Lessons in leadership as at-risk youth head into outdoors
Teens learning leadership skills through outdoor, cultural activities
Mandy Herman had recently returned to her home community in northern Saskatchewan from Fort McMurray when she crossed paths with an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.
Herman, who lived and worked in Alberta for eight years, returned home to La Loche every month while she was away. She didn’t have a plan to come home; all she knew was that she wanted to come home, make a difference in her community and work with kids, she said.
She left Fort McMurray in December 2015. The following month, a shooter killed four people: brothers Drayden and Dayne Fontaine, then teacher’s aide Marie Janvier and teacher Adam Wood. Seven others were injured.
That summer, Herman saw a job posting for Clearwater Project Venture, which she heard about from a friend involved in a previous Project Venture, which ran in La Loche from 2010 to 2015.
Last July, the federal government announced it would fund Clearwater River Dene Project Venture, run through Clearwater River School and La Loche Community School, for $2.2 million over five years under the National Crime Prevention Strategy. Its focus is on youth at risk in the community, bringing them to the outdoors for activities. It’s based on the Project Venture program originated in the U.S.
Youth have a chance to go hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing, skiing and take part in net-making. At camp, they do their own cooking, cleaning, dishes and wood hauling.
Herman is now the local program’s project manager.
“An opportunity came up,” she said. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make an impact in the community.”
It’s not just her making the program successful, she noted.
“Everybody brings something to the table.”
Ramsa Montgrand was involved in the first Project Venture in La Loche. A recent high school graduate, she’s now a youth worker, passing along knowledge of Dene cultural traditions to the teens in the program.
“It helped me realize that there’s more to our culture,” she said of her own experience. “We need to learn our culture before it dies down, because the youth need to learn, so we can pass it to (future) generations.”
Montgrand said she noticed changes in the youth she worked with as a mentor, getting “more into” the program now that they ’re doing cultural and outdoor activities. At the moment, they’re learning how to fish and work with moose hide and beaver pelts.
Amy Halsall, who is in her second year as a youth worker, said she heard about the program “through the grapevine” and was drawn to the opportunity to work with kids, take part in cultural activities and be outdoors.
The cultural activities offer “a lot of stuff I’ve always had interest in,” she said. “I’ve never been able to do it through school. But through this program, we’ve been doing moose hide for the past two weeks — skinning it, cleaning it, smoking it and making meats or something out of it.”
Some of the students who held back at first have started to come out of their shells and talk to each other, working together to solve their own problems as a group instead of needing an adult to tell them what to door how to do it, Halsall said.
“They figure out their own ways. We just kind of stand by and guide them along the way.”
In a classroom setting, the youth work on communication, team building and problem solving.
“It may seem like they’re playing games, but they’re learning how to communicate and problem solve,” Herman said. There is also an afterschool component where the youth use their teamwork skills.
The youth are also encouraged to share their ideas. In December, they wanted to take part in a Christmas parade in La Loche, so Project Venture had its own float in the parade.
Many of the youth wanted to raise funds to go on a trip, so they’re working on fundraising ideas. The destination doesn’t have to be far away, but she would love for them to experience “our beautiful country and nature’s wonders,” Herman said.
“If the kids want to do something, we adapt it and make it a learning experience.”
We need to learn our culture before it dies down, because the youth need to learn, so we can pass it to (future) generations.