Ingrid Kritsch
Anthropologist Ingrid Kritsch is an honorary member of the Gwich’in Nation and by 2022 had worked on upwards of 120 Gwich’in related documentation and revitalizing projects in the Yukon and NWT. She and Alestine Andre were hired in 1992 for the NOGAP Archaeology Project in anticipation of oil and gas development in the Mackenzie Delta and they worked with Elders to document trails, place names, and stories. The Elders worried that their knowledge of other areas would be lost, so she and Andre were invited back to continue the work in other areas of the traditional territory of the Tsiighetchic and Gwichya Gwich'in. They worked on that project for three years and then worked with the Tetlit Gwich’in in Fort McPherson and with people in Akvavik and Inuvik to document 2,000 named places in NWT and Yukon.1)
These projects resulted in published books, articles, exhibits, and an online atlas of place names that was completed in partnership with Carleton University’s Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre. The later work helped to designate nine new national and territorial historic sites in Gwich’in traditional territory. Ingrid received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta in 2022.2)