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Aseniwuche Winewak Nation of Canada Traditional Land Use Study

By Marc Levasseur, Traditional Land Use Coordinator

AWN Vision and Perspective

The Evolution of the Aseniwuche Winewak Study

After seeing the importance of gathering their history, the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation started on the road to making extensive documentation of their Elders' knowledge. At first, this saw "town hall" meetings with extensive mapping sessions. These meetings highlighted were sites were located. Efforts were made to determine what the AWN traditional territory was. From those maps, a multi-day flyover was conducted to locate and record a majority of the sites that were identified during the mapping sessions. Different trips to locations in the traditional territory were made over the years to GPS-significant sites.

Sacred Site Documentation Thereafter, a series of personal interviews with Elders was done. Those were recorded on audio tapes and have been translated in parts. Also, as those interviews were conducted, more sites were added to a master map (to be visited at a later date). Some maps were plotted and have been used as references since. All the information collected was in the form of hard copies.

As time passes, and the availability of funds increased, the TLU Study became more technically advanced. Personal interviews are now recorded on camera and the information is copied to hard drives. Mapping is now done via GIS and a computer database is used to archive sites that are GPSed on the ground with all information recorded.

The technical side of things has evolved and so have the interviewing techniques with proper and more consistent methodology being used. Also, forms with clear defined questions are used in the field to ensure that as much information as possible is collected during every visit.

Sacred Site Documentation Different disciplines are called on to help with today's AWN TLU study. An anthropologist has played a great role in the recording of some of the Elders' personal history and has developed interviewing methods. The participation of an archaeologist has been of great help in bridging the gap between traditional knowledge and western science.

An ongoing process is being implemented to ensure that all previously-recorded material gets digitized as hard copies and audio tapes have a shorter life span than digital files. Technically, the study has evolved but the goal is still the same - recording the information that the AWN community has to offer.

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