In late 2022, the Tlicho Government’s Department of Culture and Lands Protection and the University of Alberta came together to host a first-of-its-kind research expo in Behchoko.
The event was such a success that plans quickly developed for a second edition, which is now less than two weeks away.
“The first year it was really good, so we decided to do another one this year,” said Tyanna Steinwand, manager of research operations and training at the Tlicho Research and Training Institute. “The other departments do conferences and stuff, but this is our only research expo, so it will probably be an annual thing.”
The 2023 Research Expo is set to occur on Dec. 6 at the community museum on the second floor of Behchoko’s Ko Gocho Sportsplex Centre. It will be open to the public, and free to attend.
Just like the 2022 event, the expo will feature booths staffed by researchers working on Tlicho lands. They will share information and answer questions about their work, and explain how community members can get involved. This year, that includes projects on plant medicine, food security, wildlife monitoring, traditional economies, Tlicho families and children, and Covid-19 vaccines and immunity in Indigenous people.
There will also be a booth dedicated to a project called the Tlicho Cultural Commons, the Tlicho Government’s digital archive of pictures, videos, documents and recordings from past research and events.
The Dec. 6 expo will be followed by a two-day focus group, which is intended to fine tune the Tlicho Cultural Commons archive project. That event will be led by the University of Alberta’s Rebecca Bourgeois, a PhD candidate in anthropology.
The focus group will not be open to the public, but invitations have been extended to 25 Elders and eight young people from across the four Tlicho communities.
“The next two days, Rebecca is going to have her focus group where the Elders and the youth can dive into more detail about the archive and how to organize the archive and what should be in the archive and things like that,” Steinwand said. “We want a research strategy where the community people are telling us what we should be focusing on, because what I find is we always get researchers coming to us and saying what they want to do, but we’re looking for research that the community wants rather than the other way around.”
Steinwand admitted planning for the 2023 expo and focus group started somewhat “last minute,” but she’s confident preparations are on track, and is expecting another successful event when all is said and done.
“We have a planning team together and we’re inviting the people, getting researchers allocated to tables, and doing the catering and translation, just making sure everyone’s good to go,” she said. “We’re really excited. It’s just good to see the Elders and the community people and show them what we do and get their feedback.”