Elina Eronen

Egesta Researcher Elina EronenMasters Student
RES Graduate Program
The University of British Columbia

 

 

 

Elina was an MSc. student at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES). She was supervised by Professor Gunilla Öberg. Her research aimed to shed light on the ways in which Canada’s current data practices in chemical risk management form barriers to meaningful and respectful inclusion of Indigenous needs, expertise, and knowledge, specifically from the perspectives of data justice and Indigenous data sovereignty (IDS). By facilitating dialogue between the government of Canada employees in the departments of Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada and Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics, she identified these barriers. Her study suggested that the government needs to prioritize actions toward meaningful engagement to begin the process of decolonizing chemical risk assessments.