TULITA/FORT NORMAN
A University of Toronto researcher was in Tulita earlier this month as part of a comparative study on Scandinavia, Canada and Greenland.

Researcher Rauna Kuokkanen visited Tulita earlier this month for comparative research project looking at women's roles and concerns in Canada, Scandinavia and Greenland. - Photo courtesy of Rauna Kuokkanen

Rauna Kuokkanen, associate professor of political science and aboriginal studies at the school, said the research project aimed to compare women's views on indigenous governance in three of the world's northern regions; Scandinavia, Greenland and Canada.

Kuokkanen, who is Sami, the indigenous people of northern Finland, said interviewing women throughout the regions revealed common themes among women from all three countries.

Kuokkanen said preliminary meetings with women in each region helped guide her research questions.

"If you ask indigenous women anywhere, they say the two most important issues for them are indigenous self-determination, being able to collectively be in control of our own affairs and being in charge of our own matters, but also addressing violence against indigenous women and girls," she said.

Women highlighted the importance of establishing strong families in order to develop strong communities and governments.

"My interest was to look at these things together because they are always treated as totally separate issues," she said. "Though indigenous women often say that you cannot have indigenous self-governance if you don't address violence in indigenous communities. You cannot have healthy nations without healthy communities."

Kuokkanen said participants often linked the topic of family violence with drug and alcohol use in the community.

Kuokkanen said in addition to speaking to women in Tulita, she also spoke to men and youth about the community's views on a variety of topics, such as oil and gas development.

She said many participants said while they weren't against development, they were concerned they didn't have enough information to make educated decisions.

"I understand that there have been quite a few workshops and community meetings about the matter, but either it has been that those have taken place when the people have been not available to attend meetings, or it has been presented in a way that they still feel that they don't quite understand," she said.

Kuokkanen said fracking was identified as a major concern in Tulita, Greenland and Scandenavia.

"Some people have very strong objections to it, partly because they don't know much," she said. "People want to know more before they make any final decisions. They oppose it because they say they are not comfortable with it and they haven't been able to receive all the answers that they'd like to have."

Kristen Kodakin-Yakeleya said youth in the community agreed.

As an intern with the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board, which helped facilitate Kuokkanen's project, Kodakin-Yakeleya helped organize interviews and youth meetings in Tulita.

"Even though the town is so small, we still can't communicate well," she said. "Information isn't getting passed out around town how it should be."

Kodakin-Yakeleya said youth also expressed concern about local housing issues after she presented information from a report compiled by James Anaya, the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

"What I found out was that crowded housing can make you depressed, you can lose weight, you won't be sleeping regularly," Kodakin-Yakeleya said. "As I spoke about that, the youth spoke up and said, 'we have that here, too'."

Youth also said they wanted to spend more time on the land learning traditional skills.

"We started thinking, what is the most important thing that kids want to do and it seems like kids can connect more to themselves and to the land when they're out actually doing traditional activities," she said. "It's a big difference out on the land and in the community."

As a result, Kodakin-Yakeleya is helping to establish a youth leadership program next year.

Deborah Simmons, executive director of the renewable resources board, said Kuokkanen's research is also helping with one of their projects called The Best of Both Worlds, which is looking at ways traditional and wage economies can work together.

"We are interested in understanding the changing relationship that people have with the land and it's important to include women in that picture," Simmons said.

Simmons said Kuokkanen's research helped identify gaps in research for the Best of Both Worlds project.

"We found that we needed to do more work on understanding women's roles in the traditional economy in order to have a well-balanced picture," she said. "Her work really helped to supplement that and to point to more work that needs to be done over the coming year."

Simmons said she was pleased how many community members, including women, men and youth, were willing to share their views.

Kuokkanen said she plans to return to Tulita next year to share her findings. She said the research will potentially be used by academics, researchers and policy makers.

For now, Simmons said the renewable resources board plans to share the preliminary results when they are available.

"We also plan to share her preliminary findings with community folks in the interim," she said. "So people can look forward to opportunities to discuss and provide feedback on her findings."

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