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Una Hynes has been the key facilitator for the St. Joseph's Family
Literacy Network. St. Joseph's is a coastal community on Salmonier
Arm in St. Mary's Bay, about 60 km. from St. John's, NF. For several
years Una has been facilitating the PRINTS program for parents in
a geographic area around St. Joseph's, encompassing eleven small
communities. An advantage of working in a small rural community
is that "you know everyone, know of everyone, or know someone
who knows the people you don't know ." So by word of mouth
and personal contact, Una has been more than successful in getting
parents of pre- school children, particularly parents of children
a year before school age, to participate. |
Parents in the St. Joseph's area develop great
pride in the Activities which they make in which to engage their
children in the different STEPS. An advantage of PRINTS is that
it is flexible so that a facilitator can pick and choose from
the Activities listed for the different STEPS, but can also add
other Activities, or can use the creativity and ingenuity of the
parents to add other Activities. On one occasion parents sketched
the favourite stories of their children and then made a quilt
for their child incorporating these. The parents in the St. Joseph's
PRINTS Program were so involved and committed that they asked
Una to develop a program for them after they had completed PRINTS.
And Una did. She put together a support program for the parents
who had graduated from PRINTS. These parents sometimes met with
the current group of parents in PRINTS and thereby shared experiences
and activities. At other times, they met as their own group and
addressed specific concerns, especially those that related to
their children who had now entered kindergarten. Una works closely
with the Community Health nurse and offers PRINTS from the Community
Health office.
Moose Factory, James Bay, ON.
Martina Green and Karen Nakogee were instrumental in bringing
PRINTS to Moose Factory, ON. Moose Factory is the oldest permanent
English settlement in Ontario, being settled in the mid-1600's.
After the Hudson Bay Company set up a post, the Cree settled there
and have remained ever since. Moose Factory, a reserve, is an
island in Moose River, as it empties into James Bay. There is
no road access and the way to the mainland community of Moosonee
depends on the season, either by freighter canoe (a 5-10 minute
ride), helicopter (when the Moose River is freezing and breaking
up), or ice road when the river is good and solid. There is a
train station, The Polar Bear Express, and an airport in Moosonee.
A five hour train ride south takes you to Cochrane and the highway.
A 50 minute plane ride from Moosonee takes you to Timmins and
another one and a half hour flight reaches Toronto. The population
is just over 3000. There are three schools with about 500 students
in the elementary schools, and 100 students in the high school.
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