Kim Night, front - second from left, joins E lders and supporters at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the grand opening of the BATC Atoskewin Success Centre. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Indigenous support

New First Nation employment, training centre opens doors

Jul 9, 2019 | 3:21 PM

A million dollar investment aims to open the doors to Indigenous young people from seven First Nations so they have a better chance of accessing employment and training in the Battlefords.

Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs Inc. (BATC) officially opened the Atoskewin Success Centre in a special celebration Tuesday

BATC, which represents Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, Moosomin First Nation, Red Pheasant Cree Nation, Sweetgrass First Nation, Stoney Knoll First Nation, Saulteaux First Nation and Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation, purchased the 12,000 sq. ft. building about 10 years ago. It underwent extensive renovations to house the new facility that features a career/training centre and salon, a family centre as well as a land-based learning component.

“It’s 10 years in the making,” said BATC Executive Director Neil Sasakamoose. “It’s a big achievement for us, the staff and [the community]. It’s a big accomplishment for employment and an opportunity for First Nations youth under the age of 30.”

He said the staff look for people who want to find employment and access training and “have a better life.”

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The entire renovation project was completed by Indigenous young people.

Sasakamoose said the goal of the centre is to make young people more self-sufficient and provide them with opportunities they can use to find work, to support themselves and their families.

The BATC hopes to have about 9,000 Indigenous people represented in business in the Battlefords area.

“It’s been our target,” Sasakamoose said. “We’ve been tracking well.”

“There is a good opportunity for businesses to get involved with this place and become a partner to it,” he added. “Education is the focus in this building.”

Director of Employment and Training Kerry Sasakamoose in the training centre. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

The centre offers classrooms as well as a computer lab for training. It also has a career centre and job board site.

It also provides a shuttle van service to help people access training or employment, including travel out of the province to work sites when needed.

There is also a low-cost beauty salon on-site so clients can look their best when preparing for the work force.

The facility provides a Family Centre as well for parents to use so they can bring their children with them when they come to the the centre for training or education.

The facility also includes a Family Centre. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

“We identify child-care and child-rearing and traditional parenting as one of the challenges our clients face,” Kim Night, the Family Centre coordinator, said.

Organizers worked with elders to design the large family room that includes space for children and their parents to spend time with one another.

“Let’s work together to show our families what love is, to kick residential school in the butt,” Night said of the positive, nurturing environment.

Kerry Sasakamoose, director of employment and training, said the facility will help establish a better “economic footprint” for First Nation communities.

She said as many as about 5,000 people have come through the doors and applied for training or to use the BATC’s services in the past year. Sasakamoose said in the last year 1,060 people were able to access jobs through the centre.

“I hope to say we are doing things right,” she said. “We try to help people figure out what they need.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW