CaPS Diversity Week Take 2 - Working in Communities

CaPS Diversity Week this semester focuses on individuals working with aboriginal and disabilities communities. Come hear panelists' stories, experiences and tips on how to find work in these commnunities!

A panel on Working in Aboriginal Communities takes place on February 9th and one on Working in Disabilities Communities takes place on February 10th.

Working with Aboriginal Communities (Feb 9th, 2010, 4:00-6:00: Brown, Room 5001)

Are you interested in working with Aboriginal communities? Do you want to work in these communities in the areas of education, health care and/or social services? If so this event is the right one for you. We will have a panel of five guest speakers who have experience working within various aboriginal communities. They will talk about their experiences; their career paths, what they love about what they do and what drew them to working in this area.

Panelists include:

• Alana Philips, Director, CPE Rising Sun Childcare Center
  Alana-Dawn Phillips is a Mohawk woman originally from Kahnawake, Quebec, who has resided in Montreal for over 9 years. Ms. Phillips has worked in the urban Aboriginal community for 15 years. She has studied in Child Studies at Concordia and Public Relations at McGill. Ms. Phillips is currently the Executive Director of the Rising Sun Childcare Centre, an Aboriginal childcare centre located in Verdun (Montreal), she is the President of the Board of Directors of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal, and sits on the Board of Directors of Land InSights (Terres en Vues).

• Maria Constandinou, Teacher, McGill University and ACCESS Riverside School Board
  Maria Constandinou graduated from McGill with a B.Sc/B.Ed in 2005 and began teaching at Aatse Davie School in Fort Ware B.C., one of the most isolated communities in the province.  She worked and lived in the Kwadacha Nation for 3 years.  With a population of just a little over 300, this community school was the heart of the village.  Teaching at Aatse Davie School meant knowing everyone in the village, not only your students.  Maria was the math and science teacher for grades 9 -12, but also taught art, gym, spanish, filmmaking, entrepreneurship, etc.  She had to teach several subjects at once in one classroom, and many times learned with my students.  It was the best three years of her life, and Maria claims that it will probably be the best three years of her career.

• Lisa Fazio
  Lisa Kawisahawi Fazio is 28 years old and grew up in a small town just outside Kahnawake although she spent most of her recreational time on the reserve visiting and spending time with family.  In her adolescence, she spent her summers as a live-in nanny on the reserve caring for her little cousins. She moved to the reserve at age 18 where she currently resides. She graduated from Champlain Cegep in 2001 in social sciences and then worked full-time for 8 years as a manager of a convenience store in Kahnawake before deciding on a new career path. She decided to return to school and study social work at Mcgill in order to help strengthen the community. She is presently a full time student in her 2nd year of study and a part-time frontline worker at the native women’s shelter of Montreal (NWSM). She also plays on the Mcgill women’s field lacrosse team in the position of 'attack'. Upon graduation Lisa plans on working within Kahnawake to improve the health and well-being of her community.

• Erin Montour
  Erin Montour is a Mohawk student  who is in her second year of Social Work at McGill. Previously, she spent 3 years at Concordia University working towards a Specialization  in Psychology. It was through working in the foster care system in Kahnawake that she discovered her passion for Social work and decided to pursue it as a career. During previous summer employment she  worked as an intergration aid for people with disabilities and also created and implemented a mentoring program for at risk youth. In the future she hopes that through social work she can help her community.

• Patricia Eshkibok, Native Courtworker, Native Para-judicial Services of Quebec
  Patricia – an anishinabe kwe - is an urban Aboriginal living and working in Montreal, and is a member of the Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve, Ontario. Since December 1986, She has worked as a Native Courtworker, serving the Aboriginal, Inuit and Metis population in and around Montreal. Patricia is also an artist, designing and making deerhide jackets, jewelry, and stained glass. She has been in films, documentaries, posters. Patricia is also a traditional pow wow dancer, a mother and a grandmother.

• Gregory Michael Brass
  Gregory Michael Brass (Anthropology), BA (UBC), MA (McGill), is Anishnabeg (Saulteaux) from the Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan. He is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University. His research project for his MA was an ethnographic study that evaluated the cultural aspects of a psychotherapy program in a halfway house for First Nations men. His doctoral research is an ethnographic study that investigated the social impacts of cancers in Cree communities in the James Bay region of the province of Quebec. He has two daughters and lives in Kahnawake.

Working with the Disabilities Community (Feb 10th, 2010, 4:00-6:00: Brown, Room 5001)

Working within the disabilities community is a growing field. There are many career paths within this area. This panel discussion will look at four individuals who work within disabilities community; their career paths, how they came to choose this particular area and what they feel are the rewards of what they do. So if you are interested in working in disabilities through education, social work, community work, occupational therapy, speech therapy, counselling,…this event will provide you with lots of valuable inside information.

Panelists include:

• Sacha Bailey, PhD candidate in Social Work
  Sacha graduated from McGill with a BSc in Psychology, thinking that she would eventually go on to graduate school in clinical psychology. Sacha got a job as an educator at a small non-profit organization, working with adults with intellectual and developmental impairments as well as dual diagnoses. Her role was to facilitate community and workplace integration. Sacha fell in love with the work and decided to pursue a job at a large rehabilitation center, working with the same population. This work inspired her to affect change on a larger scale, and so she applied to come back to McGIll for a degree in Social Work. During that time, Sacha discovered a love for research and policy and decided to pursue a PhD in Social Work, focusing on parenting of children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

• Gordon Dionne, Access Services Advisor, Office for Students with Disabilities, McGill University
  Gordon Dionne is an Access Services Advisor in The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) of McGill University. Gordon is a Psychologist and has been an Advisor in the OSD for five years, prior to which he was a Career Advisor in the Faculty of Management

• Liz Scully, American Sign Language Interpreter
  Liz is an American Sign Language-English interpreter and trainer working in the Deaf and Deafblind communities for more than 20 years. Liz has interpreted in 21 countries over 5 continents, including coast to coast in Canada and the USA. Liz has held board positions in Canadian and the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters. After authoring an ASL-English Interpreter Training Program in which she taught in Ontario, Liz has since also taught in the interpreter undergrad programme at the University of Bristol, England, where she is currently completing an M.Sc. in Deaf Studies.

• Paige MacDougall, PhD candidate in Anthropology
  Paige MacDougall is a doctoral Candidate in Anthropology at McGill University.  Her fieldwork was carried out in a remote Yucatec Maya community in Mexico.  The situation for deaf people in this community is exceptional in that both deaf and hearing people use sign language regularly, thereby enabling full social participation for deaf people.  The situation draws attention to the role that communication plays in social alienation, and makes explicit the impact that social labeling has on disabled, indigenous, and minority groups in general.  Paige has a long-standing interest in disabilities and has done volunteer work with autistic children, adolescents with learning disabilities, and with deaf children.  She did her Honors BA at McGill in Anthropology and her Masters degree at Concordia in Anthropology as well, specializing in globalization. Over the course of carrying out her fieldwork for two years in Mexico she founded a non-profit organization called “YUCAN make a Difference AC” which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for vulnerable peoples. Paige is a student with disabilities.

• Patrizia Ciccarelli, Principal, Mackay Center School

Registration through myFuture. Click on the "Events" tab, followed by the "Workshops" tab. Keyword search "Diversity."