Internship program earns park gold award

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park recently brought home gold, an Alberta first in the Federal/Provincial/Territorial category within the Institute of Public Administration Public Sector Leadership Awards.

And Juanita Tallman, the interpretive supervisor, could not be happier.  This is an important win for the First Nations Interpretations Internship Program, a pilot project that she personally put so much time and effort in to.

“Being able to see that this type of program is recognized, it was us [First Nations] being able to share our information and work with people in the government, it was challenging and interesting and I was very humbled to find out we were nominated,” said Tallman.

With input and direction from Blackfoot Elders, local residents to the area, past interpreters and the Alberta Parks representatives, the program at Writing-on-Stone’s main focus was to train two First Nations interns with leadership skills that allow them to accurately and comfortably relay information to over 4,000 visitors to the area, as well as to the neighbouring parks, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Bow Vey Lake and Cypress Hills Provincial Park.

 “Each of these parks do talk about some Blackfoot culture,” said Tallman, “ but we found that the visitors wanted that authentic experience, to hear it from our people in a way that is respectful, so that they will believe it more. At a lot of tourist places the tipi is just there for show and no one is around to explain it. We just wanted to bring something more to the parks.”

At the end of the 2013 season, Tallman visited Toronto to speak on behalf of the program before a jury with the intention of earning gold, adding that the recognition of the award was valuable.

“It was personal for me, I wanted these people that can provide funding and decisions to see that a program like this is needed, and in all other areas as well,” she said.

Tallman believes that the program will help future interns receive the exposure needed to better communicate on different levels of management and bring back a positive experience to their family, friends and acquaintances in the hopes of diminishing racism that is sometimes found in rural towns.

The park collaborated with Alberta Parks, Aboriginal Relations, and Canadian Badlands to create the innovative program, bringing funding opportunities, and interpretive training and techniques to the staff of the park, says Tallman.

Aisinai’pi, as the park is known in the Blackfoot language, is located southeast of the city of Lethbridge and sits on traditional Blackfoot territory.  The park houses evidence of the rich culture through pictographs and petroglyphs depicted in the stone, making it a notorious landmark for First Nations people in Canada.

The Leadership Awards invite all Canadian organizations to enter within respected categories, with projects that showcase courage, innovation, benefits, collaborative leadership, and measurable end results. Canadian Heritage took home the silver for its project ‘The Leadership Factor’ and Ontario Ministry of Government Services took the bronze for the OPS Diversity Office, Accessibility at Source.

Photo caption: Juanita Tallman holds the IPAC gold award that was earned by the team from Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta Parks, Aboriginal Relations, and Canadian Badlands.