It’s an experience that can be life changing for some students.

A University of Saskatchewan research project that sees high school students travelling to Manitoba’s far north to study caribou and climate change has been cancelled for this summer, but will be back next year.

USask agriculture research Ryan Brook has been tracking the caribou heard in the sub-Arctic for years. For this program, the students collect data on the depth of the permafrost and the health of the caribou herd and of the land. Brook says it’s remarkable to be out in the middle of the sub-Arctic , watching massive streams of northern lights with caribou nearby and polar bears napping a few hundred metres away.

The students spend part of their time in a remote field camp which is fenced to keep the polar bears from getting in. Brook says some of the students are from the Churchill, Manitoba area, some are indigenous, and some are from Saskatchewan.

Part of the priority is to embrace those that might be less represented in the sciences, like Indigenous and female students.