Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Tiny Homes, Big Dreams

A program by CLAC Training in Saskatchewan is empowering First Nations communities through construction by training and mentoring Indigenous students

By Alison Brown

SASKATCHEWAN IS A GEM OF a province. With its wide open skies promising big possibilities, it’s truly the crown jewel of the prairies.

Woven within Saskatchewan’s cultural tapestry are 70 First Nations, which make up 17 percent of the province’s population. Located on the reserve lands of Muskowekwan First Nation, the former Muscowequan Indian Residential School—one of the last-standing residential school buildings in Canada—serves as a stark reminder of the atrocities committed to our nation’s Indigenous peoples.

Not far from that sombre landmark, the Touchwood Agency Tribal Council Pre-Employment Support Program—which serves the Day Star, Kawacatoose, and Muskowekwan First Nations—has been acting as a construction site where 12 Indigenous students have built four tiny houses for each community of the council.

The tiny homes are not the beginning of the story nor the end.

In January 2024, CLAC Training in Saskatchewan launched a program in collaboration with the Touchwood Agency Tribal Council Pre-Employment Support Program to empower Indigenous communities through construction by training and mentoring Indigenous students. It started with renovating a band office in Muskowekwan. From there, the students have been renovating homes for those in need as well as building brand new tiny homes, with the communities deciding who the homes will go to.

Through hands-on training and mentorship, the students not only learned construction work, but also gained essential teamwork and leadership skills. At the end of the program, the students will get safety tickets and invaluable employability skills, which will prepare them to pursue careers in the construction industry.

Their futures, along with their mentors’ dreams for them, are as limitless as the sky that stretches over Saskatchewan.

From program instructors and managers to the students themselves, here are some insights from participants in this unique and empowering project.

Phil Polsom, Representative, Saskatchewan Member Centre

My heart has led me to working with Indigenous people and the communities they live in. The more I work with them, the closer and deeper into my heart they grow. My dream is to make a real difference. Every day, I want to do more.

Our program is developed to not only create opportunities in the trades, but also to create change and hope with each person we come into contact with. I have been honoured to have been invited into the most personal of spaces as well as invited to take part in very sacred ceremonies.

I was standing in a home we were renovating for a family in need in Kawacatoose First Nation talking to a young woman who had lost a brother two years ago. There was an incident at our program where a new student had a seizure, and that brought back the trauma of her brother passing from the same thing. My heart broke when she shared the story about how a couple weeks after her brother had passed, she was still struggling, and someone told her to “get over it. It’s just another dead Indian.”

Can you imagine the pain of not only losing someone close to you, but hearing that message? And now imagine that you have no opportunity for support, counselling, or even immediate access to healthcare professionals, so you must make your life move on. I am not sure where they find the strength.

With tears in her eyes, she told me how desperately she needed this program and how much I was changing her life. The young woman that day was wrong. I am not changing her life; she is changing mine. When you look past the rough edges, the despair, and the pain, you see a real person who is crying for real change.

So, when people ask me what motivates me? She does. Each student, each community I enter, each chance we get to bring change. These tiny homes are changing the lives of the students.

Someone asked me why we’re taking on such a monumental project for young people who have never done anything like this. My answer is simple. I believe in every single person who comes through our programs. I tell them something they don’t ever get to hear: “I believe in you. I know that you can do anything you set your mind to, so I’m going to challenge you with the biggest mountain to climb. That way, when you are done, you will be able to say that you built a house, so you can do anything.”

The program gives them hope and a chance to believe in themselves. If you are never valued and never told you matter, if you are never told you can do anything, you will never believe in yourself. These tiny homes are changing that.

A couple of students who had never textured a ceiling in their lives did all the ceilings in both houses by themselves. It was a beautiful job.

When I congratulated them on a job well done, they downplayed it. So, we had a chat. I reminded them that they had never done this before, the job was done beautifully, and no one but them would find the flaws. I reminded them that there are flaws all around us, but sometimes there is beauty in the flaws. We learn the most from those flaws.

I am blessed to be able to deliver opportunity, change, hope, and a few new homes to some very amazing people. It’s incredible what these students have accomplished. They just needed someone to believe in them.

That is where the real power of change comes from: belief!

I am deeply grateful to Harvey Bitternose and his team for allowing us the opportunity to do this program with them.

Brandon Bitternose, Program Student, George Gordon First Nation

I like doing trusses, I like climbing around, and I like doing the framing on this project. I would tell people interested in this program to just go for it and have fun. Make some friends. Everyone here is good people.

Derek Jacobson, Program Instructor, Local 15, PCL Builders Inc.

I work for PCL Builders as a carpenter and concrete finisher and have been pulled in to help teach these programs. I travel about an hour each day from Regina to come here and teach the students.

It’s been a lot of fun. You get to see the students build and grow.

First, we did a couple of renovations at a band office. Then we did some demolition, some suspended ceilings, and painted floors. Then we did renovations on the Kawacatoose First Nation: drywall, fixing holes, new floors, paint, and cabinets. Now we’re here building tiny homes.

One thing I like about construction is you get to see what you’re doing; you’re getting to see something built or finished. Complete. And then that can benefit someone in the community, like a hospital, a stadium, or tiny homes for people in the community.

Jordan Whitehawk, Program Student, Day Star First Nation

I love doing general labour on the site, moving around, and being outside. It keeps me active. I’d really like to pursue construction after this project. I think it would be the best course of action for me. I think I could manage it and do it fairly well.

It’s nice working on the project, feeling like you’re making a positive contribution, and doing something tangible for them like giving them a house. Hopefully, these homes will have a positive impact in the community.

Harvey Bitternose, Pre-Employment Support Program Manager, Touchwood Agency Tribal Council

My job is to train people and get them work-ready. I work with a lot of low-income families, families on social assistance, people with no experience in the job market. I get them work-ready and get them prepared to find employment, move on to education, or find jobs for them.

I have to thank Phil for coming on board with us and working on these projects with our communities. He’s helped find employment for some of the people I work with. One of the struggles is getting people to leave the First Nations, because there’s not many jobs out there.

This group of students are so successful. They came in with very limited experience, and they’re walking out with experience under their belts.

Before the students go on the work site, we bring them into a classroom setting for two weeks. We teach them how to budget, time management, safety codes. We provide all the personal protective equipment and get them as many tools as possible. We do everything we can for them.

If they want to go work in the mines, or do carpentry, we get them all the safety tickets they need. Some of them didn’t know how to work a circular saw before they started this program, and now they’re experts at them.

I love seeing the smiles on their faces. They’ve come a long way.

I never take holidays and could work 24/7 if I had the chance. I like doing the programs and seeing the success of the students, especially the ones with the tiny homes project.

Austin Akan, Program Student, Muskoday First Nation

I’ve been a water truck driver and an educational assistant at a Muskoday school for six years before this project. I heard about this program from a friend.

What’s great about this program for the community is knowing they have workers who are willing to work. I really liked learning how to install windows on this tiny home, because they’re all custom made.

If one of my friends or family members wanted to join this program, I would tell them straight. It’s not easy, because you’re waking up early. And make sure you have something to eat because you lose energy fast. But the people you work with really make it fun.

Natasha Longman, Program Student, George Gordon First Nation

Before this, I worked mostly in retail, but I took construction back when I was in high school. I had kids young, and now that they’re older, I’m able to get back into carpentry.

I got to learn a lot on this project: flooring, drywalling, painting, installing cupboards. I like that this home means someone can have more stability in life.

After this, I want to be a journeyman carpenter. I’d recommend this program to anyone because it’s fun, you really learn a lot, and you have good instructors. They really help you along, even if it’s not related to work. They’re really there for you when it comes to mental health or anything else that’s going on in your life. They understand.

Matthew Thorn, Program Student, Pasqua First Nation

Before this program, I did construction. I helped build some houses for my reserve on Pasqua. I was also a gas jockey on Pasqua and did a little bit of work for Hiring Hands in Regina.

My auntie works for Labour Force Development at the Saskatchewan Indian Training Assessment Group, and she let me know about this program. So, I sent them my resume, and they ended up calling me.

It’s pretty exciting to be building something that a community member is going to be living in afterward. I’d recommend this program to my friends and family because you meet some cool people, and everyone is so nice. It’s 100 percent something I would recommend.

Shanika Littletent, Program Student, Kawacatoose First Nation

I worked as a waitress before this program and was also an exterminator.

I like being able to see the work I’ve done afterward and admiring my work. I enjoy learning new things and being proud of what I was able to accomplish.

This program is bringing us together, the young generation. And younger people in my community—young girls—tell me they look up to me because I’m building houses. I’m the only girl they know that’s in the construction world.

It’s been amazing to have the communities come together, put our minds to it, work together, and build something. I really enjoyed putting up the drywall, and especially painting. I loved learning everything; sometimes you learn faster when you ask someone for help! When we started, we were asking the instructors a bajillion questions, but it’s so hands-on, and you learn as you go.

I think construction would be an awesome career to go into, being able to build something and admire your work afterward.

Dylan Esperance, Program Student, Day Star First Nation

I did flat roofing for four years before seeing a job posting for this program. One of my favourite parts of this project is probably framing in general—making walls and floors, floor joists.

6 Saskatchewan Fast Facts

Canada’s flattest province is the easiest to draw and the most fun to say! Here are some more facts about the “land of the living skies.”

The name Saskatchewan comes from the Cree word kisiskâciwanisîpiy, meaning swiftly flowing river.
Per capita, Saskatchewan produces the most NHL players compared to any other province—including Gordie Howe, who hailed from Floral.
Daylight savings? Never heard of it! Saskatchewan is in the central time zone and is the only province that doesn’t adjust their clocks twice a year.
You can float without effort in the mineral-rich Manitou Lake, located in the eastern part of the province, which is three times saltier than the ocean.
Saskatchewan is home to some of the world’s most important dinosaur fossil sites, including the remains of the world’s largest tyrannosaurus rex. You can visit Scotty the T-Rex at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.
In what is probably the most Saskatchewan-sounding event ever, in 1929, a Roughriders playoff game was delayed when a referee tripped over a gopher hole and was knocked unconscious.

Sources: hikebiketravel.com, thehockeynews.com