Project Team
Principal Investigator: Dr. Emily Root, Cape Breton University.
Community Lead Investigator: Lisa Young, Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources
Community Investigator: Stan Johnson, Bras d’Or Lakes CEPI
Trainee: Mary Beth Doucette, PhD Candidate, Cape Breton University
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About
Emily Root, Cape Breton University, is seeking graduate student trainees for a research project she is co-leading with Lisa Young (Unama’ki Natural Resources) that takes a Two-Eyed Seeing approach to protecting the Bras d’Or Lakes watershed in Unama’ki/Cape Breton.
This project aims to foster and deepen reconciliation amongst CEPImembers and stakeholders. It supports CEPI’s goals to enact two-eyed seeing within the organization and to explore possibilities for sustainable economic development such as renewable energy. The project has two proposed phases:
The purpose of phase one is to explore retrospective and current stories of two-eyed seeing in CEPI to better understand the possibilities, pitfalls, and complexities of implementing a two-eyed seeing approach throughout a relatively long-term intersectoral partnership focused on human-Land health. A key goal for this phase of the project is to foster personal and collective reflection by CEPI members about their understanding of, and commitment to, two-eyed seeing in the CEPI forum. The project aims to strengthen and renew two-eyed seeing within CEPI using an appreciative approach that invites relational and respectful co-learning.
The second phase of the study will serve as a catalyst to support CEPI to imagine (through a two-eyed seeing lens) next steps towards renewable energy development for the wellbeing of people and the Land. We will seek perspectives of Mi’kmaw leaders, Elders, and other members of the five Unama’ki communities around the Bras D’Or Lakes to explore how sustainable community economic development is compatible (or not) with two-eyed seeing. This could include identifying real and perceived constraints, and possible supports, to community-led renewable energy development around the Bras D’Or Lakes. Following this preliminary inquiry we anticipate working with a delegation of interested parties to co-learn from existing exemplar sites of Indigenous-led renewable energy projects and to subsequently imagine local possibilities.
If this project aligns with your research interests and/or expertise, please contact A SHARED Future program coordinator, Robert Stefanelli ([email protected]). In your email, please provide a current CV, and cite the project title in the subject line.