NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: wildfire, land use, Gwich'in, Inuvialuit, climate change adaptation

Objective(s): The main objective of this project is to understand the perceptions of Indigenous community members, from the ISR and/or the GSA, of how wildfires have modified, and might modify, the landscape and their relationship with it.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5958. The main objective of this project is to understand the perceptions of Indigenous community members, from the ISR and/or the GSA, of how wildfires have modified, and might modify, the landscape and their relationship with it. The Principle Investigator will conduct a dozen semi-structured interviews with community members who were born and raised in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and/or the Gwich'in Settlement Area. The PI will be asking questions about their perceptions of the changes wildfires are bringing to the landscape, and how these disturbances affect their activities/leisure time (e.g. harvesting, trapping, hunting and herding). In addition, questions will be asked about perceptions of variations in weather and climate (e.g. temperature and precipitation), and of "notable" events such as periods of drought, heat waves, frequency of thunderstorms and lightning, and length of seasons. Following this, there will be questions about adaptation to wildfire as such, but also adaptation to variations in climate and weather. Finally, there's the question of projection. How do the people in question project themselves into the future in relation to the evolution of their territory? Do they have any concerns about their way of life or even their food security? Semi-structured interviews will be conducted using an interview guide and should last about one hour. With their agreement, these interviews will be recorded for the sole purpose of helping the PI transcribe their words as accurately and fairly as possible. This will also enable the PI to listen to them fully during the interview and thus have a dynamic conversation. Interviews will be conducted in locations previously agreed with interviewees (e.g. library, conference room, etc.), and interviewees will be asked only once. The aim is to conduct all interviews in person in the summer of 2024, but if this is not possible, online interviews will be carried out in the autumn of 2024 and the winter of 2025. Interviewees will receive an electronic version of the MSc thesis and scientific article by e-mail, along with a short summary of the results to make the information more approachable/accessible. The PI will also publish a popularized article in the Inuvialuit Research Newsletter, distributed by the IRC on their website and in hard copy to community members with the help of ARI’s outreach team (e.g., Lynelle Pedroso). Furthermore, the team plans on visiting schools in Tuktoyaktuk, Aklavik, Inuvik and McPherson with the help of this outreach team. The PI will also create a poster, summarizing the research and results, which will be displayed in places where this type of information can be disseminated (e.g., in the Aurora Research Institute and IRC corridors in Inuvik). Every attempt will be made to organize an information-sharing “workshop” with the people concerned, where the PI will present the results in the form of an oral presentation with Power-Point visual support during a potential visit in the summer of 2025. Finally, and if possible, the PI will also hold an information table about the project and its results in a popularized way at community events. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: September 01 - December 31, 2024