NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: community development, community engagement

Objective(s): Objectives include: Build positive relations between university researchers and the Tli?cho communities; co-create knowledge that is of equal value to the Tli?cho people and to scholarship; enhance the capacity of the Tli?cho people to pursue a sustainable future in accordance with Tli?cho values based on findings that emerge throughout the project.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5981. The objectives include: Build positive relations between university researchers and the Tli?cho communities; co-create knowledge that is of equal value to the Tli?cho people and to scholarship; enhance the capacity of the Tli?cho people to pursue a sustainable future in accordance with Tli?cho values based on findings that emerge throughout the project. The team also seeks to co-create knowledge that will inform the policy and practice of impact assessment in Canada. Dissemination of several new knowledge products to the Tli?cho Government and communities; graduate student training; new academic publications. In this final stage of research, the team will be engaging approximately 10-15 community members in the community of Wekweeti, of diverse age (18+), gender, and positions of employment in semi-structured interviews of approximately 1 hour. It is seeking to speak with community members about their knowledge, experiences and perspectives regarding community sustainability. As this project is a community collaboration, the team will work closely with the Tli?cho Government, who will assist in identifying a community liaison to assist with our field research activities. Interviews will take place at a location in the community of the interviewees’ choice, or via Zoom if preferred by the interview participant. With participant's permission, interviews will be audio-recorded, and the interviewer will also take notes. Interview recordings will also be transcribed as soon as possible after the interview. A translator will be present and assist with transcription for interviews conducted in Indigenous languages. All audio-recordings, transcriptions, and notes will be kept on a password-protected university server accessible only by the Principal Investigator and additional team members listed in this agreement. The audio file and transcript for each interview will also be provided to the interviewee upon request for personal storage, and provided to the Tli?cho Government for their research archives. Interviews will elders may also be video-recorded with consent of the interview participant, and the recordings provided to the Tlicho Government for their research archives. The video-recordings will not be analyzed, and are solely collected for the benefit of the community. Communications with the Tli?cho began in December, 2021, including meetings with Tee Lim and Tyanna Steinwand, and one meeting with a broader spectrum of Tlicho Government staff. Since that time, the team has met regularly to provide research updates, provided one interim research report, with a second one under preparation. It will continue to engage in regular meetings to share updates, and receive feedback, which may result in revising research plans. Upon completion of the research, a final set of short summary reports of our findings will be drafted for the Tli?cho government and interested community members, and all publications resulting from the project will be provided. As well, a local workshop will be offered to discuss findings with members of the Tlicho Government and communities. The team is continuing to discuss the most effective communication strategies with our Tlicho partners, and may pursue additional strategies as a result. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: August 12 - September 30, 2024