Environmental Stewardship in Nunavut: "Learning From Our Homegrown Research Projects, Rather Than Outsiders' Research Projects"

• In Event: 34.073 - Stewardship of the Land, Water, and Ice: Implications for Education in Nunangat

Abstract

Objectives and theoretical framework: Indigenous ways of knowing and being or what Inuit have always known to be true or Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ), are integral to understanding signs of climate change and to engage in locally relevant environmental stewardship (Author, 2015b; Karetak et al., 2017). To make such relational knowledge systems more widely available to youth, some communities in Nunangat have developed informal educational programs assumed and taught by Inuit. Such culturally anchored programs essentially recreate the kind of “informal, intergenerational and situated learning characteristic of traditional knowledge transmission” (Tulloch et al., 2012, p. 1). We offer detailed descriptions of programs in two communities in Nunavut. Grounding our analysis in a relational perspective, we focus on how learning is embodied, expressed, and grounded in and emergent from IQ, and focus on “teaching and learning as “relational, reciprocal, and culturally located actions” (Styres, 2017, p. 61).
Methods: For the description of each program – The Hunters and Environmental Monitoring Programs in Arviat, and the Expanded Leadership to Study Water Quality in Pond Inlet, we rely on fieldnotes collected during on-site visits and capacity building workshops, and interviews conducted of the leaders, adults, and youth assistants in each program over time, from 2014 to 2017 (20 interviews in Arviat; 24 interviews in Pond Inlet). Guided by indigenous methodology (Berkes, 2009; Wilson, 2008), we engaged in cycles of data analysis and refinements with the program leaders.
Results: Case 1, Arviat: Food security and lack of intergenerational dialogue were two of other concerns that led to the Young Hunter’s and Environmental Monitoring Program in Arviat. The latter entailed an assessment of the health of local food sources and the creation of a greenhouse. As noted by the director, these programs contribute to the “well-being of our young people”, helping them develop new skills and “reconnect with the land, which is a spiritual connection.” Case 2, Pond Inlet: Community concerns about water quality led to the development of the program for which some guidance was sought from Arctic College and researchers in the South. In 2013, its leader paired up with an NGO in the South to conduct a baseline study, sampling water twice a week (freshwater, lake, and ice when possible) with youth while also consulting elders about water. The following two years focused on capacity building and on the development of new partnerships and training in the South (Dalhousie University), making possible more complex DNA water analysis, for instance, while 2016 was devoted to the development of a draft of a water curriculum for high school. The program leader explains, “community concerns [drive it], it’s run by Inuit; and having an Inuit leader, just gives them pride… It’ll empower them, they can maybe do their own some day.” And “having the assistants be proud of an Inuit project leader just helps… we’re all proud of the work we’re doing. It’s for something, it’s for community.”
Scientific significance: We will end with a discussion of the scientific significance of having local Inuit governed programs.

Authors

• Shirley Tagalik, Aqqiumavvik Society

• Timi Soucie, Water Quality Monitoring Program

• Jrene Rahm, University of Montreal

• Vincent L'Hérault, ARCTIConnexion

• Marie-Hélène Truchon, ARCTIConnexion