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The
DiversityCanada Foundation, a non
profit organization that promotes
Northern Ontario as a great place to
live and work, and the publishers of
this website, organized an essay
competition called the
NorthONJobs.com Essay Contest to
hear what youth of the region think
about the region. The theme was:
“Why should any youth choose to live
and work in Northern Ontario.”
The contest was open to all youth
between the ages of 16 and 30 in the
geographic region covered by Ontario
Ministry of Northern Development and
Mines (ie from Nipissing and Parry
Sound to Kenora).
From left to right: David
Kilgour, Publisher
of the Sudbury Star,
representing Osprey Media
Group; second prize winner Mary
Brohart; Aime
Dimatteo, Executive
Director of the Northern
Ontario Heritage Fund
Corporation; first prize
winner Dawn
Elmore. Photo by
Kaija Mailloux.
The
winners are as follows:
$1,000
-- First Prize
(sponsored
by the Ministry of Northern
Development and Mines through the
Northern Ontario Heritage Fund
Corporation).
DAWN
ELMORE, 29, grew up in
Thunder Bay and has lived in Hamilton,
Guelph, Burlington, and now in Goulais
River, where her boyfriend was raised.
A weekend visit to his family showed
the couple that job possibilities
existed for them in the area, and they
moved back. Dawn works as the
Executive Assistant to the President
of Algoma University College, and
loves being back in Northern Ontario.
“I’m getting a lot of good, unique
experience that I probably wouldn’t
get in Southern Ontario because there
are more people there,” she said.
Click
here to read the winning essays.
$500
-- Second Prize
(sponsored
by Osprey Media Group)
MARY
BROHART, 30, is originally
from South River and now lives in
Massey. She is currently building a
home and raising two daughters while
being an occasional elementary
school teacher. Her interest in the
essay competition was piqued by an
ad in the paper. “I love Northern
Ontario and thought it would be easy
to write about,” she said. “This is
a great place to raise a family. I
see lots of opportunity for us.”
Click
here to read the winning essays.
$
250 -- Third Prize
(sponsored
by Osprey Media Group)
TARYN
REID, 25, is a pharmacy
student at Dalhousie University in
Halifax. Originally from Sault Sainte
Marie, she plans to return to her
hometown next year after graduation.
She saw the essay competition as a
good opportunity to express her
opinion. “There are a lot of good
reasons to go back to Northern
Ontario,” she said.
Click
here to read the winning essays.
From
left to right: Melina
Schetakis,
honourable mention prize
winner ;
Johanna
Kristolaitis,
DiversityCanada Foundation
writer; Celia
Sankar,
DiversityCanada Foundation
Executive Director.
Photo by Kaija Mailloux.
$ 50
& Membership Card --
Honourable Mention
(sponsored
by Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd,
Sudbury)
(In no particular order)
JENNIFER
MOGG, 27, has returned to
her hometown of Sault Sainte Marie
after working for HSBC Bank in
England. She is very passionate
about the outmigration from Northern
Ontario, suggesting she’s a
“die-hard” for encouraging people to
stick around. “It’s frustrating when
I hear why people moved away,” she
said. “It seems everyone knows there
are no jobs, and the people that are
coming back, it’s because they got
experience somewhere else. It seems
to be the same everywhere.”
MAXINE
CASSAN, 18, was born in
B.C. and moved to Dryden at age six.
She now studies Fashion Design at
the Art Institute of Toronto. When
her mother told her about the essay
competition, she jumped at the
chance to pursue her interest in
writing. “I was thinking about that
topic and about home, and this
seemed like a good way to get it all
out,” she said. “I figured I have an
interesting perspective, coming from
Western Ontario and now living in
Toronto.”
DYLAN
MACDONNELL, 20, was born
and raised in Timmins, and plans to
return. He is currently studying
Chemical Engineering Technology at
Cambrian College in Sudbury.
Students on campus were talking
about the essay competition, and he
decided to get more information and
ultimately submit an essay. “I just
wanted to see how well I could do at
it, to see if I could make it into
the finals,” he said.
Congratulations, Dylan, you made it.
MELINA
SCHETAKIS, 18, has lived in
Elliot Lake her whole life. When she
saw the ad for the essay competition
in her local paper, she talked it
over with a friend and was
encouraged to enter. When she leaves
for Toronto’s York University in the
fall, she will miss the North. “When
you grow up in a place like Elliot
Lake, you go through phases,” she
explained. “There’s the phase where
you want to get away because you
feel isolated. But since last year
I’ve started to appreciate it a lot
more.”
ANNA
RADDON, 30, grew up in
Spragge and now lives in Blind River
with her husband, Jim, and daughters
Grace, Erin and Meghan. The essay
competition was promoted at the
school where Jim teaches, and he
told Anna about it because she looks
for jobs online, hoping to lure back
friends and family that moved away.
Since kindergarten, Anna aspired to
be a writer, and she fulfilled her
dream by publishing “Reflections on
Motherhood” last year; a second book
is in the works. She recently opened
a print-on-demand business and hopes
to help other writers fulfill their
dreams.
TIFFANY
STOW, 30, sees motherhood
to sons Winter (seven) and Noble
(five) as her primary job, but also
enjoys her advertising work with
CJBB 103.1 FM. Inspiration for the
essay competition came when her
boyfriend debated leaving New
Liskeard for work. She was so
inspired, in fact, that she is now
writing a play on similar issues.
“It’s difficult trying to find work
in our fields up here,” said Stow.
She looks forward to the work of
increasing economic and cultural
initiatives in her area to meet
Francophone, Anglophone and
aboriginal community needs.
BECKY
WALKER, 19, has left her
hometown of North Bay for
post-secondary education elsewhere.
Currently studying English at Trent
University, she plans to switch to
Brock University for Applied
Linguistics in the fall. She was
glad her mom told her about the
essay competition because she enjoys
sharing her point of view through
writing.
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