Success with a little help from friends

Page 33

Sakasteew Transportation Company Ltd. is a familiar busing operation in Fort McKay today, but owner Marie Boucher, 50, said that it took a lot of years and a lot of help from the community, including former chief Dorothy McDonald and current Chief Jim Boucher, to make that a reality.

Born and raised in Fort McKay, she was a stay-at-home mother when McDonald knocked on her door and asked if she wanted to attend college in Fort McMurray, Alta. to get her class 2 licence.

She agreed because she did not want to turn down the chief. At the time Boucher only had her class 4 licence.

"So I said, 'Sure, I'll go for it' and the band paid for my tuition to take a five-week course at Keyano College. It had a lot to do with chief and council helping me financially and supporting me," she said.

Shortly after Boucher finished her program, she began to drive for Fort McKay Transportation part-time as a back-up driver. The one bus company had a contract with Syncrude in the oil patch.

Later Boucher worked full-time with the company. She drove for 11 years on the Syncrude site as a dial-a-bus driver where she transported employees to different locations on site or into Fort McMurray. Eventually Boucher worked as a dispatcher, as a supervisor and then went into management.

In 2001, Boucher finished some upgrading courses and started her own business. Today she has two buses that seat 21 people, another that seats 15 and one that seats seven.

"When I first started working for Fort McKay, I only made $8.50 an hour. Now I pay my workers $19 per hour," she said.

It's been 18 months since Boucher's company began and she now has a contract with Albian, an oil sands plant located 20 km from the community. She also has a contract with a Fort McKay partnership called Muskeg Mountain Ltd. to transport workers from the community to their work areas. And finally she has a contract with Petro Canada.

Boucher has nine employees, seven full-time. Half of her workforce is Aboriginal.

"When my company first started, my gaining all that experience of working for many years came in handy when I talked to the leaders in my community about wanting to begin my own company. They were really happy to help me and to even lend me money," she said.

Boucher said that she likes to drive, but she never pictured herself in an office. But that's exactly where she's been working for the past nine years, in managerial positions and in office positions. Her first goal was to drive a big truck in one of the oil patch plants, but it did not work out like that.

"Just as I was about to start training on one of the big trucks, the dispatcher got sick and they put me in the dispatch office and that is where I began to work, first as an office supervisor making schedules and eventually into management. I learned by on-the-job experience," she said.

Boucher, who got married in June, credits her husband for helping her with her studies.

"My husband really pushed me to get an education. He is always there for me when I need him. He is a Grade 12 graduate himself, so while I was in school anything that I did not know how to do he was always helping me. He was always there for me, explaining what I needed to know, and that really helped. When I felt like giving up he would tell me 'Come on, you can do it. You've come this far and I could never see you give up on anything you've started,' so I also want to thank my husband Mike McLeod," she said.

Boucher said that she is taking her last two years of business courses at Keyano College. She said that she is really enjoying her evening classes in financing, accounting and human resources. She also finished four courses last semester.

"If I continue I will graduate in June, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm beginning to like school so much that I just want to keep going and I want to take all kinds of courses," she said.

"Anyone can do anything if they try," said Boucher. There is nohing that is impossible if you really want to do something. Education is important. It opens your eyes and shows you how to do things and how to go about things," she said.