When S/Sgt. Grant MacDonald saw an opportunity to combine three of his passions — policing, youth and the North — as a volunteer for the DreamCatcher Mentoring (DCM) program, he took it.
MacDonald is an e-mentor for DCM, an online career mentoring program that connects young people in northern communities with e-mentors across Canada working in their dream career. The program started about 10 years ago to tackle the high rate of high school dropouts in the territories, and recently became a part of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada.
"A lot of these places are very difficult to deliver services to," says Claire Smith, the program manager. "This is a cool way of reaching across some of the boundaries within Canada."
Smith says a lot of young people have good ideas and see a positive future, but they're not exactly sure how to get there. The program aims to make that connection and empower northern youth to create goals, stay in school and plan for their futures by having a one-on-one relationship with an e-mentor.
Since 2009, DCM has matched MacDonald with students in Grade 9 to 12 interested in policing. He's required to spend about 10 to 30 minutes a week responding to his students' questions.
But he often goes beyond that, taking the time to not only answer their questions fully, but to find out about them and challenge them to find out information about the RCMP.
"It's a good way to engage them in a way they're accustomed to, and by digging, they'll explore the RCMP website and discover interesting facts about the organization," says MacDonald.
With so many students in the North interested in hands-on careers like policing, there's always a need for e-mentors like MacDonald.
"As a police officer, we're role models for our youth," says MacDonald. "They're the most precious natural resource we have and this is a tremendous opportunity to make the difference in the life of a northern youth by helping them decide if a career in policing is the right fit for them."