NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Sahtu Settlement Area

Tags: petroleum industry, oil development, Indigenous knowledge, cumulative impacts, Indigenous guardians, Imperial Oil, Community Conservation Planning, Closure and Reclamation, oil extraction

Objective(s): To explore Dene and Me´tis knowledge about the cumulative impacts of a century of petroleum operations at Norman Wells and downstream, supporting meaningful Indigenous contributions to decisions about closure and reclamation, strengthening Indigenous stewardship roles, and providing education and training for youth.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5959. This project will explore Dene and Me´tis knowledge about the cumulative impacts (CI) of a century of petroleum operations at Norman Wells and downstream, supporting meaningful Indigenous contributions to decisions about closure and reclamation, strengthening Indigenous stewardship roles, and providing education and training for youth. Outcomes: 1. Compile an archive of documented sources about the history and CI of petroleum extraction at Norman Wells with a focus on sources including Indigenous experiences and perspectives, and interpret materials through a study circle including university and community collaborators. 2. Document oral histories with a focus on Indigenous knowledge about CI on fish, water and to?dzi. 3. "Ground truth" current evidence of CI through boots on the ground observation by Ne? K'?´di´ Ke - Keepers of the Land. 4. Interpret current CI observations in light of historical knowledge through dialogue between Ne? K'?´di´ Ke and elders. 5. Facilitate dialogue between Dene/Me´tis knowledge holders/Ne? K'?´di´ Ke/youth and scientists about CI of petroleum extraction at Norman Wells. 6. Contribute to community planning, proposal review and input to the Sahtu´ Land and Water Board on closure and reclamation of the Norman Wells Proven Area, including design of a Ne? K'?´di´ Ke program to monitor activities. 7. Contribute community presentations at the SRRB's 2022 Public Listening (Hearing) on the topic of Knowledge about Caribou and Landscapes, and the 2024 Public Listening (Hearing) on the topic of Caribou Conservation and the Sahtu´ Mixed Economy. 8. In partnership with the Gwich'in Tribal Council's River Journeys project, train youth in video production and produce short videos about Indigenous knowledge and science related to CI of the Norman Wells petroleum extraction history, to be compiled as a feature documentary film. This community-driven project will be guided by the Working Group (Ne? K’? Dene Ts’i?li? Forum). The methodology will be developed by the Working Group. Mixed methods for each of the key objectives, focus group approach to interpreting archival materials. This community driven project will be guided by the Working Group (Ne? K’? Dene Ts’i?li? Forum). The methodology will be developed by the Working Group. Mixed methods for each of the key objectives, focus group approach to interpreting archival materials. The research will be completed through six main activities: 1. Archival research and collaborative interpretation of archival materials bringing together academic and community-based highly qualified personnel (HQP) (Years 1 and 2). 2. Oral histories with knowledge holders (Years 1 and 2). 3. Dialogue with scientists and other specialists through the Ne? K’? Dene Ts’i?li? Forum(Years 1-3). 4. Ne? K’?´di´ Ke training and ground-truthing cumulative impacts through field work to be designed in the upcoming year (Year 2). 5. Closure and reclamation planning through workshops (Year 3). 6. River Journeys: Development of short videos (Years 1 and 2) and compilation of a documentary video through workshops with youth and knowledge holders (Year 3). Our Memorial University collaborators have already identified a body of relevant material stretching from the 1930s to the 1980s, including government documents, technical reports, sound recordings, and photographs at Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa), Glenbow Archives (Calgary), and at the NWT Archives (Yellowknife). The plan is to hire researchers local to these three cities to arrange for digital scanning relevant materials, including documents and photographs, and where possible arrange for a copy to be made of any archival films as the basis for a digital archive that can be accessible to interested communities and researchers. A study circle will provide opportunities for community members to interpret key archival materials in dialogue with Memorial University collaborators. Oral histories (Years 1 and 2) This method will include both compilation of existing recorded oral histories, as well as recording of new oral histories. The approach to new oral histories will first be developed through study circle sessions reviewing and interpreting questions arising from documented historical context as well as community knowledge. This includes: refining questions, identifying people to be interviewed, and developing an approach to training and mentoring youth to elicit oral histories. The second round of design will be through training sessions with youth participating in the River Journeys program. Interviews will be oriented to eliciting meaningful stories, as well as any remembered impacts that might be included in a plan for ground-truthing. Where possible interviews will include mapping, and will be audio or video recorded and transcribed with participant consent. Participants will be invited to workshop any products arising from these oral histories, and will have an opportunity to validate/verify in context any videos or texts in which their contributions appear. Dialogue with scientists and other specialists (Years 1-3) Regular exchanges with scientists conducting related research will take place during study circle sessions and topically focused meetings of the Ne? K’? Dene Ts’i?li? Forum. This will also be an opportunity for knowledge dissemination about Indigenous knowledge and science research considering CI of petroleum extraction. Scientific CI research and monitoring projects to be included in study circle sessions include but are not limited to: Contaminants (PAHs, mercury) in the Mackenzie River and fish health assessments: The development of new genetic screening tools to assess stressors (Marlene Evans, Environment and Climate Change Canada/ECCC); Sahtu´ Human Biomonitoring Project (Brian Laird, University of Waterloo); Hydrocarbon-derived compounds (anthropogenic and natural) in water bodies in the Sahtú (Kirsty Gurney, ECCC); Can boreal caribou coexist with human development in Northern Canada? Forecasting land use changes using resource development potential mapping to improve boreal caribou future forecasts (Lisa Mahon, ECCC); Arctic Salmon - Building capacity and assessing interactions among salmon and Arctic fishes in the Mackenzie River (Karen Dunmall, Fisheries and Oceans Canada). Ground truthing (Year 2) Knowledge holders will travel with young Ne? K’?´di´ Ke in areas of the Norman Wells Proven Area designated by knowledge holders in order to document (by video where possible) and discuss impacts of petroleum extraction. Training for this will include Indigenous knowledge methods, and NWT Lands Department and/or Environment and Natural Resources staff will be asked to assist with basic training in science-based monitoring skills. The ground truthing team will collaboratively develop an optimal “mixed method” of achieving their objectives in documenting presently evident impacts as part of the training. Focus groups with knowledge holders in the communities will provide opportunities for comparing historical and current observations. Closure and reclamation planning (Year 3) Participants will develop a vision, situation analysis (threats, causes of threats, objectives, indicators), and results chain (activities to achieve results, harms reduced) for water, fish, todzi and people in the Norman Wells Proven Area, and for water and fish, downstream, based on Indigenous knowledge and science gathered and collectively analysed through the study circles. This work is designed based on the Australian Indigenous Healthy Country Planning model and will be the basis for preparing community contributions to closure and reclamation planning, including plans for post-closure environmental monitoring. Participants will also review key features of plans submitted by industry, considering implications in terms of cumulative impacts through an Indigenous knowledge lens and in dialogue with collaborating scientists. River Journeys (Years 1-3) The River Journeys project began two years ago when the Gwich’in Tribal Council began collaborating with a team led by Dr. Gordon Christie, an Inuvialuit beneficiary who is Director of Indigenous Law at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Christie had been given a collection of more than 1,000 colour slides and 100 hours of audio tape recorded with elders in the Gwich’in and Sahtu regions in the 1970s. The recordings had been made by Michael Jackson, who lived in Deline and Fort McPherson in 1974-75 while preparing for the community hearings of the Berger Inquiry. Additional audio and film documentaries were contributed by Drew Ann Wake who interviewed elders across the NWT while working as a freelancer for the CBC and the NFB in Yellowknife in the 1970s. Dr. Christie thought short films should be made with the historic audio, which includes stories told by families who lived at Norman Wells before the arrival of Imperial Oil and families that recall the signing of Treaty 11. The Gwich’in Tribal Council Department of Culture and History (GTC-DCH) took the lead, organizing a video arts training program In the Gwich’in communities. When invited to join the program during two virtual Ne? K’? Dene Ts’i?li? Forum meetings with the GTC-DCH team, Sahtu´ community leaders responded with great enthusiasm. The GTC-DCH video arts training and production program will be adapted for working in the Sahtu during 2021-2024, culminating in completion of a feature documentary film. TIMELINE Year 1 (2021-2022) Year 1 will focus on collection and review of archival and other literature with the help of a Memorial University graduate research assistant working in the archives and collaboratively interpreting materials in a study circle setting, and initiation of oral history work through the River Journeys project. The archival research team will undertake a targeted search and retrieval of archival documents and secondary (published) sources related to the Norman Wells development. Due to the costs of travel, the project will engage contract researchers in Ottawa, Calgary, and Yellowknife to retrieve material from Library and Archives Canada, Glenbow Archives, and the NWT Archives, respectively. With the guidance and assistance from Memorial researchers, this digitized material will be organized, reviewed, and selected for further collaborative study and analysis by the project team (by minimizing travel and maximizing access through digital sharing of materials, we are minimizing COVID-19 exposure risk). A review of relevant secondary sources, including studies by anthropologists, historians, and geographers, will also be completed. The objective of the archival project is to understand federal and territorial policies and actions related to the development and operation of the Imperial Oil Ltd. Norman Wells development. These sources will provide a knowledge base about key economic, environmental, and social aspects of the Norman Wells installation that will be combined (in phase 2) with Indigenous Knowledge of the cumulative impacts of a century of extraction. These materials will be collaboratively interpreted by the project team during study circle sessions, with the assistance of Memorial researchers and Indigenous knowledge specialists. Study circle sessions will also include dialogue with scientists, as well as other specialists that may help to address questions arising from archival materials. Based on collaborative interpretation of archival sources and other knowledge shared during the study circles, the project team will develop strategies for oral history and ground-truthing activities (ie. checking on current status of remembered cumulative impacts). The River Journeys program in developing videos will be initiated. Participating youth will be invited to choose their favourite historic audio recording and using it to create a short film, and/or to shoot an oral history with a knowledge holder and contemporary images of the land and wildlife. Wherever possible, students will interview a living elder who is related to the elder in the historic interview so the final films explore experiences with the oil industry over two generations. At the end of the workshop, a selection of the videos would be placed on the “River Journeys” website. In the fall of 2021, the River Journeys team will provide a series of on-line workshops for teachers across the north, so the web materials can be used effectively in northern classrooms. Year 2 (2022-2023) Oral histories/film-making and study circles for knowledge sharing will continue, and ground-truthing will be initiated in Year 2. Training for Ne? K’?´di´ Ke will include dialogue and skill-building with knowledge holders, Indigenous Knowledge researchers, and scientists, and development of plans for optimal documentation of impacts drawing on living memory of knowledge holders to locate remembered impacts. The River Journeys project will continue with an advanced workshop. In the past, these workshops have produced young people who feel that a knowledge of media is key to a future career. In the second year participating youth would be invited to work one-on-one with a mentor to create a short film of their own. Each young person will combine historic resources with an intensive series of interviews with current-day leaders and knowledge-keepers, describing the changes they have seen in their communities and on the land during their lifetimes. These longer videos would be launched in an on-line film festival with an audience drawn from across the north and university students in the south. Then, the videos can be added to the “River Journeys” website, along with advanced teacher training materials. Year 3 (2023-2024) Year 3 will be focused on development of closure and reclamation plans, including plans for post-closure environmental monitoring, based in part on compilation, interpretation and community presentation of results from oral histories and ground-truthing. As well, this will be the year for knowledge dissemination and mobilization within communities (including at a regional or Territorial results workshop and regional decision-making proceedings), and preparation of research products, including a webpage, community reports and presentations, Facebook posts and other products requested by the partnering communities. The final phase of the River Journeys project will lead to completion of a feature documentary film. In the third year of the program, the most skilled and enthusiastic young people from previous years would work as a team to harness the historical and scientific video gathered over the previous two years to produce a full-length documentary encompassing the century-long experience of the Sahtú people with oil extraction at Norman Wells. This documentary could be used on television and on-line to promote the conclusions reached by the researchers evaluating the environmental and social impacts of a century of oil production on Sahtu´ lands. Over the course of three years, a valuable visual record of a century of oil production in the Sahtu´ will be created. At the same time, a group of young people will acquire the professional skills to create video and new media reflecting the historical and contemporary experiences of their people. Results will be communicated to partnering communities through a combination of various media (which may include posters, newsletters, public presentations, presentations at schools, Ne? K’? Dene Ts’i?li? Forum meetings and to partnering organisations, video and Facebook posts) as directed by the project team and partnering communities, and depending on team capacity. The project will be featured on the Sahtú Renewable Resources Board website, www.srrb.nt.ca. Regarding the interviews with community members, a draft report will be provided to them for review and comment prior to being made publicly available. A final report will be provided to the Sahtú Renewable Resources Board, CIMP, and all Sahtú communities for use in their community conservation planning. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: July 25 - December 31, 2024