FANS strands man

My name is Tommy Owlijoot, I am a Nunavut student studying at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary. Before I became a student here, I was unemployed in Arviat, living on EI.

I decided to come down here because of its quality professional cooking and commercial courses. But I could not find my high school transcripts from Churchill Vocational Center which I left in 1970 to join the military as a cook. In fact, there’s no record anywhere to be found for those of us who spent our years at CVC in the ‘60s.

The College (SAIT) refused my application twice in as many years because I have no proof of my high school education. So I decided to apply for their Transition program at SAIT in order to study math, English and computers to meet the entrance requirements in cooking and baking this coming year, September 2005.

Because I am from Arviat, where FANS’ offices are, it was easy for me just to walk there and commence the process for a funding application, which one of their officials (Jesse Kaludjak at the time) approved. So here I am in Calgary.

I have been studying at SAIT for about a month now and to my surprise, no funds will be coming for my living expenses, because later on they found out I am in the wrong category for funding. The mistake is not mine. I came to study in good faith; I was not the one who made the mistake at FANS.

The latest communications I received from FANS this morning told me they will be seeking other avenues and departments to see if there are any funding sources for me, unless I want to explore the avenues myself.

I had frustrating e-mail communications with this GN department, FANS, over the past three weeks. Thank goodness I did not delete any of them. I feel this department has abandoned me after I got down here to study in Calgary.

This is a big city and I have no funding sources at the moment and I am getting a bit frustrated at FANS and how they handle me as if this whole mess was my idea and my doing. I am not being a cheapskate, I just don’t have funds to take me through my courses.

I wonder if I am the only one mad at FANS because of their refusal to admit their mistake.

Tommy Owlijoot
Calgary