NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: Tłı̨chǫ, childhood, families, qualitative research

Objective(s): This project seeks to understand how childhood and family life has changed over time in the Tli?cho region, and how knowledge should be brought forward to ensure strong future generations.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 6203. This project seeks to understand how childhood and family life has changed over time in the Tli?cho region, and how knowledge should be brought forward to ensure strong future generations. This four year project builds upon initial research and project development to host community meetings, family story gathering, and creative and academic work in all communities in the Tli?cho region towards the following objectives: 1) Document narratives of experiences of childhood and family life from community members in the region; 2) Provide context by exploring how interrelated processes of colonialism, climate change, and economic changes have shaped childhood and family life in the region; 3) Demonstrate how Tli?cho Nàowo ensures that children are raised well, with Land and in language, culture, and way of life; 4) Outline proposals for how to ground resources, programs, and interventions for children and families in the region in Tli?cho Nàowo; 5) Make research available widely, including through co-created and creative community outputs to celebrate and share knowledge about childhood and family life, resources for the Tli?cho Government Department of Early Childhood, presentations to a variety of audiences, and a co-authored scholarly monograph; 6) Innovate and share methodologies for doing locally-driven research with Indigenous communities in support of rights, sovereignty, and self-determination; 7) Build research capacity in the region by involving and training both local and university-based trainees in gaining skill and experience in community-driven research. This research is Tli?cho-driven and community-engaged. As described above, this project works across identified priorities for research and early childhood within the Tli?cho Government. To explore how family life and childhood has changed over time, and understand how to share knowledge to support strong future generations, the project will draw on multiple methodologies and sources of information: Family story gathering: Our team will draw on ethnographic and Indigenous methods to document family stories and everyday family life in the communities. For the purposes of this project, family stories are participant driven extended narratives or experiences that share information about family life and childhood. These family stories may be interviews, experiences, activities, material culture, foods, or places relevant to understanding the research questions around changing childhoods and family life, and supporting strong future generations. The family stories will be documented in Tli?cho and English in audio or visual recordings, notes, and photographs. In each community, we will begin by securing support from local leadership for the project. Following that, our team will convene local Elders to advise and oversee our approach. We will work with local Elders to develop each community approach and oversee the research. Guided by these Elders, our team will host community meetings to share project plans, invite participation, and decide on community-driven outputs together. Finally, members of our team will meet individually with community members to gather 10-15 family stories in each community. Archival research, digitized or previously published sources: There are narratives and photographs of life on the land and in communities available in the Tli?cho Cultural Commons Digital Archives held by the Tli?cho Government and the Government of the Northwest Territories Archives. One example for Wekweètì is the Snare Lake Oral History Project (1992) which includes video and audio interviews with Elders in Wekweètì. These Elders shared knowledge and experience about life on the land, from survival, to making bone grease, to knitting. There are also elements of material culture relevant to family life and childhood in museums or personal collections such as baby belts, children's clothing and toys, Resources like these will be compiled and analyzed alongside the family stories to contribute to understandings of changing family life, and add knowledge to bring forward for the future from Elders in earlier decades. There are also previously published ethnographic writings by June Helm (1994, 2000), Joan Ryan (1996), and others that will be reviewed and analyzed for relevant information. Creation of community outputs and early childhood resources: We intend to build knowledge through the creation of both community outputs and early childhood resources in the region. Community outputs are envisioned as collaborative community driven interpretations of the findings that will be co-created by and live in each community. For this project, it could be a mural based on the family stories that community members, artists, and researchers co-create together. It could be a podcast, radio program, or film that a group works on together. Similarly, maintaining close links throughout the project to the Tli?cho Government Department of Early Childhood means that we will look to co-create programs and resources based on project findings. Each year of the project to date we have created and shared a project summary. This has had good reach within the Tli?cho region. The project also participates annually in the Tli?cho research expo, held in December for projects in the region to share information with community members and stakeholders. Our team has also attended conferences, including ArcticNet in 2023 in Iqaluit, Nunavut. We will continue to seek these opportunities to share project findings. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: June 07 - December 31, 2025