This site will look much better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.

Nisga'a

With the signing of the Nisga'a Final Agreement, the Nisga'a Nation became responsible for a number of new responsibilities, including resource management and emergency response planning. In order to carry out these responsibilities the Nisga'a Nation must have the capacity to use the modern technological tools necessary to efficiently and effectively do resource management and emergency planning.

Three issues of concern will be addressed in this project.

  1. Employment and Capacity: Firstly, in spite of a large local labour force currently seeking employment, GIS and land resource candidates and summer students were recruited from outside of the available Nisga'a workforce, Core Lands region, and as of recent, outside of the province. Furthermore, contractors selected to provide GIS services are drawn from outside of the Nisga'a workforce. This challenge is further compounded by limited infrastructure available for potential Nisga'a contractors to have access to for their bids.
     
  2. Health and Emergency Preparedness: Secondly, a GIS platform of street names and house numbers for the Nisga'a villages does not exist. Such a platform has numerous applications: emergency response personnel, long-term health projections, sewage replacement projection schedules to name a few. Emergency Response personnel such as Ambulance and RCMP have difficulty in providing prompt service because the area does not have a local map.
     
  3. Environmental: In a 1989 skills and employment needs assessment, Resource Management Officer Technology Diploma training has been identified as a high priority to meet the Nisga'a Nations' obligations to resource management in the lands identified in the Treaty. GIS forms part of the training.
     
This project will begin to build local GIS capacity by providing the basic training and infrastructure necessary for growth in this field. It will frame this training in a specific project to produce a GIS emergency response plan for the area. It will set the groundwork for including GIS and GPS training in future resource management training in the area.


For more information...


Primary Partner: The Sustainable Communities Initiative  Ottawa,  Ontario;

Funding From GeoConnections: $58,961.09 ( 49.63 %)

Estimated Inception Date: 2001

Estimated Completion Date: ,

Deliverables from this project benefitted the following provinces: British Columbia;