Melissa McKay
My role within our community is to assist in providing programs and services to our Nisga'a people, aiming to have a self-sustaining society that will benefit all our members.
Tell us about your role in your community or where you work
I currently work as the Economic Development Officer for our Gitmaxmak'ay Nisga'a Society, our society is a non-profit working to serve our citizens. My role within our community is to assist in providing programs and services to our Nisga'a people, aiming to have a self-sustaining society that will benefit all our members.
Tell us a story about a time you brought people together to improve your community.
Our society hosts an annual Salmon Festival in Prince Rupert in which we celebrate the annual salmon run. We bring together dance groups from all over the region to celebrate with a salmon BBQ, singing and dance. This event is held at the civic center main gymnasium in which it brings together our whole community and is opened to all to participate.
What challenges in your community or the world are you trying to address?
A main challenge we face within our society is food security for our members. A pilot project was launched this year to complement our traditional foods harvesting of fish that we already provide to our members. By complementing our harvesting program with the food security program, we were able to offer not only fresh fish, but fresh vegetables and greens. This project was a huge success that we would like to continue.
What do you want to learn in this program? How will you use that in your work?
As I am fairly new into my ED position, I feel like a course like this would have great teachings on innovative ways to impact our community in a positive way. Applying principals to everyday life scenarios in our office, how to apply the concepts of change to add value to our society and community.