When you hear the word "commuters", you might think of high-powered business executives heading down the highway from the suburbs to work in skyscrapers in Winnipeg or Toronto, but in reality anyone can be a commuter - even students from Wabowden.
That's thanks to the Summer Students Commuter Project (SSCP), a three-year-old initiative designed to give students from outlying communities the chance to hold summer jobs while experiencing the life of a commuter. SSCP representatives were on hand at the Burntwood Hotel on Aug. 5 to address the Thompson Chamber of Commerce, informing them about the history, goals, and future of the SSCP.
"This program is very exciting," said Charles Nyabeze, who in addition to being a project leader for SSCP is also a community and resource development consultant with the provincial Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs. "The students are definitely very happy," he added.
The program starts with Nyabeze communicating with interested communities and students, often going into schools to talk to students directly in what he calls "almost like a marketing pitch." Though most of the students are skeptical of a program which would see them travel from their community to Thompson five days a week just so they can work, Nyabeze found he was able to interest them more by starting at the minimum wage, then walking the students through calculations to show how much they would make in a day, then in a week, then in the four-week program. "The students really bought into that idea of because they are working somewhere and earning money, then they could do something with that money," Nyabeze said.
Once the program starts, students get a five-day training crash course in what will be expected of them once they start their jobs - not their specific duties, but rather things like employee-employer relations, acceptable workplace language, stress management, things that anybody who has held this type of job before would never give a second thought to. "We talk to them about how to dress when you go to work," Nyabeze said, "if you've been doing it for a long time, you don't think about it. We want to make sure the students are prepared to work in a team environment."
Another issue addressed in training is the idea of financial responsibility - although it was the promise of money that drew the students to the program in the first place, Nyabeze noted that "some of the students have never seen a cheque that big before, we wanted to make sure they didn't go and blow it overnight," adding that some students passed the money along to their mothers or grandmothers.
After the training, students are off to their jobs - there are 11 students enroled in the 2010 program, and this year's employers include Canadian Tire, Safeway, Pizza Hut, Manitoba's Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, and Arctic Signs, which is owned by Nyabeze. As commuting is a significant part of the program, students must be from communities outside Thompson - "this year we've got two communities participating," Nyabeze said, "we've got Wabowden and we've got Nelson House." The students are brought in by taxis paid for by SSCP because, Nyabeze noted, "we didn't feel the students would have the means to pay $30 every day to travel one-way."
"Most students are still learning as they go," Nyabeze admitted, "but you know what? They have knowledge in their heads, and they can put it to practice." He also said that "one of the major goals of this program is workforce development those students you see here, two or three years down the road they might decide to work in Thompson, or decide to work in the communities they came from." At least one student from last year's program has found another summer job for this year, this time in her hometown of Wabowden.
Nyabeze explained that the genesis of the program was at a presentation made by author and economics professor David Foot at the Royal Canadian Legion in 2007, when he told his audience "give youth something to do, or they will tear apart your city." "This program provides students something to do," Nyabeze said, adding that "we need to do things in life that make a difference."
Also speaking to the Chamber of Commerce was Kelly Linklater, one of the students taking part in the program. "My work experience was the best," she said, "it was all worth it in the end." She also said that she was grateful for the friends she had made through her job. "For Kelly, standing up here and speaking to you signifies a point in her life when she did something," Nyabeze said.
Although traveling from Wabowden or Nelson House to Thompson on a daily basis might seem unusual to many, Nyabeze pointed out that in most parts of the country, workers regularly commute over even greater distances than the 106 kilometres between Wabowden and Thompson - "travelling 106 kilometres a day for a job is nothing for most of Canada," he said, using the specific example of Barrie, Ont. to Toronto, a drive which is about the same distance, but because of much heavier traffic, can take much longer to complete, and yet is done by many every day.
"This is really what community development is all about," Nyabeze said. "Some of the students you're looking at here are some of the future leaders here in Thompson and in their own communities. The first thing we taught the students is that if you don't have good business skills, you're dead in the water."
On hand as well were Jean Merasty, acting regional director for Aboriginal and Northern Affairs in the Thompson area, and Freda Lepine, employment and training coordinator for Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), both of whom are helping to lead the SSCP. Lepine was enthusiastic about the program, noting that "it gives the youth experience, it beefs up their résumés, maybe it will lead to them getting another job next summer."
The SSCP is funded through its sponsors, which for 2010 include Vale, MKO, MB4Youth, Manitoba Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, Community Features, and the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation.
