NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: social sciences, decolonization, reconciliation, Settler-Indigenous Relationships, white settler

Objective(s): To acknowledges the role of settlers in the settler-Indigenous relationship and hopes to explore how white settlers build and maintain trust within their relationships with Indigenous peoples in the NWT.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5460. This research acknowledges the role of settlers in the settler-Indigenous relationship and hopes to explore how white settlers build and maintain trust within their relationships with Indigenous peoples in the NWT. Acknowledging the impacts of colonization and finding ways to engage in decolonial values is vital to the well-being of both settlers and Indigenous peoples in the NWT and Canada. The methodology and design for the proposed research is the heuristic research methodology. Specifically, heuristic research is a known method used to investigate human experience. Heuristic research is focused on self-discoveries and involves the researcher throughout the process. Heuristic research also includes curiosity and openness to learn more fully about the meaning of a phenomenon. A heuristic research design is appropriate for this research project as it provides the flexibility to explore the anatomy of building trust from the perspective of white settlers. Heuristics also aligns with research where the researcher has a deep connection and passion for the topic, as is the case in this project. The project population consists of white settlers in the NWT. The target population is eight co-researchers. The specific participant inclusion criteria are: •A resident of Yellowknife, NT. •A white settler with British, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and/or Dutch ancestry. •Able to communicate in English. •Eighteen years of age or older. •Willing to conduct face-to-face interviews. The exclusion criteria are: •Individuals with whom I have personal or professional relationships. The following steps will be followed sequentially to complete the snowball sampling recruitment process for this study: 1. To begin the snowball sampling process, the Principal Investigator (PI) will create a list of 10 appropriate individuals who will be information-rich key informants. These individuals will be chosen based on my judgment. 2. The PI will send an email to the information-rich key informant with information about the study and the requirements for participation. 3. Potential co-researchers will be given the recruitment flyer by the key informant and will be asked to contact me by phone or email if they are interested in participating in this study. 4. If a potential co-researcher contacts me by phone, the PI will complete the screening protocol over the phone (Appendix C in the attached research plan), which includes going over six screening questions. If a potential co-researcher contacts me by email, the PI will send the screening questions to them to complete and send back to me. 5. A list of 10 co-researchers will be created. Suppose the stated recruitment process does not yield 10 participants. In that case, the PI will ask the current co-researchers for recommendations on who to speak with. Working with co-researchers is part of using a decolonizing approach to research and values the rich knowledge co-researchers have. Data collection will consist of informal conversational face-to-face interviews with eight co-researchers in Yellowknife, NWT. The interviews will take place in a private office setting to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. The office is located at the Child and Youth Care Counselling program on the third floor of the Goga Cho building. The first step of the face-to-face interview begins once the list of 10 co-researchers has been created from the recruitment process. At this point, the PI will contact the co-researchers to schedule the in-person interviews. The PI will email the informed consent form at least 24 hours before the interview so the co-researchers can review this form. Immediately before the interview, the PI will go over the informed consent, the co-researcher will sign it, and the PI will sign it. Then the interview can begin. Each interview is expected to take 60 minutes to complete, broken down as 10 minutes of the initial welcome and building rapport, 40 to 50 minutes of asking interview questions and receiving responses, and 5 to 10 minutes to close the interview. During the interview process, the co-researchers will have the right and option to refuse to answer any question. The interview will be complete when each co-researcher has had the opportunity to tell their story to the point of natural closing. After the interview, a transcript will be generated from the audio recording for each co-researcher using online transcription software. The transcript will be compared to the audio recording for accuracy. All co-researchers' names and other identifying information will be removed from the transcript and replaced with a unique alphanumeric identifier. The PI will draw on skills as a Registered Psychologist to assist in the processes mentioned above. The PI will notify the Targeted Academic Support Program once and the research is complete to provide a summary of the results to them to further distribute to key stakeholders within the Health and Social Services Authority, Yellowknife division, of the GNWT along with local Indigenous governments and organizations who may be interested in the results. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from January 16, 2023 to December 31, 2023.