WESTLOCK — For more than a decade, the Rupertsland Institute (RLI) has helped Métis people in Alberta with skills training and finding employment and will be providing those services during a stop in Westlock Feb. 7 and March 7.
The RLI, Métis Centre of Excellence is an affiliate of the Métis Nation of Alberta and has 10 full-time Métis education and training information services (MÉTIS) centres across the province and three mobile employment services units. Each centre has employment counsellors and job coaches to assist people with training or finding a job, while each mobile team travels to rural communities with regularly scheduled stops to assist individuals and provide education and employment services.
“The idea of the mobile employment services, also called “Métis Coureur de Bois”, were basically put in place to provide services to Métis citizens across Alberta where we don’t have employment centres and also to attend events across the province,” said director of Métis training to employment, Shannon McCarthy. “It’s basically a mobile employment centre on wheels.”
The Métis Training to Employment program offered through RLI is funded through the federal government.
On the mobile unit, which consists of a driver and an RLI staff member, Métis individuals have access to the services of an employment counsellor or a job coach, as well as to printers and laptops to help with their employment search.
“This just gives Métis individuals an opportunity to come in (to the mobile unit) and be able to get the same assistance that we would provide in an employment centre,” said McCarthy, noting some positive feedback from people who have used the services of the mobile units.
“I think people are just really grateful that something is offered in their community. It’s really important that we reach out to all Métis individuals across the province,” she said. “Also, attending a community event and having the RV there with our staff talking about our programs and services and just being ambassadors for the Métis Nation.”
In today’s tough job market, the mobile unit also provides a way to overcome some of the challenges facing Métis people.
“Being one of the three Indigenous groups in Canada we can face discrimination possibly in the workplace and perhaps don’t have the same opportunities given to us,” she said. “Our centres give Alberta Métis people access to services no matter where they live.”
In addition, McCarthy said RLI provides specialized training projects, funding for post-secondary school and professional development and pointed out the importance of having such a service in rural communities.
“If someone’s having difficulties maybe with their resume or with filling out forms to apply to a university or college, they can come into one of the mobile units and get assistance with that,” she said, noting they hope to continue providing services to Métis people in remote and rural communities with regular, scheduled stops by the mobile unit, re-evaluating them every three months based on needs in the area and if there is “somewhere else that needs attention or where our focus should be.”
“This is part of our mandate, is to serve all Métis in Alberta and this is part of the way we can do that, by bringing our services to Métis in their own communities,” said McCarthy.
