b'speaker spotlight no fire department. I had a fire hall,bonded, we united, [and there was an and I was the one that rallied up theunderstanding that] were not alone. volunteers, and years later, we wereIts such a good feeling.successfully helping with the Fort McMurray wildfire. We busted ourCM&E: backs to help that community, and weWhat advice do you feel we did a hell of a job theresohave for youth hoping to make a thats the volunteer side. change in their own communities?My career then took me to beingMEL: First thing I want youths to Chief. Being the Chief of one of theknow is theres help out there. Dont top five First Nations in Canada gavehold things in. Whether its bullying, me a vast amount of experiencecyberattacks, not getting along at dealing with government, federalschooldont hold things in. Talk to government, industry, coalitions ofyour parents. Talk to your Elders. Talk governments and so on, and I believeto counsellors. Get help; there is help. that theres some good advice that IPeople will listen. Apart from that, set could share with potential Chiefs, andgoals. Look at the various fields of work even government or industry. out there and pick something, whether And the fourth is related to the firstits a doctor, a janitor, a labourer or a partgrowing up as a young personheavy equipment operatorpick a in a harsh community, there havecareer and chase that. Dont give up, been a lot of things we had to face,[because] you could be whoever you and so I also talk about mental health,want to be.because we, in the community, are also second-generation survivors ofCM&E: What do you hope is residential schools. a takeaway for your attendees from those presentations?CM&E: Do you have one MEL: topic that really resonates with What I hope they take away is, Lookthat guy, growing up, CM&E:you personally? supposedly in the richest place in What topics do you usually cover in your keynotes?MEL:Canada, [he] had a tough life, but look The mental health of theat what hes done. Hes experienced MEL:community, and the mental healththings. He was ableduring all thisto Ive got four categories thatof men. Ive found that taking the I talk about. forefront in some of my talks, becausepush himself through school, dealing I spent a lot of years working ongrowing up in a community, a numberwith depression and anxiety, PTSD. At myself, growing up in Fort MacKayof us children were abandoned, andthe same time, he did it.and experiencing the growth, thebeing abandoned as a child really Im also going to ramp up talking traumas, tribulations of growing uphas a lot of detrimental impacts about some of the tools that are in that community. So, I pass on myon people.helping me cope today. I have a experience of growing up in a harshpsychologist that I work with. I have a community and what it taught meCM&E:doctor. I do family counselling. Ive got about the value of education and theHave you had atherapy. I work with the Elders. I sing importance of goal setting. I wentfavourite or most memorable singlemy drum. Those are tools. Im hoping to NAIT [Northern Alberta Institutespeaking engagement to this point? that whether it applies to healing, of Technology] when I was 17 yearsMEL:education, community service and old, and I always pursued my career.I did one recently in Forteven being the Chief, thats something I then went right into the plant site Chipewyan. The forum was calledI could bring that would help them.Healing Fort Chipewyan, and I went industrial works. I was very fortunateup and facilitated a healing circle.I just want to share my experiences to go back to my community and doI was kind of the lead, spoke of myand hope that [my audiences] can take a bunch of residential construction. Iexperiences, and it was touching.something away. I really look forward did water and sewer, I did commercialIt was hard at times, but it felt veryto meeting people across Canada and buildingso thats my career side. rewarding. We talked about what Icreating that big network, and I just The second part I talk about is the firewent through, and what they wenthope I can help somewhere downdepartment. We went to a communitythrough, and it was almost like wethe road.14 CORPORATE MEETINGS & EVENTS corporatemeetingsnetwork.ca'