Reflections on youth and community research

 By Sage Broomfield, 1st year MDP student

My name is Sage Broomfield, I am neyihaw from Treaty 8, English and Irish. My work in the MDP has focused on critical and community focused energy and environmental development. This summer I worked with CASES in partnership with The Gwich’in Tribal Council (GTC), in Inuvik, N.T in Treaty 11 Territory. My job was to support the implementation of a community and youth-based research model in the Gwich’in communities of Aklavik, Inuvik, Tsiigehtchic, and Teetl’it Zheh (Fort McPherson). 

The solar array of the Children First Society, childcare facility

Since my last blog post two youth have been hired two youth and I continue to support their interview and training processes from back in Winnipeg. And I have had a chance to reflect on my experience and the lessons I learned. Some challenges that I want to explore in the future are running youth programming for a short period of time during summer months and garnering youth interested in close but separate communities. I will do this through my continued work and research this year.

Even being in the community for a short period of time, two months, I was hearing what was interesting, important, or being built-upon in terms of energy security and sovereignty in the region. A personal highlight of my experience was chatting with the community members and youth who were interested in their energy futures.

During my field placement, I learned that good community research takes time, adaptability, and good relationships. I learned a lot about and able to reflect now on how to make this model or others like it more successful in future – which I look forward to doing.

Being in Inuvik put into practice my classroom learning and carrying out this project was and will continue to be an impactful experience. The months I was there were filled with daily lessons, new experiences, and good conversations. I am grateful to the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the CASES project for this opportunity and to the people of Treaty 11 who I had the pleasure of connecting with. 

A 10:30pm late summer sunset driving back from Tuktoyaktuk after falling asleep to full sunlight for the length of my stay - hiy hiy to the land of the midnight sun for this experience!

Energy security and community research in the north

By Sage Broomfield, 1st year MDP student

Tansi, This summer I am working with the Community Appropriate Sustainable Energy Security (CASES) Partnership. Hosted by the University of Saskatchewan, the CASES partnership includes 17 northern and Indigenous communities and other private and public project partners from Canada, Alaska, Sweden, and Norway. The goal of the larger project is to work collaboratively to address energy security in the north through shared capacity building and knowledge sharing that leads to better designed energy systems that meet the socio-economic goals of each community. 

But that won’t happen all at once. Each community has its own current and historic relationship with energy and energy systems. Good relationships and good research are necessary to understand the current needs of each community.

In my role, I am working with The Gwich’in Tribal Council (GTC), one of the CASES project partners, in Treaty 11 Territory in Inuvik, NT. My job is to support the implementation of a community and youth-based research model in the Gwich’in communities of Aklavik, Inuvik,Tsiigehtchic, and Teetl’it Zheh (Fort McPherson).

In this research model the University of Saskatchewan hires and compensates three youth researchers to interview members of their community, rather than sending outside researchers into these communities. These interviews will then contribute to a community energy profile and other energy security research for the region.

My role is to hire, train, and support the three youth community researchers. Hiring youth entailed getting the word out about the youth positions with the GTC staff and other Gwich’in government offices and youth organizations, and most excitingly, chatting with youth who are interested in the position, research, and energy!  Once hired the youth were hired, I provided guidance and mentorship, with university support, as to how to conduct research interview conversations on topics like energy use and community experiences with power outages. This project is still taking shape, but I am super excited about the work we/I am doing!