"I took this course in JRT (Job Readiness Training). It was a 20-week program and that gave me a good scare. It taught me what are my values, what are my goals. I never knew my values or goals before. When the fish came in I had a job or I had a berth fishing or I worked in construction. I
always had my stamps, and that's all I really thought about. When they asked me to put my long-term goals on paper, I didn't know what to put down. Then I said, 'I don't really know myself. What would I like to do, what are my capabilities and what are my limitations or whatever?' That was hard to deal with. All I've known how to do is manual labour."
"I got a back condition and that threw something into it for me. If you hired me now as a technician, I'd be gone the same day. Labour work, I'd be there forever, but I can't now because of my back condition. I'm not a hundred per cent like I used to be. I do have limitations now. I have to seek a goal, a career, which I never had in the first place, only just general, seasonal work."
"I got to readjust and start all over. I'm trying to discover what I like, and I find that hard. I will be the first to admit that you need education this day and age for today's technology. The unskilled jobs are gone and you have to be educated to be employable. The more educated the more employable is what I learned. I realized then I'd rather take ABE at the bottom of the ladder and work my way up."
"From Kindergarten to Grade 8, I was doing pretty good. Grade
9, the first year, I was right up there. The people my age now are finished
school. They all got university degrees. They're teachers, or social workers,
nurses, doctors. I would've been the same way if I never just took this
wrong road that I took. That's what did it for me."
"My idea was to take carpentry next year and then a two-year course in
adventure tourism. Say, if you owned a resort, I would be looking for
a job. You'd be hiring me two for one, because I could be your handyman
plus have that two-year program under my belt too."
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