Dolcy Meness

I work as a Guardian for the environment and cultural teachings of my community. This includes things like water monitoring, lake sturgeon programs, as well as medicinal plant identification and uses. I also pass on cultural knowledge to the younger generation and film documentaries.

My activities during the day and seasons range from filming and editing, and self-teaching about plants. Sometimes it includes driving long distances in the traditional Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg Territory for water monitoring. I participate in cultural workshops throughout the seasons. I also participate in various programs that deal with species at risk. These include sturgeon, wood turtles and mussels. It’s a whole lot of everything and anything.

I use my Indigenous knowledge to know how and why things are. For example, when there are a lot of cattails around a body of water, is the water clearer? And where there is less water, it seems to be cloudy and overrun with algae blooms. By making observations and using the knowledge I have, I can confirm that cattails are vital to the health of water. They act as filters and help keep it pure. They were put there for a reason!

I guess I could say I use the basic STEM skills I learned through high school. I use them to test the alkalinity of water at monitoring sites. I do this with chemical reactions and recording what the amount would be using basic math on a calculator.

Sometimes I have to recalibrate the digital water monitoring tools. These are specialized equipment for measuring the quality of water such as the YSI DSS PRO. This gives us basic readings on screen in real time. The data we can collect include dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, conductivity, total suspended solids, temperature, and total gas pressure, among others. I do this work in specific sites on Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg Territory.

We send this information to organizations we work with such as the Ottawa River Keepers and Water First. They graph the specific data for the specific sites. Decisions and problem solving are sometimes on the spot, every day. Like, if we lost a water monitoring object, do we go to the same spot next time? Do we change the way the water monitoring object is made? How can we be sure it doesn't happen again? Why doesn't the computer want to accept the data? Does it need to be updated or is there another problem?

I work in a team with two other people. But it is mostly me and my coworker. A duo. Which is good to have when in the bush. If something happens to me, I can rely on my coworker and vice-versa.

I interact in a friendly manner and make sure that we are all doing our part to reach our goal. Whether that is collecting data and making sure it gets sent off. Or making sure that our truck is in tip-top shape for the rugged terrain. Or ensuring our devices are properly set up for the day.

We speak English primarily. Although I'm trying to learn my language -- Algonquin. I want to have that be my primary language, as it should be.