Youth learn how to reclaim history
Group of young researchers spend end of June in Vancouver for training
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, June 27, 2016
UQSUQTUUQ/GJOA HAVEN
Youth in Gjoa Haven and Naujaat will spend their second summer interviewing elders in an attempt to reconnect with and preserve their history.
By all accounts, so far, the project has been a success, such that some are in Vancouver this week to continue their training as researchers.
"There's a lot of interest within the community," said Robin Ikkutisluk of Gjoa Haven, who participated last year and is now helping facilitate the project in her community. "We had a lot of youth participate who are willing to participate some more. I think it's a pretty neat project to run in the community."
Nanivara is a project of the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia, and was started by UBC professor Frank Tester, a long-time researcher of Nunavut.
The three-year project is funded by the federal government and sees the youth document the stories and knowledge of the elders through interviews and photography.
Project co-director Mark Stoller, a PhD student, spent last summer with the youth.
"A lot of young people aren't familiar with the social history and the colonial history of Nunavut," Stoller said.
"It's something they're not getting a whole lot of in schools. And when we discuss it with them in person, it's something they're very much interested in. It is, in part, getting young people to be involved as researchers in their community. The hope is that this will be empowering to them. As they gain a greater knowledge of their history and of their community, it's confidence instilling as well, in the sense that their history is important and it matters."
Ikkutisluk sees the importance of doing this work now, before it's too late.
"There is a language barrier between youth and elders," she said. "Inuktitut is not spoken at home as much as it should be, and there are a lot of young parents that only speak English. When we were interviewing elders last year, an elder said it's hard to communicate with his grandchildren these days because they only speak English."
Ikkutisluk said the project gets good response from the youth. She is one of 11 young people from Grise Fiord involved.
"When we're talking with the youth, a lot of them were interested in the history of Gjoa Haven and of our elders. They're looking to interview more elders this year about who they are and traditional knowledge, the tools they had."
And in doing so, the youth build new knowledge and skills, learning how to interview and use cameras and audio equipment, Stoller said.
They are also getting chances to travel and share their experiences. Two presented at ArcticNet in Vancouver last year, and a strong contingent travelled to Norway in March for the Arctic Indigenous Education Conference.
While there, they were able to spend time at the Norsk Folkemuseum, which houses artifacts from Gjoa Haven, which earned its European name from Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
This week, five youth from each of Gjoa Haven and Naujaat are in Vancouver to continue their training.
"They'll be doing archival research, working with Inuit artifacts at the Museum of Anthropology here," Stoller said.
"Many of these young people are being trained as facilitators and researchers, and they will then return to the communities and operate a program for the remainder of the summer."
Federal funding for the program runs out in 2018. Stoller said other funding may have to be found to continue the project, but there is an appetite among participants.
"We're trying to document the Inuit knowledge using film, photography, and (social media)," Ikkutislak said. "I would hope that the project or a similar project happens more in Gjoa Haven related to social history."
