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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A few Deh Cho youth won't look at brushing their teeth the quite same way after recent lessons in ecology.

Raine Simba of Kakisa looks at an insect through a microscope during a mini youth camp held at Ekali Lake on Aug. 23. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Approximately eight youths from Kakisa and Jean Marie River participated in a mini youth camp on Aug. 23 at Ekali Lake. The camp was sponsored by the Deh Cho's Aboriginal Aquatic Resource and Oceans Management program (AAROM).

Working with AAROM, Bruce Townsend has helped developed approximately 10 educational modules for youth. Many of the modules link to the experiential science 30 freshwater systems textbook used in NWT classrooms.

The goal of the educational component of AAROM is to start with the youth and build knowledge in the region to allow for collaborative management of aquatic resources, said Townsend. At Ekali Lake, Townsend led the participants through two hands-on modules.

In the first activity, Townsend asked the youths whose toilet their toothbrushes had been in. Each participant picked a new toothbrush out of an old fashioned pee pot as Townsend explained how the water cycle works.

Where does the water come from?

The youth at the camp from Jean Marie River soon learned the water that flows past them in the Mackenzie River has first gone through Fort Providence.

The question is, where does the water come from when you are brushing your teeth and where does it go afterward, he said.

"We don't think a lot about it," said Townsend.

The exercise helps people consider their role in the water cycle, said Townsend.

"How we treat water affects everybody," he said.

In a second module using paint, the participants explored how yellow energy from the sun hits the blue water in lakes and is converted into green plant material through photosynthesis. The deeper physics lesson was that light can be both a particle and a wave at the same time.

To reinforce the idea, Townsend had the youths make a bracelet using yellow, green and blue string and beads.

Students saw life on a lake first-hand when they went out on Ekali Lake in a boat with George and Mike Low to check a fish net. Watching the fish net and the fish caught in it being pulled in was Tarek Chicot's favourite part of the camp.

Back on dry land as he cleaned the fish, Mike explained how the food chain works and pointed out how different fish are adapted to eat different types of food. On the jackfish, pickerel and whitefish, Mike also pointed out the parts of fish anatomy you can use to determine their age.

"It was cool," said Chicot.

For Raine Simba, the highlight of the camp was looking through the microscope that Townsend brought along. Simba got a close look at her fingers as well as some insects.

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