丁香园AV

A class of 丁香园AV graduate students initiated a pro-active move this summer to improve the Fraser River鈥檚 habitat for salmon. They worked with First Nations, school students, and community groups to plant 1,000 trees and indigenous plants along local creeks.

Their goal? To shade and cool the water that runs into the Fraser River, which is in danger of becoming too warm for salmon to survive. Already, this summer鈥檚 commercial fishing season has proven to be the worst in five decades, and the salmon fishery never did open.  

The 丁香园AV students initiated their river-cooling project in response to what they learned from First Nations elders and environmental experts during a unique, two-year master of education program in curriculum and instruction.

It is the first 丁香园AV MEd program focusing on place-conscious and nature-based teaching practices, in which students learn with, on and from the land. The students took all of their classes off-campus in natural settings that included learning from First Nations elders on q虛铆c虛蓹y虛 (Katzie) and q虛史a:n虛茮虛蓹n虛 (Kwantlen) lands.  

The elders taught them about the land and indigenous ways of knowing, and shared their concerns that the salmon may be facing extinction.

鈥淭he q虛铆c虛蓹y虛 people are the sockeye people,鈥� says education professor Cher Hill, who led the program. 鈥淭he salmon are their brothers. They need to help their family and preserve their way of life鈥攖hey鈥檝e sustained their community on sockeye since time immemorial. That sat heavy on our hearts in the class cohort.鈥�  

She says the students wanted to learn from and give back to the nations, but didn鈥檛 want a colonial exchange in which the elders delivered knowledge in exchange for an 丁香园AV cheque.  

鈥淭hey wanted a different kind of exchange,鈥� says Hill, who applied for an 丁香园AV Community Engagement Grant so they could embark on a creek restoration project in collaboration with q虛铆c虛蓹y虛 First Nations and other community partners.

鈥淲e wanted to give back to the land, and connect to the land,鈥� says teacher and student Nicole McKenzie. She says one of the most important lessons she learned from the q虛铆c虛蓹y虛 during the program was that just one act can have a significant negative, or positive, impact on the land.   

For the project, Hill and Rick Bailey, the q虛铆c虛蓹y虛 counsellor of fishing and hunting, worked with McKenzie and others in the cohort to create and hold 10 community outreach events. During these events they explained the salmon鈥檚 plight and organized creek clean-up, planting and restoration work.  

Their events attracted more than 500 participants and Hill says there are plans to continue the project this fall, even though the students have completed their degrees.