From the 26^th of April to the 4^th of May 2017, a group of three faculty member, one staff member, and two doctoral students from three departments at Antioch University New England travelled to Goose Bay, Labrador to participate in the First Biennial Labrador Forum. The Forum focused on the unique way research is being done in Labrador.

The primary intellectual opportunity involved learning about the groundbreaking working being done in Labrador using decolonizing research methods. Historically, indigenous research has been linked to domination and colonialism. Representatives from all three indigenous nations agreed that research is needed that will respect and help the people. “My identity,” said Todd Russell, President of the NunatuKavut Inuit Community Council, “is not up for debate.” Johannes Lampe, President of the Nunatsiavut government said, “Research was carried out without our knowledge, our input, or our questions.” Grand Chief Anastasia Qupee of the Innu Nation said, “Research has been done to us, not with us.” Instead, the first nations people at the Forum expressed consensus that research needed to be a form of reconciliation. Ashlee Cunsolo, organizer of the conference, said, “Research should be done by the North and for the North. It should not focus on the questions of the South, but questions about the North. Researchers should not come North to take knowledge. Northern voices should lead and guide researchers.”

Margaret Kovach, of the University of Saskatchewan, gave a plenary talk entitled, “Indigenous Research and Indigenous Methodologies.” She characterized indigenous research as research involving indigenous communities, work that was both qualitative and quantitative, used Western research approaches, and that could become decolonizing research. “Smash and grab” research promotes the extraction of ideas. In contrast, indigenous methodologies require respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility. Genuine indigenous methods are based on indigenous knowledge systems and have these four qualities:

• They are holistic, and imply empirical, experiential, sensory and spiritual possibilities.
• They arise from interconnectivity and interdependence.  
• They are animated and fluid.
• They arise from a multiplicity of sources, including non-human sources.

In addition to learning about decolonizing methodologies, there have been several broader impacts of this grant. During the Labrador Forum, a Grand Riverkeeper, Roberta Benefiel, expressed interest in coming to Antioch to speak about the Churchill River dams under construction. Antioch invited Roberta Benefiel to give a talk at the December Environmental Studies colloquium. This invitation launched the "Mega-dams, Mega-damage" whirlwind tour. Between November 14 and Dec. 10, Roberta, Amy Norman and Annie Wilson gave over 20 talks. They presented in Nova Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. As an outgrowth of this tour, a coalition, entitled Northeast Mega-Dams Resistance, was formed to tie issues of Canadian mega-dams and their effects on indigenous people to activist groups fighting large-scale transmission lines like Northern Pass and Atlantic Link. Roberta's visit catalyzed connections with many organizations, reducing the likelihood that states would be played against each other in the regulatory process. Since their visit, the Northern Pass proposal has been denied.

At the conference, we further developed relations with our new partners at the Smithsonian and the Center for Northern Studies. William Fitzhugh continues his archeological work in Hamilton Inlet, Groswater Bay and on the Quebec Lower North Shore. The latter site seems to have raised interest in the ideal of Inuit land claims for that region, which was not known to be an Inuit homeland until the Smithsonian work uncovered evidence of permanent Inuit villages dating to the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries. Inspired by ongoing discussions about repatriation during the conference, a group of Inuit were invited from western Quebec to Dartmouth in May, 2018 to accept a repatriation of human skeletal remains from Dartmouth Professor Elmer Harp’s research there in 1967.

One Antioch faculty member, Jean Kayira, travelled to Sheshatshiu in July of 2018 at the invitation of Elizabeth Penashue, the Elder who opened the conference at the Labrador Research Forum. Jean and Elizabeth made a strong connection during the forum and established a correspondence. During the visit, they discussed Elizabeth’s walk, a youth program she has established in Sheshatshiu. The walk teaches the youth an Innu way of life. For three weeks the youth and adults live on the land and learn how to protect the land. Elizabeth shared her vision moving forward, which is to create a Path, “Meshkanau,” for the youth so they can learn how to live an Innu way of life on the land. Elizabeth said she would like to work with us to create the Path. These efforts are all the more important at this crucial moment in the history of the Innu when the Muskrat Falls Dam is being brought online.  

We are very grateful for this opportunity to attend the Labrador Forum and develop new professional relationships.

Last Modified: 08/14/2018
Modified by: Alesia Maltz