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ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Ava Vanderbeek from the Canadian Rockies Youth Network. First of all, I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate you. You are the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival’s Mountain Spirit Award winner year. Congratulations, Ava!

AVA VANDERBEEK: Thank you. I like to say it’s my first award, so a big step!

RM: You’ve earned that award based on your work with the Canadian Rockies Youth Network. Tell us what is the Youth Network is all about

AV: It’s an organization led and started by youth. We work really hard to empower and educate youth on environmental issues that are affecting our shared mountain spaces. We work to create projects for youth to take part in, and to connect youth with mentors and experts who know a lot more about these subjects so they can empower and educate the next generation.

RM: How did you get involved with the Canadian Rockies Youth Network? Why are you so passionate about this kind of work?

AV: I’ve always loved the Canadian Rockies. I was a Girl Guide for most of my life and my parents are huge hikers and backpackers, so I’ve grown up doing that stuff. I joined Central Memorial High School in Calgary in Grade 10. They have a program called Environmental and Energy Innovation. They were all about a new style of learning, which was starting action projects to get youth out on landscapes and helping the Canadian Rockies. I never finished a project. Every project I started, I completely failed, so I tell people all the time that it’s completely okay to make mistakes because that’s how you learn. My teacher told me it was time to start a project, so he put me on to this Canadian Rockies Youth Network, just as…let’s finish a project. I guess I never finished it because I’m still running it, and I’m still here.

RM: You are the first female, Indigenous director for the Canadian Rockies Youth Network. Does your Indigenous heritage play into your passion about the land and the environment?

AV: A hundred percent. I just discovered my Metis roots. I was reading a book by Jesse Thistle, From the Ashes, and while I was reading I was like, whoa, that’s my grandmother’s name, that’s a little weird. It turns out that we are cousins. I all of a sudden went into this huge deep dive of ancestry. When I’m out there I’m still trying to actively discover my roots, but when I connect with people who are sort of in the same boat as me, and when I look at nature and see how it’s in trouble and it needs to be protected, and how the Indigenous people were the first ones there to really take care of the earth and find a way to live with it, I want to help do the same thing and help bring her our world back to where it used to be.

RM: Something you’re doing right now is a new campers camping kit. What’s this all about?

AV: This is my project that I’m doing. It started after I went on a backpacking trip this past summer. What I found while I was trying to find a bunch of gear for it was how expensive backpacking can be for those trying to safely recreate in the Rocky Mountains and how hard that can be for someone who doesn’t know the practices. I came up with a project to start a kit that has the majority of the gear for new campers and new Canadians. It has all the information about bear safety, leave no trace, and some of the principles that come along with camping, so then people can rent that kit out. I’m working with Parks Canada, and right now we’re looking for some donations for slightly used gear.

RM: How can people help contribute to this project?

AV: Contact me through our website, Instagram, or email.

RM: When do you hope to roll this out?

AV: We’re hoping by the end of winter.