BBMA supports students in achieving education goals, dreams

Greg Berland and Christie-Dawn Ladouceur were two of the 62 Belcourt-Brosseau Métis Awards winners to be personally recognized at a supper and ceremony held at Edmonton’s Mayfield Inn on Sept. 22.

“The grant enabled me to cover costs for my tuition and books as an apprenticing automotive service technician,” said Berland. “Without it I don’t think I could have done it - maybe but at a price and with more financial stress.”

A similar story came from Ladouceur, an Edmonton Métis in her final semester working towards a Master in Counseling Psychology.

“It’s been a lifelong goal of mine to be a psychologist,” she said. “I might not have been able to afford higher education, especially the tuition and book costs.”

Her $6,000 grant from BBMA was enhanced by another grant she received through the Métis Nation Endowment Fund from the University of Lethbridge.          

Berland’s financial sources were also enhanced by his employer, OK Ford in Lac La Biche, in the form of the equivalent of an Employment Insurance rate.

Berland plans to continue with OK Ford and someday own a shop of his own.

A strong work ethic and desire to fulfill his dream are big incentives for the married man with two young children.
”My primary commitments are to my family and my dream,” he said.

Like Berland, Ladouceur obtained extra income working 30-hour weeks for the Métis Nations’ Rupertsland Institute.

“I worked with youth, counseling, education, cultural camps, annual general meetings and so forth,” she said. Her practicum is with Kell’s Counseling in Edmonton. She hopes to remain with them upon completion of her Masters.

“I want to work about three to five years in Métis-driven research with former professors as well as in the Métis community,” she said.

For her it will all amount to a way of “giving back” to her people. She also hopes to go on to achieve a Ph.D.

And, she has a message for aspiring Métis students: “If post-secondary is your dream, it is achievable through the community. It’s not a path you have to walk alone. Had it not been for people encouraging me along the way, my education may not have happened.”

Berland also sees himself as a model for students.

“I feel honoured, proud and fortunate to have received the award,” he said. “It gives youth an opportunity to get a career and to accomplish anything you want to if you set your mind to it.”

In the early 1970s, Métis entrepreneurs Herb and Orval Belcourt and George Brosseau started Canative Housing Corporation in Edmonton. It acquired over 150 houses that provided affordable housing to Métis people. Canative liquidated in 2001. In that same year the trio, in collaboration with Edmonton Community Foundation, founded the Belcourt-Brosseau Métis Awards fund. Their priority was to “create possibilities for Métis students to educate themselves and become successes in their community,” said Orval Belcourt.

Since 2001, the BBMA fund has provided more than 1,000 grants valued at $4.5 million to deserving post-secondary Métis students in Alberta.

This year $532,000 dollars was approved for over 100 recipients.

Caption: Belcourt-Brosseau Métis Award recipient Christie-Dawn Ladouceur (left) with BBMA Communications Coordinator Theresa Majeran.