Last week we used this space to point out logical inconsistencies with Aurora College’s lack of distance learning in remote communities.
Well, there’s one area that Aurora College definitely does things right in Inuvik and that’s the Aurora Research Institute.
This is an ongoing source of activity and work, not just for researchers themselves but also the local community. Particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic knocked the wind out of tourism, it could be argued that research is now the primary economic driver in the Delta.
Many tourism operators running river tours and other on the land activities were suddenly left without a customer base when the pandemic hit. The ARI met the call, bringing local experts on the region into their programs to help them conduct studies on oceans, rivers, permafrost, bears and belugas — just to name a few things.
Research at the institute continues to create spin-off benefits for the community. A pilot project to create pellets out of cardboard as an alternative to wood pellets for furnaces showed the steady supply of boxes from our shipping needs could have a use other than filling up our landfills. Fusions of science and traditional knowledge are raising a new generation of homegrown scientists and the ARI even collaborated with the local robotics club to construct the NWT’s first spacecraft, due for launch this spring.
Studies on the viability and processing of country foods has helped create a local food chain for muktuk, dry fish and caribou.
Just this week, amid 30 pages of literature presented to Inuvik Town Council there are two applications for long-term research and three notifications of research. Council is receiving a similar volume of notices a few times each year.
Indeed, as noted in this week’s edition the ARI is in fact one of the top-rated research institutes in the country. Our unique location serves as an alluring draw for minds across the field of academia.
Again, perhaps rather than — or in addition to — the Yellowknife-oriented drive to turn Aurora College into a polytechnic university, we should be examining how to make those currently effective elements better. Bringing more funding and resources to the ARI will build on the decades of work and experience put into the institution, which in turn will create real benefits for people living here through their research projects.
While our public education system continues to try and close the gap in graduation rates among Northerners, the ARI’s approach is particularly noteworthy for how it can involve people who may otherwise not be able to participate in academia. There are many people living here who, through no fault of their own, may not have a high school diploma or the credentials to enter a post-secondary program — but they know everything scientists are trying to find out about caribou migrations, seasonal changes, fish stocks and permafrost. The ARI can draw on the wealth of knowledge in the North that academia cannot.
Under our current demographics, a polytechnic university will be challenged to serve Northerners equally, but the Aurora Research Institute is bridging these gaps today. Any model of growth for Aurora College needs to factor the ARI and the incredible work it does into its plans. This is Aurora College’s strongest pillar.