Northern Groove

The alarm clock rings. It is the early morning and the start to another day for John Cardinal. For nine years he's been getting up and ready before the sun rises making sure his big yellow school bus is ready and warm before he picks up all the children.

John is the full-time bus driver for Head Start Program at NENAS in Fort St. John, BC. He makes two trips a day picking up the children, for two different classes ages ranging from  3 - 5 years of age. He is a dedicated worker with a well earned reputation for never missing a day on the job.

When describing his earlier days as a pipeline worker, John smiles but comments on how he always wished he could do something different. The thought of having the opportunity to "stay home on the weekends" was something he could only dream about. In time, he changed his path and got into carpentry. He was a contractor doing small jobs for the Pioneer Inn and Blueberry Reserve. A friend of his who was a teacher approached him one day asking if he had put his application in at NENAS to be the bus driver. "For what?!" John asked " Who's Nena?"  He had never thought about being a bus driver before but It wasn't long after that, that John got the call for an interview.  

Without John, the children would not safely make it to the Head Start program where they are encouraged to become life long learners. It is a free preschool program for lower income Native families where the main focus is on culture. The children are being prepared to enter into elementary school but are also being exposed to the local Aboriginal history.  The Head Start program involves drumming, singing, jigging, Metis dancing and both the Cree and Beaver languages.

Having John and the full time bus service makes it possible for the children to take field trips as well. Giving them the opportunity to check out the library, extended care home, police station, the fire hall and partnered with School District 60 the children also get a chance to meet up with their reading buddies, students in grade two and three.

When John's not driving his bus he spends his time doing maintenance around NENAS. It's nothing to catch him out shovelling the sidewalk or teaching the children how to speak Cree. For John the program is about more than just doing a job. He states "just because it is a year around job, that's not why I stay. I enjoy the kids."  

Welcome to 2012, the year the Mayans gave up on calendars, life, the universe, and everything.  Well, not til December at least...which means we have 11 more issues of Northern Groove mag to go until, much like Y2K, nothing exciting happens and we sit around and wait for the next bit of nonsense about the end of everything to come around.

If you’ve ever wondered if it’s too late to start figuring out out exactly what you want to do when you grow up... Here’s a story to let us know it’s never to late to start making a difference.  With the help of NENAS and their training program, Edna McLeod, at age 73, was able to learn the skills she needed to start doing work that is truly meaningful for her and the community.

Edna is the kind of person who can light up a room with her smile.  She is full of positivity and is always up for telling a good story and having a good laugh.

Up until recently, Edna spent her working career in a string of fairly physically demanding jobs such as working as a waitress, chamber-maid, and for the last 20 years a camp cook in the oil and gas industry.

“You're on your feet all the time,“ explained Edna ... “and with all the stress of the job, I was getting older... I just couldn't do that kind of work anymore.”  

“Working in a camp is a very lonely job.. you miss birthdays, anniversaries, you miss when your grandchildren are born... it’s long long hours... and very hard work.”

As the pace and the stress of the job started catching up with Edna, she was forced to retire from her job as a camp cook, and was in need of something to do.

Looking for something different, Edna heard about a training program at NENAS, and with the encouragement of some friends, she said, "hey, why shouldn't I try!", and instantly at the keen young age of 71 years old, Edna found herself back at school upgrading her skills.

“I was the grandmother to all the kids in the class”, said Edna with a big laugh.  “I was upgrading Math, English... and most important I learned computers”.

These days, Edna is still working as hard as ever, but is using her recently learned skills as the coordinator for the Elders Awareness Abuse Program, put on by NENAS.

“Now, I feel like we're really helping people... I come to work everyday, and it's like I'm working with my family...”

“I've come to respect and learn a lot from the elders... when I was young, we were taught, ‘even if there is someone one year older than you, we were taught to respect them!’... thats the way we're raised-- you respect your elder, always.'...

“I've learned a lot - Listening to the stories of their life, everyone has different cultures, different ways of life... life’s going fast ... the younger generation should learn all this stuff.".

“you're never too old to learn... never.  I keep learning more and more every day.”

"...some day I'll even learn to text!"

September 18th, 2011

Hundreds flocked to the Pomeroy Hotel and Convention Centre to witness the first ever NENAS Gala in celebration of local Aboriginals who have achieved education milestones and positive advancements in life! The crowd walked the RED CARPET and engaged in community unity and laughter with Don Burnstick!

The twenty award categories and winners are:

Kindness Award - Jessie Attachie
Healthy Lifestyle Award - Patricia Brown
Role Model Award - Charlene Bigfoot
Traditional Business Award - Early Ray Stone
Culture/Tradition Award - Jack Askoty
Woman In Trades Award - Anne Bowe
Personal Growth Award - Kirk Tzakoza
Innovation Award - Garry Oker
Youth in Trades Award- Judd Rhodes
Positive Change Award - Sky HunterMotivation - Eddie Brown
Academic Achievement - Individual Award - Monty Yahey
Academic Achievement - Single Parent Award - Penny St. Pierre
Academic Achievement - Family Award- Star & Robin Acho
Academic Achievement - Youth Award - Brittany Brinkworth
Apprentice Award - Cory Wood
Community Engagement Award - Monica Kind
Entrepreneur of the Year Award - Penny Berg
Special Elder Award - Hosted by Progress Energ - Maisie Metecheah
Aboriginal of the Year Award Hosted by Pomeroy Hotel - Kathy Dickie

More event details and photos to follow.

On September 17th at the Pomeroy Hotel, the first ever NENAS Gala will be held to recognize local First Nations individual's achievements. There are multiple achievement categories and the nominated are those who have taken part in NENAS programs or recieved assistance in funding.

The awards ceremony is being hosted by Don Burnstick, a comedian from Alberta and the evening will also include mocktails and dinner. There will be exhibits of art, fashion and of course the comedy. Mocktail begin at 5 pm and the awards start at 6:30 pm.

Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at NENAS or by calling 250-793-0272. If you want more info, leave a comment and we'll help you out!

Aboriginal Head Start / Sas Natsadle

PAC Meetings are held each month and we have had a wonderful group of parents coming to the evening meetings.  They have done a lot of fundraising i.e.. bottle drives, Purdy’s Chocolates, penny drives, chocolate roses and a bake sale. Way to go parents. We are holding a weekend to invite the families of those involved in  Head Start to make button blankets.

We have a member from the Association for Community Living volunteering in the center- Thank you to Christine for coming in and volunteering her time.  The children have enjoyed having the BIG green WOW bus (Words on Wheels) come and be part of a stop at NENAS and have circle time on their bus. Thanks for the wonderful experience the children are having.

We have two staff members currently enrolled in the Early Childhood Education programs at Northern Lights College.  We have also had the opportunity of attending some awesome workshops in Fort St. John – How to Grow a Child’s Brain, Kids Have Stress Too, Moccasin Making and Every Child Belongs.
 
Garry Oker was able to come in and share his new CD, Ride, with the staff and children. Gary gave us a presentation and shared his music with us as a well presented story, complete with story boards. The children loved it.  He also shared his Beaver Language with us.  We love having Beaver elders come share their culture, as we are on Beaver territory and respect the territory our Head Start program operates on.
 
Go Karts 4 GirlsN

The “Go Kart for Girls Project” was completed over nine days last summer July 26 - August 7th, and was a great success. Four qualified instructors were hired and delivered the program. This year we will be offering the program again. Go Karts 4 Girls will be starting up the near the end of July or beginning of August.

During the program, each group built a “community” go cart and came together during the last two days of the program to complete a driving school and compete in a community race off. The Community Celebration and Race Off took place on August 7th at the Dawson Creek Encana Events Center parking lot.
 
Each community team had an industry sponsor. This year Team Chetwynd is sponsored by ConocoPhillips, Team Dawson Creek is sponsored by BC Hydro, Team Fort St. John is sponsored by Enbridge and Team Fort Nelson is sponsored by NENAS. 
 

 

Workforce Training will provide industry standard certified occupational safety ticket training, basic computer skills training, certified driver education training to achieve and obtain Class 7 Learners or Class 7 New Driver’s licensing, as well as professional development skills enhancement courses. First time drivers education is important, as having workers who are aware of and who use safe practices on the job is invaluable to industry. It decreases accidents on the job, saves lives and increases work production.

Safety Tickets
To be employed in today’s workforce, a number of certifications and tickets may be required depending on the position. We offer the following tickets: Occupational First Aid Level 1, WHMIS, H2S, ATV Safety, Transportation Endorsement, Transportation of Dangerous Goods, Traffic Control Person, Fire Suppression and Bear Aware.

Basic Computer Training
Today’s world is much different from the days of yesteryear and society has changed as a result of technology. Computer skills and knowledge have rapidly become essential work place skills for a person to possess. Most jobs require a level of computer proficiency. The ability to work with computers has been identified as one of the 9 essential skills for today’s workforce. Job seekers have difficulty in applying for employment if they can’t communicate electronically, as it hinders their chances of obtaining work. It is in a person’s best interest, at the very minimum, to get some basic computer training in order to keep up with the fast pace of today’s work place.

21st Century Communications in the Workplace
Explore communication etiquette when using 21st century communication tools such as e-mail, text messaging, facebooking, tweeting, blogging and video/web/teleconferencing. The inability to communicate effectively with colleagues and supervisors might lead to mistakes that could contribute to poor job performance and missed advancement opportunities. People must be able to communicate with each other on a daily basis to keep the work flowing in an orderly and timely fashion. In today’s fast paced world more companies are using technology. Come see what the latest trends are and how they could help you or your company.

MORE INFO: www.nenas.org | 250 785 0887