NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: early childhood, family support

Objective(s): The project objectives are to 1) Understand traditional and contemporary cultural beliefs about supporting young children with exceptional needs, 2) Identify community-based supports for children and their families as well as barriers to accessing such supports; and 3) Highlight practices informed by Inuit knowledge as well as aajiiqatigiingniq-derived solutions to perceived barriers to advance knowledge about community-based supports for children with developmental differences.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 6064. The project objectives are to 1) Understand traditional and contemporary cultural beliefs about supporting young children with exceptional needs, 2) Identify community-based supports for children and their families as well as barriers to accessing such supports; and 3) Highlight practices informed by Inuit knowledge as well as aajiiqatigiingniq-derived solutions to perceived barriers to advance knowledge about community-based supports for children with developmental differences. In the formulation of research questions and the study's design, I used a community participatory research approach to define research objectives that would be relevant and of interest to the community. I first partnered with a research mentor, Shirley Tagalik, a resident of Nunavut, lifelong early childhood educator, and health and wellness researcher. Shirley advised on the research themes, study objectives, and method, recommending the aajiqatigiingniq approach discussed below. I also met with Ulukhaktok residents during an initial visit in October 2024 to share my ideas for the research and get feedback on the project's relevance to the community. Based on feedback from community members and those fluent in Inuinnaqtun, I expanded the studies focus from inuglugijaittuq alone to also include atautimot havaqatigingniq as the concept of community members working together was deemed an essential community-based support. In terms of data collection methods, the project will use aajiiqatigiingniq, an Inuit-derived qualitative method grounded in consensus approach, and semi-structured interviews to learn about traditional and contemporary cultural beliefs around supporting young children with exceptional needs, to identify community-based supports for children and families as well as barriers to access, and community-driven solutions to overcoming perceived barriers. Aajiiqatigiingniq is an Inuit-derived qualitative method similar to focus groups (see Ferazzi and colleagues' 2019 paper for an example of the method in practice). The aajiiqatigiingniq method first brings the research aims to community Elders and knowledge holders. Elders and knowledge holders then recommend community members to be included in a consensus-based group discussion focusing on the research questions. Other community members with relevant experience (in this case, parents, grandparents, and other caretakers) can also be recruited to participate in the group discussion. This method is closely tied to the practice of havaqatigingniq, as it is based in group consensus. I will also use semi-structured interviews to learn about traditional and contemporary cultural beliefs about supporting young children with exceptional needs and to speak with families and service providers about community-based supports and perceived barriers to accessing supports. Narrative and story telling is a culturally relevant and valuable method for understanding cultural beliefs, and supplementing the group discussion with semi-structured interviews will allow families and caretakers to share experiences that they might not wish to share with a larger group. Audio recordings from group discussions and interviews will be transcribed. From the transcriptions, emerging themes and key quotations will be identified that illustrate traditional and contemporary beliefs about best ways to support young children with exceptional needs. From the transcriptions, I will highlight supports for children and families that exist in the community, and shared solutions for how to overcome barriers to accessing community supports. These data will be synthesized into a presentation and a brochure that highlight community-based supports and community-derived solutions to barriers to accessing such supports. Through presenting these findings in person to community members and sharing the brochure in English and Inuinnaqtun, I hope the project will facilitate knowledge transfer across participating communities. I also believe that the traditional and contemporary cultural knowledge shared as well as the community-derived solutions will inform systems of support outside Inuit Nunangat (those in the US and other areas of Canada) who are striving to support young children with disabilities in holistic, inclusive, and sustainable ways. During the formulation of research objectives and the study design, I communicated with stakeholders (former early childhood educators and daycare providers, parents) and community members who have conducted research in adjacent areas (Inuit philosophies of child rearing, language revitalization) to get input on the project's scope, focus, and proposed method. These stakeholders recommended culturally relevant methods (aajiiqatigiingniq, narrative, and storytelling), provided feedback on the project's objectives, and advised on sources for my review of the extant literature. After I received funding from Fulbright, I visited Ulukhaktok (I had not been since I was a child) to visit with community members, seek input from Inuinnaqtun speakers and knowledge keepers, and meet with members of the Ulukhaktok Community Corporation about the proposed project. This initial visit greatly informed the project as it expanded the project's focus from inuglugijaittuq (a philosophy developed in Nunavut) to also include atautimot havaqatigingniq, which advisors in Ulukhaktok saw as most relevant to their community. This initial visit also gave me a greater understanding of the structures supporting child development in Ulukhaktok (e.g., I was able to meet the manager of the Child Development Centre Day Care/PreK). The visit reminded me of the beautiful land and territory that is so central to community culture (I was able to go ice fishing with community members and attend a meeting of the Hunters and Trappers Committee), and there is no replacement for being in person with community members, sharing meals, and spending time together over BINGO, coffee, or sewing. This experience of being in the community and visiting with community members has greatly informed my plans for the next steps of the project including recruitment, data collection, data analysis, and dissemination of findings. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: March 01 - June 14, 2025