Carcajou, an army program
open to Indigenous people across Canada,
recently took place in Valcartier, Québec.
Today, we're joined by Master Corporal Laurence Séguin,
recruiting assistant for Carcajou,
and some of this year's participants to tell us more.
The Carcajou program is a basic military qualification
that involves Indigenous culture.
The program is six weeks long, during which time
the youth develop leadership,
discipline and self-confidence;
subsequently they can return to the community,
without remaining in the Canadian army,
or choose to remain with us.
What is also nice is that we can grow up in a community,
but sometimes we do not involve our culture.
So, during the six weeks, the youth are accompanied
by Indigenous consultants.
They even get to participate in powwows.
They will also have the chance to experience a cultural week,
as well as other activities over the weekends,
which will let them return to their roots
and reconnect with their culture.
They go from the Culture Camp
to the cultural military training again,
as there are Indigenous consultants
who will be with them until the end of the course.
It starts the first week;
we had the chance to participate in a cultural week.
Then, we had the chance to go to the museum in Wendake.
After that, we went to the powwow at Odanak.
That let us learn about various cultures
because there were people from all over Québec.
So, we really learned a lot about Indigenous culture.
I would definitely recommend this program
for anybody who wants to join the military,
or even get the experience,
or who even needs personal development.
I definitely recommend it, yeah, for sure.
This program helped me discover my limits.
I also discovered a lot of strengths too.
It really helped me grow.
I really like that. We ran.
We learned many different things
that we had never learned before. I really enjoyed that.
I think that what hit me the most
was the resilience of the participants.
I am referring to everything that happened
since the beginning. There are many
who are going through negative family situations,
and they are still here today.
They kept going with their heads held high.
They were determined to finish the course.
This incredible resilience that they have
really helped me to grow as an instructor.
It also let me further develop
my learning and teaching techniques
to allow them to finish the course
with their heads held high.
If you're interested in applying for next year's program,
or want to learn more, visit the related links in this post.
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