Virtual Rainforest

Over the years, as our nation becomes increasingly invested in questions of health and conservation, it has become apparent that a gap exists in the social framework of our community. A lack of local training and expertise means our community must rely almost exclusively on imported employees in the fields of health, forestry, and biology.

As our nation negotiates for independent management of the community’s resources and entities, we believe it’s important to bring community members to the forefront of the work being accomplished. However, we at Qqs recognize the challenges faced by remote First Nations schools in providing comprehensive math and science programs, let alone the challenges of providing an infrastructure for developing and building on skillsets in related fields.

Our objective is clear: we need to interest First Nations youth in science and health careers at an early enough age that they can take all the necessary pre-requisite classes in high school. Then, when they begin to invest in education at the post-secondary level, we need to offer a support framework that will help them succeed with their endeavours. The first step happens now!

For these reasons and many more, Qqs is pleased to be involved in the development and implementation of the Virtual Rainforest Initiative, a new program creating opportunities for young people to get engaged in math and science through field work and technology. 2010 marks the pilot year for the program in the Heiltsuk and Gitga’at Nations.

Qqs is committed to the vision of the Virtual Rainforest Initiative as a long-term institution in the community: we anticipate a 5-year program which will be evaluated at the end toward the development of a more permanent investment. We anticipate groups that will carry on as they move through the stages of their education, mentoring younger students as their study progresses until the program is self-supporting.

We are building on the success achieved in Koeye with the science camp model, and the work currently being undertaken in the schools by Pacific Wild and the American Museum of Natural History, which has brought new technology and curriculum into the community school to bring science into the classrooms in a new and exciting way. We envision this to be a community initiative, and one that reaches out even beyond our community to our broader network of supporters.

Qqs’ role is in the implementation of a summer internship program. The program will operate under the mentorship and oversight of Diana Chan, a biology student from Wisconsin whose history with the Koeye camps has already forged an important link with our youth. Four Heiltsuk students will work with Diana, in the community and in the field, on a variety of project-based initiatives being undertaken by Coastwatch. Students will work with remote cameras and exciting new technology such as SmartBoards as they launch into a season in the field, participating in activities like sea mammal counts, bird surveys and a number of monitoring initiatives to foreground the practical applications of a career in science.

Youth interns will bring their new expertise back to the community through the Koeye Cafe, which will broadcast live feeds from the remote cameras and use the SmartBoard technology to present the data gathered by the interns in a dynamic new way. The youth will gain practical skills and experience in field work and scientific study, which they will bring back to the school in the autumn as they return to their classrooms already stocked with advanced and exciting technology.

Our community relies every day on the expertise of people trained in the sciences: whether in fisheries, salmon enhancement, forestry, health and medical, education or management and decision-making, all of our local entities will benefit from encouraging Heiltsuk staff to meet Heiltsuk needs. Qqs Projects is committed to building local capacity to this end, and we believe the Virtual Rainforest Initiative is an important first step in engaging our youth with the incredible opportunities for a brighter future of our nation.