| Title | Introduction to traditional knowledge studies in support of geoscience tools for assessment of metal mining in northern Canada |
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| Author | Galloway, J M ;
Patterson, R T |
| Source | Polar Knowledge: Aqhaliat Report 2018, 2018 p. 1-11 |
| Links | Online - En ligne
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| Links | Online - En ligne
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| Image |  |
| Year | 2018 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20180128 |
| Publisher | Polar Knowledge Canada |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English; French; Inuktitut |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Province | Northwest Territories |
| NTS | 85J; 86H; 86I |
| Area | Detah; Yellowknife; Courageous Lake |
| Lat/Long WENS | -121.8528 -106.5061 66.6633 58.6136 |
| Subjects | environmental geology; geochemistry; surficial geology/geomorphology; economic geology; metals; health hazards; climate; ecosystems; mining activities; gold; core samples; lake sediment geochemistry;
organic deposits; peatlands; permafrost; land use; ecology; paleoecology; ice; surface waters; lakes; water levels; Slave Geological Province; Climate change; lacustrine sediments; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous culture; Indigenous lands; Traditional
Knowledge; Inuit; Métis; First Nations; Geographic data; Aquatic ecosystems |
| Illustrations | location maps; geoscientific sketch maps; tables |
| Program | Environmental
Geoscience Metal Mining: northern baselines |
| Released | 2018 01 01 |
| Abstract | We applied a multidisciplinary research methodology to reconstruct variations in climate, geochemistry, permafrost, and ecology over the past 1,000 years along a north-south transect in the Slave
Geological Province in order to assess the cumulative effects of natural and human-driven change on the transport and fate of metals/metalloids and on the health of regional ecosystems in areas of high resource potential in northern Canada. The study
focussed on Yellowknife and Courageous Lake, two areas with known gold resources and contamination from historical mining. Through collection and analyses of cores from lake sediments and permafrost peatlands, combined with spatial data, Traditional
Knowledge, and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, the impact of climate change and land disturbance on metal/metalloid flux into aquatic systems was assessed. This contribution serves as an introduction to the project, with a focus on the traditional knowledge
developed as part of this research. Traditional knowledge studies were conducted by several project partners: the North Slave Métis Alliance, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the Tlicho Research and Training Institute, and Hadlari Consulting Ltd.,
an Inuit-owned-and-operated business. The studies provide insight into past climate and land-use changes not discernible from paleoecological records alone. Specific information on seasonality, ice quality, lake water levels, pre-industrial
environmental conditions, traditional land use, spatial extent of contamination associated with legacy mining, and impact of climate change on cultural land use are some examples of the kinds of information derived from the traditional knowledge
studies. The integrated, multidisciplinary approach employed in this research project highlights the utility of combining different ways of knowing to generate a knowledge assemblage that incorporates human contextual information and develops a
deeper understanding of the cumulative impacts of legacy mining and climate change in northern Canada. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This contribution serves as an introduction to Traditional Knowledge studies conducted under the Environmental Geoscience Program and a Polar Knowledge
Canada project grant to Dr. Jennifer Galloway of the Geological Survey of Canada and Dr. Tim Patterson of Carleton University (2015-2019). Studies were completed by the North Slave Metis Alliance, the Tlicho Government, and the Yellowknives Dene
First Nation on paleoclimate change over the past few millennia and the impact of more recent climate and land-use change on environments of the southern Northwest Territories. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 308414 |
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