Projects Database

Our research agenda in the Tłı̨chǫ region has historically been broad in scope covering a variety of research interests covering the environment, health and wellness, and Tłı̨chǫ language, culture and way of life.  The number of projects we are able to support is steadily increasing as we build the capacity to move beyond only being able to support the research interests of other organizations and individuals, to identifying, planning and implementing the research that is of most value to people in our communities and to the Tłı̨chǫ Government.

The following descriptions are intended as a compendium of current and past research projects over the past few years undertaken by the Tłı̨chǫ Research & Training Institute and its partners, the Tłı̨chǫ Government, and its predecessor, the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council (1992-2005), and the Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency and its predecessors, the Dogrib Community Services Agency (1997-2005)  and the Dogrib Divisional Board of Education (1989-1997):

Current Projects:

Annual Research Expo and Museum Gathering

Category: Traditional Knowledge, Health and Wellness, Historical Research, Language and Culture
Release Year: 2023
End Year: 2024

Sǫǫ ̀mbakwè K’egoɂǫ ̀: Where there’s mineral wealth

Category: Environmental Monitoring, Historical Research
Release Year: 2023
End Year: 2023

Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà (Rayrock) Activities 2017-2018

Category: Environmental Monitoring, Traditional Knowledge, Health and Wellness
Release Year: 2017
End Year: 2018

Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà, also known as Rayrock, is a former uranium mine built in the 1950s approximately 145 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife. It has been a site of monitoring and remediation activities of the Tłı̨chǫ Government for many years, and in 2018, the Tłı̨chǫ Government is launched its Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà Traditional Monitoring Program, with the goal of restoring Tłı̨chǫ confidence and use in the site.

Situated Social Identities: The Storied Experiences of Tłı̨chǫ High School Graduates

Category: Graduate Students, Health and Wellness, Language and Culture
Release Year: 2011

The doctoral thesis was a social phenomenological inquiry that explored lived experiences of 11 Tłı̨chǫ high school graduates from the Indigenous community of Behchokǫ̀​​​​​​​, Northwest Territories. A blended identity-based and ecological lens facilitated holistic understandings of resilience processes, lifecourse patterns, and domains of meaningful learning. Narratives revealed a bi-cultural tension embodied in late Elder Elizabeth Mackenzie’s call for Tłı̨chǫ​​​​​​​ youth to become “strong like two people”: competent and confident in both an Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural world. Deeper understandings of social identities and resilience enhancing supports, resources, and contexts informed the development of a model of dynamic resilience for Tłı̨chǫ​​​​​​​ students and three broad educational policy recommendations. A relational research model to guide researchers working qualitatively in cross-cultural contexts or with marginalized populations also emerged.

Ekwǫ̀ Nàxoèhdee K’è: Boots on the Ground

Category: Environmental Monitoring, Traditional Knowledge, Health and Wellness, Historical Research, Language and Culture
Release Year: 2016
End Year: 2024

Ekwǫ̀ Nàxoèhdee K’è: Boots on the Ground is a caribou monitoring program based on the traditional knowledge of the Indigenous elders and harvesters. Faced with challenges from the decline of the Bathurst caribou herd and a self-imposed ban on caribou hunting in 2015, the Tłı̨chǫ Government initiated Ekwǫ̀ Nàxoèhdee K’è (the program) to collect critical field knowledge of the Bathurst caribou herd and its habitat. It is a multi-year traditional knowledge monitoring program for the Bathurst caribou and monitor the conditions of Bathurst herd’s summer range by focusing on indicators: (1) caribou habitat and environment, (2) caribou, (3) predators, and (4) industrial disturbance. 

Tłı̨chǫ Diabetes Research Project:

Category: Graduate Students, Health and Wellness
Release Year: 2014

This graduate student research project created an evidence-based plan for a comprehensive diabetes program tailored to meet the needs of each Tłı̨chǫ community as well as a foundation of knowledge about diabetes self-care, prevention and treatment with Community Health Workers and other community members. This process also included the development of a curriculum to train two people from each community to become certified community diabetes educators (CDEs). The curriculum was designed to meet national standards while fitting into a Tłı̨chǫ community wellness framework.

Whose North? The Intersection of Sovereignty between Indigenous Nations and the State

Category: Governance, Graduate Students
Release Year: 2014

This research focuses on studying the intersection between the sovereignty of Aboriginal Nations and Canada. It builds upon an MA thesis in Indigenous Governance “The Tłı̨chǫ Agreement and Small Acts of Freedom: From Self-Government to Self-Determination”, which positions the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement, a modern treaty between the Government of Canada and the Tłı̨chǫ, as an instrument facilitating the eventual exercise of Indigenous self-determination. This research demonstrated that the Tłı̨chǫ are using the new political space created by self-government, as a framework for decolonizing by protecting, recovering, revitalizing, adapting and operationalizing ways of being that are uniquely Indigenous.

Tłı̨chǫ Use and Knowledge of ɂewaànıt’ııtı̀

Category: Environmental Monitoring, Traditional Knowledge
Release Year: 2012

This report describes the Tłı̨chǫ Traditional Knowledge (TK) study of the area encompassing Seabridge Gold Inc’s exploration project at ɂewaànıt’ııtı̀ (Courageous Lake). The purpose of the TK research was to identify Tłı̨chǫ use and knowledge of the ɂewaànıt’ııtı̀ area. The Tłı̨chǫ Government will use this report in the environmental assessment process for the proposed gold mine at ɂewaànit’iitì.

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