CAF Story | The best opportunity
Video / February 02, 2024
Transcript
My name is Emma Bouvier. I am Métis and Cree. I am a Captain and an Armored Officer. I'm currently doing on the job training with the Strathcona’s in Edmonton. My family background is complicated. I’ve always had an idea of my culture and my background, but I’ve never had any guidance beyond just the knowing. When I went to high school in Sooke, I had the opportunity to participate in the First Nations program. I learned about RMC from a friend and the ILOY program from recruiters and after speaking to them, it seemed like the best opportunity. These two spaces were kind of the first place that I was able to see myself represented.
The ILOY program gave me a perspective of my culture beyond what I could learn from school and my family. It allowed me to have the hands-on experience where I was able to participate in traditional teachings and ceremonies and to learn from Elders and my peers about my culture. I was able to find peers that had the same kind of backgrounds and stories and experiences as I did growing up. You have secured income; you have time to focus on yourself, your studies; you have the opportunity to make great friends; you can work on your fitness, and just a year to figure out who you are. I would recommend the ILOY program for people that are looking to take on higher levels of education but maybe don’t know where to start.
While I was in my first year of RMC in the ILOY program, I became pregnant with my son and after kind of deciding what I wanted to do and knowing that a university level education was something that I could pursue and was capable of, I decided to continue at RMC. What is important is my son knowing who he is, his background, his culture, and having the ability to access that in any which way that he finds.
CFB Edmonton has the Defense Advisory Aboriginal Group and they hold monthly meetings and ways to incorporate Aboriginal culture within the CAF. It’s still a part of me that I am learning and exploring and learning exactly what that means to show up and to practice my culture. I would say that my everyday life is a part of me doing that, the choices that I make. There's a lot of time that goes into maintaining the tanks, specifically just day-to-day maintenance, including the tracks, cleaning them, everything like that. It’s the experiences and the people that I reach out to, and I speak to and I learn from them. I have made family through friends and through opportunities that I’ve had. Where I work currently has a plethora of personnel with amazing knowledge and willingness to share.