Preparation Gjoa Haven Workshop

Now that I had a list of of solid and applicable guidelines to the workshop agenda, it was time to organize the workshop itself.

Seeking and preparing a space that would be fitting, and provide the right conditions to space of exchange and open-ness, we decided on the ... center. A room in which the community sometimes organizes drumdances and other cultural affairs. We also found a caterer, and decided on a menu for each day including the community feast on the first night. Thirdly, we needed to scout an appropriate site to build a Qaggiq: a big communal igloo, especially for gatherings - to be built on the second day of our workshop.

Of course much more needed to be done. Follow the side-trail to get a full understanding of all the preparation that was required for the final workshop. Alternatively, keep going, to jump straight into the workshop.

Invitation: Workshop preparations

3 day Workshop Gjoa Haven

After a day of gathering chairs from across the hamlet, boiling water, charging translation headphones, making coffee, and organizing transport to pick up elders, at the evening of the 21 November it was time to start our Gathering.

Attendees from the south who would join for the gathering, including Bettina ...., the director of Genome Canada and Les ...., the .... of Genome Canada had arrived the previous afternoon. Marsha Brannigan, recently retired wildlife biologist for the NWT, who had run the BearWatch project, Kimberley McClintock project manager for BearWatch, and prof. Graham Whitelaw and prof. Stephen Lougheed, PI's of the project also arrived three days prior to the gathering.

The next parts of this cut will take you through the final gathering per agenda point. Each session will be accompanied by guidelines, insights, motivations or research questions that underly the decision made for that segment.

Opening: Movie Screening and a Feast

24 community members, including our research partners and interpretor showed up to our opening feast and movie screening. Apart from community members, there were in total five Queens University researchers, one former government biologist and two Genome Canada funders present for the evening. During this first evening we had no online participants calling in. We were present with 32 people.

As discussed in the pre-workshop we took plenty of time for people to arrive and get comfortable. Attendees were greeted by Mx. Science, and some of the younger women who had shown up. We made sure that elders were seated in the comfortable couches and everyone received something to drink.

Once, we felt that people had had enough time to settle in, we opened the gathering with prayers and with some words from the Gjoa Haven HTA vice-chair, James Qitsualik, who had lead the project within the community. We then screened the three community co-created movies: Voices of Thunder, Pihhiq, and the throatsinging film with Kathy and Janet.

After the movies, it is time to eat. As was explicitly put forward during the pre-workshop, we can use food to all find ourselves on common ground – we are all human. It's a way for people to feel comfortable. "Within the community we have human-to-human differences as well".

Polar Bear Landscape Presentation

After the feast Marsha Brannigan presented on the governmental context within which the BearWatch project had played out. This presentation was put on the agenda, to sketch a contextual backdrop for the next couple of days. Despite its awkward placement after the feast, Branigan clearly had lots of experience with presenting for community members, and often built in "empty" moments for people to ask questions or comments.

The opening evening ended with an invitation to come back the next days. We explained how the next three-day gathering was also part of the research project, and that people would be asked for their informed consent to be part of this research and to be photographed if they would come back over the next three days. We indicated our starting time, and explained the program for the next day: Science-presentations.

Day 1: Science-Presentations, Opening and Singing

On the first day of our Gathering 20 community members including our community partners and 15 online attendees (of which four remote presenters) turned up, in addition to the five Queen's University researchers, the NWT biologist and the two funders. A total of 43 people.

The previous evening, around the time of closing prayers, news had started to trickle into the room about a young women that had passed away that day due to an accident. People had been visibly upset the evening before, and still were so when they came back the next day. Mary, who was present to conduct the opening and closing prayers during this gathering requested to sing a song instead.

We all got up from our chairs as Mary led us into song. It was an emotional moment of shared grief and many people started crying in the room.

Gaps, Openings and Possibilities

Moderating, logistics etc.

Exhibition Danny Aaluk

During the gathering I had installed an ongoing exhibition of Danny's work.

This exhibition was physically accessible, within the Gathering space, as well as digitally accessible through the Kumospace.

Art Gallery Danny Aaluk by gingertheworld

Building Igloo

Mx. Science Hosting

Return to Cut 2 "Mx. Science"

Closing

Detour: BW Final Reporting and evaluations