Youth centre opens on Opaskwayak Cree Nation

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Inside the Opaskwayak Cree Nation Youth Centre, the big screen TV pulsates with Prozzak, the music's steady thump punctuated by the clack! of pool balls connecting and ricocheting across the green felt.

The crowd on this afternoon in mid-August ranges in age from about 9 to 15, a mix of boys and girls. Twenty-four year-old Charmaine Sayese runs the canteen, keeps track of the pool tabs (10 cents a minute, or five bucks for an hour), and makes the kids say "please" and "thank you."

With its three pool tables, TV, 10 arcade games and canteen, the OCN Youth Centre is a great place to hang out with friends. But more than that, it's becoming the home base for coordinating a wide range of youth programs and services on Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

Youth employment is one example. The youth centre uses funds from the Work Opportunity Program (WOP), sponsored by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, to train and help find jobs for people aged 16 to 29. Charmaine Sayese's position as canteen supervisor is one of 10 jobs at the youth Centre being funded by the WOP.

The program has also funded jobs within various administrative departments and businesses on OCN, and at the Henry Budd College for Ministry and Cedar Lake Community Futures Development Corporation across the Saskatchewan River in The Pas.

The centre's director, Mike Ross, said the youth centre also expects to send about 10 young people to the Dreamcatcher conference in Edmonton in October. A fundraising effort in partnership with Joe A. Ross School, the K to 12 school on OCN, is planned.

Ross notes that the youth centre building has also opened up fundraising opportunities for groups like sports teams looking to raise cash.

"Instead of the youth centre just donating money, we help them set up their own event," Ross explains, citing the example of a pool tournament held by a soccer team to help fund a trip. Another idea that's worked well is to organize a pay-per-view movie bash on the big screen TV, and charge for the movie, hot dogs, chips and pop.

"Ever since I and other people can remember, we've been trying to get a youth centre going on OCN," said Ross. "But there was no building, no money and no one to get it going."

Those three key elements started coming together late last year. A potential building, an old lumber centre owned by Paskwayak Business Development Corporation, was identified.

A working group that included Chief Frank Whitehead and council began to sketch things out last December. Ross, a youth worker with OCN Employment and Training, was brought on board.

The building was secured and a proposal for $120,000 to renovate it put to the Treaty Land Entitlement Board. The TLE Board then put the proposal to a public vote on OCN. The result: an overwhelming thumbs-up. The grand opening was June 21st, National Aboriginal Day.

Ross notes that there have been a few growing pains since then, like complaints from some parents about the pool table rates. He acknowledges the fees might be too expensive for some families, and the centre is looking into the possibility of a sliding scale. "And we throw in a free game for the regulars now and then," he adds.

Another challenge for the centre at this point is to start bringing the older teens in. So far, Ross said, they just haven't been showing up. "We're looking at different programming, maybe resume writing, looking for jobs, interview skills. I know parents want that. They know their kids don't have experience in that."

Staff from the youth Centre plan to talk to older kids attending the Career and Wellness Fair at Joe A. Ross School on Sept. 13th, to find out what kind of programs they want.

In the meantime, four computers donated by ScotiaBank will be installed soon, and an Internet hookup may be next.

"Maybe that's a way we can get teenagers to come," said Ross. And he's hopeful that the basketball hoops they've ordered will arrive soon - a surefire draw for the older kids.

Ross estimates that abou 70 per cent of OCN residents are 29 and under. With those kinds of demographics, the youth centre is bound to get bigger and better.