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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 pricked 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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