Fallon T.

Fallon is a 36-year-old from the Neskonlith Indian Band of the Secwepemc Nation of British Columbia. From reading a Facebook post made on the Athabasca Tribal Council’s (ATC) Facebook page about the Security Services program, Fallon was able to register and participate in this program.

ATC’s Project Coordinator, Natalie Cunningham, was Fallon’s coordinator during this program. “Natalie went above and beyond any worker I have dealt with, she made sure everything was going according to plan and was very helpful and she made sure to check up on me,” said Fallon.

She said a typical day was, “A lot of reading. The course included safety tickets, for CSO, H2S Alive and Standard First Aid Level C, preparing us for any on-site jobs we run into.” Fallon was surprised that everything in this program was new to her, she had never done any energy-specific training.

When asked what the highlight of the program was for Fallon, she said: “Passing! It felt like such a long journey because it was an online course and I had to be committed and disciplined in order to complete it but when I finally crossed the finish line I was able to finally take a breath of relief knowing I could move onto the next phase of getting a job in the field. It was great that ATC helps you with getting a job too! This course even had a company ready to hire graduates!”

For Fallon, attending this program has led to employment with GardaWorld. As soon as she finished she was eager to find employment. “As soon as I submitted and I can get boots and everything, I will be heading out to work as they’re looking for workers in this field all the time which is good considering the hard times we are going through getting everything started back up,” Fallon said.

When asked what she would tell someone who is thinking about taking the Security Service program or similar program, Fallon said: “DO IT! It was a different experience. I met some beautiful ladies who are now my friends and soon to be my colleagues and I can’t wait to be in this line of work because I’ve only been in the service industry which is great but very hard to make a career out of.”

Indigenous Security Guard Program is funded by Service Canada and the Government of Alberta – Indigenous Relations and administered by ATC. GardaWorld is the hiring partner.