Over the weekend, Ecology North held a special celebration to mark their 50th anniversary!
On Sunday, June 5th, Ecology North hosted a Coffee House event from 1-4 p.m. at the Fred Henne Territorial Park Kitchen Shelter Day Use Area.
They held several family friendly activities for the public to enjoy, including live performances from the Aurora Fiddle Society, Miranda Currie and Ryan McCord, as well as games for children and youth hosted by Mackenzie Recreation Association. A 50/50 raffle and a silent auction were also be available for guests to take part in. New this year, Ecology North decided to put together something called Salvager’s Corner – items and clothing in usable condition could be dropped off and picked up at the site.
Dawn Trembley, the Executive Director of Ecology North, shared her thoughts on how the day was going at the time.
“I think so far, everybody’s having a lot of fun, which was my big goal. I think it’s great that we’re all outside, that’s a bit of a new feature this year, and it’s a beautiful day, so we couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
Trembley also stated that, while Ecology North does have other events planned throughout the year, much of their recent energy had been focused on this latest celebration.
“We definitely have some events coming down the line, but we’re pretty focused on this one today, getting out and celebrating and having fun, and it’s pretty inspiring to see where we’ve been and use that energy to fuel moving into the future.”
Trembley also made sure to give her thanks to all of the volunteers and workers who have assisted Ecology North throughout the years. She was also kind enough to share what Ecology North’s mission statement will be for the foreseeable future.
“As for our mission and vision, it’s about bringing people and knowledge together, for a healthy northern environment. We’re all people, and we all have knowledge, and that’s always really resonated with me, is that it’s about the people, and about the land.”
Over the years, Ecology North has grown to focus on delivering integrated education and awareness programming in five areas: climate change mitigation and adaptation, water stewardship, waste reduction, biodiversity conservation, and local food production. Ecology North is taking strides to broaden services for NWT youth, which include developing NWT-based curriculum-tied learning resources and planning leadership conferences and gatherings.
