Photo: Lethbridge News Now

By Justin Goulet

A federal funding boost

Federal funding provided for U of L, Piikani First Nation projects

Apr 25, 2019 | 10:13 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The federal government is providing $1.6 million to the University of Lethbridge.

The two grants will go towards two projects that will support ‘sustainable and culturally respectable resource development’. The funding comes from Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD).

The first grant is worth $1,195,805 and will go towards the purchase of the Titan multi-spectral LIDAR (MSL) imaging system, an airborne 3D data collection sensor for the school’s Territorial Eco-system Remote Sensing program.

The program is made up of students, staff and faculty from the U of L’s department of Geography and the department of Physics and Astronomy.

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The new tech will allow learners to collect data and high-accuracy 3D images over long distances through usually inaccessible terrain, like forest canopies and below water.

“The cutting edge airborne multi spectral laser scanner technology will help us monitor resource and environmental conditions impacted by climate change and natural disasters, as well as evaluate the risks to communities from hazards such as wildfire, floods and oil spills, stated Chris Hopkinson, Research Chair & Professor from the U of L’s Department of Geography, in a release.

The project is expected to result in 20 new jobs and assist 50 small to medium-sized businesses and is set to complement the U of L’s nationally recognized Ecosystem Diagnostic Imaging (EDI) facility.

PART TWO OF INVESTMENT

The University of Lethbridge, along with co-management from the Piikani First Nation (PFN) is also receiving $432,184.

Those funds will help develop and implement community-based environmental monitoring that integrates traditional Indigenous knowledge with newer environmental monitoring techniques.

“The Community Based Environmental Monitoring (CBEM) project is a partnership project between the U of L and Piikani Nation that engages and trains community at all levels in the development, use, and application of emerging monitoring technologies with the goal to promote self-sufficiency and efficacy and build community capacity, “ said Michelle Hogue, Associate Professor, Coordinator of the First Nations’ Transition Program, in the release.

“Indigenous communities will benefit and greatly improve prospects for economic diversification by training individuals to collect, store, and manage their own environmental and cultural data.”

Indigenous graduate and undergraduate students from the U of L will be recruited as team leads to 15 Piikani youth. The youth will be trained to collect, store and manage environmental and cultural data under the guidance of PFN Elders.