Quenching a thirst, on numerous levels
It’s a long way from God’s Lake Narrows in northeastern Manitoba to a PhD program at the University of Manitoba – not just an arduous journey by ice road, but a tenacious slog overcoming educational and social barriers.
“It’s not easy for us as First Nations people to reach levels this high,” Natural Resources PhD student Stewart Hill told dignitaries gathered Oct. 7 at Migizii Agamik for a celebration of the new H2O training program for First Nations water and sanitation security.
Hill plans to work with his own community and neighbouring Manto Sipi and Bunibonibee, exploring how to protect the freshwater that is the source of the communities’ drinking water.
“This is a great way for me to give back to my people.”
Other students already enrolled in the new H2O program will work on issues such as wastewater lagoon design and operation in cold climates and helping First Nations monitor their own water quality.
The new program has received $1.65 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada at a time when residents of 122 First Nations cannot drink their tap water. In more than 3,000 First Nations homes, mostly in Manitoba and Ontario, there are no taps or toilets.
Kenora MP Greg Rickford, recently appointed minister of state for science and technology, has seen those kinds of conditions first-hand. Before entering politics, he worked through the University of Manitoba’s Northern Medical Unit as a nurse, including in Hill’s home community.
After Rickford reviewed the list of 15 research training projects funded this year by NSERC across Canada, he asked to come to Manitoba to celebrate a program so close to his heart.
The H2O project is led by pesticide expert and Prairie chair for Women in Science and Engineering Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst, in partnership with Trent University in Ontario and University College of the North.
The University of Manitoba supports the initiative through the Office of the Vice-President (Research and international), the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
The H2O program will train at least 50 science and engineering undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral researchers over the next six years to address research science and training gaps that are preventing effective, culturally appropriate investments in water and sanitation security on First Nations reserves.
University of Manitoba Native studies graduate Wendy Ross has been hired to co-ordinate the new program. She’s especially interested in hearing from First Nations with research ideas and Indigenous undergraduate students who want to work on projects in summer 2014. For more information, see create-h2o.ca.
The project is part of a larger water rights research consortium co-ordinated by the university’s Centre for Human Rights Research. A related research project led by law Prof. Karen Busby will develop new approaches to confronting public apathy about insufficient clean water and sanitation on First Nations.
Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.