Grant: College & Community Social Innovation Fund

The proposed project aims to build on a robust trilateral partnership between Frog Lake First Nation (FLFN), Saskatchewan Polytechnic (Sask Polytech), and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) to support FLFN resource management and economic development goals through asset mapping using geospatial technologies. Community assets include both physically built infrastructure (e.g., roads, houses, schools, community hall, water treatment plant, administrative offices, etc.) as well as natural assets such as land, soil, biomass, water, and wetlands. These assets can have high cultural, economic, and social value. Geospatial techniques offer a framework for mapping these assets in physical space, monitoring their condition, and making informed decisions for management. However, First Nations communities often lack equitable access to digital data and tools, and in-house data analysis expertise. Frog Lake First Nation is currently developing this capacity with a view to both internal asset management and external economic development opportunities. This project aims to build on and enhance the community-based training activities that have already taken place (led by Sask Polytech and SAIT) in geospatial data interpretation and Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), put this training into action through the development of an internal asset management framework for FLFN to support resource management and decision making; and establish and demonstrate capability for FLFN to offer this service to other Indigenous communities as an economic development initiative. The project will have a significant capacity-building component through integrated knowledge mobilization and training, to ensure that community members are positioned to sustain these activities independently in the future. Sask Polytech students will work collaboratively with community-based researchers to carry out the asset inventory mapping under the guidance of community leaders and the project team. Success will be measured by the integration of digital tools and data into decision making processes at FLFN, and the creation of a highly skilled cohort of community members to support this activity.