NAFF IV Conference 2023

A couple weeks ago, between October 16th and 19th, Nanaimo BC hosted the Fourth National Indigenous Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum, an event to which NRTG staff attended. Over three days, there were presentations regarding various aspects of fisheries and aquaculture and opportunities for Indigenous nations. Representatives of Indigenous organizations came from across Canada, and our staff interaction with these people during the breaks between presentations was uplifting and positive. We experienced a wonderful exchange of ideas around what some of these leaders see as training needs and how we might modify some of our material or deliveries to more effectively meet those needs.

We hope that throughout our interactions, the attendees saw how we may be able to work with them to provide training and increase capacity within their communities to achieve their goals. A slice of knowledge that we already knew, but that was confirmed over and over in our interactions, was the need for customized and place-specific training. The challenges and needs in one community may be quite different from those only a few hundred kilometers away. Provided training and skills need to reflect that.

We at NRTG came away from this conference with feelings of excitement over what is being done around the country and also of privilege of meeting with and talking to very experienced practitioners leading the way for their communities.

Sean Mitchell