scholarly journals Community Capacity Building for Energy Sovereignty: A First Nation Case Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Roopa Rakshit ◽  
Chander Shahi ◽  
M. A. (Peggy) Smith ◽  
Adam Cornwell
Keyword(s):  
Capacity Building ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Power Transmission ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Effective Capacity ◽  
Community Capacity Building ◽  
Community Based Research

<p><em>Ontario’s 2017 Long-Term Energy Plan has identified the </em><em>Wataynikaneyap Power transmission line </em><em>as a priority project.</em><em> </em><em>The line will connect seventeen remote, off-grid, diesel-dependent First Nation</em><em> </em><em>communitiesin </em><em>northwestern Ontario, Canada to the provincial grid</em><em>. The province’s </em><em>current energy mandates and policies commit program dollars to build the human capacities o</em><em>f the seventeen</em><em> </em><em>Wataynikaneyap Power communities </em><em>through the </em><em>Remote Electrification Readiness Program (RERP)</em><em>. This effort is part of growing interests, changing perspectives, and focus in the continuum of provincial strategies to encourage First Nations to meet their emerging energy transitional needs and to partake in the energy sector.</em></p><p><em>Capacity-building challenges are unique in</em><em> </em><em>the</em><em> </em><em>Wataynikaneyap Power communities because</em><em> </em><em>they experience higher levels of poverty and</em><em> </em><em>socio</em><em> </em><em>economic inequities, are subjected to antiquated and unjust institutional structures, are following a legal and self-governance status, and are maintaining distinct cultures and ways of life.</em></p><p><em>Capacity building as a concept is wide-ranging</em><em> </em><em>and offers</em><em> </em><em>a multitude of expressions</em><em> </em><em>and interpretations. For </em><em>the </em><em>Wataynikaneyap Power communities</em><em>, capacity building</em><em> has offered the opportunity</em><em> </em><em>to exert their inherent rights and to increase their participation in local and regional energy planning and development.</em></p><em>This community-based research is derived from grassroots ethnographic community observation. Through a case study of one of the Wataynikaneyap Power communities, Poplar Hill First Nation, the paper will: a) elucidate a working example of an Indigenous capacity-building process through the RERP; b) demonstrate that capacity development is a key building block for self-determination and to achieve energy sovereignty; and c) illustrate the broader scope of learnings and pathways to effective capacity building for Indigenous communities that will drive energy development initiatives and actions in Canada’s expansive energy sector.</em>

scholarly journals We Are Still the Aniishnaabe Nation: Embracing Culture and Identity in Batchewana First Nation

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayle Broad ◽  
Stephanie Boyer ◽  
Cynthia Chataway
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Research Process ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Collective Trauma ◽  
Cultural Activities ◽  
Cultural Renewal ◽  
Participation Communautaire

Abstract: This case study was conducted by researchers engaged in “Understanding the Strengths of Indigenous Communities,” a research project involving five participating First Nations (see http://www.usic.ca). This particular study describes the centrality of cultural activities and beliefs in strengthening the community of the Batchewana First Nation. Deploying an innovative form of methodology, which stresses community participation in the development of the research process for the purposes of decolonization, the article explores how this community approaches culture from a holistic worldview. The findings suggest that cultural renewal is self-reinforcing and cumulative, and plays a key role in overcoming collective trauma, but that these benefits can be jeopardized through a lack of resources. Résumé : Cette étude, intitulée “Understanding the Strengths of Indigenous Communities,” a été menée par des recherchistes associés à un projet regroupant cinq nations autochtones. Elle décrit le rôle primordial des activités culturelles et des croyances dans le mécanisme de consolidation de la communauté Batchewana First Nation. Utilisant une méthodologie innovatrice qui attire l’attention sur la participation communautaire dans l’élaboration d’un processus de recherche ayant comme but la décolonisation, ce communiqué explore les points de vue holistiques utilisés par cette communauté. Les résultats suggèrent que le renouveau culturel est autodéterminant et cumulatif et qu’il joue un rôle clé dans la confrontation du traumatisme collectif, mais que ces bienfaits peuvent êtres mis en danger par un manque de ressources.

scholarly journals Drinking Water Consumption Patterns: An Exploration of Risk Perception and Governance in Two First Nations Communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6851
Author(s):  
Neal Spicer ◽  
Brenda Parlee ◽  
Molly Chisaakay ◽  
Doug Lamalice
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Bottled Water ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Individual Risk

Many Indigenous communities across Canada suffer from the lack of access to clean drinking water; ensuring individuals and communities have safe water to drink either from their home or from their local environment requires the consideration of multiple factors including individual risk perception. In collaboration with local leaders, semi-structured interviews (n = 99) were conducted over a two-year period in the Dene Tha’ First Nation and Kátł’odeeche First Nation to unpack the issue of risk perception and its meaning to local community members. These local metrics of risk perception including smell, taste, safety, health fears and level of concern were then used to explore patterns in other data on drinking water consumption patterns and bottled water use. The results are consistent with previous research related to water insecurity and indicate that both communities consume more bottled water than the average Canadian. Results also varied by jurisdiction; those in Alberta indicated much higher levels of concern and a greater degree of bottled water consumption.

scholarly journals Decolonizing Health in Canada: A Manitoba First Nation Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Eni ◽  
Wanda Phillips Beck ◽  
Grace Kyoon Achan ◽  
Josée G. Lavoie ◽  
Kathi Avery Kinew ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Primary Healthcare ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Indigenous Wisdom

Abstract Background This paper focuses on a longitudinal research program in Manitoba, Canada, by the Innovation Supporting Transformation in Community-Based Research Project (iPHIT) to learn from First Nations across the province that have developed effective community-based primary healthcare models. The research is relevant and timely as First Nations across the country, and Indigenous populations globally, work towards improvements in population health and health equity via critical analysis and restructuring of health services. The purpose of the paper is to deepen an understanding of decolonization as it is defined within the communities, as a central aspect of health restructuring. Methods The study is a qualitative, grounded theory analysis, which is a constructivist approach to social research that allows for generation of theory in praxis, through interactions and conversations between researchers and research participants. Findings are based on 183 in-depth interviews and eight focus group discussions with participants from 8 Manitoba First Nation communities. The study was designed to understand strengths, limitations and priorities of primary healthcare strategies and frameworks of the communities. The iPHIT team was an active collaborative partnership between the First Nation communities, First Nation Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba, and the University of Manitoba. The First Nation partners led in all aspects of the research, from development to implementation, data collection, analyses, and dissemination. Respected Elders from the communities also guided in appropriate research and engagement protocols. Results Data was coded and then grouped into 4 interconnecting themes. These are: (1) First Nation control of healthcare, (2) traditional medicine and healing activities, (3) full community participation, and (4) moving out of colonization involves cleaning up and moving beyond the mess that colonization has inflicted. Conclusion Decolonizing health involves a taking back of Indigenous wisdom and traditional activities; connections to the land, resources; intra- and inter-community relationships. Participants emphasized the value of full community engagement with respect to inclusion of different interpretations of and experiences in the world, highlighting creation of a shared vision. The study focused on First Nation community experiences and interests in Manitoba specifically, though the data may be applicable to national and global decolonization efforts.

scholarly journals Measuring What Counts to Advance Indigenous Self-Determination: A Case Study of the Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government’s Quality of Life Framework and Survey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Bouchard ◽  
Adam Perry ◽  
Shannon West-Johnson ◽  
Thierry Rodon ◽  
Michelle Vanchu-Orosco
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Participatory Approach ◽  
Self Determination

Abstract Modern Treaties are presented as a means for improving the lives of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada by providing specific rights, and negotiated benefits. However, the positive impacts of Modern Treaties on Indigenous well-being are contested (Borrows and Coyle 2017; Coulthard 2014; Guimond et al. 2013; Miller 2009; Poelzer and Coates 2015). Developing a more transparent, consistent, collaborative and contextual way of measuring well-being relevant to the cultural realities of Modern Treaty beneficiaries is an important step for generating comparative methods that could systematically demonstrate whether, and under what conditions, such agreements can effectively reduce socio-economic disparities and improve the quality of life of Indigenous communities. The authors first examine previous attempts at measuring Indigenous well-being, then reflect on well-being in relation to the Modern Treaty context. Subsequently, the authors provide an example from one Self-Governing Indigenous Government, the Nisga’a Lisims Government, to collect well-being data through the Nisga’a Nation Household Survey using a mixed quantitative-qualitative method developed through a culturally grounded and participatory approach.

the Politics of Community Capacity-Building: Contestations, Contradictions, Tensions and Ambivalences in the Discourse in Indigenous Communities in Australia

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (S1) ◽  
pp. 129-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Makuwira
Keyword(s):  
Capacity Building ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Community Capacity ◽  
Power Imbalance ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Community Capacity Building ◽  
Heated Debate

AbstractThe recent hype and ascendancy in the discourse of community capacity-building has generated a lot of heated debate among development and policy experts on its applicability in various contexts. In particular, questions have been raised on the presuppositions inherent in the discourse and, more so, the tension that exists between theory and practice. This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about the politics of capacity-building. While the paper begins by deconstructing the theoretical principles that underpin capacity-building, it seeks to show how the concept is covertly used to subjugate and create power imbalance between the “builders” (supposedly those with the power) and the “beneficiaries” (those assumed to be powerless), in the name of development and empowerment. Specifically, the paper seeks to respond to the following questions: What is “capacity”? Who needs capacity? Capacity to do what? Whose interest(s) is/are served when peoples’ capacities are built? The paper concludes by critically examining the tensions, contradictions, and ambivalences from the canvassed responses to the questions above and suggests alternatives ways of looking at capacity-building in Indigenous communities.

scholarly journals Pre-capacity building in loosely-coupled collaborations: Setting the stage for future initiatives

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl A. Hyde ◽  
Karen Hopkins ◽  
Megan Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Capacity Building ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Capacity Building ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Loosely Coupled

This article examines the benefits and limitations of ‘loosely-coupled’ research collaborations between university faculty and 12 grassroots community-based organisations (CBOs). The authors assert that community-based research projects that develop the knowledge base within CBOs, and can be described as ‘pre-capacity building’ work, can be an important stepping stone to the subsequent development of more formal and strategic capacity-building partnership ventures. However, such projects must be approached carefully with a clear understanding of the ‘threshold dimensions’ that must be met before proceeding with any collaboration. Written as a cautionary tale, the authors identify some of the problems that arise when the threshold stage is poorly executed, and more generally speak to the dangers of initiating even loosely-coupled collaborations in the absence of an explicit and well-established campus commitment to and support for community engagement and partnerships. Keywords: Community capacity-building, community-university partnerships, community research, collaboration

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