Contact North opens new Access Centre in Attawapiskat
Potential employers check out cadet group that fights crime
Bridging the reading and math literacy gap
Re-thinking Aboriginal social work education
NVIT receives approval to build much needed student housing in Merritt, BC
By Shirley Collingridge
For northerners who want a career that promises a secure future, benefits for their community, and brings out their personal best, now is the time to act.
“We are always recruiting,” said Glenn Trivett, Commander of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Human Resources Bureau. “We are constantly hiring. We have a strong eye to the north and we have always a significant percentage of our recruits that are going there. I am sure there will be an ongoing demand.”
Glenn Trivett, Commander of the Ontario Provincial Police in traditional Ojibway regalia (left) says the OPP has changed his outlook on life.
The OPP, a deployed police service, provides service throughout Ontario to more than a million square kilometres. “We have 183 detachments that are spread out in six regions. We have over 7000 members and 5500 of them are uniform members and then over and above that, we also have approximately 1000 auxiliary officers,” said Trivett.
“We provide a whole variety of specialized services – criminal investigations, search and rescue, emergency response to all police service in Ontario. So we provide the function of a provincial police service like les École Nationale to Quebec and like the RCMP do in the remaining provinces and territories,” he said.
“We certainly have a focus outside of GTA (the Greater Toronto Area) where we still do traffic enforcement,” said Trivett. “We provide the gamut of service in small town Ontario and in First Nations as well.”
“We also have a really strong relationship with the [nine] self-directed First Nations police services in Ontario,” he said.
The OPP is seeking northern recruits in particular. “As the demographics change and the focus of the economy continues to evolve in northern Ontario, we have a very strong need to identify people from the north to police in the north.”
“There are 130 officers in OPP who self-identify as Aboriginal,” said Trivett. “We would like to continue to see the ratio grow, and we are doing a number of initiatives to address it.”
“We try to make sure that we are deploying our Aboriginal members in places they can be most effective,” he added. “Usually that’s someplace that’s connected to their own culture.”
Aboriginal officers bring special skills to the force. “They have a very strong sense of community, he said. “As an Ojibway person, I can speak for how I feel. I think that my Ojibway brothers and sisters in the OPP… bring an understanding of community dynamics, and a historical and traditional commitment to families beyond our nuclear family – an understanding of how all things are interconnected. I think we bring a strong community-policing ideal where we understand, culturally, the need to bring balance in what we do everyday,” he said. “That may mean we understand the value of proactive policing – and at the same time have the strength and a strong sense of discretion knowing when we have to do the tough things that are more enforcement-oriented.”
Officers from the north understand their own communities best, which keeps everyone content. “We get excellent service from people who know the communities and know the lifestyle,” he said. Here they can help communities realize their vision.
Aboriginal officers may face special challenges, dealing with issues that arose from previous government policies and issues. “Because it is a very high paying job in our communities and the communities see a need for strong peacekeepers, officers sometimes feel additional pressure because they have such a strong feeling of commitment, in particular to women’s issues and children’s issues,” said Trivett.
So how does one join the OPP? Recruits must first meet legislative requirements. Criteria includes a minimum age of 18, no criminal record (unless pardoned), a background investigation that indicates good moral standing, grade 12 education at a minimum, and a driver’s license not on probation.
Prime candidates demonstrate community commitment through prior volunteer work. “We are looking for people that have the ability to work as a self-starter [and who have] a strong connection in community – the most important thing,” said Trivett.
“We are partners with a new program that’s geared to a degree program in police studies so we want people that are well educated across a broad spectrum,” he said. “We’re looking for people who have a commitment to continuous learning.”
Training begins with a one-week OPP orientation, then recruits go on to the Ontario Police College for a stringent 12-week training course.
“That’s where they do all the things that all police officers are required to do by law – things like defensive tactics, police vehicle operations, studying the various laws – traffic, criminal, liquor enforcement,” said Trivett. “There are multicultural components. There’s Aboriginal awareness and, ultimately for OPP recruits, they come back here for another four weeks of training that is specific to what the OPP needs.”
Back at OPP, recruits learn the computer system and begin specializing. “There’s more traffic because we have a traffic focus. There are specific things around criminal investigations because of our deployed nature,” said Trivett. “All in all, it is a 17-week experience before they go out on the road.”
Once on the road, recruits undergo a mentoring program with a senior officer where they experience as many facets of day-to-day work as possible.
Some officers undergo culture-specific training. “For the last five years, the Commissioner has supported an annual conference for OPP officers who are Aboriginal, where we have talked about a variety of issues… what our goals are, how to support our communities, giving advice to the Commissioner and her deputy commissioners around those issues – how to support communities that we’re from,” he said.
Also discussed are opportunities in the OPP, succession planning, and unseen barriers to officers giving the most that they can give. Consequently, besides earning excellent wages and providing valuable service in the ranks of a prestigious force, many recruits experience a life-changing journey, affecting everything from lifestyle to education to personal attitude.
Since Trivett came on board more than two decades ago, he has lived that personal journey. In 1985, a much younger Trivett followed his brother Paul into policing services. (Today Paul is police chief of Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service which serves the remote part of Ontario, is accessible only by air and has the largest Aboriginal police service in Canada.)
“I did a variety of regular duties out on the road like everyone else – in crime and drug enforcement and intelligence branch,” he said. At the time, the young man was a Sociology student.
After the first decade, said Trivett, “I was promoted to sergeant and went to First Nations Policing. It provided me an incredible opportunity to learn – unlike any others that I have met. I am just very fortunate that I have had the opportunity to travel with the support of the OPP – all over Canada, meeting Elders, and senior police officers in First Nations Policing. That has brought me a perspective on life that has really changed me as a person.”
“I have been very fortunate to have learned about my own culture in a way that not many can,” he added, “It has given me a strong sense of purpose, both as a police officer and in terms of commitment to anyone who is potentially disadvantaged. It has given me really strong ideas about how to partner with communities in order to effectively listen to them about what their needs are,” he said.
“The experience has made me stronger as a person – a better father, a better husband and just a better person all round,” he said.
If you are still not certain whether the OPP is for you, check out their cadet program - unique to Ontario. Minimum age for cadets is also 18. For more details, visit http://www.opp.ca/Recruitment/opp_001332.html.
Contact North opens new Access Centre in Attawapiskat
YContact North/Contact Nord, Northern Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network, is pleased to announce the opening of its latest Access Centre in Attawapiskat.
The new Access Centre is conveniently located at the Attawapiskat First Nation Education Authority building.
The opening of this Access Centre in Attawapiskat supports local residents to complete secondary and post-secondary education in their community. Residents will participate in their programs and courses using a combination of audioconference, videoconference (where available) and e-learning technologies available at the Access Centre.
The Centre will be staffed by a Conference Assistant who will support local residents by providing technical assistance during their classes and invigilate exams/tests.
For information on the programs and courses offered through Contact North/Contact Nord, please call 1-877-999-9149. Copies of our course guide, ACCESS, can be picked up at the Attawapiskat Access Centre or on our website at www.contactnorth.ca.
“Attawapiskat First Nation is pleased to welcome Contact North/Contact Nord to our community”, said Mike Carpenter, Chief, Attawapiskat First Nation. “Access to education and training opportunities is critical for our future development. It is wonderful that our residents do not have to leave the community to pursue their educational dreams. Thank you Contact North/Contact Nord!”
As Northern Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network established, governed and administered by Northerners, Contact North/Contact Nord’s mission is to increase and improve affordable and equitable access to quality education and training for Northern Ontario residents, to support regional and community economic development and to promote a culture of lifelong learning.
For more information on the Attawapiskat Access Centre, call toll-free at 1-877-999-9149.
Potential employers check out cadet group that fights crime
A cadet group formed to combat crime and gang-related violence on four central Alberta reserves is getting interest from potential employers.
The Canadian Forces, RCMP, Canadian Pacific Railway, Samson Oil and Gas and Peace Hills Trust are hooking up with the Hobbema Cadet Corps to groom future workers.
Richard Huculiak, an RCMP constable and corps instructor, said older cadets will get a jumpstart on employment because they'll be told what kind of high school courses are required for the industries they are interested in.
RCMP personnel will be the first to meet with the 15- to 18-year-old cadets this fall, he said. Next summer, cadets will be invited to attend military camps so they can get a feel for the Canadian Forces.
Huculiak is excited about how the cadet corps is evolving.
``We started out with a small boys and girls-type club to help the kids,'' he said. ``It's now becoming a national business.''
Huculiak expects several other businesses will sign up in the next few years.
``We're going to help the cadets in every way we can, so when they turn 18, they can select five or more of these career paths and walk right in.''
Huculiak said the employment aspect wasn't part of plans for the cadets corps until employers took notice of the program benefits and the potential for hiring quality workers from the Aboriginal community.
``We've got a good group of kids in a disoriented environment,'' he said.
The cadet corps were introduced last November as a way to steer young people away from crime and towards a structured atmosphere.
``We wanted to put them into a positive environment and then provide them with life skills, education, and now the employers are coming on line,'' Huculiak said.
Crime involving young people has escalated in recent years on Hobbema's Ermineskin, Montana, Samson and Louis Bull reserves. Huculiak estimated that 150 drive-by shootings occurred over an eight-month period prior to the program starting.
``The number of shootings is nowhere near that now,'' Huculiak said.
The school resource officer has also noticed a drastic reduction in bullying complaints.
``If they want to be in cadets, they know they have to stay in school, be good and no more bullying. The program has taken a huge dent out of crime.''
Cadets as young as six can participate. The only requirement is that they must be enrolled in school full-time. Most of the cadets who attend are between nine to 12 years old.
Huculiak said 716 youth are on the cadet group's registration list, 450 of whom come out on a regular basis three times a week. About 55 per cent are female.
They are bused to a vacant building the size of almost two football fields. Once inside, they are exposed to drill marching, organized sports and guest speakers. They learn about nutrition, cleanliness and fitness so that they are ``ready to go in mind, body and spirit.'' Huculiak said.
Adult volunteers, including a couple of former gang members, are now instructors.
Bridging the reading and math literacy gap
By Eric MacInnis, B.Ed, M.Ed.
AutoSkill International Inc. is a Canadian software company offering two multiple award winning educational products: Academy of Reading® and Academy of Math® software. Each of these resources is server and browser based, permitting individual schools or whole districts to install this software onto one or more Windows servers and to browse to that server from Windows or Macintosh workstations to run the software.
Although there is no magic wand in education, these products are designed specifically to assist students across the grades acquire core skills and reach grade level, from the most introductory concepts to academic high school entrance concepts. AutoSkill software is found in over 1000 schools in Canada and about 3000 in the United States.
As educators and parents know more students enjoy their work and the more they feel personal satisfaction and pride in their achievements, the more committed they will be to their own progress. With this in mind, Academy of Reading and Math each have an array of built-in motivational features including a selection of animated guides to congratulate students and provide helpful feedback, enjoyable puzzles integrated into their training, printable award certificates for each skill successfully completed, virtual trophies for each completed skill and even a virtual card collection for each skill completed.
Within schools and other educational sites (including a variety of Adult Education settings) having significant numbers of students with low Reading/Math literacy, effective implementation of these Canadian software resources will help students to master the necessary Reading and Math as quickly as possible with minimal time on task. With Academy of Reading, students normally require three to five 20-60 minute training sessions per week and for Academy of Math, although similar time commitments are recommended, gains may be achieved with as little as 30 minutes of time on task per week.
Both Academy of Reading and Academy of Math may be used with one student, small groups, or whole classes of students. Each version has built in pre-tests that are auto-administered to determine students’ current skill levels and will auto-assign individualized training programs based upon these test results. Each software version also has the capacity to monitor and track student progress, make dynamic changes to student training including interventions as required, provide comprehensive reports appropriate to classroom or Special Needs’ settings and administer post-testing. Reports are included by school, by class and by student…right down to the specific errors made by each student.
In the August ’06 issue of eSchool News, results among 1000 responses received to the Readers’ Choice poll Awards for Best Math Software rated Academy of Math as the “Best Software for Teaching Basic Math Literacy”. One teacher quoted in this eSchool News article said this about Academy of Math:
The tutorials are supportive, appropriate in length, and interspersed properly. Placement is accurate. Progress is constantly monitored and reported to students and teachers and is truly individualized with interventions as required… Built-in motivations are on target, too.
Another teacher stated: I deal with sixth, seventh and eighth graders that are behind by more than two years. With Academy of Math, the ability to individualize students’ instruction to exactly their needs is the best.
In a similar November/December ’04 eSchool News survey of Reading software, results among 500 responses for the Reader’s Choice Awards placed Academy of Reading as: Best Software for Teaching Phonics and Phonemic Awareness, Best Software for Building Vocabulary, Best Software for Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), Best Software for Building Reading Comprehension Skills and Best Software for Building Reading Fluency.
Enquires are welcome from schools, school districts and adult educational facilities interested in learning more about the AutoSkill educational software. For more information visit www.autoskill.com.
Re-thinking Aboriginal social work education
nMcGill University School of Social Work has been offering certificate programs in Aboriginal Social Work Practice and Northern Social Work Practice for around 20 years.
There has been a fruitful relationship with the Mohawk communities around Montreal and the Inuit communities in the north of Quebec which has developed a program of courses delivered on campus and in the communities.
These programs have been delivered in English and in Inuktitut and have involved members of faculty from McGill as well as Aboriginal instructors.
The content of previous programs used the life experiences of the Aboriginal students to inform the course content. Although these certificate programs have made an important contribution to developing community workers and combating social problems in the Aboriginal communities, there would be benefits to increasing the numbers of professionally qualified social workers (BSW) who are also members of these communities.
The School of Social Work recognizes that Aboriginal communities are seeking ways out of a culture of externally determined welfare services and that a leadership is emerging which is focused on self-determination and self-governance. It is therefore important that social work education works with Native communities to construct programs that are relevant for the leaders of today and tomorrow.
As part of a wider project to make the programs at McGill University more accessible to Aboriginal communities, the School of Social Work is undertaking a consultative review and redesign of its Aboriginal programs.
Over the next six months, the school will work with researchers in the Aboriginal communities to gather the views of a range of stakeholders – recent graduates of the certificates, the health and social services agencies, social workers in the communities, service users and community leaders. Through the consultation process, the school wants to learn what the communities themselves consider to be appropriate social work education in terms of course content, admissions policies, support for students, location of courses and so on.
The school is committed to providing social workers for the Aboriginal communities who understand Aboriginal culture, who have the experience and the competence to offer psychological support, as well as community organization, child protection and management skills. The results of this consultation will be used to design new programs which we hope can begin during the academic year 2007-2008.
Now more than ever young people in Aboriginal communities need role models who have been able to overcome obstacles to academic success and have been able to take full advantage of a University education. McGill’s School of Social Work is committed to providing that opportunity.
NVIT receives approval to build much needed student housing in Merritt, BC
FNicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT) has received good news from the Government of British Columbia. The Ministry of Advanced Education announced it will provide a $2.4 million dollar contribution towards the construction of a Student Housing Facility at NVIT.
NVIT simultaneously received the required government approval to finance the balance of the project.
Construction will begin in October 2006 with a completion date of August 2007. The new facility will consist of two buildings, each with 32 individual units and four two-bedroom suites (for a total occupancy of 72 to 80 students). This is exciting news for prospective students as there is currently a zero vacancy rate in Merritt which made it extremely difficult for the two-thirds of NVIT's students, who come from outside the Nicola Valley, to find accommodation this fall.
"By building this complex close to NVIT, students have the opportunity to enhance their learning experience," said Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell. "They will also be able to take advantage of the resources and support available to them at the institution."
When NVIT moved to their new campus in 2002, student housing was not a priority. At that time, vacancy rates in Merritt were in the range of 27%. When NVIT became aware last fall that the vacancy rate had dropped to the 3-4% range, it moved quickly to ensure suitable student housing moved to the top of the institution's agenda. "The support we received from staff in the Ministries of Advanced Education and Finance was first rate. Once they realized the situation we faced with the rapid drop in Merritt's vacancy rate, they all came together to support us in getting the project underway in time for students next year. This is wonderful news for our students, for NVIT and for the Nicola Valley," stated NVIT President, Casey Sheridan.
Sheridan also thanked the City of Merritt for its support as NVIT pursued housing. The addition of student housing will have a positive effect on the vacancy rate in Merritt as it will put housing currently being used by students, back on the market. Furthermore, this will provide students the option to live close to the campus, something that is not currently available to students. The City of Merritt's economy is expected to benefit not only from the continued enrolment at NVIT by out-of-town students, but also from a likely increase in enrolment that the Student Housing Facility is expected to generate.
The 72 unit complex will be located on the southwest side of the campus and will have a total project cost of approximately $6 million dollars. NVIT operates under British Columbia's College and Institute Act and is Canada's leading provincially-funded Aboriginal post-secondary institution.