UQSUQTUUQ/GJOA HAVEN
Research done by Jr. Rangers in Gjoa Haven is contributing to the development of future Arctic shipping routes.

Jr. Canadian Rangers in Gjoa Haven worked on a mapping project that will contribute to shipping routes being developed by the Canadian government. Front, from left, are Gina Porter, Sammy Kogvik, Betty Kogvik, Edward Nuliayok and Brett Tiriraniaq. Back, from left are Natalie Carter, Gibson Porter, Charlene Porter and Silas Nuliayok. - photo courtesy of Sarah Moumblow

The youth have been working with researchers from the University of Ottawa to gather and map out community and traditional knowledge on travel routes in the region.

The data is being incorporated into the Northern Marine Transportation Corridors project, an initiative led by Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian Hydrographic Service to ensure safe marine traffic in the Arctic.

Data was gathered in October and results were shared with the community on Feb. 4.

"It's basically learning about the North," said Brett Tiriraniaq, 18. "I want to be a part of it because it is bringing the southerners of Canada and the Northerners closer and (building) more knowledge about each other."

The new corridors are still just lines on a map showing best routes for shipping based on current trends and study of Arctic ecology. The community level research helps the project to include traditional knowledge needed to decrease negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts.

"The focus of the project is to infuse Northern and Inuit voices into federal level policy," said Natalie Carter of the University of Ottawa.

"The corridors are going through areas that are really significant to Northern people for subsistence harvesting and cultural uses. It's important for the government to capture this information for inclusion into the development of the corridors."

The young people worked with Carter to develop questions to ask community members, and to translate the questions into the correct dialect. They also recruited the best attendees from the hamlet. After doing their own trial workshop, the youth were hired to co-facilitate the workshop for the community, where participants mapped travel routes for each season.

"All of that information is provided back to Transport Canada and the Coast Guard and the Canadian Hydrographic Service so they can include that in the development of the corridors," said Carter.

As part of the project the youth set up a booth in the community to spread awareness of their work. "We were giving out information about the land, what it's like, how caribou migrate and where the polar bear mates," said Tiriraniaq.

He grew up going out on the land with his grandfather and now he is interested in studying environmental sciences, to merge his interest in traditional skills with modern science.

The research doesn't impact current shipping or sealift.

"They were thinking about it for the future," said Betty Kogvik, who works with the Jr. Ranger program in Gjoa Haven.

"The youth would ask the elders where the hunting areas were, about what kind of animals were there and about areas that are dangerous (for travel) during the winter time or in the spring."

Common travel routes run between the communities of Baker Lake, Taloyoak, Kugaaruk, Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk, where people travel by snowmobile.

Participants were especially impressed with how the group of young people had mapped the route from Gjoa Haven to Taloyoak on their own, said Kogvik. Members of the community frequently travel between the two hamlets, so youth were able to include that particular route from their own experience travelling with family.

"The elders couldn't believe how much work they did with the shipping routes. They really appreciate what they did," said Kogvik. "The shipping routes go by the camping areas where people do their hunting. Some stay out for a couple months starting in May until August. We don't want those areas to be destroyed."

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