Darcy Wood was fortunate to kickstart his career in water and wastewater management within his home community, Eel Ground First Nation. He is currently part of the Circuit Rider Training Program (CRTP) at North Shore Micmac District Council (NSMDC).
“The CRTP provides First Nation community’s water and wastewater operators with hands-on training so they can learn how to operate, service and maintain their own wastewater and water system,” said Darcy. “NSMDC provides over 30 First Nation communities in the Atlantic Provinces with service delivery, technical support and building capacity in water & waste management, housing & infrastructure, post-secondary education, training & employment, community development, financial and technical services, and child & family services.”
Darcy started his position with NSMDC in June 2019 as an intern through JEDI’s Indigenous Internship Program. JEDI’s Indigenous Internship Program helps participants gain on-the-job experience to secure full-time employment. In order to be eligible for the program, Indigenous applicants must hold a recent post-secondary degree or a diploma, be currently unemployed or underemployed, and legally eligible to work in Canada.
Prior to starting his internship, Darcy worked seasonally as a fisheries guardian but decided it wasn’t for him, so he took the Civil Technician Course at NBCC. “My goal was to become a fisheries officer with the DFO but it’s quite a long process so I did that for about 4 to 5 years, and I just couldn’t make the final cut. So, I figured I might as well shift gears,” said Darcy.
When Darcy first started working at NSDMC he said, “it was a lot right away. Not coming from a water and wastewater background, I ran into some problems with the wastewater here in Eel Ground and I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I learned pretty quick. I feel a lot more confident now and I feel like I have more skills now to deal with problems.” Darcy’s internship included on-site training where he was able to shadow the operators and learn more about water and wastewater management, and to help ensure First Nation communities have access to safe drinking water. Darcy enjoys “going into the community and getting dirty. It’s a good way to learn, I’m a hands-on learner rather than in a classroom,” said Darcy.
Darcy recently finished his internship through JEDI and is now part of the CRTP team as a permanent employee at NSMDC. “Anytime a community has a problem or needs help, they’ll ask us, and we’ll send a Circuit Rider Trainer (CRT), who is a knowledgeable operator, and they go and help local operators with whatever the problem is,” said Darcy. An example of a problem in a community is, “if one of the lift station pumps in my community were to fail, I would call the CRT that is designated to my area for assistance. The CRT would then come in, help with hauling the faulted pump out of the well and assist me in taking apart the pump and fixing the issue,” said Darcy.
Darcy mentioned that, “the CRTs are there to help the operators and share their knowledge of water/wastewater systems,” and his goal is to become a full-fledged CRT so he can go into communities and help. To achieve that goal, Darcy is currently taking additional water and wastewater training from NBCC so he can become a CRT. The training involves taking courses and having to spend a certain number of hours on the job. “Someone who is certified signs off on what you did and for how long,” said Darcy. “You put so many hours in, then you go up a level and so on.” He has gained lots of feedback from his job and he appreciates that NSMDC supports him getting the training so he can move up. “It’s great, I think they like me here, I hope they like me because I don’t plan on going anywhere,” said Darcy.
JEDI’s internship program helped Darcy get his foot in the door at NSMDC. “It helped me quite a bit so I’m sure it would help others,” said Darcy. “I don’t think I would have gotten the funding to work here or find my job without JEDI. Thank you.”
Darcy’s advice for future interns is, “Don’t be afraid to ask for help.”