"Being in Respectful Relationships by Living Well Together": The Ujjiqsuiniq Young Hunters Program (Poster 3)

• In Event: Redefining Care in a Global Pandemic: Problematizing Relational Models in Socio-Ecological Systems

Abstract

Purpose: While environmental dispossession next to climate change have compromised health and well-being of Inuit, we show how practices and activities driven by self-determination are part of “the politico-cultural process of revitalizing of Indigenous knowledge and ways of life and reclaiming of ancestral spaces towards improved well-being” (Robertson & Ljubici, 2019). That reclaiming implies “being in respectful relationships through inuuqatigiitsiarniq (living well together)” (Karetak et al., 2017, p. 15). It calls for the reawakening of “the good stewardship left to us by the ancestors” (Kalluak, 2017, p. 57) and teaching a holistic science approach embedded in “accompanying ethical lessons like the responsibilities of taking care of one another and the environments that sustain us” (Lipe, 2020, p. 465). Care of the land and each other through re-built relations between generations, people, mind, body, spirit and the land (Alfred, 2009), essentially puts to work the collective resources for the common good.

Method & Data: We draw on a qualitative case study of the Ujjiqsuiniq Young Hunters Program which provides training to youth and young adults in the use of technologies to monitor environmental changes, pursue analysis of the data collected and engagement in the communication of information back to the community. Through stories, we show how these multiple forms of engagements embody an ethic of care in support of emotional well-being and agency of Inuit youth, adults, and communities (Wilson, 2008).

Results: A concern for food security and lack of intergenerational dialogue raised by the Elders of Arviat in Inuit Nunangat (the land of Inuit), led to the development of the Young Hunters Program. Being on the land is central to the program, as noted by the director, “no matter what you go through, if you feel like you are having a hard time or you can’t think clearly, go out on the land and the land will renew you and rejuvenate you, and you’ll be able to start to think clearly and work through whatever problem you are going through.” Self-governance of the program and its environmental stewardship activities is also crucial, “it’s not led by just somebody from the South, trying to find answers, it’s for the benefit of the community, based on people from the community, so it’s a great feeling, it’s ours!” The program affords Inuit youth, instructors and others who are involved, a unique opportunity to build relationships and navigate among epistemologies in empowering ways and as noted by another program member, “enables somebody to become a good person, living a good life, who’s able to contribute to improve the common good.”

Scientific implications: “To think holistically is to be in respectful relationship with all that is around you” (Tagalik, 2015, p. 31). As shown, it is an epistemology that enriches our work for a de-colonial ethic of care of the environment and each other and has important implications for environmental and STEM education. It implies a political-health discourse tied to self-determination and repossession of the land.

Authors

• Shirley Tagalik, Aqqiumavvik Society

• Kukik Baker

• Jrene Rahm, University of Montréal