community members. The goal of these activities is to talk to community members about corridor and infrastructure development broadly with a focus on local needs, concerns, interests, and perspectives. Before visiting communities, the research team and external consultants will reach out to administrative contacts, community leaders, and potential key informants. Potential initial points of contact may include town or band managers, chief administrative officers, and directors/managers in relevant areas such as community development, public relations, communications, and economic development. The goal of this initial contact is to identify an appropriate community liaison and to gain an understanding of local governments’ processes for community engagement, including any required local processes regarding research ethics and consent. It is also to assess local interest in engaging with the Research Program. An additional goal of making these contacts will be to gain a better understanding of community preferences regarding engagement processes such as who needs to be included in planning and executing activities; how data will be collected, shared, and stored; how the research team will keep the community up-to-date both leading up to and following engagement activities; and to discuss expectations regarding post-engagement activity reporting back to community. All communities will be guaranteed the opportunity to provide feedback on collected data and preliminary findings; collected data will also be returned to the community in its preferred form (e.g. raw notes and photographs, summaries, etc). Other forms of reporting back to community (e.g. virtual presentations, posters, etc) will also be discussed with the goal of meeting community needs and interests. Once a contact within the community has been established (in the form a community liaison, community research manager or the like), consultants and researchers will then work with this person to establish appropriate ways to let community members know about the Research Program and the research team’s visit to the community. Advertising for community events may involved things like social media posts (on both the Research Program’s feeds and those of interested community groups), posters in the community, and use of local media like newspapers and radio. Engagement visits will involve two external consultants and two members of the UCalgary-based research team travelling to community sites; these visits will be three to four days in length and will take place from September to October 2022. Travel to communities will be dependent on current pandemic conditions. Community availability will also be considered when scheduling in person events, e.g. conflicts with other scheduled events or times when a high number of community members may be expected to be out on the land rather than in the community itself. Formal engagement events will take place at all community sites and will be facilitated by external consultants with support from members of the research team. These events will be a combination ‘open house’ where community members can learn about the Research Program; and a facilitated community conversation. In order to encourage and support participation, a number of accessibility measures will be incorporated into engagement events. Written documents about the Corridor Concept and Research Program produced by the research team will employ plain language accessible to a lay audience; they will be available in both English and French and, where appropriate, in local languages. Activities themselves will be conducted in English with local languages interpreters where needed; these interpreters will ideally be local residents themselves who will be compensated for their work by Cascade Projects. Where possible, event venues will be selected based on both their geographical and physical accessibility; that is, they should be easy to get to for most community members and have no, or minimal, barriers for individuals with mobility challenges. Formal engagement activities in Indigenous communities will also incorporate appropriate cultural protocols and considerations. These protocols will be discussed with community leaders and/or community liaisons during the pre-engagement process and will include consideration for such specifics as gift-giving and the treatment of Elders (e.g. how they might be supported/assisted at a given event, locally-specific language and protocol in addressing Elders, etc). Any public health/COVID measures required or requested by the local community will be incorporated into engagement planning as well. In addition to the community event, the research team will also spend additional days in community for the purposes of conducting observational fieldwork and meeting with local leaders, key informants, and any other members of the local community who wish to engage further with researchers. As the time consultants and researchers spend in each community will be short, a community engagement site will be created using Bang the Table (www.cncengage.ca) to support engagement both prior to communities visits and for a period of time afterwards. This will allow those unable to engage during community visits to participate and allow those who have already participated in in-person engagement activities to both offer additional information and review the information gathered during the research team’s visit to their community. Where internet access is poor, follow up communications may also be conducted via email and telephone. For community members and organizations, the research team will communicate by both email and telephone, as well as through the Program’s social media pages. Activities and updates may be posted to community websites such as Facebook and SIKU pages and municipal/band websites. Physical posters and handouts will also be used to make sure as many interested people in the community as possible are informed and involved. Activity announcements will also be made via local media such as newspapers, newsletters, and radio. Once in-community activities are completed, the research team will continue to update communities via Facebook, SIKU, and/or Bang the Table about the progress of the research program; this includes distributing the Back to Community report for information and review by interested community members. Back to Community reports will also be made available in physical form either through mail-out by the research team or by having a community member/champion print out copies locally at the expense of the Research Program. These reports will also be sent directly to relevant local organizations and community leadership bodies such as town and band councils, economic development organizations, and chambers of commerce. All announcements, updates, and reports will be written in English and translated to local languages where appropriate and/or requested. Community members can also opt to be added to the Research Program’s mailing list through which list members are routinely updated on Research Program activities, publications, and announcements. Our final reporting, expected to be completed by the end of December 2022, will be distributed to existing community and stakeholder contacts as well as other potentially interested parties such as territorial, provincial and federal ministers’ offices, municipal and band offices, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, regional economic development organizations, and land use planning boards. Some existing contacts include: Executive Director of the NWT Chamber of Commerce; MLA for Yellowknife South and Minster of Finance; MLAs for Hay River; Directors with the NWT Department of Infrastructure; and CEO of Denendeh Investments. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from September 26, 2022 to December 31, 2022