3.4 Interviews and School Presentation

Seven semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with community members by Margaret Ireland and Ryan Brown (PACTeam Canada) at the JMRFN Band Office. Prior to beginning the interviews, participants were asked to review, or have translated the consent form and sign the form if they agreed to be interviewed. Four of the interviews were conducted in English, and three were conducted in Slavey. Margaret Ireland conducted the interviews in Slavey, and when necessary provided translation services for the other interviews. The interviews were recorded using digital audio recorders, and participants were assigned a personal identification number (PIN) to protect their anonymity.

The Project Lead and PACTeam Canada coordinated with the teacher at the Jean Marie River School for a Ryan Brown to give a presentation about climate change to the students. PACTeam also provided educational materials about climate change and the environment, generously donated by Enviro Kids. The students conducted the experiment mentioned above that demonstrated how the accumulation of greenhouse gases due to pollution is creating climate change in form of global warming. The students were provided the instructions and materials to conduct the experiment and record the results. Finally, the assignment developed by PACTeam was given to the teacher to have the students complete and consisted of each student answering questions about their own observations of weather, and then to ask older family or community members about their memories of the weather in the past, in order for the student to better understand how long term weather patterns (a.k.a. climate) change over time.

The answers to these questions are not being included in the results of this project; the questions are for educational purposes only, with the purpose of engaging youth about the significance of climate change and its impacts at the community level.

3.4 Interviews and School Presentation