Westman group honours aboriginal achievements

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/04/2016 (3685 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There was a time Nadine Engmann would rather be partying with her friends, experimenting with drugs and drinking booze than going to school.

On Wednesday, the 20-year-old single mother was honoured for her hard work and dedication at Neelin Off Campus school as part of the Inter-Provincial Association on Native Employment (IANE) Westman’s Champion of Aboriginal Employment awards at the Victoria Inn.

“This award means a lot because it means that everyone sees the hard work and dedication that I’m putting in,” said Engmann, who will graduate with her diploma in June. “It’s the first time I’ve been recognized for anything in my life and it really helps my confidence.”

The self-assured woman, who was wrapped in a traditional star blanket at the awards ceremony Wednesday, wasn’t always so optimistic.

Engmann grew up in Germany before moving to Canada approximately a decade ago.

Her father, a German soldier, met her mother while he was stationed at CFB Shilo in the 1990s.

Through her teenage years in Winnipeg, Engmann found trouble.

“When I first started high school, I wanted to fit in,” she said. “I was skipping school. I was trying to be cool, but it wasn’t cool.”

Then, with circumstances out of her control and her mother away intermittently, she was thrust into a role no teenager should have to take on.

“I had to take care of my siblings for six months on my own,” Engmann said about caring for her then 11-year-old brother and five-year-old sister. “I tried to keep the household together, but I just turned 16 and I couldn’t do it by myself.”

She dropped out of school.

Work, caring for her family, partying with her friends and trying to be an adult became her priorities.

After her mother returned to the home, Engmann moved to Brandon to be on her own.

Initially she spent time couch surfing and partying.

After becoming pregnant, however, Engmann said she knew she had to turn her life around.

“I had my daughter and I realized I needed to get my education and graduate,” she said, adding that she brings her one-year-old to school with her every day. “I knew better. I didn’t want to get in trouble or get charged. I knew I had a future in front of me.”

Today, that future is as bright as her eyes are when she’s talking about her child.

And she hasn’t set the bar for herself low, either — Engmann plans on attending the University of Manitoba next year to get a science degree before applying for medical school.

“I want to be an ER doctor,” she said, adding that even when she was going to school only part of the time, she always had strong marks in science and math. “I’m a little bit of a geek.”

Engmann was one of six students recognized at yesterday’s awards ceremony.

Riley Clarkson (Neelin), Natasha Clearsky (Crocus Plains), James Daniels (Sioux Valley), Sam Jackson (Vincent Massey) and Donovan Demas (Assiniboine Community College Adult Collegiate) were also recognized for their commitment to education.

Demas, 34, said his life was thrown into flux when the company he worked for was sold and he suddenly found himself out of work.

He went back to school this year and will graduate with his diploma in June.

Demas was sponsored by Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, which provided subsistence that allowed him the flexibility to get his education.

“I can’t thank Sioux Valley enough for believing in me and my schooling,” he said. “The hard work is paying off.”

Demas, who struggled with his own demons, intends on going to ACC to take its land and water management course in the fall.

“I used to have a bad problem with alcohol and now I think a lot clearer,” he said. “I was on the other side for a while and this recognition gives me more motivation to continue with my studies. I want to do positive things in my community now instead of what I was doing.”

Several business owners were also recognized.

Giant Tiger’s Curtis Keber, Hair Today Mall Barbers’ Jim Murray, CAA Manitoba’s Eric Sefton and J&R Excavating’s Jason Hayden were given awards for their leadership and commitment to hiring First Nations employees in Brandon.

Hayden, who is Métis, and his First Nations wife, Dawn, have made it a point to hire indigenous staff, employing 90 per cent aboriginals in 2010.

Mark Sefton accepted an award on behalf of the Brandon School Division’s Board of Trustees for “fostering change through championing a culturally responsive workforce.”

» ctweed@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @CharlesTweed