Discovery House 

Wah Ka Ih Kun – Mamo Anokiwin

The  Discovery House building would include a green house and solar panels. The  only way it will happen is if everyone works together. That is where the name Wah-Ka-Ih-Kun – Mamo Anokiwin originated from. Wah-Ka-Ih-Kun – means house, Mamo Anokiwin means working together.

Inspiration for the logo was taken from the Discovery House
and the meaning of Wah-Ka-Ih-Kun- Mamo Anokiwin. The
nine feathers represent each of the eight communities and
one feather represents Matawa. The teepee, greenhouse,
and solar panels symbolize the creation of the new residence
that will be built. The two people signify our communities
working together to build a brighter future.
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Mission

To provide culturally appropriate opportunities for education, training, and employment by providing professional advisory, support services,
relevant systems and programs to empower individuals to take initiative for change in their own lives..

Vision

Create a sense of awareness and ownership in communities, including strong relationships and partnerships that will increase the number of
educated and employed individuals who are active competitors in the workforce and will ultimately result in healthy and prosperous
communities.

Goals

Mino Bimaatisiwin in Ojibwe means living a good life. KKETS wants to incorporate positive self-talk into each of the training sessions. The use of positive affirmations has been found to increase student self-worth when used and practiced in a classroom setting. KKETS wants to instil positive healthy version of self in all of our students to improve success in their personal lives, workplace and the community.

Discovery House Overview

EaRTH (ENVIRONMENTAL AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES HUB) networks Discovery House will leverage renowned academic institutions, leading innovative businesses, community and government partners in disrupting and strengthen the entire agriculture and food value chain, from environmental technologies, through growing and processing automation, to food distribution. Discovery House will develop unprecedented Industry leading automation in vertical horticultural, aquaculture and agricultural product processing that will achieve energy efficiency, cost effectiveness, environmental responsibility and production levels previously unattainable. Allowing communities to tackle growing agricultural challenges in the areas of food-security-safety-sovereignty-affordability-accessibility-sustainability-ownership and environmental stewardship.

While delivering outcomes that are ecologically sustainable, inclusive and equitable. Discovery House will replace cycles of social and economic
dependence with autonomy and a meaningful sense of dignity and ownership in a more sustainably rooted local agricultural economy. The Discovery House Prototype will make a substantial contribution to improving food security across Canada in the decades to come by introducing localized agriculture to remote communities.

The Discovery House Prototype - When compassion is at the Heart of Innovation

Discovery House strives to revolutionize the agriculture and agri-food sector by integrating agriculture, technology and infrastructure into urban areas to build more resilient local food systems. The Discovery House Prototype will facilitate a collaborative, cross-sectoral approach engaging non-traditional industries into the agriculture sector to spur the emergence of disruptive technologies. This will assist Canada in meeting its climate change commitments, build an adaptive multidisciplinary workforce, and create new opportunities locally and nationally to enhance Canada’s impact on food source stabilization.

Challenge

To deliver on Discovery Houses objectives for Canada’s northern communities the Discovery House Project was created. After nine years in development Discovery House will deliver unprecedented Industry leading automation in vertical horticultural, aquaculture and agricultural product processing that will achieve energy efficiency, cost effectiveness, environmental responsibility and production levels previously unattainable.

Value

Discovery House will replace cycles of social and economic dependence with autonomy and a meaningful sense of dignity and ownership in a more sustainably rooted local agricultural economy. The Discovery House Prototype will make a substantial contribution to improving food security across Canada in the decades to come by introducing localized agriculture to remote communities. The Discovery House Prototype is currently under construction just outside CFB Borden at the following location “5929 Concession 5 New Lowell” the closest significant settlement is Barrie. Over the 9 years of its development, The Discovery House Prototype has received funding and or support from CMHC, Defense Research and Development Canada, The National Research Council of Canada and many more government as well as non-government and corporate organizations.

Smart Classrooms and Training

Galaxy Technologies will be installed in remote communities with Satellite Internet connections. Smart Classrooms will make remote learning faster, safer and more comprehensive with large Samsung screens installed in learning spaces within the remote communities. Each student will have a tablet or laptop to use for training.

Samsung Flip and Cisco Webex Room Kit will be installed in each smart classroom in the remote communities. Interactive features make the Flip a powerful collaboration tool anytime, anywhere. And when combined with Cisco’s leading video conferencing technology, people can come together like never before whether in a meeting room or working remotely from multiple locations.

The Cisco Webex Room Kit Mini is a compact video conferencing and collaboration device optimized for small meeting rooms. Combined with a flat-panel displays it brings people together to collaborate across any distance. Perfect for long distance learning within the remote communities.

There will be three cycles of training with breaks in between. All training will follow the COVID restrictions initiated by the province and the COVID protocols implemented by each First Nation community. Training will be done through smart classrooms virtually. Further into the project other training is scheduled to take place in Ottawa, CF Borden and Orlando once all COVID restrictions have been lifted.

Solar Panels

Solar panels are made out of photovoltaic cells that convert the sun’s energy into electricity. Photovoltaic cells are sandwiched between layers of semi-conducting materials such as silicone. Each layer has different electronic properties that energize when hit by photons from sunlight, creating an electric field. This is known as the photoelectric effect – and it is this that creates the current needed to produce electricity. Solar panels generate a direct current of electricity.

This is then passed through an inverter to convert it into an alternating current, which can then be funneled into the grid or used by the home or business the solar panels are attached to. Solar panels will be located on top of the building.

Geothermal Heating

Discovery House will replace cycles of social and economic dependence with autonomy and a meaningful sense of dignity and ownership in a more sustainably rooted local agricultural economy.

Access to clean, affordable energy is seen as key to improving the living standards of the Canadas poorest communities. By 2100, renewable sources are expected to be providing 30–80 percent of total energy consumption. Thermal energy is one of the most important energy resources for energy generation/storage and is also used directly in heating, food and agriculture, aquaculture and some industrial processes within the discovery House Complex. The unsatisfied demand for a sustainable supply of affordable energy in Canada and in particular its isolated northern communities is therefore a major constraint to development of the agriculture and agro-industry sectors in Canadas emerging northern development strategy.

What is Geothermal Heating
During the winter, heat from the ground is absorbed by the water
solution as it circulates through pipes in the ground. The warmed
water is carried into the home where a water-to-air heat pump
concentrates the thermal energy and transfers it to air in a conventional
ductwork system, which is circulated to heat the home. In the summer
time, this process is reversed and excess heat is pumped from the home either into the ground or redirected to heat domestic hot water in order to cool the home.

Access to Fresh Veggies

Located on the roof of the building will be a greenhouse that will grow vegetables eight or so months out of the year.

The house will produce a viable low light cold climate production facility in a high-function, fully automated structure heated and cooled with an advanced thermal storage and harvesting system in low light cold climate conditions, and with fully integrated automated supplemental lighting and nutrient systems.

An advanced AI will be used to assets in the extensive automation of the facility. Actively collecting data that will monitor and asses crop quality, quantity, days to harvest and planting dates creating an active and idyllic work plane for farming, food processing and facility/energy management. Findings on which crops are viable in the low light solutions will be shared in a final report, which will also offer recommendations on how to construct low-cost, high-function structures that will withstand snow accumulation in far northern conditions, encourage and maintain plant growth/crop productivity and maximize light exposure and minimize input costs such as artificial lighting and heating.

Employment and Economic
Development

It would be best to look at this as 5 Discovery House complexes consisting of 31 employees each. Please have a look at the breakdown listed below. One manager will be employed in each community. 30 individuals will be employed in Eabametoong and 10 from each of the other communities. Each Discovery House complex is structured as a community owned agricultural
co-op with the following staffing breakdown.
  • 8 full-time seasonal construction staff
  • 2 full-time facility maintenance staff
  • 4 full-time horticultural and food processing staff
  • 10 full-time seasonal horticultural and food
    processing staff
  • 4 full-time sales staff
  • 2 full-time community outreach staff
*Please note that construction and horticultural activities will only take place 8 months out of every year as a result of environmental conditions in the community.