Finding the Youth-Elder Cabin

Peter van Coeverden de Groot, one of BearWatch's co-PI's, had arrived to come help organize the final workshops with me. To make sure that the Elder-youth cabin would meet the requirements of organizing a pre-workshop meeting for multiple people, we hired George Konana to bring us there. Neither Peter nor I had been there before, so we weren't sure where, or in which state the cabin was.

George, taking advantage of this situation, told us he didn't quite understand why we would want to organize a workshop in "that old cabin". He, nevertheless, eventually brought us there by skidoo.

Arriving at the cabin, it turns out to not even have a roof, and being covered under snow. With only a couple of days left before the pre-workshop is scheduled to take place, this is a big set-back. You don't have an alternative, and fixing up the cabin over the next two days seems impossible with all the other things that need to happen. What to do?

Preparing Cabin

As it turns out, George played a prank on us.

Not only is the youth-elder cabin in great shape, it also lies next to a road- which means we can bring people there with our truck. It isn't even locked!

It needs more comfortable seats though, firewood, a toilet, and some cleaning out. But this is nothing that can not be done with some helping hands and an early start.

At 6 am I load up the truck and pick up Percy, Dustin, Gibson and Peter to drive up to the Cabin. A fresh, thick layer of snow has fallen last night, so the road needs to broken in at different places. Here and there I crash through snowbanks almost a meter high, and it sprays in the air next to the truck as I keep moving. It's dark, the sun hasn't come up yet, and I have never driven off-road before. I am having fun though. Dropping the men off at the cabin I return to town to pick up the next people, while they clear the snow out of the cabin, chop wood to get the heating started, boil water, and set up the toilet. It takes me two more drives to get everyone to the cabin, and by then it is warm and cozy. We can get "started" around 11.

Program and procedures

The (pre-)workshop takes two days. However, I had designed the pre-workshop to consist only of formal moment that are recorded as part of the research, at the beginning and the ending of each day consist. In-between we’re just "hanging out". Maybe we cook something, or take pictures, play a card games, listen to the radio, or drink tea.

This design was adapted from an earlier iteration I came up with in which no researcher would be present in the cabin at all, and would only come in the morning to discuss the questions they had, and in the evening to discuss the outcomes that group had decided on. This design was to build upon my observations from community filmmaking in which it became clear how valuable in terms of knowledge renewal it was for elders and youth to spend time together, and how research could make such regenerative moments possible. However, once we had formed the group, multiple elders indicated that I should spend the full days with them.

As such, I started each day by collecting informed consent, agreeing on the payment, and by explaining why we are coming together, what I was hoping to get out of the pre-workshop. I also explained how I had prepared that particular day and the questions that I wanted to discuss. I finally informed everyone that I would be making notes, and record the formal conversations, and that there was a camera and a piece of paper, on the wall, for them to use if they think of something, or wanted to draw something.

Cooking and Sharing Food

Landmark: "Making Space"