Kwalin Dun Health Centre, Whitehorse, Yukon

Arriving in Whitehorse was breath-taking, visiting the native community in Whitehorse was amazing. Going to the health centre, I found the participants and staff very welcoming and eager to hear about the NARMP and the opportunity to encourage youth in Yukon to nominate youth to be Role Models!! I found this presentation to be FUN and was thrilled that there were a lot of questions. I was able to share a DVD, a short documentary of "moi" and tell them about my personal story of overcoming adversities, accomplishments as well as my amazing experiences being a Role Model.

I think the presentation went well, being well received. I hope to come visit again. It was great meeting such beautiful humorous people. Vote for Winston!! Best wishes! You are ALL Role Models. Put Yukon on the map.

It's been an honour to visit with you all. Thank you for your kindness: sharing bannock, banana bread, .....mmmm!

Dialogue for Life V Conference
Montreal, QC

I gave a presentation to the Dialogue for Life participants on December 4, 2007. There were about 18 participants who participated in the presentation. I gave a presentation for about an hour. During the presentation I talked about; who I am/family, where I am currently living, what I do, talked about my goals and talked about why I was at the conference. I explained to them about what NAHO and NARMP were, talked about getting more education, benefits of leaving home and wrapped up the presentation (conclusion). Before I asked the audience if they had any questions about what they heard, I asked 3 questions and gave prizes to those who got the correct answers to my questions. In between the presentation, we played a game known as Ukaliq, tuugaalik and tulugaq. I had several questions from the audience near the end of the presentation. At the end of the presentation, I sang a traditional song (Qaumatillugu Suli) and drummed to it. After I drummed to that song, I invited volunteers to try out our traditional drum (qilauti). There were a couple of volunteers who tried it out. The audience were fascinated by my presentation, in the end of my whole presentation, several participants came up to me and made positive comments about what I talked about.

Community Christmas Feast with Entertainment
Whitefish Lake First Nation, ON

Upon my arrival to Whitefish Lake, I got brought to where I was going to stay in Whitefish Lake. Susan and I took a few minutes to bring my luggage in the house and stayed for only about half an hour. I packed everything that I needed for the presentation and went to the youth center. I got ready half an hour before the youth got there. I set up a table for display so that the youth know who I am, where I come from, etc. Before the presentation, I made sure to tell them that they will have to listen very carefully because I had prizes to give out. In the end I asked them 3 questions about my presentation. In the end, I ended up giving everyone a prize because there were only 7 of them. My presentation was for about 1 hour. At the end of the presentation, they asked me many questions mainly about where I lived and what it was like. I started at 6:00 pm and ended at 7:00 pm. The main topics I talked to youth about was; my personal story, getting an education, what inspired me to get that education, how I got to where I am today, having a healthy lifestyle and encouraging them to reach for their goals. The day I arrived in Whitefish is when I gave a presentation, Dec. 1, 2007 from 6:00-7:00 pm.

The next day, I gave another presentation to the whole community. My presentation was mainly about Rankin Inlet and the origin of our Inuktitut language. There were about 50 people that attended the presentation. Before I did my presentation, we had a community feast. After the presentation, I sang several songs and throat songs and performed for them. There were a lot of questions at the end of the presentation and the questions asked were of mainly the community of Rankin Inlet. After I did my presentation, Susan and two other girls performed for me, and it was like a good bye song. Before the presentation, I set up 2 tables as my display. I brought many things such as; my tuilik (traditional amauti), caribou kamiks, 7-10 Inuktitut CDs, Inuktititut children's books, Inuktitut alphabet chart, ulu, ajagaq (traditional bone game), traditional goggles, ivory and caribou and ivory jewelry and a bunch of other things to share Inuit clothing, jewelry and objects. Overall, I was impressed about the whole entire presentation and the trip. Everyone benefited from the trip, the people from Whitefish including myself. I learned a lot from them also.

National Addictions Awareness Week - God's Lake Narrows School
God's Lake Narrows First Nation, MB

On November 20th, 2007 I flew to Winnipeg, Manitoba on route to God's Lake Narrow's in northern Manitoba to speak with the school children about my life experiences, the importance of education, the effects of Alcohol, drugs, and nicotine have on the body.

Nov 21st, 2007. Flew into God's Lake Narrows and went first to meet the band council and the health committee, then went to the school had a half hour to 45min talk with the grade 5(a) and 5(b) class, then 6(a) and 6(b) class, then the grade sevens. The talks went really well, there were not as many questions as hoped but with some encouragement the kids started opening up somewhat. All of these talks last about the same amount of time, the promotional items were disbursed by myself and then some given to the teacher to give out. Later that night I did a radio presentation with a translator into the Cree.

Nov 22nd, 2007 before heading back to the airport I went and spoke with the grade 8(a) and 8(b) classes in two separate talks then headed to the airport to head back to Ottawa. Before heading to the airport I visited with local elder Madeline Bland and again at the health center.

This experience was very unique and educational not only for the children but for me as well, I would like to go back there in the summer sometime in the future to go fishing.

Louis Riel Day - St. Pascal School
Green Lake, SK

Presenting to the students at the St. Pascal School in Green Lake, SK. was a good experience. The Elder, staff and students in attendance made me feel welcome in their community. I spoke to the students about the significance of the day, the importance of setting goals for your self as well as a history on the Red River Jig. There were over 60 students who participated in the presentation and a number of them participated in the Jigging workshop. The Jigging workshop began with only a handful of students getting up to participate but as the session went on more student gained confidence and got up to learn some of the steps. Overall I enjoyed my visit to the community of Green Lake and the St. Pascal School.

Education Days - Manito Ahbee Festival
Winnipeg, MB

The Manitoo Ahbee Education Days were very exciting. Anna, Carissa and I shared the privilege of running a workshop about NARMP. Our audience was very receptive to our presentations and asked many questions about the program.

Friday morning we were introduced to the entire audience of 1000 and were given a chance to address everyone.

I also took the opportunity to play and sing a song I wrote with each of my four presentations. The song is a reflection of respect and believing in your self. It works in my presentation pretty good actually.

I truly enjoyed my experience and am looking forward to more community visits in the future.

Marsee,
Jordan

BluePrint for the Future - National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
Montreal, QC

It was my first visit with Aboriginal youth in a semi-formal setting as part of the NARMP. I had the opportunity to give a more formal presentation to the audience with another role model, Charlie Tookaluk. There were about 40 youth present.

For this I had a short powerpoint of pictures throughout my life. I talked about how I got involved with the National Aboriginal Role Model Program. I spoke about my experiences starting as a young child to a medical student today.

I brought my electronic stethoscope with me. Towards the end I asked the audience for their feedback on how I could hear a heart beat with a stethoscope, given my hearing loss. It was interesting to see their reaction as some weren’t sure of how to respond.

I had an electronic stethoscope and explained how it helps me hear. I also gave them the opportunity to use my stethoscope. At the end of our presentation many came to listen to hear heartbeats using my stethoscope. Most of them were intrigued by this technology.