Wendy D.

Wendy is a forty-seven-year-old Indigenous woman, mother, wife and grandmother. She is a member of the Canoe Lake Cree First Nation, located in Saskatchewan, but recently relocated her family to Fort McMurray, Alberta.

After hearing about the Athabasca Tribal Council’s (ATC) Employment & Training department from one of her long time friends living in the Fort McMurray region, Leah reached out. Natalie Cunningham, ATC Employment and Training Program Coordinator, is the one who suggested the Security Guard program as a good start.

“There was great support and really good advice received from Natalie,” said Wendy, “from maintaining the email correspondence and calls when necessary, plus the follow ups along the way.”

A typical day during the course included classes, complete with study guides and computer slides to follow along with the instructor, and class discussions. During the course, she met a great group of individuals that were all in the course for the same reasons: to be trained well and for employability once completed.

“The course was a smaller group of six people and I believe that helped me achieve completion of the course,” said Wendy. “It felt more relaxing.”

For Wendy, the course was informative, with a rundown of security procedures, and how to handle crowds, she learned a lot. Wendy completed her First Aid, CPR and got her H2S Alive certificate, which she said was an eye-opening experience. Wendy was pleased to get the Common Safety Orientation certificate which is a requirement for all worksites.

“The highlight of the program was earning my tickets and showing my children as well,” said Wendy. “This shows them that anything is possible and attainable if you want to try it.”

Wendy is confident that completing this program will lead to good employment opportunities in her future.

When asked what she would tell someone who is thinking about taking the Security Guard Training program or a similar program, Wendy said: “If something tells you that you might want to try it, just go for it, you never know what you can get done when the support is there.”

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