The winners of the 2014 Educational Achievement Award are the Kativik Regional Administration and le ministère des Transports du Québec in recognition of Off-Highway Vehicle Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness Campaign in Nunavik, Quebec.
The Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)’s Educational Achievement Award was created to recognize outstanding contributions in training relating to an in-house or external program or provide the foundation for future and better business practices.
According to Marie-Ève Marchand, Project Manager, Nunavik Round Table on Off-Highway Vehicles (OHV), Kativik Regional Government, the biggest challenge of this project was its geographical nature.
“This campaign targeted a population living in 14 isolated villages along the shores of Nunavik,” explains Marie-Ève. “On this territory situated in Northern Quebec, extreme weather conditions and great distances presented transportation and organizational challenges. The team responsible for the campaign had to travel with several boxes of academic material that had to be packaged and distributed in each village at the same time.”
Air transport is the principal and most rapid form of transportation in Nunavik during the winter months. The priority is therefore given to transporting essential goods. In a social linguistic context that differs from the rest of the province, the choice of academic and awareness tools also represented important research with local and regional organizations.
Thanks to this campaign, 14 to 20 year-olds learned about the risks associated with OHV aggressive driving, but also the physical and psychological consequences of severe accidents, including severe cranial trauma.
“Many activities, such as the Choose your Helmet contest, allowed us to distribute about one hundred OHV helmets,” added Marie-Ève. “In Nunavik, helmets are rarely used by OVH users and are not accessible for two reasons: they aren’t available in local stores and represent a relatively expensive purchase in a region where poverty affects 20 to 30 percent of homes[1]. These initiatives increased the popularity of helmets among youths in the region, and made them more accessible. The campaign progressively contributes to modifying unsafe driving behaviours of OHV users.”
Promotional activities allowed young people to play an active role, identify themselves to the campaign, win prizes and obtain recognition for their social engagement. The production of a short film was one of the most powerful tools to create awareness among youth and the Nunavik population of the physical and psychological consequences of severe accidents and the importance of adopting a safe driving behaviour.
“The mobilization of local and regional organizations, as well as the high participation rate, were the most notable accomplishments of this project,” adds Marie-Ève. “We are extremely proud of the short film produced by the students of Ulluriaq School of Kangiqsualujjuaqs. The organization of the shooting, writing of the script and production were entirely done by the young people with the help of the teachers, and members of the community. This fictional story is about a young boy who comes back home to his community in a wheelchair after being in an OHV accident and shows the consequences of driving under the influence.”
The award will be conferred during the Monday Lunch at the 2014 TAC Conference in Montreal on September 29.
Thank you to our Premier Sponsors
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
