I had the pleasure of getting to view a longer version of Sinead and her crew’s (unfinished) documentary last winter. While there were some elements of the documentary that stuck with me, I admittedly had forgotten a lot of the information from the film. It was fantastic to get a refresher from one of the stars of the documentary who had first hand experience working on this project. The reminder that the pipeline was constructed and abandoned in just a few short years (1942-1945) shocked me all over again. Learning about how much went into the pipeline in terms of money and effort, and how little use it ultimately got is saddening, especially knowing how much damage it did to the beautiful environment in the area. It really feels like it was all for nothing. That being said, it is great to know there is a remediation plan in place and that there are motivated people like Sinead and her crew who are passionate about the project.

I thought Sinead was a fantastic speaker who was engaging and had an appealing presentation. It felt like there was a variety of different things she needed/wanted to talk about, but she progressed through the different topics in a way that made sense and made it easy to follow. I really enjoyed that she included a clip of their unfinished documentary. Sitting and listening to a person talk for an hour can get to be a bit much after a while, so it was nice to have a little ‘break’ to view a short clip. This video also allowed the audience to get a better visual perspective of everything she was talking about.

I wouldn’t say there were any specific components of Sinead’s research that is applicable to my own research. That being said, like Sinead’s project, my project ultimately came to be because of human development. I like that the documentary is a large part of presenting their results to the public, and if it made logical sense, I would really like to document my research through video.

Sinead answered questions exceptionally. She had a very large number of questions thrown at her and didn’t once hesitate to answer them, and they were always great answers. In addition, her research deals with both biological and social sciences, and received a variety of questions from both disciplines. She was able to answer both types of questions equally as well, showing she has a good grasp on all aspects of her research. The thing from Sinead’s presentation that stood out to me the most was the picture of the antlers that had been wrapped up in left over telegraph wire. A question I would have liked to have asked her is if in addition to seeing antlers wrapped up in telegraph wire, if there was any other visibly noticeable impact to the wildlife in the area caused by remnants of the Canol Pipeline Project.