This is a transdisciplinary project in which scientists, community members and students learn together, build relationships, and create bonds. This project hopes to combine Inuit Knowledge and western science to support informed decisions and planning for the Zone of the Labrador Inuit Settlement Area, and ensure protection of Inuit interests into the future.
Our four-level research model explores sustainable and inclusive solutions to impacts on marine resource utilization, livelihoods, and food security. We want to ensure that this is done in a way that values knowledge exchange, two-way training, and community engagement, with the same precision and vigor as the excellent science produced. Our scientific model therefore incorporates some necessary extra steps in the scientific process, while ensuring a path towards Inuit self-determination.
Our team members reach far and wide, with people at all stages of their careers and from different areas of the world, centered around Northeast Canada, but reaching out to the US and Europe. As nature lovers, we have strong connections with the natural places which we are from, but for many of us, our homes are not our ancestral land.
Above we show our team members’ origins (purple pins), in relation to traditional territories of the:
Many of us live on these traditional lands because their original inhabitants were forcibly removed by colonialism. Today, we all must put an end to the socio-cultural disruption these groups have experienced, and do whatever we can to help protect culture, language, and people. Projects such as these are an important first step towards showing respect and support towards this goal.
Our work is focused in Nunatsiavut (outlined in red), which is the traditional and ancestral homeland of Labrador Inuit. We recognize Inuit have deeply rooted connections in the lands which we have the privilege to study, and wish to show respect to those who were on this land before us, those who call it home today, and the several generations to come. As Labrador Inuit have done since time immemorial, we strive to be responsible stewards of the land and to respect the cultures, ceremonies, and traditions of all who call it home. We acknowledge the history and impacts colonialism and the way it has shaped scientific research in the past, and we commit ourselves to working in a spirit of truth and reconciliation to make a better future for all.
Dalhousie University operates in the unceded territories of the Mi’kmaw, Wolastoqey, and Peskotomuhkati Peoples. These sovereign nations hold inherent rights as the original peoples of these lands, and we each carry collective obligations under the Peace and Friendship Treaties. Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 recognizes and affirms Aboriginal and Treaty rights in Canada.
We acknowledge that the lands on which Memorial University’s campuses are situated are in the traditional territories of diverse Indigenous groups, and we acknowledge with respect the diverse histories and cultures of the Beothuk, Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit of this province.
