A few of the La Loche area’s calls have been answered by government.
Clearwater River Dene Nation’s chief says both the province and feds have been attentive to the needs of their youth since the January shootings, in which two educators were killed while in school and two teen brothers were killed at home.
Now, Chief Teddy Clark says he’s gotten confirmation that $1.5 million of federal funds will go towards a youth and education centre on the reserve, and a youth mentorship program will be reinstated.
“You go back to January 22nd, that’s a day that I don’t think anybody will ever forget. It kind of woke a lot of people up and said ‘look we need to do something,'” Clark said.
Clark talked with both Premier Brad Wall and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and advocated to reinstate Project Venture.
The program is focused on empowering First Nations youth, and Clark’s own daughter participated in the three years it ran before being cancelled.
“I’ve heard nothing but good stuff,” Clark said, adding that La Loche area youth are in a Project Venture video that’s shown across Canada and the United States.
Now, he says there will be six positions shared between the town of La Loche and CRDN.
“It is a big deal for both communities when jobs like that surface,” Clark said.
“There’s high unemployment rates in both communities, Clearwater and La Loche is very high. When the oil patch got hit it got harder because there was a lot of people working over there.”
Clark expects a contract to be signed in the fall to firm up five years of funding for Project Venture.
The second big investment, a youth centre, will take a lot more work to see through to completion.
They plan to have a common area and exercise room as well as hosting distance education classes and having mental health services available there as well, Clark said.
“We might have to put some in kind on our part. We might have to raise a few extra dollars to actually make what we want,” he said.
Clark says in more than a decade as a councillor and three years as a chief, he’s had the goal of having a safe place for young people to gather.
“We have a number of challenges up here, and I’m sure a lot of people know a lot about that and it’s pretty much everywhere,” he said.
“This gives them a sense of ownership and a place to be, rather than just walking down the street or thinking of ‘I’m gonna do this’ or ‘I’m gonna do that.’ We’re hoping to get them away from that and steer them in the right direction.”
It can be a meeting place, not just to meet with their peers, but to meet with elders.