Rebecca Kudloo's phone rang. Canada's Governor General was on the other end
CBC
The phone rang in Rebecca Kudloo's home in Baker Lake on Thursday. When she answered it, she found herself speaking to Canada's Governor General, Mary Simon.
"I just want to thank you for all your work in advocating for mental health in your community, as well as in other parts of the Arctic, and for the rights of Inuit women," Simon told her, first in Inuktitut, then in English.
Simon set up the surprise call because of the 35 years Kudloo has spent running the Mianiqsijit counselling service in Baker Lake, and because of her work with Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, a national non-profit aiming to bring awareness to the needs of Inuit women.
As an advocate and president of Pauktuutit, Kudloo said she has travelled widely to other Arctic areas — Alaska, Greenland, Finland and more — and spoken at the United Nations about Indigenous issues.
"That's how you get people working together across the globe, especially Aboriginal people," she said.
She said one of her greatest achievements with Pauktuutit was finally securing funding for five shelters, after 35 years of asking.
"It's not always easy ... but nothing worthwhile is easy," she said of the work Pauktuutit does.
As for Mianiqsijit, Kudloo said the service works in all areas of family violence, including with offenders.
"This proves that this kind of counselling works in small communities, and it's been a model for other communities, too," she said.
"We look at things holistically — we can't just [work in] one area, we have to look at the whole family."
Simon said she sees the work Kudloo has been doing as a "very critical element of our wellbeing."
The idea for the call sprang out of a holiday segment from CBC Ottawa, which approached Simon to call up another Indigenous advocate to thank them for the work they've done.
Simon's hope was to inspire Canadians to ajuinnata — an Inuktitut term meaning a vow to never give up.
She and Kudloo both offered their thanks to the volunteers and staff at Mianiqsijit and Pautuuktit as well.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.