Futures of Care is a multi-year community-based research project funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant and administered by Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario with PI, Dr. Rebecca Hall, and co-applicants, Dr. Allison Goebel and Dr. Marc Epprecht.
The project is driven by the experiences and aspirations of Indigenous and South African communities in mine-affected areas, flipping the script from communities as “impacted” to communities as “agents”. Research on gender and extraction has revealed the violent effects extractive regimes can have on women (Knott 2018, Laboucan-Massimo 2017), particularly Indigenous women in Canada (MMIWG 2019) and low-income African women in South Africa (Mager 1999, Goebel 2015). The project holds an emphasis on youth – often targeted for extractive training and jobs – to explore the future grounded in alternatives and visions practiced in the present.
On the Canadian side, this research is guided by We Will Not Be Banned From Our Land, a Dedats'eetsaa Tłı̨chǫ Dene knowledge to action research network, which brings together Tłı̨chǫ elders, youth, community leaders, and academics, in which Dr. Hall (PI, settler) is a stream co-lead, and supported through collaboration with Hotii ts’eeda. The research is informed by the current transitions northern Dene, Inuit and Métis communities are facing as diamond mines in the region close, anticipating job losses and community rupture.
Hotıì ts'eeda is pleased to support Futures of Care through funding a local research assistant and beadwork artist to hold youth workshops and discussion groups over the past two years, and with in-kind, on-the-ground support in holding youth workshops in the NWT.
