UW Gazette, January 22, 1997
     
     This article by psychology co-op student Tammy Arndt
appears in the co-op department's "invitation to
interview", sent to employers at the beginning of this
term, and is reprinted here by permission.
     
     Cold, desolate and barren is probably all that comes
to most people's minds when they think of the James Bay
Area. For Mary Ingram and Maggie Bowman, thinking of James
Bay brings back wonderful memories of Nemaska First Nation
- the Cree Native Reserve in northern Quebec where they
spent their last co-op work term.
     Both women are third year Recreational Studies
students who worked for Moir Management Systems, Inc. and
managed to pack an amazing amount of work into a short pe
riod of time. Because of their remoteness and the fact that
they company they were employed with was rather small, the
students had a tremendous amount of responsibility with
minimal supervision. One of their main projects was to
implement a complex community "wellness" program teaching
the importance of mental and physical health to the Cree.
For six weeks they ran community recreation events for
people of all ages - basketball, aerobics, and walking to
name a few.
     While they continued with community recreation,
another major task was to design and run a children's
summer camp - a concept never seen or heard of before by
the people of Nemaska. Facing cultural and language
barriers, not to mention geographical isolation, Mary and
Maggie had to devise a program that was acceptable to the
Cree, order supplies into Nemaska on a schedule, and get
the whole camp running! Their program included educational
themes (Discovering Your Senses), sports, arts and crafts
and nature. They even went so far as to write up letters to
the children's parents suggesting proper lunches, supplies
needed (hats, sunscreen etc.) and other items to continue
to promote and encourage wellness.
     Throughout the term Maggie and Mary learned much about
the Cree - their culture, some of their language, and even
their prejudices about Southern Ontario white people. "The
Cree are very reserved. It was difficult to orient
ourselves to their norms, their customs and the way they
interact." Although they admitted the work term was tough
sometimes, it had many benefits. "From a job perspective,"
Mary said, "it was beneficial because there was so much
responsibility, yet a lot of autonomy. Our supervisor did
not live permanently in Nemaska," Maggie added. "On a
personal level, when people ask it's hard to explain in a
few sentences what the whole experience meant to us."
     Mary and Maggie also recounted how they went to Old
Nemaska, a camp only accessible by water where many of the
older generation grew up. The Cree were asked to relocate
because Old Nemaska was to be flooded as a result of the
James Bay Project. Since this has not yet happened, they
meet every summer at Old Nemaska for a get together.
Attending the camp left a big impression on Maggie and
Mary. They described the looks of happiness and contentment
on the faces of the older people who had grown up and lived
in there, as well as their excitement and joy of meeting
with family and friends every year.
     During their work term Mary and Maggie not only gained
experience in their field of study, they also acquired a
new perspective on Native issues, the damaging effects of
prejudice, and how hard two cultures must work to
understand each other. It will surely be four months they
will never forget!