Green Job Makes Lasting Impact on NWT Communities

Finnlay Rutherford-Simon doesn’t let anything stop her from achieving her goals. The Indigenous youth from Yellowknife is a college graduate who has earned her Climate Action Leadership diploma and dreams of becoming an RCMP officer. 

Living with a learning disability, however, has not made it easy to find employment opportunities that accommodate her needs. Determined to overcome this barrier, she has continued to seek employment and, in the summer of 2024, was hired by the Northwest Territories Recreation and Parks Association (NWTRPA) as a Special Projects Coordinator for Environmental Resilience – a position made possible through the CPRA Green Jobs Initiative and funded by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Skills Strategy program. 

“Green Jobs has really helped me overcome barriers to employment and allowed me to be in a workspace that gave me the accommodations to help me produce better work,” explains Rutherford-Simon.  

Finnlay spent her summer helping the NWTRPA on its Environmental Resilience project, which addresses environmental resilience in recreation at a time when the Northwest Territories have been continually impacted by wildfires. Some of her duties included working with the Red Cross to distribute roughly 65,000-70,000 masks for community members participating in outdoor recreation activities, working with communities to facilitate the delivery of air purifiers, applying for grants, and budgeting. 

Tim Van Dam, Active Communities Director at the NWTRPA, was Rutherford-Simon’s manager and mentor and worked with her on developing the project. 

“We thought about what her skillset was and where she would like her skillset to be, and what our organization wanted from this project,” Van Dam says, adding that the goal of the project was to help people participate in recreational activities when it wasn’t safe to be outside. “We also wanted 
smaller NWT communities to get value out of Finnlay's job experience.” 

He says that Rutherford-Simon’s work has had an immense impact on the organization, and communities across the Northwest Territories.  

“Every single community has been impacted by wildfires and will be for the foreseeable future,” Van Dam says. “Almost all our recreation in the Northwest Territories takes place outdoors, year-round.” 

He noted Rutherford-Simon’s incredible work on the Environmental Resilience project has led to partnerships with the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer and the Northwest Territories Association of Communities – both of which are now working with the NWTRPA to create safe air spaces for residents who want to enjoy recreational activities.  

“Without Finnlay being on the phone, talking to people, and bringing attention to this issue, governments and other NGOs wouldn’t be aware of what we were doing. It has helped us secure important partnerships, which will help us make a longer-lasting impact,” he says. 

Van Dam adds that it was important for the NWTRPA to offer supports and accommodations for Rutherford-Simon, who he describes as a “hardworking, diligent worker who was not willing to let difficulties get in her way.” 

“It’s been pretty cool to see how confident Finnlay has become in areas where maybe she wasn’t quite as confident starting out,” he says. 

Rutherford-Simon adds that the role taught her valuable skills as she looks to a career as an RCMP officer. 

“It allowed me to see things from different points of view, and understand barriers faced by communities across the Northwest Territories,” she says, adding that most importantly, the job reignited her passion for lifelong learning. “I felt like I was done with learning, but this job helped me enjoy it again. I also feel like I can now stand on my own two feet, and I feel more confident about my future.”