TORONTO – Six Junior Canadian Rangers from the small Northern Ontario town of Pickle Lake were impressed by a brief visit to Toronto for an indigenous career fair.
“The career fair left them realizing there are a lot of things they’d never thought about,” said Master Corporal Brent Labine, a Canadian Ranger and a school teacher in Pickle Lake.
The fair was held at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto and provided information on a range of career possibilities offered by potential employers, including banks, law firms, indigenous agencies, and others. Numerous educational facilities also had information desks.
“The Junior Rangers literally talked to everyone at the Centre,” Master Corporal Labine said, “and everyone talked to them.”
The Junior Canadian Rangers is a Canadian Army program for boys and girls aged 12 to 18 in remote and isolated communities across Canada. Canadian Rangers are part-time army reservists.
The six Junior Rangers, aged 13 to 16, go to school and live in Pickle Lake, which is located on the most northerly section of paved highway in Ontario and has a population of about 400. The six are all members of the nearby Mishkeegogamang Ojibway First Nation. Thunder Bay, the nearest large city to Pickle Lake, is 540 kilometres to the south.
The Canadian Rangers had an information desk at the career fair. It was manned by Master Corporal Labine and Ranger Corporal Kayla Blakney, who is also a teacher in Pickle Lake.
While in Toronto, a first for four of the Junior Rangers, they were able to visit two of Canada’s largest malls, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and the downtown Eaton Centre, and Dundas Square, a crowded downtown public area where street artists provide a range of free entertainments. “They sat there in Dundas Square in utter awe at the immenseness of the surrounding area,” Master Corporal Labine said.
Being at the career fair and in Canada’s largest city had an impact on the Junior Rangers, he said. “It was a really good experience and it gave them the opportunity to understand a lot of what we’ve been telling them for so long, that there’s so much more out there if they are prepared to put work and effort into their education. If they do the world can be their oyster. They wee able to see that there’s a whole world out there, outside the North.
“Despite some bad weather they enjoyed themselves and I know they learned from the trip. It was a big experience for them.”
The Junior Rangers were: Dorian Both, Mikael Bottle, William Bottle, Jordan Macklin, Grace Panacheese, and Autumn Richards.
(Sergeant Peter Moon is the public affairs ranger for the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group at Canadian Forces Base Borden.)
