CASES / The Gwich’in Tribal Council

This summer Sage worked with the Community Appropriate Sustainable Energy Security (CASES) Partnership. Hosted by the University of Saskatchewan, the CASES partnership includes 17 northern and Indigenous communities and other private and public project partners from Canada, Alaska, Sweden, and Norway. The goal of the larger project is to work collaboratively to address energy security in the north through shared capacity building and knowledge sharing. With collaborations supported by the shared effort to create better designed energy systems that meet the socio-economic goals of each community. 

In contribution to this larger goal, Sage worked with The Gwich’in Tribal Council(GTC), one of the CASES project partners, in Treaty 11 Territory in Inuvik, NT. Sage’s job was to support the implementation of a community and youth-based research model in the Gwich’in communities of Aklavik, Inuvik,Tsiigehtchic, and Teetl’it Zheh (Fort McPherson).

In this research model the University of Saskatchewan hires and compensates three youth researchers to interview members of their own communities, rather than sending outside researchers into these communities. The interview data collected contributes to a CASES and GTC supported community energy profile and other energy security research for the region.

Sage’s role was to hire, train, and support the three youth community researchers. Hiring youth entailed getting the word out about the youth positions with the GTC staff and other Gwich’in government offices and youth organizations, and most excitingly, chatting with youth who are interested in the position, research, and energy!  Once hired, the youth received guidance and mentorship from Sage, with university support, as to how to conduct research interview conversations about energy use and community experiences with power outages.

“I feel really grateful to be on Treaty 11 and to have the opportunity to work with Gwich’in organizations and other young people to learn about northern energy dynamics. Connecting with people around this project has been really exciting and encouraging for my future work.”