Fort Smith (Dec 22/03) - Kevin Antoniak, a senior instructor with the Natural Resources Technology Program at Aurora College in Fort Smith, gets close to nature in his line of work. Antoniak has been a senior instructor since the program's inception.

News/North: How did the Natural Resources Technology Program begin?

Kevin Antoniak: About 1968, the United Nations was running a program in Tanzania to train African students in renewable resource management.

Bob Redhead, a northern biologist, was working there as an instructor. When he came back to Canada, he was working in the Northwest Territories. He thought the African model would be a good model to adopt to train Northern students in resources management.

N/N: How was the program adjusted for the NWT?

KA: It was adjusted for content. The program philosophy was the same in the fact that we do block timetables. The students only take two courses at a time so they get to take botany for three hours in the morning and wildlife biology for three hours in the afternoon, as opposed to, say, four or six courses per semester. We spend probably 60 days a year in various field camps.

N/N: Does that make the program unique?

KA: There's no other program that takes that same philosophy in North America -- blocking and the field camp component.

N/N: How important is the field camp component?

KA: It's a major part of the course. Forty per cent of the time when students are in the program they're either in labs or in the field. That's what really sells the program -- the fact that our students are not only academically trained, but field trained and ready to go when they graduate.

N/N: What sort of things does the program teach?

KA: We have a very general diploma, so we don't specialize in just forestry or fisheries or wildlife. The diploma in natural resources at the end of the day allows them to work as fisheries officers, park wardens, park naturalists, wildlife officers, and now the big hiring thing is environmental assessment. We have four major focuses -- parks, forestry, wildlife and fisheries, and water resources.

N/N: How many students have gone through the program over the years?

KA: We've graduated about 200 students in the last 25 years.

N/N: How many of those 200 are still in the NWT?

KA: We track them pretty intensively, and about 180 are in the NWT, Yukon and Nunavut.

N/N: What are those graduates doing now?

KA: Most are wildlife officers or fisheries officers, or working for Parks Canada. But now the private sector is starting to pick them up, especially the diamond mines to do environmental assessments and environmental monitoring. That's why we kept the program very general -- to maximize their hiring potential.

N/N: Is it interesting for students to go through the program?

KA: The students are pretty blown away by the whole scenario. Everyone takes First Aid and CPR. Then we have a camp 50 miles north of town where we fly out and they're in for a month, just doing skills training at Tsu Lake. There's nowhere else you can get that level of training.

N/N: How long have you been with the program?

KA: I've been with the program really since about day one. When the program first started in 1978 it was under contract with Selkirk College. The college here -- it wasn't even the college then -- didn't have the staffing. In 1980 the program started with Arctic College staff. I was hired in 1980, but had another work commitment and couldn't start until 1981. I've been with the program ever since.

N/N: Is there a big demand to get into the course?

KA: It sort of varies from year to year with employment potential. Generally we try to take 15 into the first year. We can take as many as 20.

N/N: What are some of the unusual experiences in the program over the last 25 years?

KA: I can't think of anything really unusual. I would say the unusual thing is that we've really had no accidents and no people hurt in the field and we operate in very, very difficult conditions. We've had a few minor burns and a few minor cuts and scrapes. We're very, very safety oriented.

N/N: Have there been any problems with wildlife?

KA: We've had numerous problems with bears. It's unfortunate, but we've had to kill a number, especially in our camp at Tsu Lake.

N/N: How important is the program to the NWT as a whole?

KA: I think it's a keystone program as far as getting Northerners trained in the North to work in the North. RWED, Fisheries and Oceans, DIAND and parks are now staffed with our graduates because we're here doing the job.

N/N: How do you enjoy your role as senior instructor?

KA: Every day I go to work, I'm happy to go to work. We have good students and staff and the college has supported us. I think I've got the best job in the world.