My name is Linda Ann Firth, I’m twenty years old. I’m a mother of a daughter, her name is Gracelynn Firth Storr, she is three years old.
I like learning new things each day and every day, and I like passing on my knowledge to my daughter, so that she can pass it on to her children. We both come from Inuvik, which means “place of man.” We’ve lived here all our life.
Once I go back to school, I want to get my high school diploma. I want to move to Whitehorse to go to college, and become a social worker.
Right now I’m in a program called the New Horizons Skills Link program. I enjoy going to this program because I learn a lot from it. I get a lot of experience and already I have earned my WHMIS certificate, my Northernmost Host training, and my First Aid. I’m really proud of myself that I’m doing what I can for myself so that I can become something in the near future. Before this I wasn’t in school, didn’t have a job, and felt that I wasn’t anything, really. I felt bad because I wanted to do something with my life, I wanted to feel good about myself, especially for my daughter’s future. I was a drug addict, a drunk, or I drank every weekend. I smoked cigarettes like crazy. Now I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs, and I don’t smoke as much as I did.
All of this change came from help from this program, the people in the program, my friends, and my family. They gave me all the support I could get, and they still do, and I love them all so much for it. If it wasn’t for this program, my family and my friends, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Today I feel great about what I’m doing in my life. I take it one day at a time and I think positive and have a good attitude. Believe in yourself, trust, love, and forgive.
My future is important to me, my daughter’s future is important to me, and I’m not going to let anyone tell me wrong or change my way of thinking of what’s best for me. I control my life, not anyone else. If I want to have a big change for myself I need to do it myself, nobody can do it for me.