Jason W. Johnston
MSc Environmental Science,
Rural Livelihoods and Sustainable Communities Lab member
Nicola Valley Institute of Technology Presentation
Wednesday March 15th
Contact; Tom Willms (twillms@nvit.bc.ca)
Jason was invited to the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology as a guest speaker to present to a field technician class, in which the majority of students were Indigenous. He introduced himself, his academic and fieldwork, and gave a bit of background on his own Indigenous heritage. He spoke to the class for an hour and a half, giving them an overview of his current research on Indigenous representation in Jasper National Park and how he approached his research from an Indigenous perspective. He also was asked to speak about his previous work as an environmental technician and his academic path that has led him to where he is and how that will shape his future. The students were very receptive to the information being presented and asked some very good questions finding a number of commonalities including one student’s work on mapping traditional Indigenous territories. It was a great experience and several students stayed after to ask more questions and ask advice about how to go about doing this type of research, both professionally and academically.