Dropout to dream job
Ryan McLeod finds pride in DFO role that bridges gap between community and science
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, March 9, 2017
INUVIK
At age 17, Ryan McLeod dropped out of high school.
Ryan McLeod, fisheries management technician with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, is living his dream. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL Photo
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Seventeen years later, he's living his dream as a fisheries management technician with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Now he's heavily involved in the Rat River project, helping to monitor Dolly Varden char and manage the species' health and population.
The first exposure McLeod got to that kind of work was at 14, helping out on one of his grandfather's fishery contracts. He did some multi-mesh netting and sampling of char on the river.
"That got my attention right away," said McLeod, who was born in Inuvik but raised in Aklavik.
Being on the land has always been a passion for McLeod. But at age 17, high school clearly was not.
"I guess that's the age where you think you know everything," said McLeod.
"I thought I got a chance here to go out and work for the oil companies around here. At the time it seemed like a good choice. I was making around $10,000 a month while my buddies were all broke and still in school.
"As time went on they finished school, moved on to bigger things and I still wasn't doing much in terms of trying to start a career."
He got another opportunity to help tag char on the Rat River at 19.
"Even before we started the work, I just knew I had to continue with my education so I could do this kind of thing for a living," he said.
"You get up there, it's just beautiful. Mountains, running water, so clean and untouched. The first day we got up there within 10 minutes a big bull moose walked through our camp.
"We'd go to sleep every night listening to wolves howling. Just perfect."
He continued to do odd jobs in his 20s but knew there was something more he wanted.
Accepted to Aurora College
At first, his lack of high school education was a barrier to getting accepted to Aurora College's natural resources technology program.
In 2012 he was finally accepted to the program on the condition that he do one year of upgrading before the two-year course.
McLeod juggled a young daughter and newborn son while in the course but managed to stick with it. When he finished, he was offered a fisheries management technician position with the Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board and the DFO, which are co-management partners. He's been extended twice.
McLeod says he gets a lot of pride from being able to address community concerns about the fish. For example, if people notice white fish having softer flesh, he can try to study that and give them answers.
"It's a good feeling when you can go back to the community members and tell them 'this is what we think could be causing it,' and then we monitor it over the years," he said.
"That's really important to me because the community members are the ones that depend on the resources like fish.
"If we can help them out it just makes my job worth it."
If a population study finds that the stock is healthy, McLeod said it's very rewarding to be able to give community members the good news that they can keep fishing the char.
He sees himself as something of a bridge between his home and the science world.
'Sense of pride'
"I grew up in a small community so I still consider myself a community member, but at the same time I get to work with some very educated, knowledgeable
scientists," said McLeod.
"That gives me a good sense of pride, knowing I can connect on a personal note with community members but at the same time I could be in a room with all the scientists and using big words and I understand them too. It's a good feeling."
He encourages young people to follow their dreams.
"If you have an idea in your mind and you stick to it, if you want it bad enough, you could do anything you want," said McLeod.
"It's going to take sacrifice for sure but as long as you want it bad enough it could be done. And when you're done you get to do stuff like this.
"I love my job. It gets me out on the land. I'm learning, building experience. And I'm getting paid for it."
He would like to see more people from the smaller communities managing the area's resources.
McLeod says his daughter wants to be a biologist, while his son likes playing with helicopters.
"I say he can be the pilot and fly his sister the biologist around," he said.
He also encourages older people to give youth a chance on the land and expose them to traditional harvesting.
"It might slow them down for a day, but in the end it's going to lead to keeping our tradition going."
