For Olivia Andres, an Indigenous student from Saskatoon, SK, a research project proved to be a bit ‘picky’. She spent the summer months picking up manure left by the famous wild horses of Sable Island.
“In less glamourous terms, it was just chasing horses for poop for a month,” Andres is quoted in Sasktoday.ca. “It was a good time though, and super cool to get to do that.”
The fifth-year biology major at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) is a member of Sweetgrass First Nation and has familial ties to Birch Narrows Dene Nation. She is also finishing a minor in Indigenous Studies in the College of Arts and Science.
Olivia Andres. (University of Saskatchewan Facebook)
Remote fieldwork is part of her biology program. The manure she collected was given to her supervising professor to study its nutritional balance, presence of stress hormones, parasites and microbiomes in the wild herd.
Andres was also tasked with photographing the horses as she collected the manure samples to help identify the various equines.
The famed horses of Sable Island include a smallish population of around 450 animals. The island, which is managed by Parks Canada, is off the coast of Nova Scotia and is only about 40 kilometres long and approximately one kilometre across at its widest point.
Andres admitted to having a fear of horses, yet despite this, she was positive about the experience. “I’m thankful for getting to fight my own imposter syndrome a bit,” she said. “I went into my first year saying … it was a fluke. I made it here.”
That imposter syndrome stemmed from seeing few Indigenous people on the research end of the biology field. But having now broken that barrier for herself, she had advice for other Indigenous students. “If you can see [someone like me] in research, then anyone can be in research,” she told SaskToday. “Don’t feel confined to only [try] within your field and your specific departments and your degree path. Get out there … try various research.”
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