Student Travel Diary
On February 21, 2016, I travelled to Ottawa to complete research at Library and Archives Canada. This research will be used in my major research paper that I will begin writing during the spring semester of this year. The research paper is a requirement for the program I am currently in, a Master of Arts in history.
My research paper will focus on answering several particular questions: How has Canada’s attempt at “management” of the Inuit affected the Inuit throughout history? How has Canada’s idea of modernization and progress affected the Inuit? How has the power relationship between different knowledge systems affected the Inuit throughout history? And more particularly to my Major Research Paper, my research questions include: How did the focus on modernization influence northern educational policies during and after WWII? How did perceptions of knowledge systems influence northern educational policies? What were the effectsof the south ascribing its ideologies onto northern education? What were Inuit reactions and perspectives on northern education policy and developments? What was the role of knowledge and northern visions in connection with the development of educational policies in the north?
The files that I spent the most time looking at were part of the RG85 file group. I generally focused on some files from the residential schools in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, but these files did not end up being as useful as I expected. But I also spent a great deal of time looking at more general files on Inuit education. The documents I found most useful were pamphlets distributed during the Caribou crisis in the 1950s, meeting minutes of Northern Affairs, education experiment documents, and so on. I took photos of approximately 2000 items.This trip was very informative and enjoyable.
Even as a historian, I never cease to be amazed at the opportunity to interact with documents from the past. But mostly, the opportunity to look at these files at the archives allowed me to develop new insights into my research interests that I never would have achieved otherwise. I was able to see what documents were available and what documents were useful,which really helped me pave the way towards the focus of my research paper. It was definitely an unforgettable opportunity.
Gladdale Matthews, B.A., B.Ed.