2014 Community Wellbeing & Resource Development Fourth Annual ReSDA Workshop Report ReSDA Community Report #5 Prepared by Valoree Walker & Bronwyn Beairsto
Hotel North 2 Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL October 2-4, 2014
Community wellbeing & resource development Resources and Fourth Annual ReSDA Research Workshop Sustainable Development in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the Arctic (ReSDA) The ReSDA network would like to thank the many groups and individuals that ReSDA is a research supported and contributed to the success of the event: network that brings A special thank you to Minister Keith Russell, Happy Valley Goose Bay together researchers Mayor Jamie Snook and the President of NunatuKavut Community from a broad range of disciplines and Council, Todd Russell for taking time to welcome everyone and sharing organizations some insightful comments to start the discussions of the workshop. representing We would also like to thank the Labrador workshop coordinating communities, committee: government, the private . Morgon Mills (Labrador Institute) sector and non-profit . Ron Sparkes (Labrador Institute) organizations. Through partnerships and . Harry Borlase (Nunatsiavut) collaborations we . Patricia Nash (NunatuKavut) conduct and mobilize . Michelle Watkins (Labrador Affairs Office, research aimed at the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador) sustainable Also a special thank you to Morgon Mills for making all the local development of Arctic arrangements and ensuring that the people of Labrador were well natural resources in a manner that will represented at this event. improve the health and The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada wellbeing of northern (SSHRC) for providing core funding for both ReSDA and this workshop. communities while The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) for providing preserving the region's funding to support the workshop and northern participant travel. unique environment. Thanks to Scott Neilsen and Morgon Mills (Labrador Institute) for webcasting and video recordings of these sessions. All the presenters and panel members who provided their experiences and insights on community wellbeing, research and relationships to More information: resource developments. Visit us on the web at www.resda.ca Most importantly thank you to all the workshop participants who took Check us out on Facebook and time away from their work and family to contribute to the discussions Twitter and recommendations on community well-being issues. These contributions have allowed for the start of shared contributions from community groups, governments, industry and researchers to support the ongoing development of meaningful research for the North. Their extensive support helped produce a very successful event. Thank you!
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Table of Contents Executive Summary ...... 4 Introduction ...... 6 Background ...... 7 Day 1 ...... 8 Welcoming remarks ...... 8 Minister Keith Russell ...... 8 Mayor of Happy Valley Goose Bay, Jamie Snook ...... 8 Todd Russell, President of NunatuKavut Community Council...... 9 Introductions ...... 10 ReSDA and Workshop Overview ...... 10 Community Well-Being ...... 11 Session 1 – Community Notions of Wellbeing in the North ...... 12 Community Well-Being, Department of Health and Social Development, Nunatsiavut ...... 12 Claiming our Place: Women’s Relationship with Rivers ...... 14 Well-being in the North: Community Perspectives from the Yukon ...... 17 Community Well-being –Perspectives from Nunavut ...... 19 Community Wellbeing – Perspectives from Nunavik ...... 20 Questions and Discussion ...... 20 Session 2: Researchers – Wellbeing context...... 22 Arctic Social Indicators Project (ASI) ...... 22 Wellbeing in the Eurasian Arctic, Research Perspectives ...... 25 Wellbeing Research in Northwest Alaska: Local Economic Benefits of Resource Development ...... 27 Notions of Wellbeing in the Canadian North: Research Perspectives ...... 30 Questions & Discussion ...... 32 Session 3 – Wellbeing in Labrador ...... 32 Wellbeing in NunatuKavut ...... 32 A Community Vitality Index for Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador ...... 34 Community Wellbeing and Resource Development – Nunatsiavut ...... 35 The Social Infrastructure of Labrador’s Emerging Running Culture ...... 37
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Questions and Discussion ...... 38 Session 4 – Community Well Being and Resource Development: Research Perspectives ...... 40 Well-being in Resource Communities of Western Labrador ...... 40 Individual and Collective Well-being in the Arctic ...... 42 Measuring Well-Being ...... 45 Community Wellbeing & Resource Development - Research Perspective from Lutsel K’e, NT ...... 47 Questions and Discussion ...... 49 Session 5 -Industry Panel: Industry Perspectives on Research Needs ...... 50 Tom Paddon, Baffinlands and Perry Tripper, Stantec ...... 50 Aurora Energy: Michelin project and uranium exploration in Northern Labrador ...... 51 Questions and Discussion ...... 54 Session 6 -ReSDA Research ...... 57 Mining, Community Wealth and Wellbeing: Evidence from Salluit and Angiqsujuak, Nunavik ...... 57 Overview of ReSDA Research ...... 60 Gender relation at the resource development/traditional economic interface ...... 61 Augmenting the Utility of IBAs for Northern Aboriginal Communities ...... 64 Environmental legacies, resource development, and remediation in the Arctic ...... 67 LACE – Labour Mobility and Community Participation in the Extractive Industry- Yukon ...... 69 Indigenous peoples rights and resource development ...... 70 Group Discussions: What needs to be done for resource development to improve wellbeing? ...... 72 Questions/Discussion ...... 73 Session 7: ReSDA and related communication projects ...... 74 Arctic-FROST...... 75 Final remarks ...... 77 Appendices ...... 78 Appendix 1: Workshop Agenda ...... 78 Appendix 2: Workshop Background ...... 80 Appendix 3: Workshop Participants ...... 82 Appendix 4: Participant Evaluation Summary ...... 84
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Executive Summary
The fourth annual ReSDA workshop highlighted various understandings and approaches to issues of community wellbeing and how this is connected to resource developments happening in the North. The sessions were structured so that perceptions and approaches were discussed by community organizations, researchers and industry representatives. The wellbeing panels and presentations were broken into sections based on:
1. Community perspectives of notions of wellbeing in the North with examples from Labrador, Yukon, Nunavut and Nunavik 2. Circumpolar research on wellbeing in the North with presentations from some of the International researchers that have been involved with this area. 3. Labrador perceptions and approaches to wellbeing 4. Northern Canada research on issues of wellbeing and relationships to resource developments 5. Insights from Industry representative that are involved with resource development in Labrador 6. ReSDA research summaries 7. ReSDA communications and partnerships a. ReSDA Atlas and Humans of the North b. Arctic FROST
This event brought together a wide range of representatives from various sectors. There were 59 participants in attendance that included 19 university-based researchers and 40 representatives from government sectors, community organizations, Aboriginal organizations, Industry, northern Colleges and research institutes, and other interested individuals (list of participants in Appendix 3). This wide array of participants allowed for thought provoking and valuable discussions.
Workshop activities included panels, presentations, questions and discussions. Some of the main points on community wellbeing highlighted by participants included:
Understand the local and government approaches to ensuring community well being Recognize the diversity of community wellbeing and how factors differ for cultural and regional considerations. There is a wide range of definitions and various criteria that have been used to measure and evaluate this. Northern communities have different approaches and cultural considerations. Indigenous communities take a holistic approach to addressing wellbeing and creating a healthy population. Engaging communities and people early in the process for discussions of proposed developments is essential. Community dialogue and maintaining communication is also required throughout the process to keep healthy relationships. Industry needs to be more responsive. Relationships were emphasized as being the most important factor for ensuring wellbeing in communities. Issues often related to a lack of trust between community organizations, governments and industry. Trust is the key factor for building relationship. Open and transparent processes are required. Time spent in the community is important too. Facilitation of local capacity with training and greater involvement. There is a need to recognize and respect different knowledge systems and values.
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Understanding and awareness of the north and communities is another important consideration. Requirement for education of industry to recognize and respect the environments they plan to develop in and near. There is a need to establish mechanisms and protocols for communication that follow existing requirements for working with First Nations and Inuit communities. Much of these steps are already described. Industry representatives mentioned the importance of having all considerations in place early in the development process as it is difficult to make changes one the development is underway. They look for ways to support the wellbeing of local communities through contributions towards infrastructure and other requirements.
The future research activity will be focused on the priority research topics and will try to incorporate the ideas and suggestions provided at the workshop. Some of the priority topics still to be addressed by ReSDA include:
Resource Development Impacts Indicators – Case studies demonstrating how indicators are implemented and their contribution to monitoring impacts. Social Impacts and Mitigation in Northern Communities. What are the best ways to mitigate the main social impacts of resource development on communities? Resource Development and Subsistence Activities. What can be done to ensure that resource development does not negatively impact the subsistence economy of northern communities? Social and Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA). What are the different forms of socio-economic impact assessment used in the north and what forms are communities most comfortable with? Traditional Knowledge and Resource Development. What are the best examples of the use of traditional knowledge in the planning and monitoring of resource development?
Workshop participants were asked to provide feedback through an online questionnaire asking for their comments on the format and content of the workshop in order to help with future events and improvements for the ReSDA network. Most participants that responded found the workshop helpful and informative. Recommendations for improvements included finding ways for an even greater involvement of community people, more time for discussions and more organized panel discussions. A key point made was to have more northerners involved so that ReSDA does not become another external academic network. ReSDA should continue to have a bottom-up approach rather than a top- down approach to research (Appendix 4)
In all the ReSDA workshops a key point that is reiterated is the importance and requirement for meaningful involvement of communities in the research. All projects should be developed and done with continual dialogue with community partners. The research presented is to provide ideas to community representatives to try to determine areas of interest and potential future partnerships.
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Introduction Each year the ReSDA network holds an annual workshop that focuses on a central theme The workshop brings together researchers and northern partners representing communities, Recommendations and insights on government, the private sector and non-profit organizations that wellbeing & resource development
are involved with issues and research pertaining to sustainable from presentations & discussions Arctic resource developments. The network priorities are on the social and economic impacts of resource developments and ways Wellbeing – lens to use of to ensure greater benefits to northern people. healthy relationships Aboriginal considerations for Discussions with community partners began in 2007 during wellbeing: equality, benefits community research workshops organized by the Social Economy and connections to the land. Research Network for Northern Canada (SERNNoCa). Northern Wellbeing is culturally organizations were consulted during 2010 as the specific proposal constructed so need to for this program was developed. In 2011, the initial annual determine and measure what workshop was held in Yellowknife. Researchers had the matters to communities. opportunity to reflect on recommendations from communities and Long term planning essential discuss how these suggestions could be translated into formal Jobs are not the most research questions. From the presentations and discussions at this important issues with resource workshop the Management Committee developed a draft research developments plan to guide the work of the network for the next year. The Issues or concerns need to be emphasis was on isolating the main areas for a gap analysis. The raised early in resource ReSDA Steering Committee agreed to prioritize this work as a first development processes step in determining the research needs and requirements of Need to find ways for all ReSDA. The next workshop focused on the results of the gap community members to be analysis research and was held in Whitehorse, YT in 2012. This heard work was used to formulate the research priorities and main questions to be addressed by the network members. One of the
key issues raised at the workshop in Whitehorse was the need for effective knowledge sharing and this resulted in the theme for the next annual workshop. The focus of the 2013 workshop held in Iqaluit, NU was on the best mechanism for knowledge sharing in the ReSDA network. Various mechanisms were discussed and recommendations provided on best knowledge sharing practices in the northern context. The initial work of this workshop continues with the ongoing development of a knowledge sharing toolbox resource for researchers and community organizations.
This focus of this year’s workshop was on issues of community well-being with a view to understanding the perspectives form community members (organizations), researchers, governments and industry representatives. The workshop was held October 2-4, 2014 in Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL. Presentations and discussions provided greater understanding of the community context for issues of wellbeing and highlighted some of the similar indicators that have been used and also the unique cultural considerations for various communities and regions across the North. There were presentations on some past and current research that has been looking at specific areas of wellbeing and ways to measure these. There was also input and direction provided by northern community and government representatives. Information provided some of the mechanisms that are being used and how these can
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be adapted to different situations. There were also presentations on some of the current or planned research projects of ReSDA. The format of the workshop consisted of presentations, panel/group discussions and a breakout session.
Background The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada announced funding through their Major Collaborative Research Initiative grants in February 2011 for a new Northern research project called Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ReSDA). The main focus of ReSDA’s research will be on finding ways to ensure that a larger share of the benefits of resource development stay in the region with fewer costs to communities. The Network will mobilize researchers around the questions of finding out how to maximize benefits of resource development to northern regions and communities and minimize the social, economic, cultural, and environmental costs. The primary objective of the research will be to cultivate innovative approaches to the best ways of natural resource developments s to improve the well-being of northern communities while preserving the region’s unique environment. This issue is all the more pressing given the increased demand for natural resources globally, with many of these resources existing in Arctic locations. As part of the research network activities an annual workshop is held to discuss the current and proposed research with input and direction from community and government representatives across the North.
This report is a summary of the presentations and discussions from the workshop. The report is structured to reflect the format from the agenda with a few additions for presenters. For some of the detailed group discussions there is more detail provided in an separate file as a record for future reference. The report provides an overview of what was addressed over the two days, as well as recommendations provided by the participants for mechanisms that can be used to understand, measure, monitor and evaluate wellbeing in communities and some examples of best practices. All the power point presentations, links to the video recordings and other materials from the workshop are available on the ReSDA website at www.resda.ca/workshops/labrador-2014
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Day 1 Workshop was webcast and available on the ReSDA You Tube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuavjpAgUKn0QcE26buG6Tw Welcoming remarks
Minister Keith Russell Special welcome given to Mayor Jamie Snook and Todd Russell with NunatuKavut. Everyone was welcomed by the newly appointed Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs. He started by mentioning that this is such an important event. Even the logistics of coming together is not an easy task. A greater understanding produces a greater ability to address the issues in the north. This assists the government to build upon its commitments. By the end of the fiscal year the provincial government will have allocated a total of $5.3 billion in Labrador since 2004. The new administration will continue to invest in Labrador and work to advance interests of all the residents here. Appreciate that you have come to think, discuss and examine these issues in this large and awe inspiring land of ours that we call Labrador, famous for being called the big land. The diversity of the land is reflected by the various names given to the land. The Labrador Inuit speak of Nunatsiavut meaning “our beautiful land”. NunatuKavut speak of it as being “our ancient land”. There is so much that is going on in communities. Labrador has many opportunities and challenges with commonalities that are seen across the North. There are unique concerns of each area of Labrador and we have a bounty of resources and beauty. The best resource and strength is our people and their dedication and love for the land. We exist in harmony. The research and knowledge shared in this event will yield valuable insights for the future. It is great to see the contributions here from Austria, Finland, Russia and Alaska and from many institutions across Canada.
Mayor of Happy Valley Goose Bay, Jamie Snook The Mayor began with congratulations to Minister Russell on his new role as Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs. He also congratulated Todd Russell on his recent award and commented on his hard work in the community. Happy Valley Goose Bay has a very diverse population and more than half of the population are aboriginal.. Aboriginal land claims and governments have raised the quality of life and wellness through the whole region. The notion of well-being is particularly important from a municipal perspective. Some thoughts on wellness were shared from experiences a year ago with the election There are 3300 homes in town and about 2500 of these were visited. It was similar to a research project having kept notes on the homes visited and hearing similar things. There is a tendency for people to say what they don’t like but wanted to know what do they like. This provided a different perspective. After about 2500 homes some of themes that came out were that people are connected to their local environment and land. They care about a healthy environment and care about keeping it sustainable. This is important to people and is a strength of the area. Another theme that came out was affordability. With industry booming, the cost of living has gone up and wages have not kept up. This is affecting all people in the community. It affects quality of life. Price of gas has gone up and ability to go out on the land decreased. The third theme was that they want to have a sense of fairness. If not being treated fairly they don’t feel well. We don’t always feel like we’ve been treated fairly – especially for the Muskrat Falls issue. There are challenges that we are facing as municipal leaders. Still advocating that a capacity agreement be signed and we be assisted with the challenges we are facing as a municipality.
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These are 3 things learned from the community and might be suggested as a research question for this group. It is good to see that industry included in this conference. In most cases, what is unique in this town is that private industry is in the community. The thing affecting our community the most is development by Crown Corporation. They are held to a different standard than what we are used to when dealing with for private industry where we see the impact benefit agreement and good neighbor agreements. We have a new hospital built with a private company. Case where extension to expand long term care with private money. Yet a Crown corporation who we would expect to act and behave in a similar manner, is not bringing those benefits to the community. It is a double standard. There is a fundamental difference. It is something that we might look at further as a research question.
Todd Russell, President of NunatuKavut Community Council. Congratulations were given to the new Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs. We all have a role to play to have everyone succeed so we need to work together for the good of the people of Labrador. Thanks were given to the Mayor for his congratulations on receipt of the Aboriginal Order of Canada from the National organization of Aboriginal peoples. The Aboriginal Peoples Award was put in to recognize contributions to the wellbeing of Aboriginal people. It is an honor to receive this award. Welcome given to all the participants who will share and participate in the workshop. Not only to those in ReSDA but also for those of us who will benefit from the work that you do.
This work in aboriginal communities is tough work. Having done the Muskrat falls portage a couple of times found that it is all uphill with a couple of ledges to take a break before you reach the top. It is a tough slog and an uphill battle. Aboriginal politics is a lot like that with a few ledges to rest on but we must keep moving on. For the topic of wellbeing we might ask “can we have wellbeing as individuals or as a community if we don’t have good relationships”? That means healthy people as individuals within the community and in the broader world. You can reflect on this from so many perspectives. Do we in Labrador have healthy relationship with one another? Do aboriginal people have healthy relationships with others, with governments, with municipalities? This is a lens we need to apply to the notion of wellbeing particularly when it comes to resource development. If you can benefit from one development, one project, but everyone else around you is excluded then they don’t have this sense of benefit. See this notion of inequality all the time. What are the relationships like? Better to have the inclusion of everyone.
Another notion is the perspective of separation. As aboriginal people the greater the degrees of separation from land, water and resources then the less sustainable. If more connected to these then there will be greater wellbeing. To illustrate this, the separation can be done by law, or by policy, can be by a development that ruins the environment. There are all kinds of methods that separate aboriginal people from their ability to be well and feel well. One example that is so visual was mentioned. There was a time when couldn’t catch Salmon off our own coast to eat where we had fished for 100’s of years. We had to protest to get a permit to set a net to catch Salmon. What that does to individuals, to families and communities when try to separate from your food, culture, and history. We can’t have wellbeing in that particular context. We are now able to get salmon. This is just one small example of wellbeing.
Muskrat Falls and the Lower Churchill development has created bad relationships and enhanced the perception of inequality within the community. Is there a greater degree of wellness with the huge development? We have generally failed on all levels. Some people got good jobs, but no revenues are guaranteed and there will be no further benefits from this. There is concern that we may have to pay
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more for energy, prices of goods and housing have gone up, and socially not much gained. People feel they are being shoved to the back of the land. What about biophysically and our health – we know that mercury levels are going to rise. Signs that we should use caution when eating the fish. Our sense of wellbeing is diminished. There will be things afterwards that will impact us, but the damage will have been done. Food security will be interrupted if mercury levels go up. It is not true that people downstream won’t have an impact. It is too bad that they are not in the room to hear what is going to be said so understand that if you are going to do something there might be something that you can do to enhance wellbeing or diminish the negative effects and that these need to be considered. We have an organization that continues to fight for its own rights, history and culture. We are getting there and I’m proud to lead this organization and do what is best for the people. There are ways that research can help and guide us. It is a human activity with human dimensions. When doing research we want to reach out and extend a hand. There is no easy answer.
Morgon Mills, ReSDA Coordinator, Labrador and workshop facilitator Want to continue with what was mentioned about relationships and bringing everyone together here and acknowledge others that helped in this. ReSDA now has a Labrador Advisory Group that helped to put this workshop together and will advise on future research. The committee members include: Michelle Watkins, Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs Trish Nash, Nunatukavut Harry Borlase, Nunatsiavut Morgon Mills, Labrador Institute Ron Sparkes, Labrador Institute Val Walker, Yukon College Chris Southcott, Lakehead University
Introductions ReSDA and Workshop Overview Chris Southcott (Lakehead University)
There were initial discussions in Labrador about the Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ReSDA) network. In 2011, we had a meeting for the Social Economy (SERNNoCa) project and ReSDA grew out of this work. At that meeting many talked about how to get a more humane type of economy going in communities. This is often difficult to do when we have resource developments occurring and often see more problems that come with this. So how do we benefit more from these developments? Is it possible to benefit? ReSDA developed from this. The project has a straightforward and simple objective - how resource development can be done to benefit communities rather than harming them. We are trying to talk with communities and share knowledge about the best ways to do this.
The ReSDA project started in 2011 and goes to 2018. It is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The network currently consists of 55 researchers and 30 institutions in 11 countries and involves 12 main community partners. This project is based in Canada but involves other circumpolar countries in order to compare resource developments in other locations. Some of the researchers at this workshop will present some of their work in other countries. We host these workshops to bring researchers and community members together to share knowledge. We can’t
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conduct our research unless we talk to the people in the communities. Want to know what they think and feel. So this event is one way we can talk to communities and share knowledge around resource developments and see how this can be done in a new way to benefit rather than harm communities.
Chris introduced Peter Schweitzer who spoke about well-being in the Arctic from an academic perspective. Dr. Schweitzer is now located at the University of Vienna but spent over 20 years at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and has a long history of research and knowledge in the North.
Community Well-Being Peter Schweitzer (University of Vienna)
Coming from a location outside of the North, Peter was somewhat uncomfortable when asked to start off the discussions of what well-being is in the North.. This is not the intention as we will have a number of sessions in the workshop where notions of wellbeing in the North will be developed and presented from northern perspectives compared to southern perspectives.
When speaking about wellbeing the main question is not just what it is, but who defines it. There is an academic tradition of people outside of the North defining wellbeing, but today we go to community members, community leaders, to different levels of regional and national institutions, to help us figure out what wellbeing really is. Wellbeing on an individual level and a collective level may not coincide. The question is then are communities doing well? Need to look at both levels. There are dimensions of wellbeing. It is not just economic or psychological, but includes cultural wellbeing. For Northerners there is a tremendous interest from other parts of the world. There are a number of researchers and countries that want to get into the study of the North and many countries are now involved with Arctic Council, University of the Arctic etc. This is often to do with economic interests, though some are concerned with environmental and climate changes. There are tremendous developments happening in the north. While it is good to receive this interest we need to be aware that it can be fleeting and they may not have the wellbeing of northern areas at the heart of their interests. You need to be in charge of the process. Need to have more equal relationship between north and south, and RESDA is part of such a change. In part, to get change to happen you need to build up research capacity in order for the North to be part as an equal player. This is something that is happening at the Labrador Institute. There are a number of Canadian and non-Canadian people in the workshop who will provide perspectives to give comparative views. There are many resource frontiers in other parts of the world.
Chris provided a few additional comments to give the workshop context in terms of wellbeing. Central to ReSDA is to know what wellbeing is, what makes a community well and how can we help communities achieve this. This is the objective of the workshop. One of the most difficult things when doing research in the north is the need to have a good relationship between researchers with communities. There should be a constant dialogue between them. This is difficult as researchers tend to work in southern institutions and have teaching commitments. In ReSDA we have emphasized the notion of knowledge sharing between communities and researchers. This was the focus of last year’s workshop. We tried to make this workshop conducive to sharing knowledge with panels, community representatives, and researchers sharing information. We want to find out from communities what they think are the best ways resource development can be done to improve their wellbeing, and how researchers can help communities achieve these objectives.
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Session 1 – Community Notions of Wellbeing in the North In this session community representatives from each of the Territories, Nunavik and Labrador spoke.
Community Well-Being, Department of Health and Social Development, Nunatsiavut Michelle Kinney, Background as a psychologist and Deputy Minister of Health
Definition A standard of community wellbeing is a combination of social, economic, environmental, cultural, mental/emotional and political conditions identified by individuals and their communities as essential for them to flourish and reach their full potential. When we talk about community wellbeing especially with the Inuit, it is not just geographical location. It is around the collective, the people, and connection to the land which can extend beyond the boundaries of the physical community. Labrador Inuit culture is intimately connected to the land, wildlife, seasons, and weather conditions. Spiritual beliefs and hunting activities are all connected to wellbeing. The landscape and weather conditions have made the Inuit resilient people and well connected to land and each other. Ninety seven of the respondents in the Inuit Health Survey felt that being on the land was important to their Inuit identity and sense of Figure 1 wellbeing.
In Figure 1 we have a circle with community (collective) at the centre, not individuals. This diagram is meant to portray the relationships between people, generations and their connections with the land. This represents the circular way of being and having a consensus government with engagement, interconnectedness and interdependence.
Indicators to Wellbeing Include Housing Food Security Income/Employment/Social Status Community Safety Social supports network Culture Education Mental/Emotional Health Physical Environments
Nunatsiavut’s Department of Health’s vision is simple: Healthy individuals, families and communities. Enhancing community well-being is the focus of everything that we do as a government. From families, intergenerational trauma programs, housing to food security etc. everything should contribute to community wellbeing.
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Sustainable Communities Initiative The Nunatsiavut Government’s initiative. Figure 2 shows the components. Objective: To inform best practices and provide guidance for community sustainability in Nunatsiavut under changing conditions. Figure 2 Deliverable: This project will put into practice locally developed tools, guides and strategies that are adapted to the new climatic and other realities of Nunatsiavut.
They have been looking at locally developed tools to fit the community concepts for Nunatsiavut.
Housing
A component of sustainable communities is housing. There is an integrated action plan for healthy homes in Nunatsiavut communities. This started with a Housing Needs Assessment (2012) that involved all households in Nunatsiavut. This was a tripartite agreement with the Nunatsiavut government, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. This provided data on individual and family housing needs and preferences, conditions of existing housing stock, etc. This is being used to move forward on a housing framework.
This was followed by a Housing Risk Assessment in March 2014. This targets the most pervasive, chronic housing issues in our communities, identifying likely causes of these issues and possible solutions. There were a number of assessments. Solutions included repairs to homes, new developments, supportive living arrangements etc.
Energy Security Strategy
The diesel generators in some of our communities are currently unable to meet the needs of the community. In response to this, we are working towards developing an energy security plan for Nunatsiavut. The plan will project energy demand trends in Nunatsiavut, document the impacts of diesel power reliance and supply constraints on social conditions, the environment, economic activity and economic development, identify options for energy demand reductions, enhanced efficiency and renewable energy alternatives and will identify actions needed to finance and implement the plan.
Food security: Projects and Programs
Community-led Food Assessments have been done, looking at peoples use traditional foods or store bought food, and the Household Food Security surveys that measure the prevalence of food insecurity, and help identify existing food support programs and means of access.
This involved using the same questions and method as the Inuit Health Survey. In Nain, 204 households participated. They have now also completed this in Rigolet and Hopedale. The response has been excellent.
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Going Off Going Strong Program
A youth-harvester mentoring program was started in Nain and is now also in Hopedale. It brings together youth and harvesters to make sure there will be wild food for the next generation. They take 10 high risk youth and connect them with harvesters, and they all go out on the land. Builds relationships between elders and youth. The program, launched in March 2012, was the first of its kind in Canada. It is continuous, intensive and has both formal and informal structure. They have now taken another group of 6 students.
Other social issues in communities are also being addressed. There are systemic issues with the child welfare system. A number of children are in care outside the region. A new initiative recruits foster parents, revamps provincial training for foster parents and pushes to have children back with families in Nunatsiavut. Also do work around adoption protocols.
They closed their inpatient addictions treatment program but started delivering mobile addictions services in the communities. So people are not being sent off. The Intergenerational Trauma & Addictions Community Session is a 12 week training program for all mental health and addictions staff as well as people in other agencies. Now have 24 elders participating in this program. They have also done workshops with anyone in the community who wants to understand the program. There is also work being done with residential school survivors. There are a number of initiatives with elders including sharing stories of resilience.
Claiming our Place: Women’s Relationship with Rivers Libby Dean, Researcher and Project Coordinator, Claiming our Place Project
Women in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador express their connection with the natural environment and explore the implications to their well- being from hydro-electric development on the nearly lower Churchill River.
Who Are We?
This project is part of a national network of community organizations and university partnerships. It is funded by a SSHRC-CURA research alliance -FemNorthNet. It is part of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW). It involves work in 5 Northern communities (Thompson, MB; Norway House, MB; La Loche, SK; Labrador West and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL), so with a more general view of the North.
The ‘Claiming our Place’ Team
This large team, has Petrina Beals is the community lead and Gail Baikie at the School of Social Work at Dalhousie University as the university lead. Mokami Status of Women’s Council is an institutional
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partner. They have research assistants and 19 community women in Happy Valley-Goose Bay who are the creative action researchers.
Some of our guiding questions for this project include: What is the connection between local women and the natural environment? What can women do to be part of the conversation and decision making? When talking about “women’s issues” and wellbeing, also talking about family and community wellbeing. What is important to women? One of the most frequently asked questions by participants is what happens if the dam breaks?
Our Approach
Used the Creative Action Circle © Methodology. The facilitator was not from the community (J’net Ayay Qwa Yak Sheelth Cavanagh from the Ahousaht First Nation, Vancouver Island), which was important as this removed barriers.
Who participated?
There were 34 regular participants. It started by women getting together to talk about the land, rivers and their experiences. It was talking in a circle about important things.
Participants were mainly between the ages of 19 and 65. Of the women participating 74% were aboriginal. Through discussions they identified themes. At the same time women developed leadership, research and participation skills. Figure 3 shows this process cycle. The women co- created ways to communicate about issues of importance to them. They did a final story showcase with what they wanted to emphasize and themes that should be brought out.
Phase 1: Training Creative Action Researchers.
In the spring of 2012, 19 community women Figure 3 gathered and trained as Creative Action Researchers (CARs).
Phase 2: Connecting with Other Women – Creative Action Participants.
In the spring of 2013, the same women ran new circles and brought a showcase forward to the community
Knowledge sharing
The last phase was carried out in spring & summer 2014. Consulted with CARs, released the FNN Leadership report and co-hosted the Building Links Knowledge Sharing Tour. Community women
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participated in media interviews, video production, and facilitated meetings about their interests and concerns. A meeting was hosted with women to discuss the connection between Muskrat Falls and Nova Scotia, where they wrote down some of their important statements.
Berry picking is important and is affected by resource development activities. Some of the areas for berry picking are now housing developments.
Women’s experiences and observations Figure 4 - Photo of berries provided by Libby Dean in Power point presentation People have been dislocated from the land and rivers, which has implications for food security, cultural identity, self-sufficiency and social connections. There was a sense of not being informed and ‘not knowing’. Worries over increase of mercury in the water and fish. What are the risks if the dam breaks? What are the social impacts of influx of transient workers (violence, substance abuse, sexual exploitation)? There is a lack of accounting for cumulative impacts.
Media Scan Supports research.
Terms that emerged in the media were developed into a word cloud where size directly relates to the number of associated tags. These are some issues that local women brought up in the circles. The word cloud illuminates how rarely these topics were covered in the mainstream media.
Our Videos (in progress)
Claiming our Place: Northern Women & Natural Resource Development (overview video) Honoring Petrina (about leadership) How to Make Shadow Puppets for Creative Action How to Make a Labrador Tent for Creative Action The Questions Women Have about the Effects of Changes to the Land and River as a Result of the Dam. A blog is coming.
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Well-being in the North: Community Perspectives from the Yukon Norma Kassi, Director of Indigenous Collaboration at Arctic Institute of Community Based Research (AICBR) For Northern Health and Well-Being, Whitehorse, Yukon Power point Slides on the ReSDA website
AICBR started in 2007 as part of a tri-territorial health research network grant linking Northern regions. It is an independent, non-profit research organization. Their mission is to facilitate and promote northern-led community based health research activities aimed at improving the health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous northerners. They incorporate the principles of Community-Based Research, Ethics, Knowledge translation and Capacity Building into their approach. Their priorities are: Community Wellness, Food Security, Chronic Disease Prevention, Healthy Lifestyles (Active Living, Healthy Eating, Literacy), Injury Prevention, Climate Change Adaptation. These were important themes when they asked Yukon communities.
Health and Well-Being in Our Past Being raised by her grandfather and living on the land in tents, has given Norma a deep understanding of the traditional way of life of her people. Their health and wellbeing were connected to:
Traditional homelands Ancient Skills and methods learned through oral teachings & stories Spiritual and physical life governed by Nature Reciprocity and sharing Communities based on the rich resources around them.
Colonization Colonization was immensely traumatic. Diseases such as small pox and TB came from traders who also poisoned and killed many of the small fur bearing animals. There was starvation and residential schools where young children were taken away from their families. Approximately 150,000 children taken away, resulting in inter-generational trauma that has affected indigenous peoples. These are the kind of things that we need to deal with. These have resulted in many early deaths, diseases, disabilities and social problems, adoption of risky health behaviors, poverty, housing problems, poor health and nutrition, low education and employment levels.
Climate change This is one of the greatest challenges we have to adapt to in communities. It is resulting in food insecurity because of declining traditional food sources and access to hunting and fishing areas. In 2007, one of our lakes disappeared. This also impacts mental and emotional health.
Rebuilding our communities Land Claims Settlements – 12 of the 14 are now settled in the Yukon This has given independence, employment, partnerships gained. There is still need to negotiate health, education, and justice programs. There have been challenges with a lack of capacity to deal with many issues including those related to health and wellbeing. Adaptation to Climate Change will be crucial.
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Culture revitalization with children and youth: land-based activities. In 2012 there were many cuts to health and research for aboriginal programing. New food security strategies Nutrition and cooking classes for children Community gardens (economic initiative) Harvesting Education and awareness Youth programs (indigenous sports); This was how hunters developed as they had to run a long way Prenatal programs Yukon College is including the needs of Yukon communities. We have PhDs, doctors and lawyers that have come out of Yukon communities. Figure 5 - Photo provided by Norma Kassi in power point presentation for the workshop Some communities are doing well but some are not.
Building Traditional Resilience This involves trying to rebuild a sense of belonging, and rebuild traditional mastery and skills. There is continued revitalization of traditional practices and connections to the land, and empowerment of Elders. They continue to build on their independence and generosity, and continue to be frontline workers and educators for health & wellbeing.
While provided with the basis needed for training to work in the mines, workers are often missing basic communication skills. Indigenous workers still face racism. There is a need to face these issues head on and workers need to know their rights as employees. What are the safety mechanisms in place?
With Impact Benefits Agreements affected people need to understand what is being signed. Communities are their own experts in health and wellbeing. Community-based research, interventions and programs will lead to healthy communities.
Community Based Research This is important and must be one on one. Need to involve everyone in the community in all aspects of the project. Engage the community and train children from international perspective on climate change. When we do research in communities must have relationships built on respect, trust, and learning from each other. Start with the elders, and then get a research agreement with Chief and Council that follows OCAP principles. Make sure that research directly benefits the community and addresses their needs. Research should build on and contribute to the strengths and resources of the community. Photo-voice is a useful tool. AICBR has used DVDs and videos to communicate. A DVD was developed with the Kluane First Nation, and AICBR made a video that highlighted community based research in Old Crow with the Vuntut Gwitch’in titled “Our Changing Homelands Our Changing Lives”. This is available on YouTube.
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Community Well-being –Perspectives from Nunavut Sharon Edmunds Potvin; Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) Iqaluit, NU The presentation began with an overview of Nunavut’s demography and geography to provide some context for health. The population of Nunavut is about 29,000 people spread throughout 25 communities in the territory. The population density is roughly 0.01 persons per km² and a median age of 20 (Canada is 40). There is significant distance between communities and referral hospitals. Nunavut’s health care system is geographically the largest in Canada; no other jurisdiction in the country relies on so many other provincial hospitals. Specialized health services in the territory are minimal and many of Nunavut’s services are provided outside the territory.
Nunavut has a land claim agreement whereby the federal and territorial governments have an obligation to consult the Inuit so that Inuit institutions and values are at the center of decisions. This is not always exercised so their perspectives are not always included in the health system. To meet Inuit needs, this has to happen. There is a rich history of traditional health care in Nunavut. Inuit medical knowledge refers to much more than just healing techniques and is concerned with body being conceived as whole in relation to the social environment. There should be more incorporation of traditional health care in the mainstream system.
Nunavut has a very high rate of unemployment, very low incomes, poor health status and social problems. This has been documented for the last 50 years and is a result of the first years of active colonization the effects of which remain to this day.
There is good news that speaks to the resiliency of Inuit culture. In 2007 the survey of living conditions in the Arctic (SLiCA) found that family ties, social supports, and traditional activities are all very important to Inuit people. It indicates that Inuit culture thrives despite the past. SLiCA also found that wellbeing is not just about participation in wage economy but also access to country foods, feelings of involvement, governance, self-determination and control over local political cares.
Suicide is the biggest issue in Nunavut – there is not one person in Nunavut that hasn’t been touched by suicide. Between 1999 and 2003 the suicide rate in Nunavut was 11x the National average. In the south, researchers have noted suicide is largely linked to mental illness and related to rapid societal changes. Effective community based mental health services must address a broad spectrum of psychological issues that go beyond the western medical model, and that incorporate Inuit approaches and practices toward mental health. However, Nunavut has a high turnover rate for health care providers and those tasked with developing policy and programs, so it’s difficult to do long term planning. There needs to be long term investment to shift in the health status. We need more Inuit in government positions where they make the decisions and set policies and programs. If you are from the territory you have a different take on the community and where you want to see things go. This is a broad description of the Territory’s health care system. Training and education is a social determinant of health.
Here is an excerpt from a letter from Qikiqtani Inuit Association relevant to creating research capacity in the territory: Our organization’s mandate is to promote and protect Inuit rights and values and holds at its core an equality of opportunity that can only come through developing minds of the people through education. From the time they start to read until the day they hold the diploma in their hands. An
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educated person asks questions, explores new ideas and develops new ways of navigating in an increasingly complex world.
Resource development represents a changing Arctic. It is crucial to have more than training for jobs in the resource sector. If you don’t have a healthy population then they can’t take advantage of what is coming. We are at a critical time. Research can positively influence communities and we need to increase capacity.
Community Wellbeing – Perspectives from Nunavik Ron Gordon, Makivik Corporation Kuujjuaq, QC
Ron is from Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec; a fairly large community in Nunavik and the hub for the region. All the resources and food are shipped in as there are no roads. Some of biggest issues lie with the very high cost of living. Traditional hunting and fishing practices are vital to their livelihood. Communities with mining projects in the region are concerned as they want to maintain a traditional way of life, but mining brings economic development to the region. Ron works closely with the mining companies on employment, training and recruiting. Some companies have adapted training programs to Inuit culture. Inuit communities often have a high dropout rates, so many people don’t have a high school education. They have been adapting training to accommodate some individuals in the region who don’t have higher education.
Some other issues include food security and housing shortages. Can have 3 or 4 generations living in one household, and with that cramped living space causes have more social issues. Makivik Corporation has in the last 2 years started Parnasimautik sessions where they visited every community and gave all individuals the chance to voice their concerns. A final report was created in response to Plan Nord. This should be coming out in a couple of months.
Makivik has a few programs: Ungaluk is a crime prevention program; there are various youth programs; and are working on Inuit owned business registry to develop and promote Inuit owned businesses. Ron works as a mining liaison officer and works with the economic development aspects for Nunavik.
Questions and Discussion Q1: Ron, there is a research centre in Kuujjuaq and a few years ago it was doing work on identifying quality of traditional foods. What was the uptake in this and where is it at now? This is still operating. They are still doing baseline studies in the region with fish and wildlife. One of the main goals is to trace Trichinella in traditional foods (Walrus). There were not many research projects in the last year as the director has had health issues. There is knowledge sharing and collaboration with mining companies.
Q2: Clarifying question 1, does the research centre engage youth from the communities? Is it a place of opportunity for them? We do try to involve youth where possible. Want to see more development for youth involvement in the research centre. While we do have a high dropout rates, we have a fish biologist who is from Kuujjuaq.
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Q3: There is a gap between panelists’ articulations of northern issues and the perspectives of political figures and agendas that are mapped for the north. How can this be bridged? What is the role of researchers and administrators in this? Development is coming- mining is already in Nunavut and it is a form of generating jobs in the community. Focus within NTI & QIA on an indicators project with long term monitoring of communities affected by mines. This information can be used later to understand how communities are being impacted.
Q4: We need to build researchers who live in the north. How do we sustain knowledge building in the north? Is that part of the dialogue happening in your communities? Nunavut: Need to have long term planning and building of local capacity. There are some things that interest us, that do not interest some researchers. We need a university for the territories. We need to have something youth can strive for and have them stay in the territory. We need Inuit from Nunavut leading research, working with our institutions, in our communities and focusing on local research priorities.
Nunatsiavut: Long term planning is key. Driving our own research rather than researchers dictating the agenda. In Nunatsiavut we have a committee doing approvals for research in the land claims area. There was a time when we bought into all the new ideas of researchers coming in. Now we are more selective and want local researchers. There are other initiatives such as the Inuit Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Social work programs in Happy Valley Goose Bay. Have voice, own agenda, long term planning, education and training. We have Inuit PhDs and partnerships – we find our best fits for our communities.
Yukon: Prioritize research that is needed in the community. It helps when researchers are known and respected in the community. Need to pay for the knowledge you are gathering. Build training and education. We try to train 2-3 youth more and you will see the growth. Teach them not only the skills and culture talked about in the presentation earlier, but research. Children are consequently graduating and continuing on to work in the community. These are small but important steps in the community. There is a need to base questions on community talk rather than academics’ questions. We welcome researchers that are coming from the heart.
Q4: Have seen a whole lot of good thorough research that benefits communities, especially when it comes to climate change and resource development. However, there is not much listening on the part of developers or politicians and they rarely articulate these issues. How do we get issues into provincial and national strategies? Addressing question 3, the gap will remain as it is not a priority for governments. In response to question 4. How do we speak to China? They are the ones who have the capital for the support of resource development. There are many levels to talk to and engage with in government and industry. It is difficult and challenging to deal with so many levels of progress.
BREAK
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Session 2: Researchers – Wellbeing context
Arctic Social Indicators Project (ASI) Peter Schweitzer University of Vienna and University of Alaska Fairbanks. Powerpoint presentation
Dr. Schweitzer is a co-lead on this project. The research team also includes: Joan Nymand Larsen (project leader), Stefansson Arctic Institute, Iceland Andrey Petrov, University of Northern Iowa Gail Fondahl, University of Northern British Columbia
Three main aspects of the Arctic Social Indicators project: Monitoring Assessments Science-Policy Interface with the Arctic Council. ASI started in the early 2000s with the Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR I and II) continued with phases of ASI I and II (Regional processes and Global Linkages (2010-2014)).
Figure 6
Arctic Social Indicators I and II move beyond the AHDR baseline report that summarized how we are doing in terms of human development in the Arctic. They are filling the knowledge gap identified in the AHDR.
Three dimensions of Arctic Human Development Report Closeness to Nature (strong attachment to and desire to spend time on the land) Fate Control or local control (mechanisms for control over their lives especially in the face of colonialism) Cultural Integrity or vitality
ASI I & II development 2006-2011 The ASI-I objective was to create a set of indicators that reflect key aspects of human development and that are tractable in terms of measurement and monitoring at reasonable cost.
The ASI-II objective was to implement the indicators, through testing, validating and refining – including measuring and performing analyses of
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select applications across the Arctic. The ultimate goal is for long-term monitoring of human development.
ASI II Implementation (2009-2014) In this part they wanted to identify and describe data challenges by region for each of the indicators. They also wanted to measure indicators by region and at different scales to test and validate them. Regional comparisons and analyses were done based on measured ASI indicators to illustrate and test their strength and applicability. They ultimately want to develop an ASI monitoring system. The report was completed last year.
Summary (Figure 7)
They took the 3 dimensions/criteria from the United Nations Human Development Index (health, education and economy) and added their own 3 from AHDR. Total of 6 domains: Nature, Education, Economy Culture, Fate Control and Health. Choose indicators that could be monitored with budgetary restrictions. Indicators and data need to change over time.
Figure 7
Challenges
It gets complicated with 8 countries involved. Some indicators work better for one group than another. Finding consistency in measuring methods is difficult. Need to consider: . Scales and intra-regional variations (units of analysis) . Indigenous/non-indigenous . Urban/rural . Major trends and processes Figure 8 There were 6 ASI case studies (Figure 8. Two of the studies were SLiCA and the Alaska Study.
Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic (SLiCA) was a massive project with a lot of valuable data but it is unlikely to be done again on the same scale.
Peter was involved in the Alaska Study with the Iñupiat.
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The Alaska Study focused on three regions in Alaska: North Slope Borough, the Northwest Arctic Borough, and the Nome Census district. Getting data for the indicators was a challenge. The table below is a summary of the data sources. Indicators had to be refined to suit the data.
Possible conclusions and issues
Data availability is comparatively good There is a lot of variation between and within regions The regional centres are more similar to smaller communities than expected (or, as dissimilar to smaller communities than other small communities) North Slope Borough has the best scores in most domains (what does that mean for the link between resource extraction and well-being?) Small numbers pose problems for statistical data
Future developments
Do not see ASI III happening. ASI is out there now in the public domain and researchers, community members, whoever, should use it. They are hoping to develop an ASI monitoring system.
Potential for a coastal observation network to create knowledge hubs in coastal communities.
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Wellbeing in the Eurasian Arctic, Research Perspectives Florian Stammler, Anthropology, University of Lapland, Finland Aitalina Ivanova, Law, North Eastern Federal University, Russia
Florian explained that Aitalina Ivanova was invited as she is a well-being specialist who works in Siberia as a lawyer.
The issues discussed so far at the conference are very similar to the ones being examined in the Eurasian Arctic. There is no one definition of wellbeing, or single most important determinant. The Arctic is diverse in societies and cultures, people and industries. When industry comes to these places, relations between state, people and companies change, and so does the relative balance of these spheres. Material becomes more important, while other spheres get forgotten. Any research should consider these dimensions.
Florian and Aitalina presented several cases from their research where they thought we could learn from historic misunderstandings, and look at recent approaches of how wellbeing can be enhanced in northern communities. Most of the work mentioned is Aitalina’s from Russia.
Components of wellbeing Legal ((broad, legal state), and Spiritual protection of all spheres mentioned Social below) Cultural Material Individual-collective? For example Economic individual suffers for the common good, Physical (health) community suffers from individual increase Mental in wellbeing
Histories of misunderstood wellbeing There are many examples of ‘high modernism’ influencing values and notions of wellbeing in a problematic way. Companies and industrial states are not necessarily solely to blame when something goes wrong. Issues tend to arise when actors with different power relations make contact and consequently local people suffer. In Europe and Asia there is a lot of good will to organize coexistence between industry, authorities and local people, but we lack concrete knowledge on how to do that.
An example of this is the Skolt Sami. They were relocated from the Soviet Union to Northern Finland after World War II. The state tried to be accommodating and asked what they wanted. The Skolt requested fishing resources. So the state decided that in a land with so many lakes, each family would get a lake. The formerly compact community was now spread across 80 km. The Skolt got what they wanted but sacrificed their social wellbeing as they lost their sense of community. You need to be culturally sensitive and first build capacity before you ask what people want because possible consequences might not be obvious to either party. Benevolence doesn’t protect from mistakes.
Value Pluralism This is happening now in Siberia. When considering compensation for the damage done to the Nenets by industry, officials asked administrators housed in villages what should be done. So the Nenets got big
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stone houses. They considered that it was a collective society so several families should live in a single house, but it was a sedentary logic. These people only spend about a week a year in the houses because the rest of the time they are out on the land. They have a completely different set of values and when the company considered their wellbeing, the people who had the time to talk were the ones who were already living in villages and would not have been out on the land.
High modernism A Soviet idea that all production should be industrialised. Throughout the Soviet north the indigenous population declined tremendously because millions of industrial workers were brought into big cities and along the same model indigenous economy was redesigned in a way that removed women from the land and gave them wage labour. So the land became the male sphere. Major negative impact for the indigenous people there. This was careless social engineering.
Kamchatka, Russia People in the region got the right to their traditional fishing practices, but the modern troubles that come with them. As soon as they had the right to practice their traditional activities, they had a new inspection agency every day making sure they do it the right way. While the theoretically benevolent state tried to give fishermen their traditional rights, there is so much money involved that it’s not possible anymore.
Recent support to wellbeing While the problems for indigenous people are the same around the north, one big difference is that the percentage of indigenous people in the Russian arctic is much lower. We know there are a lot of mistakes being done by the states and by society in relation to indigenous wellbeing, but there are some positive aspects. Sakha law on ethnoexpertiza 2010: There is a lot of industry development in Yakutia, and it is difficult for people to deal with, so the republic adopted a law requiring an anthropological expert review before industry comes in. It is a holistic approach, including all aspects of damage, economic, social, spiritual, cultural values assess and loss compensated. Right to healthy environment: Everyone has the right to a favorable environment, reliable information about its condition and to compensation for the damage caused to his or her health or property by ecological violations. (Russian constitution, article 42). Right to cultural identity: Sakha reindeer herding law guarantees support for herding as a culturally relevant activity. Spiritual and mental wellbeing: There is support for spiritual development (Sakha MinDukhovRazvitie, gosprogramma 2014). Legal recognition of shamanism as a religion (Sakha, North Norway). Also have campaign for nondrinking etc. Still have a lot of problems and there is a lot of similarities in these problems with those in the North American Arctic.
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Conclusions Preoccupation with colonial and material notions of wellbeing is often detrimental.
Tension between individual and collective: overemphasis on individual can lead to loss of culture, community and language Importance of the state everywhere. Crucial regulator, empowering institution for increased wellbeing, e.g. through giving rights to people, confirming land rights. State has the power to avoid negative consequences by timely setting of rights
Wellbeing Research in Northwest Alaska: Local Economic Benefits of Resource Development Matt Berman, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage
There is not very much research into the benefits for communities from the Red Dog mine in Alaska. This presentation focused only on the economic benefits, jobs and money, from the mine to the people in the region.
Figure 9 shows the map of Alaska and the 3 regions in red are the Inuit regions of Alaska (Inupiat people): the North Slope Borough, the Northwest Arctic Borough, and the Nome District.
Each region has an administrative center that has more people and where the population is Inuit and non- Inuit. The villages are overwhelmingly Inupiat. Red Dog Mine is entirely in Figure 9 Northwest Arctic Borough.
Red Dog Mine
Red Dog is a large open pit zinc mine in the North Slope Borough. It is a joint venture of Northwest Alaska Native Association Regional Corporation, Inc. (NANA) and Teck Alaska Incorporated. There is an on-site processing facility that produces zinc and lead concentrates that are trucked to a port 46 miles away on the Chuchki Sea, and then shipped to Teck’s Trail, a BC smelter.
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It was selected as NANA land under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) land before the deposit was discovered, so NANA owns it and had a very strong position to negotiate a benefits agreement. It is close enough to the communities of Katawena and Nunatak to be within village corporation boundaries.
Nominal Local Benefits
From 2005-2009, Teck paid NANA $373 million in royalties. Under ANCSA rules, NANA shares 62% of the royalties with the other 12 regional corporations. In Alaska there are regional and village corporations and NANA and its village corporations merged. Village corporations are only entitled to land rights, regional corporations got all mineral rights under village lands. So being a combined entity it has rights to lands and minerals, which gives NANA an especially large role in negotiating. While Red Dog is not specifically taxed, it makes payments to the regional government (Northwest Arctic Borough), about $6- 10 million per year, which allows them to run, but is not a huge amount of money.
The mine provides 550 full time jobs, plus additional seasonal construction jobs, with a total payroll in 2009 of $52 million.
There are over 300 full time jobs and a varying number of seasonal jobs for Inupiat shareholders. Payments in lieu of taxes support public services and jobs in the Northwest Arctic Borough. Royalty payments to NANA flow back to shareholders as dividends. But there are still questions: How many of the jobs are local jobs? Not all NANA shareholders live in the region. Do the dividends make a significant contribution to local residents’ incomes?
Comparing Northwest Arctic Communities
Compare employment and income of residents of communities in the Northwest Arctic Borough to that of residents of the North Slope Borough and the Nome Census Area (CA). Jobs have been examined in local government supported by resource development as well as direct resource development jobs. The North Slope Borough has the Prudhoe Bay oil development which takes place largely on state lands where there are no formal local benefits agreements. However, the ANCSA village corporation of Nuiqsut controls access to some oil fields and has a benefits agreement. The Nome CA has over 100 years of history in gold mining, but no history of indigenous involvement. The Community Development Quota program provides some opportunity for all Nome CA communities, except Shishmaref, to benefit from Bering Sea industrial fishers.
Local Government Employs More People Than Mining
Figure 10 shows that government employs many more people than mining.
Figure 10
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Also that Northwest Arctic Borough, of the three regions has the most workers in natural resources and mining.
Three percent of workers are employed in mines in the Northwest Borough workforce.
Mining plays a bigger role in employment in the Northwest Arctic Borough
Figure 11 shows that the percentage of the workforce employed in government and mining varies from community to community.
Red Dog does provide economic benefits but it is variable and doesn’t solve all problems.
Figure 11
Red Dog employs more village residents than regional centre residents as a percentage of the labour force.
Overall, cash economies of regional centres and North Slope villages are stronger, even with Red Dog mine benefits. Figure 12 shows the percent of residents over the age of 16 who were employed in 2013.
Figure 12
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Notions of Wellbeing in the Canadian North: Research Perspectives Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon, ISR Jen Jones & Ben Bradshaw, Department of Geography, University of Guelph
There is a tendency to see the resource development and wellbeing as separate entities. We need to stop treating benefit agreements as separate from wellbeing.
Defining Well–Being for the Canadian North The presentation looks at current wellbeing scholarship in Canada. It does not encapsulate everything as there is diverse population, geography and economy in the North. As with community perspectives, definitions in scholarship are diverse and cross-cutting. Wellbeing is culturally constructed and in the north considered through a youth and Indigenous lens.
In the current research, key aspects include:
Quality of life; “good life” (Parlee & Furgal, 2012) Healthy land = healthy being Participating in traditional activities (land based activities, cultural events, traditional food harvesting) (Richmond, 2009) Speaking ones language, having social support (Kral et al., 2011) Practicing traditional knowledge (Inuit or First Nations) Talking and communicating with family Acknowledging complex relationship between social, spiritual, economic, political and cultural determinants (Kwiatkowski, 2009)
Understanding Well-being To understand wellbeing need to see how it is contextualized. Resource development influenced by complex, cumulative and non-discrete forces. Changes to land (climate resources) Socio-economic changes (influx of population, income, economy) Access to food -food security/insecurity (Nilsson et al., 2013) Poverty (Housing) Impacts of colonial legacies (Czyzewski, 2011) Climate Change (Ford, 2012; Ford et al., 2010) Physical health (chronic disease, etc.)
Changing North Challenges Stress Dietary changes Resource development (Bradshaw et al, 2014) Shift/erosion of traditions and culture Strengths Resilience
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o Drawing on Traditional Knowledge (Pierce et al., 2012) Adaptive capacity (including through resource development) o Self determination (Parlee & Furgal, 2012)
Changing research Research on wellbeing draws from multiple disciplines (Parlee & Furgal, 2012) Recognizes and addresses complexities Changes in research approaches: o Increase use of participatory approaches o Reliance on community knowledge and collaborations o Synergy between traditional knowledge and western science (Parlee & Furgal, 2012) Developing organizational capacity at the community level Researcher role changing o Support knowledge mobilization / translation o Synthesize community successes o Evaluate mechanisms that assess wellbeing Data needs to be meaningful and useful to meet needs (Harper et al., 2012)
Going Forward Recognize complexity and impact of legacies on current well-being (Czyzewski, 2011) Give attention to community defined threats and circumstances Focus on cumulative effects Reconcile natural science research with socio-economic realities (Parlee & Furgal, 2012)
References Cunsolo Willox, A., Stephenson, E., Allen, J., Bourque, F., Drossos, A., Elgarøy, S. Wexler, L. 2014). Examining relationships between climate change and mental health in the Circumpolar North. Regional Environmental Change, 1-14. Czyzewski, K. (2011). Colonialism as a broader social determinant of health. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 2(1), 5. Ford, J. D. (2012). Indigenous Health and Climate Change. American journal of public health, 102(7), 1260-1266. Ford, J. D., Pearce, T., Duerden, F., Furgal, C., & Smit, B. (2010). Climate change policy responses for Canada's Inuit population: The importance of and opportunities for adaptation. Global Environmental Change, 20(1), 177-191. Jones, J., Nix, N. A., & Snyder, E. H. (2014). Local perspectives of the ability of HIA stakeholder engagement to capture and reflect factors that impact Alaska Native health. Int J Circumpolar Health, 73, 24411. doi: 10.3402/ijch.v73.24411 Kral, M., Idlout, L., Minore, J., Dyck, R., & Kirmayer, L. (2011). Unikkaartuit: Meanings of Well-Being, Unhappiness, Health, and Community Change Among Inuit in Nunavut, Canada. American Journal of Community Psychology, 48(3-4), 426-438 Kwiatkowski, R. E., Tikhonov, C., Peace, D. M., & Bourassa, C. (2009). Canadian Indigenous engagement and capacity building in health impact assessment. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 27(1), 57-67. doi: 10.3152/146155109X413046 Nilsson, L. M., Destouni, G., Berner, J., Dudarev, A. A., Mulvad, G., Odland, J. O., . . . Evengard, B. (2013). A call for urgent monitoring of food and water security based on relevant indicators for the Arctic. Ambio, 42(7), 816-822. doi
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Parlee, B., & Furgal, C. (2012). Well-being and environmental change in the arctic: a synthesis of selected research from Canada’s International Polar Year program. Climatic Change, 115(1), 13-34. Richmond, C. A. M. (2009). The social determinants of Inuit health: A focus on social support in the Canadian Arctic.
Questions & Discussion Q1: Where is wellbeing on the path to sustainable development? How is this seen in the northern communities?
1. The benefit of the wellbeing notion is that it can be contained in communities. Real sustainable development has a global dimension: it cannot be taken only on the local level. Wellbeing works more directly for local benefits. 2. Sustainable Development is not a term always used in academic realm. Sustainability implies a balance. It can be seen as a slippery term and would like to stick with wellbeing. 3. Sustainable development is such a large term that does it mean anything anymore. Wellbeing is culturally constructed and locally defined.
Q2: What were the employment numbers for the Red Dog mine – how many of the 550 were Inuit people?
Do not know. Just know where they are from because the data is run off of SIM cards.
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Session 3 – Wellbeing in Labrador
Wellbeing in NunatuKavut Amy Hudson , Social Sector, NunatuKavut
Introduction to NunatuKavut NunatuKavut is a non-profit organisation dedicated to ensuring the basic rights of its members, aboriginal persons, and the collective retention of these rights by all. NunatuKavut strives to improve the cultural, social and economic quality of life for the southern Inuit. It is comprised of approximately 6000 people, the majority of which live in Labrador. Overview of NunatuKavut Communities: More than 6000 southern Inuit Importance of healthy, natural environment, access to land and resources highlighted Rely heavily on country foods Figure 13
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Social change (i.e., wage labour, military bases, mechanization of fishing industry, regulations around natural resource use, education, policing and justice). Natural resources include forestry, fishery, mining, tourism, oil & gas, and wildlife
Challenges facing NunatuKavut include: Lack of provincial and federal recognition of Aboriginal rights Lack of resources (i.e., capacity, finances, community infrastructure, etc). Management of resources Food insecurity Water quality and access Lack of meaningful consultation and accommodation Exclusion from Impact Benefit Agreements
A Vision of Sustainable Development and wellbeing for NunatuKavut includes: Health Care Clean, safe drinking water Affordable community infrastructure Education and training Mitigation of environmental damage and IBA’s
It is shocking that these are still lacking in a land so rich in resources and industry. Despite the challenges, these people are strong. The fact they still exist among all these challenges is a testament to their resilience, ties to the land, and right as indigenous people to be there, stay there and live off the land.
How can we increase wellbeing in Nunatukavut? Recognition: all levels of government must recognize and accept their rights as aboriginal peoples. Enhancing relationships: with communities, governments, researchers, and other aboriginal peoples. The land claim is an avenue for increasing their wellbeing. It is ongoing and pending decision, but it’s a matter of when at this point. Self-governance : they need to be able to manage their own affairs, and be able to involve communities in programming and policy that is relevant to their people’s lives. Engage with researchers.
What is NunatuKavut doing now? NunatuKavut is striving to recognize their history and the significance of their ancestors in their lives. They are honouring the treaty between the Inuit and the British that happened in 1765. We will be holding celebrations for that next year. This is a step toward people being involved, relevant and connected. The official 250th Anniversary Celebration is August 21, 2015.
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A Community Vitality Index for Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador Petrina Beals and Bonnie Earl, FemNorthNet Project
The Community Vitality Index (CVI)
CVI tracks changes in the wellbeing of people in Happy Valley Goose Bay based on a definition that women in the community developed. CVI is specifically relevant to the local context. There is urgency to take a CVI baseline so the community can report on changes over time.
CVI for Happy Valley Goose Bay They conferred with local women, students on the north coast and south coast of Labrador, professional women from the community, marginalized women from the community, women from other countries and other provinces. They developed a community collaborative to provide leadership so we looked to the community who worked with women.
Discussed how complex women’s wellbeing can be. Defined wellbeing in relation to us, our own Figure 14 needs and that of our families living here in Goose Bay. Discussed categories of wellbeing and defined each category (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, cultural). There was a consensus: one is not dependent on the other, but more well we are in each category, the better our overall wellbeing is. The definitions of the categories are complex and overlap.
The Development of the CVI Presented this to Labrador women to test the definitions as they wanted the questions to be representative of women in Happy Valley Goose Bay. Presented their regional findings back to the original women who helped to create the survey. They found it very long, so we created a long version and short version survey, like the census.
Wellbeing framework They partnered with Nunatsiavut government and graphic designers, Jodi Goodman and Monica Peach, to develop a wellbeing framework representative of their Labrador heritage. The image was based on an Inuksuk as it represents balance, uniqueness, direction, and connection to the earth. The inuksuk gives them everything they need (Figure 15).
Figure 15
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Participatory action research process: Value, Empowerment, Inclusion and Networking As definitions and information came from local women, this particular tool is only relevant to that area. This is the women’s Happy Valley Goose Bay experience. The process can be duplicated and adapted to meet the needs of other groups. The process involved training and skill development, it created some great leaders and provided the opportunity for women to come together and create new networks. Women were part of a collaborative process of empowerment. The process itself contributes to women’s wellbeing. This belief is that one cannot talk about community wellbeing without talking about women.
Moving Forward They intend to apply for funds to track and collect data in the community over the next 5 years, collaborate with NunatuKavut to do similar work in the region. They are also entering a partnership with a women’s organization in Kitimat, BC to extend the work there.
Community Wellbeing and Resource Development – Nunatsiavut AnânauKatiget Tumingit - Regional Inuit Women’s Association Charlotte Wolfrey, AnnauKatiget Tumingit, Regional Inuit Women’s Association, Rigolet, Nunatsiavut www.inuitwomen.ca
This nonprofit organization was established in March 2007 and is governed by an elected board of directors, comprised of 12 regional representatives, and one permanent staff member (at the moment Charlotte).
Mission AnânauKatiget Tumingit (AT) strives to advance the cultural, social, health, and economic wellbeing of Labrador Inuit Women who are beneficiaries of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement, wherever they may reside.
Mandate Advise and work with the Nunatsiavut Government. Public awareness and engagement with Inuit women. Leadership and support in setting up women’s groups.
Funding The operational funding is from the Tasiujatsoak Trust Fund and Nunatsiavut Government. A trust fund was set up with Voisey’s Bay Project. There is also project funding through Provincial Support (proposed) through the Violence Prevention Initiative and Women’s Policy Office and Federal Support through the Status of Women Canada.
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Initiatives 1. Create awareness of AT: Created and distributed magnets with AT’s logo and encouraging messages about violence prevention and wellbeing of women, families and communities (Figure 16). 2. Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI) 2011-2012. Focus on violence prevention and awareness. 3. Traditional Craft Workshop that support Inuit women in traditional craft making in a safe and supportive Figure 16 environment. Women built market skills and supplied local craft shops. 4. Peer Resource Training for Seniors: HRSCD New Horizons projects in 2012-2013 Intended to increase Inuit seniors’ well-being through peer support. It involved training 1-2 seniors in each community to help other seniors with things they need. 5. Creating Greater Economic Security for Inuit Women: This is their largest ongoing project. Not many women work at Voisey’s Bay; it doesn’t increase their economic security. In Hopedale and Nain. The Status of Women Canada (SWC) provided funding for a 3 year project (2012-2015). Want to create a community plan to address women’s economic wellbeing. In each community set up committee that was comprised of community members to oversee the project. They decided housing was the priority so looked at the Newfoundland Government housing strategy to see how it might help or hinder women. Food service project in Nain that ran for 7 weeks. Gave work to five women who never held a job in their life. They hope that this small project will be part of making a social enterprise for Nain and help other communities. 6. Community Wellness Workshop: A year-long project (2012-13) part of the Violence Prevention Initiative. Three different workshops in each community in Nunatsiavut. Workshop topics included: dating violence, bullying, emotional/psychological abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence and elder abuse. 7. Job Creation Project: to help women with little work experience. They funded a position in each community of Nunatsiavut for a year.
Building on Positive Energy
An artist looks at the stone and sees what is there – a north wind. . . a polar bear . . . an Inuit face … Like the stone carver – we see the strength and resilience of women Like the Kudlik – we will shine light on the barriers to greater involvement for Inuit women and pathways to overcome them Like the ulu – we will work hard with what we have to create beauty, and to ensure families and communities are cared for
Critical Next Steps They are hoping to become the voice of Labrador Inuit women and now need that voice to be recognized. They need to make a better relationship with both the Nunatsiavut Government and the Province through the Women’s Policy Office.
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Closing Remarks from Charlotte “Wellness” and “well-being”. All the rosy outlooks these words entail. These words are used to help sweep issues under the rug, or sugar-coat what the issues are in our communities. We use wellness to help us deal with and talk about alcoholism, violence against women. I think in doing this we step backward. We had a women’s movement in Nunatsiavut ten years ago. There is not one women’s group left in our communities. Now in our communities we use these terms to talk about everything. They keep things like violence against women hidden. I don’t like changing terms that makes a nice thing out of the horror, the violence, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, the serious issues we have in our communities.
The Social Infrastructure of Labrador’s Emerging Running Culture Nathanial Pollock, Race Director, Trapline Marathon http://www.traplinemarathon.ca/ @Trapline42k #runfulltilt
Nathanial is the race director for the Trapline Marathon in Labrador. He is presenting an example of wellbeing in practice in a place experiencing social problems. In Colour is the local running organisation that organises the marathon.
Background
The Happy Valley Goose Bay running scene revolves around the Trapline Marathon. It happens every thanksgiving weekend and has about 250-300 participants. This is a grassroots approach to population health. It follows the philosophy that change at a broader level, in the realm of politics, legislation, or in communities, can have a much wider impact than what can happen in an office.
As a researcher in public health and as a runner, Nathaniel mentioned that the Trapline marathon helps bridge these worlds. The club and race has been effective in promoting health and improving people’s lives at an individual level but also for Happy Valley Goose Bay generally, and surrounding communities.
Emergence of a running culture
They created social connections that would not have otherwise existed through the club and Trapline race. They have also created the social infrastructure needed to make running an accessible sport. They do this as a small, not-for profit community group, made up entirely of volunteers.
What they do In Colour started in second year of the Trapline Marathon (2008). It is now the 2nd largest club in the province with 170 members (Figure 17) and 7 running events a year. The club provides support for new runners, and targets people who have never seen Figure 17
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themselves as athletes. They hold learn to run clinics where people go from never having run to running their first 5Km race.
Social infrastructure for a new running culture
There is a growing international trend to run, at the elite level, but also as a lifestyle. The club helps foster connections between people and place. They help people create relationships, and make events accessible to new runners. While a lot of other events are gender and age specific, running is appealing across generations.
This is a case study in how to promote wellness in the north. A grassroots approach operating outside the primary health institutions, the running club manages to harness many of the community’s strengths and create conditions that help foster social connections, and improve health.
Questions and Discussion Q1. Can resource development improve quality of life and community wellbeing? How?
R1. I went to Rigolet with government to review Uranium mining in Nunatsiavut. Rigolet people knew the benefits, but wanted to know the impact on the land. They were weighing money with a pristine environment. The land is everything. Even when you have what you perceive as good IBAs, in Voisey’s Bay, snow is black because of the chemicals. But people have good jobs. It is a tough choice.
R2. What can resource development look like? Engage with communities. There are two paragons of worldview: industry may define progress differently from the communities. Have a conversation.
R3. Women are not consulted with new developments. We need to shift to sustainable communities. Food prices rise when development comes in; what does this mean for women and other marginalized people not seeing mining benefits?
R4. We need to consider what are the cumulative effects of subsequent mining? The renewable resource is the people. Sustainable mining is an oxymoron.
Q2. What type of indicators do you want to track over time?
We had 70 questions in 5 areas and 15-16 questions in each area. The broader the questions, the more information we have to work with.
Q3. Lived experience as knowledge is often considered not “academic” enough for programs and projects, so extra research is conducted to find out what we already know. What are your experiences with that and what would you suggest?
In Rigolet the community government has partnered with the university and they determine questions they want answered. We always make sure that contributors get compensation for
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research input. In Nunatsiavut we know research needs traditional knowledge. You need to make sure proposals take into account the people who live the situations.
Q5: If resource development is not the answer to community needs, what is? Is there an alternative?
R1. Go to communities and ask what their needs are.
Q5a. The government isn’t going to meet those needs, so who is?
R2. We don’t have the population to warrant investment but we have got the land to warrant the development? You have to look at the community and invest in that before you start taking from those people.
R3. Labrador could be rich. We have many resources: oil in Labrador City, the Churchill Falls development, the Muskrat Falls development and Voisey’s Bay uranium. Yet, we have the poorest population in the province. I do not think the government is going to give us anything. Many young people who go get educated are not returning. So who in 50 years will be using the land for our traditional hunting, fishing and trapping?
R4. We have been developing our resources for hundreds of years. It goes back to how do we define resource development and who is defining it.
R5. What about the cod fishery? Where is it? That was a renewable resource and now it is gone in Labrador and Nunatsiavut.
R6. Sustainable resource development is not only about the activity but the process and the environment created around that activity. Communities are seldom if ever the prime movers in resource development. When we do get engaged, the information we present is not valid, not authentic, or we are not authentic enough to have a serious opinion that bares weight. Sustainable development is about relationships. All our traditional information is validated and accepted just the same as anybody else’s.
R7. How different a conversation would we be having if communities had equitable social and economic benefits from projects? If people here and elsewhere saw quality of life improving and economic growth distributed throughout the population.
R8. To someone on the land all the time, the quality of life is already there. Money and a good job isn’t everything.
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Session 4 – Community Well Being and Resource Development: Research Perspectives
Well-being in Resource Communities of Western Labrador Reflections from the Economic History John Thistle, Labrador Institute of Memorial University
John’s work is based on the economic and environmental history of western Labrador. In this presentation changes in this region’s economic history since the 1970s was examined.
Since the 1970s, resource communities are economically less well equipped to address issues connected to wellbeing. Resource communities in Labrador experienced economic growth before 1979 and economic decline after.
Iron ore production peaked in the late 70s, dropped sharply, and then production plateaued. (See Figure 18)
Figure 18
The employment graph (Figure 19) shows the number of people working in Western Labrador. It peaked in the 1970s then plummeted in the 80’s and onward.
Production stayed about the same, plateauing at a lower but consistent level, and that’s chiefly through investments in technologies, which replaced people with machines.
Figure 19 - Employment
Figure 20 shows annual wage outlays from 1954 to 2010 from industry in Labrador. While individuals made gains in their own salaries, there are far fewer people working overall. So the effect has been a serious reduction in wages overall.
Figure 20 - Wages
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This affected the population. There is nearly a perfect correlation between jobs and population in western Labrador (Figure 21). Lost 5000+ people in western Labrador. Smaller populations mean smaller residential tax base, from which the money comes to spend on social services.
Figure 21 – Population The provincial revenue graph (Figure 22) shows the relative difference of commercial exports from western Labrador and provincial revenue for all resources. The red line is iron ore’s commercial value. The blue line is the total revenue from taxes and royalties from all the mines. Provincial revenue for iron ore is in fact lower than that. Even less goes back to Labrador.
Figure 22 – Provincial Revenue
The only thing that seemed to go up since 1979 is productivity (output per employee) which went up 40%. (Figure 23). Some people use productivity as a proxy measure for profit.
Figure 23 - Productivity
The photograph in Figure 24 shows a pit that will remain from a really big mine: there will be no future use of this region. All mines eventually close, and while they are open they incur mounting environmental costs. Figure 24
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Concluding remarks - What can be done to increase wellbeing?
Get away from idea that jobs are the “real” and most important benefit of development. There are not as many jobs in the business as there were 40 years ago and they are constantly getting replaced by technology. Think of other ways to benefit from developments. Get back to demanding more from mining companies at the municipal level Get back to royalties in return for resources.
Individual and Collective Well-being in the Arctic Stephan Schott, Carleton University
Stephan works on social indicators in the Arctic and subsistence (sharing) economy.
Motivation
Rural and remote areas face tremendous social, economic and environmental challenges, and in the Arctic changes are happening at an unprecedented rate (climate change, transitioning to a viable and sustainable mixed economy, demographic changes, health issues). Political, economic and social changes occur at many geographic scales and impose new constraints on the mixed cash-subsistence livelihoods practiced by most circumpolar indigenous peoples.
Challenges and Objectives
Meaningful indicators that can feasibly be measured regularly. Indicators that assist in improving wellbeing in the polar region. Indicators that assist in natural resource management, social, health and education policies.
Wellbeing as determined by what matters to the community.
Previous studies
Social Well-being Indicators: Index of Social Progress, UN HDI, Quality of Life Index, etc. Arctic Indicators: Social Cohesion Index, Arctic Social Indicators (ASI), SLiCA Sustainable Development Indicators: Living Planet Index, Environmental Sustainability index, Environmental Performance Index Integrated indices that include sustainability: Canadian Index of Well-being (CIW), Genuine Progress Indicator, Resilience Indicators
SLiCA (Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic: Inuit, Saami and the Indigenous Peoples of Chukotka and the Kola Peninsula) has 583 indicators in 4 domains: family, background, lifestyle and environment. It is difficult to measure consistently but it addresses crucial areas.
Canadian index of wellbeing framework (CIW) has 8 domains and with 8 indicators each. The CIW is now applied to community/ regional level so we now have reports on 5 communities.
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Arctic Social Indicators has 6 domains with 7-11 indicators each. It is not comprehensive enough and is missing domains crucial to survival in the Arctic, especially for indigenous peoples (natural resource and environmental sustainability; community/cultural vitality).
Minimum proposed set of indicators for ASI and for Ozkan and Schott
Stephan and a PhD student came up with 22 indicators to add to ASI based on CWI and reports from Canadian territories on how they define community and individual wellbeing. Many of the political variables are easy to measure, not very costly, and you only update them once they change, which is not often. The added indicators are in red below. Domain ASI (Arctic Social Ozkan & Schott (SIR (2013)) Indicators) Health and (1 )Infant Mortality, (1)Self-rated health (2) Housing Suitability and Population (2)Net migration Affordability (3) Access to Country Food (4) Geographic mobility Household Well- (2) Net migration, (4) Geographic mobility (5)Consumption/harvest of local being (3) Consumption/harvest of foods, (6) Real per capita household income, (7) local foods, Household real organic income, (8) Persistence and (4) Per capita household quality of employment, (2) Housing Suitability and income Affordability Education (5) Ratio of students (9)High School Graduation Rate, (10) Time spent on successfully completing traditional training on the land (11) Proportion of post-secondary education bilingual educators in elementary and secondary school Cultural Well-being (6) Language Retention (12) Language Retention (measured appropriately) and Vitality Contact with (3) Consumption/harvest of (13) Hunting output/effort Nature local foods distribution,(5)Consumption/harvest of local foods Fate Control (7-11) Collective fate control (14) Decision-making power over wildlife management, index or (7) the percentage of (15) Renewable resource allocations, surface lands legally (16)Fiscal Ability, (17) Policy Discretion, (18) Local controlled by the inhabitants Capacity, (19) The proportion of valuable subsurface land rights owned or governed by territorial, regional or local institutions (7) Household real organic income (economic independence), (12) Language retention Natural Resource None (20) Critical natural capital stock, (21) Energy supply and Environmental and security(15) Renewable resource allocations Sustainability Community Vitality None (22) Time spent for volunteering (23) Crime rates
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Resource Development Impacts Since benefits from extractive industry are temporary must measure impacts outside of resource sector such as: High School Graduation rate changes Skill development Reinvestment of lost natural capital for future direction Infrastructure or social investments by mining company Maintaining critical level of natural and environmental capital Local business development Impacts on subsistence harvesting and food security Social changes: community vitality, time use Quality and persistence of employment
How would indicators work?
To illustrate how these indicators would work the following graphs (Figure 25-26) assess how wildlife harvesting is defined by basic needs in Nunavut.
For the “Number of Hunters per Household” (figure 25) they got data about the distribution of hunting and how much is hunted by each hunter and connected that with census data.
Figure 25
The percentage of occasional hunters increased with the unemployment rate in communities (Figure 26), but number of super hunters declined with the unemployment rate. Unemployment is bad for hunters who depend on other households to share.
Figure 26
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In the Figure 27, the unemployment rate and the number of single parent households in each community are examined to construct how vulnerable it is, and how many hunters there are in that community.
Figure 27 Suggestions
Measure and understand links between labour markets, traditional activities and individual and community wellbeing. Identify basic needs and food security. Need resilience measures. Examine relationship between energy infrastructure and social and economic development. Study relationship between energy security, adequate housing conditions and health issues.
Final thoughts
We need realistic medium and long term goals specifically for the Arctic, similar to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (10 goals). Should be more focus on the community/regional level in the Arctic. What we measure matters: we cannot let ease of measurement, availability and affordability dictate what indicators we choose.
Measuring Well-Being Thierry Rodon, Laval University
Considerations In the Arctic there is resistance to measuring, especially in hunting because it has historically been a means of state control. Why are we measuring? We can’t measure everything. Need to have a study about what can be measured. What should we measure? Communities have been surveyed and interviewed enough. How should we measure? Important to measure comparable things otherwise everything is a special case.
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What not to do: Community Wellbeing Index (CWI)
Created by Indian Affairs to measure community development and compare First Nations, Inuit and other communities. It had 4 indicators: income, education, housing and labour.
CWI is not very useful as it only measures communities’ inclusion in Canadian Capitalist economy. The more a community is traditional the less well it is. This is not necessarily the case when Figure 28 looking at other indicators.
Measuring the Mine Impacts on Wealth and Wellbeing
This research compared the two communities closest to the Raglan mine using statistics. There were three other categories of indicators examined.
Qanuippitaa: Survey conducted in 2004 in all Nunavik communities. Interview and self-administered survey on health and social and socio-economic wellbeing. Random sample Multiple correspondence analysis with 3 broad categories (socio-economic, health and wellbeing, society and culture) You don’t need so many indicators, you just need good ones. The two communities of Kangiqsujuaq and Salluit receive royalties from the mine, but don’t find the same wellbeing results. Looked at self-rated health, satisfaction with life, psychological distress, social supports, traditional activities and perceptions of community conditions (community togetherness and land based activities).
More details of this research provided in the ReSDA research session (day 2).
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Community Wellbeing & Resource Development - Research Perspective from Lutsel K’e, NT Kelsey Dokis-Jansen, MSc. Candidate, University of Alberta Dr. Brenda Parlee, University of Alberta
Brenda Parlee is the lead researcher on ReSDA’s wellbeing project, but was not able to attend the workshop. Kelsey is a graduate student with Dr. Parlee and works in the Northwest Territories looking at concepts of community, development, traditional knowledge, and various ways of being. As a student her interests connect well with Dr. Parlee’s work with the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) over the last 20 years.
Wellbeing and Resource Development
Concepts of wellbeing and how it is measured vary. Indigenous concepts of wellbeing are linked to integrated, holistic understandings of individual health, the health of the land, spirituality, community and family connections, etc.
Background/context
Proportional economic benefits not seen by the communities, and are often overstated and time- limited. Resource development proposals often emphasize the positive impacts that increased income and employment opportunities will have for local communities, but in northern Canada culture, community and the land figure into peoples’ sense of a “good life”. Relationship between wellbeing and growth in income are strongest at lower income levels, but those are not often the people given the opportunity to engage in jobs and opportunities.
Difference between what’s going on politically and economically and what is happening on the ground. There is no single answer.
Community Wellbeing research
Lutsel K’e is a fly-in community about 200 km east of Yellowknife with 300 – 350 people. They have been negotiating having a national park since the 1970’s. They hope to be the First Nation in Canada to be active managers of a national park. This is encouraging to the community as, like many other communities, they face many challenges. But there is a great deal of strength and pride and they have achieved a lot.
The Community based monitoring project ran from 1998-2003. Brenda, another researcher and LKDFN did wellbeing research in Lutsel K’e. As it was at the time of the mineral staking rush for diamonds in NWT people were concerned about how caribou migration would be affected. They did in-depth interviews and held open ended discussions about what people felt was important in their community. Those thoughts were taken to workshops and council meetings. They interviewed most community members 18+. There were multiple workshops and council meetings to verify themes and conclusions.
Found that there were 52 indicators under 3 themes (Figures 29-31)
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Figure 29 Theme 1: Cultural Preservation
Figure 31 Theme 2: Healing Services
Figure 30 Theme 3: Self Government
The concepts around community wellbeing serve as the foundation as Lutsel K’e moves forward with local initiatives.
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Caribou Research Project (Kelsey’s project)
Using oral history research and another project’s data on caribou trails, Kelsey’s three year project traces how caribou migration habits have changed over the past 100+ years. Caribou run through groups of spruce trees in the barren lands and tree roots grow across the trail. The trampling damages the tissue, so scars form on that growth ring for the year. Many trees in the region are 100+ years old so we can get an idea of the number of caribou in the area over the last hundred years. Researchers also talked to community members/elders to see how the data compared with community knowledge. It is a good way to link western science and community perspectives. Governments like numbers, biologists like numbers, managers like numbers, so maybe this can support the community’s arguments.
Another project goal was youth engagement. They had a couple of camps on the land to bring elders and youth together to participate in traditional activities and learn about scientific research. They later brought some Lutsel K’e students who had participated in the camp to University of Alberta and showed them around, and talked about barriers to post-secondary education.
Research can be the vehicle that helps communities achieve their goals. Need to be cautious though. There are pan-indigenous ways of talking about things and sweeping government policies contribute to problems in our communities. Spending time with people in the community and understanding the larger socio-economic context for the community is crucial. Marsi Cho, Chi-Miigwech, Thank you.
Questions and Discussion Question/Discussion 1:
I can tell you what sustainable development does not look like, because I have lived it. I work in housing and I see movement and collaboration, and that is positive. But as an environmental advocate and land protector I am disheartened. I give you the example of Muskrat Falls. We had an environmental assessment panel and their report said there were great concerns about this project, yet it went ahead. Today Nunatsiavut does methyl mercury baseline levels because they know it is coming downstream to them. So what is sustainable development? What do the companies need to bring? Don’t bring us poison. Don’t kill the way of life. Don’t compromise the food chain. This is what we fighting for on the ground. FemNorthNet has done phenomenal things trying to get our voices out there, but the Crown Corporations are not hearing our voices. They are supported by government and their restrictions minimized. So how can we get our voices out there? You can bring the message past these walls. We are struggling. We are not being heard and I do not know how to protect our land. I don’t know how we continue to be. It seems that our lives are not as important as industry or energy. Our wellbeing is not as important as getting the energy to people on the other side of the world. I hear what is being said here and it gives me hope.
Question/Discussion 2: One of the themes today has been that we are given a binary: development or no development. If you cannot see yourself being a part a development of it, then absolutely say no. It is a challenge, though, knowing when a community wants to say no, when it wants to say yes, and knowing how resource development could contribute to their wellbeing. The challenge is to get away from that binary.
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Day 2
Session 5 -Industry Panel: Industry Perspectives on Research Needs
Keith Chaulk, Labrador Institute of Memorial University Keith is Director of the Labrador Institute, and Vice President Indigenous for University of the Arctic.
Keith recognized the work and dedication of Morgan Mills and Dr. Val Walker; on this conference to make events like these possible. Also thanked Dr. Chris Southcott and Ron Sparkes, they work hard to ensure Labrador is included in ReSDA research and outreach.
Keith introduced the Industry panel. Tom is president and CEO of Baffinlands Iron Mines. His company is developing Canada’s newest and most northerly Iron ore project located on Baffin Island. Prior to this Tom worked with Vale Inco., partnering with local aboriginal groups on environmental and community wellness projects in Labrador. He also led an initiative to preserve Battle Harbour, a historic fishing station on the south coast of Labrador. Perry Tripper is principal for Stantec Industries, located in Goose Bay. He is the liberal party candidate for the next provincial election. He has contributed a significant body of research on environmental mitigation. Chesley Anderson is Vice President for Labrador Affairs with Aurora Energy. He is Labrador Inuit, born and raised in Makkovik. He was for a time leader of the mineral resources office for the Labrador Inuit Association. In this capacity, he advocated for Inuit control of resources in northern Labrador. He also played critical role in the Voisey’s Bay Impact Agreement.
Participants were urged to use this opportunity to bridge the gap between academic, community and private sector viewpoints.
Tom Paddon, Baffinlands and Perry Tripper, Stantec Tom noted that this group has been involved in some things together, sometimes on opposite sides of the table, sometimes collaboratively. Interesting for all three to be there at the front.
Perry took over the presentation and said they would like to keep it informal and put out some thought provoking ideas.
When resource development comes along communities face persistent frustrations. There are bad proponents and good proponents and Perry’s worked with them all over the last thirty years. For the most people are trying to do the right thing, but they wonder, what is the plan? Where does the community want to be in 5, 10, 15, or 25 years? How can this project, a blip in the timeline between now and where the community wants to be, help? A mine, though has a short life, can propel a community toward that goal. If proponents understand what they need to do to get through an onerous environmental assessment process, they are willing to do it.
As for research needs, a community needs to say where it wants to be upfront. Typically a proponent comes forward with an idea to help a community. For example, Voisey’s Bay. Land claims were stalled
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and the proponents were in Happy Valley Goose Bay wondering what was going to happen. There was need for economic development, people were leaving, and then this project came along. There was a lot of frustration, but a couple key things happened. The company said that they really wanted to develop two deposits, one would take 7 years up front, and if times were good, the second could be developed. Then a panel recommended and company accepted, to protract development for 20 years. This would allow people to develop skill sets, pursue a career and be able to take advantage of this opportunity over a generation or so, rather than the typical boom and bust. The community also had a very old hospital and the company agreed to help pay for a new one.
Tom asked some thoughtful questions. Resource development for whom? For where? Whose benefit? For what lasting useful effect? Mary River on Baffin Island has a high grade deposit near the surface that can be extracted with very little environmental impact and processing. So it is an attractive project. As well, what does it take to develop these projects? In Nunavut, a highly developed set of ground rules exists. Their land claim has been settled for a while, so if a project comes along there is a lot of negotiating. That is a tool for local people. It also makes it easy for the mining company to determine who to talk to. For Voisey’s Bay there were at least 3-4 groups that said they owned the lands. In that situation who do you talk to? What are the rules? Companies want to know what rules are, and then they’ll make a decision.
These projects are engines of social development. They are complicated and difficult, and you can get it wrong, but you have to take advantage of what is available. The Inuit did that to make sure they got their land claim, the Innu did that, the QIA in the north are doing it because they don’t want to see all their people go south. But it takes some organization. Voisey’s Bay is a good example of getting on the same page. This area badly needed a new hospital as the old one had been built by the American army in the 1950’s and had a design life of 10 years. If you walked in on a rainy day there were buckets. The communities and province said they needed a new hospital if development was to continue, and the company went 50/50 with the provincial government for a $30 million hospital. Companies are more than happy to invest in communities because the investments in mining projects are massive, and all upfront. A billion dollars. So projects need to run for a long time, and if they are tied to community and regional success, then that is what companies are going to ensure.
Aurora Energy: Michelin project and uranium exploration in Northern Labrador Chesley Anderson, Vice President Labrador Affairs, Aurora Energy Powerpoint presentation
Ches talked about the Labrador uranium project as well as how things were done, are done, and could be done differently in uranium mining.
Aurora Energy is 100% owned by Paladin Energy Ltd which has prospects in Labrador and exploration projects in Africa, Namibia, and Malawi. The Michelin project in Labrador is Paladin’s #1 global exploration project.
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Where we are currently at? Status Update
Aurora has been active in Labrador since 2004. It has been mainly exploration and prospecting since 2012. They can only operate at certain times, generally 2 months in the summer and 2 months in the winter.
As a company Aurora is safety, environment and community focused. They employ 12 full time staff and 15- 25 seasonal field workers. This includes 60-70% Nunatsiavut beneficiaries. There has been limited spending due to the depressed uranium market. Aurora budgets have steadily decreased since 2012. Permitting and feasibility studies are on hold due to low Uranium prices.
Map (Figure 30) shows Paladin’s various operations.
Figure 32
Map (Figure 33) showing Aurora’s operation in Labrador.
Figure 33
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Michelin Project, Labrador
Everything in camp is fly in, fly out as there are no roads.
Community and Government
Even though they are not obliged to have an IBA because they are in exploration, Aurora tries to procure services from Inuit companies. They also employ locally, concentrating on the three closest communities. They also try to work closely and collaboratively with the Nunatsiavut government. As well when planning major changes, it is best the people know about them. Aurora holds bi-annual community consultations in all three communities. They are also active communities as much as possible, and supporting community organizations. They like to sponsor community festivals and things communities have trouble raising money for.
History of Michelin Deposit
In the 1960-70’s, British Newfoundland Exploration (Brinex) discovered and expanded the uranium resource at Michelin. However, Brinex’s mining project was not approved. Uranium prices dropped and Brinex ceded its licenses in the early 1990’s. Frontier/Altius pick up exploration rights in 2004 – 2008, and formed a new company, Aurora. As they were preparing to register the project for an EA, stock prices went up. Then the new Nunatsiavut Government (NG) came into power and as the Regional Land Use Plan was not completed, they placed a three year moratorium on uranium mining development.
Moratorium
Aurora decided to use the time to listen to the communities. They made a $20 million education program with 4 modules:
Fall 2008 Orientation to Mining: Described and demonstrated the entire mining process. Because the biggest development most of these communities had seen was a 3000 foot airstrip, they had to explain that the open pit will be the size of an airstrip. Winter 2009 Training and Education: Encouraged people to get mining training or to pursue an education, like geologist or so on, even if a development didn’t happen in the community. Spring/Summer 2009 Radiation and Tailings: You need to explicitly deal with the realities radiation. It is scary for communities, but if you explain it with facts, they might start to come around. For radiation and tailings, they had a 3D model that showed 5 different options for tailings. Fall 2009 Economic Benefits: Explained the benefits based on a prefeasibility study, and explained the price had to be in a certain range 60-70$/lb to make the development viable (today price is at 36.50).
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In winter 2010 went through the top 10 questions asked in consultations and presented the responses as factually as possible.
In February 2011, Paladin bought Aurora. People understood that mining companies change hands, but they still wanted to talk to the people that they talked to before. It is important to have your leadership going into the communities to hear what they’ve got to say.
The ban on uranium mining was lifted in March 2012. Working on the land use plan but still not complete for the Nunatsiavut.
Roles – Restoration of Labrador exploration sites
There is another project Aurora is involved in. Around Nain there are a lot of exploration sites and company decided to clean some of them up. They identified potential sites and looked to see what they could do.
153 potential sites identified – fuel barrels and camps 114 of these were visited, documented and assessed 100 sites low priority (little waste) 11 of 14 sites med-high priority (cleaned up this fall)
There are also research projects that take place due to discussions around uranium mining. In Ches’ community there is some concern about Radon gas so Dr. Sarkhar from Memorial University set up a study to monitor levels in people’s homes.
Questions and Discussion If proponents can understand the plan, they can get on board, and navigate the environmental assessment process. The provincial government has been struggling for years with how to fix decades old projects and open agreements, like the Upper Churchill.
Q1: Looking at the last 20 years of uranium prices, there was very little time where prices were in the 60-70$ range. What would be your promise to the community for how long a project would exist? Where is the market for Uranium?
R: Today some countries are backed up using a unique form of uranium development. The Fukishima accident shut down Japan completely. They are now deciding whether or not they are going to open any of the reactors. That will have an impact on price. China has 24 reactors built or under construction, and by 2030 their plan is to have constructed 60-65 new reactors. The uranium in the world right now is not enough to sustain that, so the price will go up. It costs billions of dollars to build new mines, and you need a price to get that back.
Timeline is at the current price, 20-22 years from start up to close down (building inclusive). A seventeen year lifespan for that resource. The potential in the area is one of the reasons why a company like Paladin’s interested, they see a long term potential. But, the timeline is all dependent on price.
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Q2: In response Perry’s comment that Environmental assessment is where you can make your views known and get people to listen. In the case of NALCOR, they had an assessment, but because of the province’s involvement with the project, much of what was said in the EA about impacts on Rigolet and Happy Valley Goose Bay was ignored. With NALCOR and the government being the proponents, NALCOR is developing a project that is not going to benefit Labrador, other than the few jobs in Goose Bay.
As for industry’s impact on the people here, prices in stores have doubled. You have people making minimum wage trying to buy these things, but you’ve got people up across the river making $40/hr.
Aurora did a good job informing affected people in Labrador about uranium mining. Everyone might not be on board now, but they have a lot more information.
R1: Perry said that he couldn’t agree more that in the case of the lower Churchill project the community has not had much of a voice or much support.
R2: Ches said they tried to give people the facts and then have them to come back and say you got this wrong, or you could do this better, or we don’t like that.
Q3: It would be wonderful if local communities could leverage their opportunities, but they are under pressure to reduce overall regulatory burdens and create rules that are clear and streamlined. What are your thoughts on that from an industry perspective?
Responses:
1. For 30 years I have done EAs for mining companies in Russia and Canada, and the further along in the planning process, the more entrenched they become. The initial idea is radically different from what is actually developed so the sooner effective interaction and consultation can happen, the better. As I attract finance, I can move through set steps, and I know the hoops I need to jump through. 2. Companies get more rigid further along because they enter into a project with an expectation of how it will pan out. They have a responsibility to the shareholders. As CEO I can get into trouble if I don’t deliver on the trust that has been placed in the company to guard the shareholders’ interests. We have to be able to evaluate the process. No forward looking company objects to a stringent review. You are going to encounter these things down the road, so better to get them out of the way. But it is good if the timeline can be shortened. 3. There is pressure from shareholders to get the assessment done and project started. But there are complications and complexities when dealing with places that have never been assessed before.
Q4: How rare are changes to project design? And what can be done other beyond get there early, because with most project there is limited time. What would you think to a pan Canadian initiative whereby any community can build governance capacity so they may be in a position to make decisions more quickly, including saying “no”.
R1: On every assessment I’ve been on there are changes. Some are from the proponent, some from the regulator. It happens all the time. For example, Churchill Falls. In fall 2008, yours truly
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and others were summoned to St John’s as court actions in Quebec blocked the first phase of the project (Gull Island). So we spent three months rewriting the entire assessment. Instead of going Gull Island then Muskrat Falls, we went Muskrat Falls, then Gull Island. There can be immense changes that just flip everything on its ear.
R2: You have to remember the evolution that has happened over the last 20 years. In Nunavut there will be no project without the consent of the Inuit. It is law. The question of how communities eject themselves earlier is difficult. In Nunavut they have an easier time as their land claims is a tool. That is not the case with the Lower Churchill Falls. We are at the early stages of understanding the utility of tools like IBAs.
R3: If you are developing a mine plan, you’ve got engineering for it, so changing that can be very difficult. You can maybe increase production rates, depending on what is in the ground. Consulting with the various nations and governments gets more and more difficult moving forward. There is only one reason we got three years with the Michelin project: the moratorium. Otherwise we would have saved the money and done the EA.
Q5: Much ReSDA research could benefit industry. How do we share knowledge with industry?
Responses:
R1. I will ask the same question back, companies generate an enormous amount of information. What would you like to know? Because we have a lot I don’t know how broadly known this new creature the Arctic Economic Council is, but we are trying to make knowledge from both sides more available. There is a growing willingness from industry to contribute to research and knowledge, as they have to be in an area for a long time to get the revenue to cover the investment.
R2. The proponent needs to understand that the community is looking for an ideal. The EA process is an excellent way to get obstacles toward this addressed early. It’s a much easier place to go, now that the land claims is here. Before the land claims agreement, it was very difficult dealing with the levels of government and unclear policies. Groups need to get themselves organized and tell Industry what they are looking for, which is sometimes not easy to do.
BREAK
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Session 6 -ReSDA Research
Mining, Community Wealth and Wellbeing: Evidence from Salluit and Angiqsujuak, Nunavik Thierry Rodon, Université Laval Mylene Riva, CHUQ Joanthan Blais, Université Laval
In the study of IBAs you find that they can produce wealth and wellbeing, but not necessarily always the case. You can have a very good IBA and lots of money, but socially the community isn’t any better for it.
In this research we are trying to make sense of the experience of a mine from the perspective of an already operating mine.
Nunavik has witnessed tremendous political and economic changes in the last 40 years. It is the first Inuit region to enter in a modern treaty. It has experienced the largest scale hydro development in North America. It has gained a regional status that is changing political and economic perspectives on Quebec’s North and is attempting to shift the pattern of development from a hinterland exploited for the benefit of southern interests to a homeland for Nunavummiut with locally centered development.
Research Rationale
Nunavik’s Raglan Mine has been operating since 1997. It was the first Canadian IBA. There are two communities in the vicinity: Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq and they are both part of the IBA. They get 4.5% royalties, which usually amounted to $300,000 for the region, but in 2007 it was $14 million. That is a lot of money and there were social impacts.
With these communities they have 2 different way of distributing resource royalties. In Salluit everyone gets a cheque, so the best year everyone got $15,000 (10,000$ per child). In Kangiqsujuaq they use the Table 1 – Community Information for 2011 money primarily for community development. These communities have very small populations. There are not enough people in the labour force to employ in the mine.
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Table 2 – Kangiqsujuaq 2014 (field work, 2014)
Figure 34 A student did a survey to look at employment. In northern communities most jobs are with government. Table 1 shows the results: 59% people are employed with government and only 5% in industry. If you have any addictions you cannot work in the mine, so many people are excluded that way.
Voices from Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq
Forty-six interviews conducted in the summer of 2012 in both communities by Jonathan Blais (Laval University), Louisa Panyungie (Salluit) and Elaisa Uqittuq (Kangiqsujuaq). This was authorized by Northern Villages and the Land Holding Corporations. Preliminary results were presented to the communities in the summer of 2013. They wanted to see if could find out what were the most important considerations in terms of impact frequencies from the Interviews that were done. A summary of the results shows the perception of the factors impacted negatively and positively.
1. Economic Wealth - 31% 2. Health and well-being – 23% 3. Culture – 20% 4. Living conditions – 15% 5. Family and community – 9 % 6. Governance – 1% 7. Gender relations – 1%
Figure 35
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Perception of Impacts of the mine by Community
Economic Wealth Living Conditions Mining Royalties
8 19 54 29.5 20 70 92 81 80 46 69.5 30
Salluit Kangiqsujuaq Salluit Kangiqsujuaq Salluit Kangiqsujuaq Relation with Qallunaat Land Based Activities Drug and Alcohol at the mine
87 88 100 97 100 100 12 12 0 3 0 0 Salluit Kangiqsujuaq Salluit Kangiqsujuaq Salluit Kangiqsujuaq
Positive Negative Figure 36
Comments from community from the survey
“I was living with my parents, it was hell.. Well, not hell, but there was no free unit in the community. It was too much for me to cope with. It was great to go in Raglan because there I had my own room” (Kangiqsujuaq) “My boyfriend he’s stop working because of my son. He’s supposed to live from Raglan and it broke his heart and then, that’s why he stopped working. There are no jobs available in Salluit but he has stopped anyways because of my son.” (Salluit) A certain amount of the royalties is used to buy drugs and alcohol. I don’t like this impact. Because I’ve already had experience with that, but also because it does not offer a quality of life. It does not bring happiness. It’s temporary, it does not bring us anywhere.” (Kangiqsujuaq) When the checks get here, there are problems. In town, there is no one. The person that was supposed to be here today is not here. She did not come to work had has not shown up for the week because of the check. (Salluit). « They should respect us. Respect life because mines have a life, at one point they will say there is no more ore and close, but us we will stay here all our life » (Salluit)
The last quote observes that money does not create wealth and it does not stay in the community.
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Measuring the mine impacts on wealth and well-being
They measured wellbeing using Qanuippitaa, a 2004 survey of all Nunavik communities. It involved interviews and a self-administered survey on health, social and socio-economic well-being. They did data analysis of wellbeing in Kuujjuaq (largest centre in Nunavik), Kangiqsujuaq and Salluit. They looked at wellbeing as defined by people.
NOTE: This data analysis from this can only be shown under certain conditions set by the Qanuippitaa Data Steering Committee. If you would like more information on this please contact [email protected]
Conclusion
Mixed reactions to mining (negative on cultural and social health issues, positive on wealth and living conditions).
The Qanuippitaa Health Survey indicates that:
In some case, mining developments can contribute to community health and wealth – Kangiqsujuaq invested in education, which made a difference. In other cases mining development does not contribute to community health and wealth. Salluit is on par with other communities in Nunavik not getting the royalties – the mine is not helping them. Possible explanations: o Form of royalties distribution o Governance- choices made by communities (done by referendum). I am not surprised people chose to have cheques as poverty is very high in those communities.
Overview of ReSDA Research Chris Southcott, Lakehead University Overview
An overview of ReSDA’s projects based on key research questions was provided. Emerging from discussion at the first ReSDA workshop in Yellowknife in Fall 2011, a number of researchers did gap analyses to avoid duplicating existing work and to identify missing information. These results were discussed at the second ReSDA workshop in Whitehorse in November 2012. Through the analyses and discussions 14 priority projects were identified and are the basis of future ReSDA research.
1. Resource Development Impact Indicators – Andrey Petrov. How can we develop better, community controlled, indicators of change linked to resource development? 2. Measuring the fiscal linkages - Lee Huskey, University of Alaska. Where does the money from mining developments go? Find out how to stop leakages and maximize the money that stays in communities and regions. Starting looking at mines in the Yukon. May connect with work in Labrador. 3. Distribution of financial benefits in communities -Thierry Rodon. Resource revenue regimes. What is the best way of distributing the royalties? Started by looking at what has been done
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in 2 communities in Nunavik, Where royalty cheques go to individuals on the one hand and community projects on the other. 4. Social impacts and mitigation – TBD 5. Long Distance Commuting and Communities -Gertrude Eilmsteiner-Saxinger, University of Vienna. Peter Schweitzer will give an overview of this project. 6. Impacts Benefits and Beyond - Ben Bradshaw, University of Guelph and PhD student, Jen Jones-Best ways to deal with negative impacts of current Impact Benefit Agreements (IBAs). 7. Resource Development and Subsistence Harvesting: Impact Mitigation and Best Practices - Harvey Lemelin, best instances where resource development has supported subsistence activities. How can resource development enable communities to do subsistence activities. 8. Social and economic impact assessments – TBD 9. Education and training benefits – Hope to have this one going soon. Best examples of resource related employment training in education programs. 10. Community Well-being and Resource Development – Brenda Parlee, University of Alberta, central to this workshop. What are the best ways to measure wellbeing in northern communities and how are these impacted by resource development? Broad range of team members including Chris Furgal, Mark Nuttall, Ellen Bielawski and community partners. 11. Traditional Knowledge and Resource Development – Came from one of our gap analysis done by Henry Huntington. What are the best examples of the use of traditional knowledge in the planning and monitoring of resource development? Still working on this. 12. Best practices in Industry/Government/Community Relationships - Frances Abele -done in partnership with Nunavut Tunngavik. What are best examples of these relationships? 13. Gender and Resource Development in the North – Suzanne Mills and Emilie Cameron. Gendered dimensions of northern resource extraction, and finding meaningful, practical tools to address gender in decision-making, implementation, and monitoring. 14. Environmental Impacts of Resource Development –John Sandlos, Arn Keeling, and Anne Dance, Memorial University. How can environmental impacts best be mitigated to the benefit of Arctic Communities?
Gender relation at the resource development/traditional economic interface Suzanne Mills, McMaster University Research Team: Sheena Kennedy Dalseg, Susanne Mills, Rauna Kuokkanen, Deborah Simmons, Emilie Cameron
This project is just starting. It will look at gender relations and do gender based analysis of resource development in the traditional economy interface The work that will involve 3 regions in Canada’s North: Sahtu Settlement region, Nunavut and Nunatsiavut
Background
Gender roles and relations are influenced by regions’ political economy. Resource development alters the balance between traditional and capitalist economic activities and therefore has gendered implications. Previous research has focused on the impacts of development on women. There is less research into how institutions involved in resource development decision-making take gender into
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account. Also less on how gender roles and relations are connected to the shifting traditional/capitalist economy.
Research objectives
To put a gendered lens on resource development and decision making in three Indigenous governance jurisdictions. The researchers build on prior work that has suggested that changes in traditional harvesting patterns and in the availability of waged work and other forms of income have dramatic implications for gender roles, and the economic and social wellbeing of Indigenous women and men. They have three main questions:
1. How are institutional practices and policies guiding decision-making, implementation, and monitoring of northern resource extraction gendered? 2. How do changing employment patterns influence gender relations, particularly as understood by northern Indigenous women? 3. What materials, policies, and tools are needed to address the gendered dimensions of resource extraction in different northern regions?
Research plan – phased approach
For Phase I (Institutional analysis) they had to narrow their analysis (originally wanted to do a general institutional analysis in each region) as there was so much information. They focused on one environmental review in each region and characterized how gender was involved in the assessment or review process. A research assistant did this work.
Phase 2 is to fill in the gaps of Phase I, largely through interviews with informants. That has been done Sahtu region, but not the other two regions. Also consulted focus groups and listened to northern women’s perspectives on shifting economies and its influence on people’s lives and their thoughts on roles and participation in decision making and implementation. Focus groups have been held now in
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both the Sahtu region and Nunavut. This is stalled because Emilie is temporarily out of commission with health issues.
In Phase 3 they want to foster communication between women in each region so they can share information amongst each other.
Preliminary results from the analysis of environmental decision making documents
This is an overview of how women were involved in each assessment.
Voisey’s Bay Mine and Mill: Two women were on the review panel Six women’s organizations participated Meadowbank Gold Project: Two women on Nunavut Impact Review Board No women’s groups or organizations participated Women did participate in the NIRB hearings as citizens and representatives of community organizations Mackenzie Gas Project: Multiple review boards (focus on MVEIRB and JRP) One woman on each board Only 1 women’s organization participated, the NWT Status of Women Council Participated in the JRP hearings on the EIS, not the MVEIRB hearings
Common concerns raised by women across jurisdictions in meetings:
Impacts on family and community Concern that women won’t be able to have comparable employment benefits/opportunities to men Strong emphasis on traditional activities and relationships with the land. Women’s submissions were a lot broader than impacts on women. A lot of concern for community, traditional activities. Many women proposed mitigation measures.
Common threads in EA comparisons and women’s understandings of economic development.
Narrow approach to assessment of pre-existing economic conditions and benefits
Impact assessments have narrow views of pre-existing economic conditions and development’s benefits, resulting in narrow characterizations of economy and emphasizing men’s activities. Women are frequently characterized as victims, and their roles in the development process go unacknowledged.
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Women’s traditions and knowledge usually not included in the surveys and documents prior to development, and there was once again an emphasis on employment which tends to be male dominated.
There were differences among assessments. Some of this had to do with the environmental review bodies themselves
Generally the less streamlined the process the more women influenced it. Cannot not just advocate by gender, need stronger way to look at it. Institutional embeddedness affected the extent to which women influenced the process.
Augmenting the Utility of IBAs for Northern Aboriginal Communities Ben Bradshaw, University of Guelph This research tries to understand the conditions under which IBAs work for different northern aboriginal communities. It responds to a few identified ReSDA knowledge gaps.
Knowledge gaps being addressed – Questions around IBA effectiveness 1. Are IBAs benefiting communities? Are they meeting their explicit and implicit goals? 2. What methods are suitable for gauging IBA effectiveness 3. Can mining, when undertaken with IBAs, contribute to sustainable community economic development? What conditions must be present?
Knowledge sharing is a significant component of this work and researchers are often terrible at this. There are a number of interesting initiatives and information available:
1. IBA community toolkit – available online at http://gordonfoundation.ca/north/iba-community-toolkit 2. Inuit Qaujisarvingat knowledge centre http://www.inuitknowledge.ca/ 3. Nunatsiavut Government – Vale Inco NL Ltd. IBA Implementation http://accessfacility.org/vale-inco-voisey-bay-negotiation-impacts-and- benefits-agreement-local-stakeholders 4. CBERN-NNK Knowledge Needs Research Summary: Report to the CBERN/Naskapi Steering Committee and Naskapi Community. November 2011 http://www.businessethicscanada.ca/ 5. Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada 6. Northern Sustainable Development Research Chair (Thierry Rodon)
Some of our initiatives to disseminate knowledge have included:
Creating posters
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Running translated radio shows. Holding a feast so we could bring in elders and solicit feedback on some of the products.
The NWT’s community and diamonds monitoring program
Building on early work in NWT in response to the 3 diamond mines, this is a comprehensive monitoring program in place through socio-economic agreements to look at how particular socio-economic conditions are changing. The rates of change have been significantly different around Baker Lake than in the rest of Canada. There is a sense that things are getting better for communities impacted by diamond mines. But we still need to understand more about wellbeing.
Are IBA-signatory communities healthier than they used to be?
Katherine Kanoche did a thoughtful public document that basically asked if IBAs are helping communities get healthier. The answer is we don’t know.
Some opportunities to address that are available.
For example: A condition of the IIBA signed between the Agnico Eagle Mines and Kivalliq Inuit Association in the KIA Meadowbank project (70 km north of the Hamlet of Baker Lake, NU or 110 km by road) is they have to produce an annual wellness report. It would go further than mere socio-economics and require developers to conduct personal interviews, forums, surveys, case studies, etc.
AEM commissioned the Hamlet to do this work, with help from the University of Guelph (Ben). In addition to meeting the IIBA expectations, in 2013 community health indicators were developed to track change over time.
The project is stalled as the hamlet is concerned that what might come out from this = may not be favorable. They want to have control over the process. They are currently not even allowing a survey.
For two communities in northern Ontario and one in northern Quebec the indicators have been developed and used to make a baseline of community conditions. This is similar to the Labrador Community Vitality Index. The researchers enabled the community to state their values, concerns and expectations. The process involves various steps (see right).
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Community surveying: Eabametoong First Nation
141+ wellbeing indicators converted to 117 survey questions 85+ of the 117 survey questions identified data points that haven’t been tracked before (e.g. youth participation in hunting and other traditional activities) Partnered with First Nations Statistical Institute (FNSI) Laptop-based questionnaire provided data security and privacy Surveys completed with 127 households of 215 contacted; 59% participation rate.
Community Surveying: Webequie First Nation
Intsead of a household survey WFN opted for a series of open-houses in the band hall. Household representatives completed surveys. People with language skills helped complete the surveys. Community members were relaxed about taking the survey.
Community Surveying: Labrador/Quebec Iron Trough and Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach
For the Naskapi had a similar process to EFN/WFN. Researchers did household surveys and provided vouchers for participation. Administrators and leaders endorsed the project. The community wanted one of the indicators to be happiness level and they had an artist create a representative image (see below).
One challenge with IBAs is that negotiations and opportunities raise expectations during an economic upswing. Communities received problematic messages during the price boom.
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Environmental legacies, resource development, and remediation in the Arctic Arn Keeling and Anne Dance, Memorial University
Arn Keeling introduced the team’s work. They are just starting this project dealing with the environmental impacts of resource development and community engagement. They are collaborating with John Sandlos, a historian at Memorial.
Arn and John previously had a long term project interested in abandoned mines in northern Canada. A lot of useful information exists as there has been a century of large scale industrial mine development across the North. The project looked at some of this record and capturing the local community and indigenous experience. They did oral history projects and collaborative work with First Nations around the north. They found that while mines are closed in many areas, the environmental effects will persist for decades as will socioeconomic effects and social memories around mining and the mine closure. Also, community expectations were not talked about enough in development stages.
Background Anne took over the presentation, and explained that she only started 3 weeks ago, so this presentation is about the ideas for this work. Her previous PhD research focused on remediation and reclamation, and how site clean-up efforts have changed over the past half-century. It emphasized the many limitations of historical site clean-up projects in Canada including the Athabasca Oil Sands and the Sydney Tar Ponds.
Remediation Issues
When doing PhD research 4 big themes emerged.
1. What is remediation? Definition and expertise
Historically very different definitions. Engineers have one definition, policy people another, and often local people have yet another. In the historical sources a lot of inconsistency about what remediation entails (what technologies are they using? How much monitoring is required? Will there be revegetation? How does water management play into this? What about wildlife--are IBAs synchronized with remediation plans?). Alternatively, there has been a one-size-fits-all approach that assumes that with the right equipment and within a certain budget, “remediation” can be completed. There should be community definitions of remediation. 2. Reclaiming reclamation/remediation Reclamation can change to be more inclusive and more community driven. To be successful, remediation plans must be driven by local wishes rather than being a top-down imposition. This is a problem from what I have seen thus far--there are inadequate consultations about reclamation plans prior to mines opening.
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3. Temporality
For decades there have been lingering issues of site maintenance and mine management. Arn Keeling and John Sandlos have referred to some sites as “zombie mines” because of their enduring negative impacts on the health and social wellbeing of nearby communities. There is long-term uncertainty and understandable anxiety with these.
4. What happens next?
How do we balance heritage preservation, historical memory with remediation plans? Policymaking tends to characterize remediation as a complete solution, but sources show that successful remediation requires acknowledging past failures, not just finding the perfect technology or financial commitments from governments.
Often come across idea that remediation means restoration, and can see that in this picture of the projected tar sand remediation.
Key Questions Syncrude’s 1974 remediation prediction for 7 main themes/questions driving this research: its Mildred Lake oil sands operation, (from the How are communities involved in post-reclamation development Provincial Archives of remediation projects? How might this improve? Alberta). . What sort of governance and oversight is in place for projects?
. Identifying successful mitigation measures. . How remediation projects engage with indigenous peoples and TK. . What is the role of science and expert knowledge in remediation projects? . What are the issues of historical memory, especially environmental injustices and landscape change at the community level? . What are the financial securities and public liabilities (historical and potential)?
Research plan and deliverables over one year
. Fall 2014: Literature review, identify sites and archival sources; . Winter/Spring 2014: Archival research & fieldwork, write paper; . Summer 2015: Write scholarly paper. . Contribute to the Arctic Atlas . Accessible research paper . Scholarly article
This project is intended to look at how we can get to safer, cleaner mine management and remediation.
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LACE – Labour Mobility and Community Participation in the Extractive Industry- Yukon Peter Schweitzer for Gertrude Eilmsteiner-Saxinger University of Vienna Chris Southcott, Lakehead University Susanna Gartler, University of Vienna Valoree Walker, Yukon College Tara Cater, Carleton University
Peter explained he is standing in for Gertie as she is unable to attend.
Canadian – Austrian Project
Located in the Yukon, this research project is built on partnerships and collaboration. Funding from SSHRC, Yukon government and ReSDA.
Project aims and research interests
Overall goal is to look at long distance commuting impacts (fly-in, fly-out labour) on workers and communities. The main product will be a Mobility Companion Guide (MCG), an online and printed resource for the community. It will examine:
How people cope with rotational shift work, camp life and off-duty time. How working in mining on rotational shifts impacts traditional activities (subsistence economy). The motivations of fly-in/fly-out workers from elsewhere to move to the Yukon permanently? Optional product: Youth Multi-Media Video (Looking to secure additional funding)
Project Details
Research located in Mayo (Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation) and Ross River (Kaska Dena Council), Yukon. This is a long-term Anthropology field research project from June 2014 to May 2017. Summer fieldwork was done in 2014, primarily to promote the fieldwork with companies, communities and First Nations. They have a local researcher in Mayo, Natasha Young. She is the mining liaison person of the NND people. Access to mining sites is possible, but permits take very long and are unpredictable. However, taking part in research is good PR for companies.
Communities see the following benefits
Is employment in mining a sustainable path for the community? Gaining knowledge of contemporary examples of community involvement in the mining industry MCG as a tool for young people and early career mining workers and their families.
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Indigenous peoples rights and resource development Natalia Loukacheva University of Northern British Columbia Natalia talked about indigenous people’s rights and resource development. Many people do not understand their rights. If we know our rights better would this help our wellbeing? Would we be better able to protect indigenous peoples’ interests, as well as industries?
Indigenous peoples have several rights in law: historical sovereignty claims, self-determination, human rights and non-discrimination rights related to minorities.
Also have Distinct Legal Claims as aboriginal peoples:
Rights relating to culture Rights of participation Rights relating to development Rights to lands and natural resources These are interconnected and dependent on one another.
Right to development implies indigenous people have the right to develop their own strategies that affect processes of development. They have this right because it affects their lives, their spiritual wellbeing, their lands, and more. Rights to lands and natural resources are complex and are usually collective rights. Rights to natural resources (questions of removal from traditional use of land, restitution, compensation and processes of consultation and consent). Basically it means they have rights to use resources on their lands, to manage them, to be engaged in conservation, and any other activities related to those resources. Today lot of energy is put into defining what is this consultation? What is the duty to consult? What is meaningful consultation? Right to self- determination and right to participation are within the overarching rights of indigenous people. While states say consultation is enough, and indigenous people say that there must be consent. In international law there are two relevant documents: the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and the ILO Convention (articles 6 and 15 of bylaw 169). ILO calls for states to consult and cooperate with indigenous peoples
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for projects on their lands and states to provide mechanisms to this end. So there is a legal base.
Across the Arctic there is a lot of protesting over new and potential mines in indigenous territory. For example the Saami movement in Sweden against the British Island Mine company’s plan to build an open pit iron mine. It would endanger Saami rights to traditional subsistence activities.
In Nunavut this summer there was protest against the National Energy Board of Canada’s approval of a seismic project in Baffin Bay and Davis Straight. Communities in the vicinity were concerned about the wildlife and health effects because seismic activity is hard on hearing.
Ideas, questions and concepts related to the legal realm
Land claims benefits, how do we understand their complexity and overlapping regulatory frameworks? Northerners (not just indigenous people) want to be primary beneficiaries of northern resource development. How can land claims enable this? Environmental stewardship and responsible resource development, how do you balance that (is it better to have a mine in your back yard)? There are different stories from communities, industry, and government. Among indigenous peoples there is no one agreement about large scale industrial approaches. How do we balance and compromise? Social license to operate and corporate social responsibility, no legal obligations, but many big companies are understanding they need to become part of communities. How do communities get heard? What conditions need to be in place? There is no sustainable way to mine because no matter what is in place, communities will be affected no matter how good technology is or communications are. Legal protections need to take this into account. Need for development, sometimes to get out of poverty, but also to bring in economic development.
Laws are still defined by governments, you have to navigate its complexity. But how much community can influence law is important, as wellbeing to some extent comes down to existing legal frameworks.
Also, Natasha is leading a project called Polar Law Resources – looking at various resources and legal aspects in polar context. Hopefully next year there will be a book.
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Group Discussions: What needs to be done for resource development to improve wellbeing? Participants broke into groups to answer Chris’s question, “What needs to be done for resource development to improve wellbeing?”
Group #1
Group 1 agreed that this was a very broad question. They discussed what is wellbeing? Who is talking about wellbeing? There are competing interests between industry and communities and within communities. They talked about building trust in the process and how is trust developed. They looked at Ches’s presentation and how there was time to hear what communities wanted and needed. Providing information and developing that communication is essential, but the time is not always there. Community members need to feel valued and engaged in the process. Time is not always given. Is it the proponent’s responsibility to provide this, or the regulators?
You Get wellbeing by going in and talking to people, getting honest discussion. The resource company needs to keep this dialogue going in case something happens.
Group #2
There is so much research and information. It needs to be more accessible and synthesized with key questions/lessons.
Discussed how resource development is seemingly inevitable, so what are the goals of resource development and what does it mean? Communities want work and economies that connect them to their culture. Is there an alternative to extractive development? Whether and when “NO” is an option. Yes and no could be too binary. We need continuous efforts to build consensus and ongoing relationship development between companies and communities and amongst community members. Need to have communication and education at every step of the development.
Companies need to do research into community needs, for example, food and water security. How can communities use resource development to build up human resources? Need planning for post-resource economies (community economies, cultural economies etc.) to avoid the addiction to resource development.
Training is necessary to build the capacity to engage in industry and post-development. IBAs are critical to establishing an ongoing relationship. Communities are dealing with global companies that may not understand the territory or communities. Educate industry, not just communities. Researchers need to look at what companies are like as actors as they have their own cultures, driving forces and behaviours.
Look at how community empowerment is managed in other places, like Norway. Could also make a heritage fund.
Group #3
There was a lot of overlap with other groups. Stressed that we need to educate communities more and find out what they want. As well need to build capacity before any negotiation processes. Communities
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need to plot where they want to go and articulate it clearly so that everyone is on the same page. Change as you gain experience and learn.
Need to ask how can we assess impacts of developments. Can programs like ReSDA have a role? There is a difference between capacity in the European Arctic and here. Share research and knowledge and learn from one another.
Group #4
Started with the top 5 reason why resource developments don’t work for communities, and then ended up with a lot more than five. Alcohol abuse, need for economic diversification, political rights and many other things that have already been mentioned. The main thing they focused on was what conditions need to be present for this to work.
Came up with three main conclusions:
1. Local institutions must be strong 2. Community institutions have to be empowered through legal and political rights to say “no 3. Need community leadership for distribution of wealth/benefits. Preferably based on some sort of residency requirement. Need to balance individual and community benefits. Questions/Discussion Q1: Who is doing the employment and training component for ReSDA?
R: In negotiations for this research project. Hope to have it announced in a couple months. We want to follow the Brenda Parlee model. We hope to get a group together and perhaps do a synthesis of the already existing material.
Q2: Canada’s position to not sign onto the agreement for the UN declaration for indigenous rights, was that a recent statement Canada put out there?
R: Natalia: It was an official statement released September 22nd (2014) on the Government of Canada website. It was feedback on a document from a few years ago. Canada is the only country that had this reservation about that particular article.
Q3: If indigenous groups want to take action, say on the oil sands, where do they go with that? Is there a world court? Because Canada opted out, would they win?
R: The fact that Canada did not sign the document would not really be relevant as the document was just adopted on Sept. 23rd. It is an aspirational document, not a legally binding one. Canada’s position is not new. The UN rapporteur on indigenous rights has been highly critical of Canada. As well, International Law supersedes National laws.
Q4: In northern Canada not many aboriginal professors are at government meetings. In Russia aboriginal professors and educated advocates are everywhere. There are aboriginal people trained in the capital who lobby for indigenous interests, whether they are in the community or not.
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R: We have very few of aboriginal people with advanced degrees. In the provincial north where there are universities more aboriginal people are seeking degrees (UNBC). We want to have that capacity within the North. Colleges are to become University colleges, but we’ve seen very little action toward that.
Land claims dominated the north, so we have aboriginal lawyers and doctors – not so many researchers.
There are aboriginal research professors who are part of ReSDA, but they are often the busiest. Like Keith Chaulk. Session 7: ReSDA and related communication projects We have tried to use the term “knowledge sharing” which suggests an exchange of information rather than a one-way dissemination. Brenda Parlee is creating a knowledge sharing toolbox.
We have our standard communications: the annual newsletter, the website (resda.ca), Facebook, Twitter (@ReSDANetwork), workshops and most importantly face-to-face meetings with community partners.
Humans of the North: Along the lines of Humans of New York, this is an initiative to gather northerners' opinions and experiences with resource development and extraction through photographs and brief interviews posted to Facebook and Twitter.
Northern Voices: Interviews with people in the north about resource development.
ReSDA Atlas: Using a map of the Circumpolar North as its home page, the locations of major resource development projects will be listed on the map. Viewers would then be able to click on the site they are interested in and a range of relevant information about the project and the local communities and environment, along with new ReSDA research findings, will appear as a clickable list. A printed atlas will also be created for distribution.
Overall Questions/Comments on the workshop
Comment 1: There’s information we’ve heard over the past few days that needs to reach Canada’s leaders in the Arctic. Can we find a way to create curriculum for the four areas up north? So people can take a course in it? Aboriginal people will be facing a lot of mining, so this could help them. However, there are too many graphs, we as non-researchers cannot understand them.
Comment 2: Make the talks more like TED talks? Fewer graphs and more talking and engaging people. More accessible and interesting.
Comment 3: For ReSDA, making our work relevant to communities is important, as is talking with policy makers. We are working with the northern colleges to create curriculum.
Comment 4: Ben’s example of an artistic interpretation of happiness levels was evocative and helpful. Think we should do some work to make people not afraid of numbers, because numbers are powerful and graphs are powerful.
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Comment 5: One of the best thing researchers can do is put up a plain language poster in the airport – they’ve got a captive audience.
Arctic-FROST Research Coordination Network Arctic FROST: Frontiers of Sustainability: Resources, Societies, Environments and Development in the Changing North
Andrey Petrov, University of Northern Iowa Arctic-FROST is an American partner network with a team of American researchers. Andre is the lead investigator.
National Science Foundation’s (NSF) charge is to focus on interdisciplinary topics that will advance sustainability science, engineering and education as an integrative approach to the challenges of adapting to environmental, social and cultural changes.
Arctic-FROST is the only RCN-SEES in Iowa, the only Research Coordination Network (RCN) focused on sustainability in the circumpolar region.
Partner RCNs include an RCN on Urbanization in the Russian North (GWU), ReSDA (Canada) and Nordic- ReDSA (Nordregio).
Arctic-FROST addresses three overarching questions: What does sustainable development in the Arctic mean, locally, regionally, and globally? How is sustainable development attainable in a changing Arctic? What are the best ways of measuring achievements towards adaptation, thrivability and sustainable development in the Arctic?
Network Objectives: 1. Accomplish knowledge synthesis about Arctic sustainable development; 2. Develop new theoretical frameworks providing integrated views of sustainability in remote resource regions; 3. Improve spatial understandings of sustainability at multiple geographical scales and in divergent Arctic contexts; and 4. Identify future research directions for Arctic sustainability and sustainable development, focusing on ways to maximize resource development benefits and minimize economic, social, cultural and environmental costs.
Arctic -FROST Science Structure All domains are connected by overarching questions and crosscutting themes: Sustainable Environments, Sustainable Economies, Sustainable Cultures and Sustainable Regions
Figure 37 – Science Structure
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Network Structure: Open to all scholars, students and community members with interests in Arctic sustainability and sustainable development.
Arctic -FROST Principal Investigators Andrey N. Petrov, University of Northern Iowa, USA Jessica Graybill, Colgate University, USA Timothy Heleniak, University of Maryland, USA Peter Schweitzer, University of Vienna, Austria
Core Activities Figure 38 - Arctic-FROST Network Organization Annual all-hands meetings Annual Young Scientists Workshops Domain/theme focus meetings, Biannual Indigenous/community workshops Side meetings/sessions at other meetings. Arctic-FROST Education for Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ESDA) forum
Products Published proceedings and white papers from meetings Peer-reviewed publications. Peer-reviewed volumes. Electronic media files and materials from Young Scientists Workshops. Arctic-FROST web portal Collaborative research proposals. Educational products. Training of future scientists. Future science agenda and planning
Funding Opportunities Are available for faculty and researchers, early-career scientists & students, Arctic residents and Iowans. eu
Membership by region (Figure 39) us 220 members as of September 15, 2014 rus 20 countries: ch 55% USA 29% Europe and Russia CA 15% Canada Figure 39 - Membership by location
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Membership by type (Figure 40)
Community Other The network is 58% students and Member 3% early career scholars. 2% General Student
37% 24%
Early Career Scholar (<10 years after PhD) 34%
Figure 40 - Membership by Type
2015 Activities “Sustainability, Adaptation and Natural Resource Development”
Arctic Sustainability Workshop – White Paper for ICARP III (co-sponsored with IASC): WINTER 2014-2015 2 Arctic sessions (paper and panel) at ICARP III/ASSW, APRIL 2015 Sessions at AAG, APRIL 2015 Special panel at IGU Moscow Meeting, JULY 2015 Annual Meeting: AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015 Open opportunities for thematic and side meetings Book Arctic Sustainability: Meanings and Means
Contact Arctic-FROST and become a member
• Web portal: www.uni.edu/arctic/frost • Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Final Remarks Sharon Edmunds: To grad students and researchers. Please get licensed to do research in Nunavut. When you are getting licensed please let us know so we can watch for your license to come through. We will be better prepared to sit down and talk to you. Please be aware of the regional processes and regulations. Chris Southcott: This workshop was put together by a committee in Labrador, thank you for all that hard work. Ron Sparkes in particular is an inspiration and put a lot of work into this workshop and making sure Labrador is never forgotton. Morgon has done an excellent job putting the workshop together, so thank you Morgon. Finally, thank you to Val for being central to all this organization.
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Appendices Appendix 1: Workshop Agenda
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Appendix 2: Workshop Background
Fourth Annual ReSDA Research Workshop Background The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada announced funding through the Major Collaborative Research Initiative grants in February 2011 for a Northern research project called Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ReSDA). The Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic project has a primary goal to conduct research that will help communities determine ways they can get greater benefits from natural resource developments while mitigating any potential negative impacts. The network is addressing a number of current issues that have been identified as priority research areas by the communities, ReSDA researchers and our northern partners. The primary objective of the research is to cultivate innovative approaches for the best ways of natural resource developments in order to improve the well-being of northern communities while preserving the region’s unique environments. One key area identified for research is the issue of community well- being. The concept of community well-being is important to many cultures across the circumpolar north including that of Indigenous people. The understanding of how resource development contributes to or adversely affects community well-being is increasingly required by governments and industry. The Workshop
ReSDA has recently started a project that involves a network of researchers and coordinated by Brenda Parlee (Theme 4) to examine well-being and the impacts of resource developments. This research is looking at some key aspects of well-being:
What are the most critical concepts and determinants of community well-being in use in regions affected by resource development? What changes in well-being have been predicted / documented? What factors (social characteristics, organizations, policies, programs) are protective of communities? How are these changes in well-being being tracked and articulated by communities, governments, industry and NGOs? What are best practices for addressing these changes in well-being?
There are different meanings for well-being among different peoples and different ways that it is measured and monitored. The Canadian Index for Well Being has adopted the following as its working definition: “The presence of the highest possible quality of life in its full breadth of expression, focused on but not necessarily exclusive to: good living standards, robust health, a sustainable environment, vital communities, an educated populace, balanced time use, high levels of democratic participation, and access to and participation in leisure and culture.”
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There are many influences or determinants of well-being as shown in the figure. The ReSDA research project led by Dr. Parlee seeks to understand how community well-being is defined and experienced in different resource development contexts in northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, northern Europe and Russia. This work will help to understand how well-being is used in assessing and tracking the effects related to developments. There have been studies that have contributed to our understanding of some aspects of well-being in northern regions but there are many issues that are still not well understood.
This year at the workshop the discussions will focus on issues of community well-being with a view to understanding the perspectives from community members, researchers, government and industry. The insights provided from the various sectors will help create a greater understanding of the issues and ways that well-being can be improved in relation to resource development. The first session will provide an overview of some of the perceptions of well-being for communities in different northern regions. Community perceptions of well-being are one of the most important considerations for our understanding of the beliefs, practices and conditions that influence all aspects of community well- being. Many communities have their own approaches and measures to determine well-being as it relates to the people and culture of a region. These insights can assist in approaches taken for developing research projects that are most effective in addressing community priorities and interests. Research perspectives of well-being in the North provide an opportunity to understand some of the approaches that have been taken in various circumpolar regions as well as the Canadian North to assess community well-being. A number of researchers will share on some of this work that they have been involved with in various locations. In the third session we will look at various initiatives developed in Labrador that are directed towards issues of community well-being. These local approaches can provide useful models and examples that other communities can adapt and utilize for their own situations. In the fourth session the focus will be on research that is directed towards issues of well-being and resource developments. In the fifth session we will hear from industry and business perspectives to provide some insights in approaches that are taken to address the issues relating to community well- being and find ways that research might support this. In session six we will also hear from a number of researchers on some the current and proposed research that is happening in the ReSDA network. Our final session will focus on communication and ways that this type of information can be shared most effectively.
We are pleased that you are able to attend this event and share your thoughts and experiences relating to the information that is being presented. We would welcome any further comments and suggestions you might have to help the ReSDA network develop best practices and support research in areas that relate to community well-being. You can contact the ReSDA coordination offices at the Labrador Institute (Morgon Mills – [email protected]) or the Yukon Research Centre (Valoree Walker - [email protected]). Thank You!
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Appendix 3: Workshop Participants Name Organization Location Andersen, Chelsey Aurora Energy Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Baikie, Gail Claiming Our Place Head of Jeddore, NS Beals, Petrina Community Vitality Index Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL Berman, Matt University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, AK Boutet, Jean -Sebastien Nunatsiavut Government Nain, NL Bradshaw, Ben University of Guelph Guelph, ON Carney, Jeanette Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NL Labrador Institute in partnership with the Marine Clément, Marie Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Institute Cole, Denise NL Housing & Homelessness Network Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Couture, Francine Nunatsiavut Government Nain, NL Cunsolo-Willox, Ashlee Cape Breton University Sydney, NS Dance, Anne Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NL Dean, Libby Claiming Our Place Head of Jeddore, NS Denniston, Brent Nunatsiavut Government Nain, NL Densmore, Lisa Office of Public Engagement Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Earle, Bonnie FemNorth Net project Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Edmunds-Potvin, Sharon Nunavut Tunngavut Inc. Iqaluit, NU Fonkwe, Merline Labrador Institute Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Poverty Reduction Strategy, Dept of Advanced Gogan, Aisling St. John's, NL Education, NL Gordon, Ron Makivik Corporation Kuujjuaq, QC Hudson, Amy NunatuKavut Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Ivanova, Aitalina North Eastern Federal University Yakutsk, Russia Jansen, Kelsey University of Alberta Edmonton, AB Jones, Jennifer University of Guelph Guelph, ON Kassi, Norma Arctic Institute of Community Based Research Whitehorse, YT Keeling, Arn Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NL Kenney, Caitlin University of Guelph Guelph, ON Kinney, Michelle Nunatsiavut Dept. of Health Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL Lethbridge, Dwight NCC/Town of Cartright Cartwright, NL Lewis, Richard NCC/Town of Cartright Cartwright, NL Loukacheva, Natalia University of Northern British Columbia Prince George, BC MacDonald, Martha Labrador Institute Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL Michelin, Kathy Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs Office Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL Mills, Suzanne McMaster University Hamilton, ON
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Mills, Morgon Labrador Institute Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL Mills, Meagan York University Lanark, ON Moore, Sylvia Labrador Institute Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL Nash, Trish NunatuKavut Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL Neilsen, Scott Labrador Institute Happy Valley - Goose Bay, NL Paddon, Tom Baffinland Iron Mines Oakville, ON Petrov, Andrey University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA Labrador Institute & Institute for Circumpolar Health Pollock, Nathaniel Goose Bay, NL Research Poole, Rebecca Department Fisheries & Oceans, Science Branch Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Rodon, Thierry Laval University Québec City, QC Russell, George NunatuKavut Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Russell, Todd President, NunatuKavut Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Schott, Stephan Carleton University Ottawa, ON Schweitzer, Peter University of Vienna Vienna, Austria Seccombe-Hett, Pippa Aurora Research Institute Inuvik, NT Shiwak, Molly Nunatsiavut Government Nain, NL Shiwak, Inez Rigolet Inuit Community Government Rigolet, NL Snook, Jamie Mayor, Happy Valley-Goose Bay Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL Southcott, Chris Lakehead University Thunder Bay, ON Stammler, Florian Arctic Centre, University of Lapland Rovaniemi, Finland Thistle, John Labrador Institute, Memorial University Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Trimper, Perry Stantec Consulting Ltd. Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL Walker, Valoree Yukon Research Centre, Yukon College Whitehorse, YT Watkins, Michelle Labrador Affairs Office Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL AnanauKatiget Tumingit Regional Inuit Women's Wolfrey, Charlotte Rigolet, NL Association
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Appendix 4: Participant Evaluation Summary Labrador Workshop 2014 - Participant evaluation summary 20 total responses Was this Workshop helpful to you? not at all slightly fairly helpful very helpful extremely 0 0 2 11 7 Comments: -Helpful to me, however not enough interaction/connection to local community and a lack of groups represented: Innu? Local environ. Representatives DFO, forest etc. and NALCOR -Lots and lots of good information. Lead to in-depth discussions -A lot of consensus and overlap across all the research projects and presentations. There is a very clear need for next steps and solutions -Impressed with the calibre of participants and variety of regions/backgrounds represented. During the event, was there enough time for: almost perfect too much not enough enough amount little too much time networking with other participants 2 3 14 1 0 presentation of issues 1 3 10 6 0 discussion of issues 4 3 9 3 0 How would you rate the Workshop in terms of the organization, facilitation and location. poor fair good very good excellent organization 2 3 4 6 4 facilitation 1 2 6 7 3 location 0 1 8 9 1 Comments: -Bios or introductions? Only industry reps were properly introduced. Information unclear at times Agenda not updated until 1130 pm night of workshop? Not useful. I know of at least 4 people who missed breakfast and one who arrived 24 hrs early for 7AM reception. Unfortunate. Ultimately this costs ReSDA more money. How would you rate the length of the Workshop? too short just right too long 0 19 0 Comments -It would have been nice to have activities for the visitors to see Goose Bay - maybe a tour. List of attractions. Were the panels and discussion groups well organized (yes or no)? yes no 16 3 Comments: -Speakers were not introduced on first day by MC, needed microphone, projection on screen should have been larger. The laptop should have been on the podium for speaker to operate. No real panel discussion. Speakers on panel didn't know each other’s presentation title? -The panels were presentations. They should have been 5 minute presentations with more discussion and questions -It would have been nice to see more diversity among the panel discussions. The topics overlapped a great deal. It seemed that most of the researchers were given the same topic. Secondly, it would have been great to see a more balanced approach to the panels, instead of "groupings" (eg. an industry panel on both days). -Presentations a bit too long. Too much information on some of the powerpoint slides. Graphics hard to understand. Just describe rather than using graphs Should this event be repeated (yes or no)?
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yes no Other 19 0 0 Comments -Yes, but with administrative and organizational changes. If this event was repeated, what specific changes would you recommend? Don't do it Must do it again No opinion again Panel discussions 1 2 15 Presentations 1 4 13 Group activities 3 13 Public evening event 1 4 13 Comments: -There were no group activities. The reception is needed but not interesting or creative to draw people in... -There wasn't much discussion between panelists. The reception was stated as 7:00 AM on the agenda. The agenda has to be updated and posted on the website before the workshop -Group activities- group outing to local area. Shorter presentations with more time for discussions. -More panel discussions and questions from audience -Reception - I absolutely loved the format: welcoming and informal. Gave me the opportunity to meet amazing people -Microphones needed - it was very hard to hear -More discussion & fewer powerpoints
Based on the presentations made on communication methods and ReSDA's research do you feel this is relevant and useful to northern issues and priorities? relevant not relevant don't know Other 18 1 Comments Relevant but most research focus was on the Arctic, not a lot of it was a focus from my area in Nunatsiavut. I can understand that most research was similar to my region, but unless I can see research brought to me from where I am from, I agree it’s somewhat similar but in my opinion yes and no. Further comments and suggestions (including possible future research) -Microphone and slide clicker would have helped! Seem like basic requirements of meetings like this - so the presenter and audience are respected as valuable. Lack of local/cultural activities or opportunities was disappointing. Labrador has too much to share and the local context was not present. Missed opportunity. Even a map on the wall would be nice. Heard visitors from afar wishing they had more info and opportunities to see the area. -Very difficult to hear many presenters -There were several missed opportunities - more networking at a dinner on Friday night with local entertainment and a tour for visitors. Better organization!! Workshop packets available Thursday night. Name tags (not stickers) that ReSDA could reuse so that we now who everyone was on Saturday. -If the reception and some of the discussion happened in an outdoor environment with local indigenous community. I think that would be great. Talking about well-being and the land inside a meeting room feels disconnected to me. -Thank you for organizing a great workshop -I would like to receive the ReSDA Newsletter by e-mail. -Research on environmental legacy of PCB's on Inuit community of Hopedale and relationship to community well being including impacts to harvesting activities near the community and effect on watershed if any and current efforts to undertake clean-up of these chemicals -Maybe have audio equipment, so speakers are louder and clear. -Presenters should be more prepared and have less words on their powerpoints. Should not be use powerpoints as a crutch.
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