Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Nutshimiu Atusseun: Opening Paradigms for Education in the North  (OPEN)

Outline
In collaboration with the University of the Arctic, the Innu Nation of Labrador and others (see 1.7), we will continue the development of an open learning model with the Innu and assess its’ transferability to communities throughout the circumpolar north. Specifically, we propose to create a sustainable, place-based, educational model with the Innu in conjunction with the continued development of the Innu Environmental Guardians Program (IEGP). The IEGP is a six-year old collaboration between Saint Mary’s University (SMU), the Innu Nation of Labrador, and Environment Canada that brings together Innu Environmental Knowledge with the Western scientific knowledge needed to face the many environmental challenges to their ancestral lands. Modules are held within the Innu communities and have included such topics as Climate Change, Caribou Management, Understanding Ecosystems, and Cultural Heritage Management. Since 2006, we have involved at-risk Innu youth in this program, while also training them in filmmaking as a way to give them a concrete skill and an avenue of expression. These young Innu suffer one of the highest substance abuse and suicide rates in the world, and are continuously failed by the school system as seen in the high drop out rates. Our pilot program has met with success and the IEGP is held up as a transferable model of education by Environment Canada. We now seek to make the program permanent through the certification of the IEGP, the development of a country-based learning centre, and in-community programs that build the capacity of youth and youth mentors. While continuing to build the capacity of the Innu Environmental Guardians through the certification program, we also seek to create learning situations for young Innu that reinforce their cultural identity and longstanding knowledge of the landscape. We will take a multifaceted approach that will include the ongoing training of youth and youth mentors in filmmaking within the two communities of Natuashish and Sheshashui. The film making has proved a valuable means to empower the youth to tell their own stories and assist in the documentation of the IEGP, thus connecting them to environmental projects of concern to the Innu Environmental Guardians. We hope to expand the project to include multi-media literacy training. Another phase of the program will be a three-month, country-based learning program rooted in Innu knowledge of the land, while weaving in other strands of learning that will increase their competency in environmental research, cultural preservation, and literacy.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
The inseparability of cultural identity, education, and a sustainable environment is the crux of our proposal. Working with scientists in collaboration with the Innu, we are developing educational models that are community based and relevant to the needs of the respective communities. These communities have high drop out rates of young people from the educational systems they attend .These young people are calling for an educational system that relates to their cultural identity, their longstanding presence in the north, and a voice in the many issues that are impacting their ancestral lands.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
The Arctic Research Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; University of Alaska and the University of the Arctic. These international collaborators will be helping with program delivery and with the dissemination of the project model/results.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Northern Labrador

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 03/08 – 03/11            
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Measurement and monitoring equipment, ski doos, komatiks, boats, field tents and stoves, chain saws, generators, video equipment, computers and related equipment, infrastructural support for cabins, twin otter plane, etc. . Resources will be shared among a number of projects being undertaken by the Innu Nation, SMU, and project partners

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
Yes, through the development of country based facilities for a country based learning facility and research centre. Also the Innu Environmental Guardians Program and the youth program are models of open learning that can be transferred to other communities in the circumpolar north.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
National agency
Other sources of support

Throughout our work with the Innu, a number of sources have contributed to our programs—Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agency (AHRDA) , Parks Canada, Northern Ecosystems Initiative, Environment Canada, and private and in-kind donations such as the Smithsonian Institute, Memorial University, and numerous government workers

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
I have spoken with the Canadian National Secretariat, and the INAC secretariat, both of whom offered verbal support to the project

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
Yes

Although we submitting a new proposal, we are doing it as part of the University of the Arctic’s IPY cluster # 189, University of the Arctic: Providing Higher Education and Outreach Programs for the International Polar Year.

How will the project be organised and managed?
Dr. Trudy Sable, Director of Aboriginal and Northern Research, Gorsebrook Research Institute, Saint Mary’s University, will act as the principal in terms of fund management, but the project is community based and driven, and decisions will be made collaboratively. Primarily, she will work in coordination with the Innu Environmental Guardians Office (IEGP) the IEGP education coordinator, and significant other stakeholders such as partners, youth mentors, and trainers. Coordination will be mostly through email and phone communication, on-site meetings, programs and focus groups, as has been the case for the last 8 years.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
We will provide an important and transferable learning model for Innu and non-Innu researchers alike, involving Innu in the Western scientific research, while supporting and documenting Innu Environmental Knowledge. Youth will be integral to the program, affirming their long held relationship to the environment and offering alternative educational pathways.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
Data management will continue through the Gorsebrook Research Institute until further consultation with the Innu regarding other data management systems such as ELOKA (Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic http://ipydis.org/eloka/) which is managed by the National Snow and Ice Data Center and funded to manage IPY data.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Through our Canadian IPY funding organization. Our project currently has partial funding from SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada), which is in its’ final year ending, April 2009 and Northern Ecosystems Initiatives, Environment Canada ending March, 2007.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
Dr. Sable is also the representative to the University of the Arctic Member’s Council for Saint Mary’s University and has served on its Open Learning Committee. The Innu Environmental Guardians Program is already being used as a transferable model for education in Aboriginal communities by Environment Canada, and now is being considered as a model of Open Learning by the University of the Arctic.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Trudy Sable
Gorsebrook Research Institute, Office of Aboriginal and Northern Research
Saint Mary’s University
923 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 3C3
Canada

Tel: 902-420-5523
Mobile: no
Fax: 902-496-8135
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation