Johns stepping down as KCDA CEO

“A lot of it was for the career counsellors back in the day…on how do you use a computer, how do you use the Internet, how do you get internet service. It was all brand new.”

KCDA really took off in 1999 after it received major funding from the federal government through the Saskatchewan Smart Communities Demonstration Project, of which there were 10 across the country at that time. It involved sending IT technicians to northern schools to set up community access centres, along with transitioning them from dial-up to satellite to a fibre optic network as the technology progressed.

The association also received a contract to provide IT training at 165 schools in Alberta and Saskatchewan as part of the First Nations SchoolNet program.

“We trained a lot of First Nations IT technicians and in a way, and this is a good thing, we worked our way out of a job,” Johns remarked.

“The First Nations then had their own technicians, and their programs evolved to the point where they could take care of their own networks and the program sunsetted. That would have been 2006 or so.”

When that occurred, KCDA began transitioning and soon after began an economic development component alongside career services.

“That’s when we started getting into the Core Day conference that we do with the mineral sector. That was also the beginning of the evolution of Boreal Heartland and the non-timber forest product business,” Johns said.

Boreal Heartland began in 2017 and is operated under KCDA. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting career, education, business, and economic development in the Northern Saskatchewan region. It is well-known for a line of teas, which can be purchased at stores across Western Canada.

Boreal Heartland employs six full-time employees, but purchases products from nearly 300 harvesters and hires about 20 tree planters annually through a forestry services contract through the Lac La Ronge Indian Band’s Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership. Johns expects to continue managing Boreal Heartland for another two to three years.

“I had no idea where it was going to go; just one thing led to another,” Johns said of KCDA.

“Even though we’ve been in the non-profit sector, it’s been run like a private sector company because we never had any core funding. We were always applying for programs and so on and looking for opportunities. For me, that was on purpose because I had worked for the government agencies, and I wanted more of a challenge, and I wanted the organization to have to perform to stay in business.”

With retirement on the horizon, Johns doesn’t plan on moving away from Air Ronge. He moved to the community in 1978, and he spent a lot of time learning the Woodland Cree northern way of life.

“I kind of got adopted into the North, and that is one of the most significant things that have happened to me in my life. I will always be thankful for that.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

by Derek Cornet

Johns stepping down as KCDA CEO

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