Laying a strong foundation for a new Parks partnership
A very special group of Parks employees – and one new JLP employee – gathered in Gatineau in the first week of December to learn and grow together. This new cohort of JLP facilitators will be the first group to facilitate for Parks Canada within the framework of a new memorandum of understanding between the JLP and the agency.
Marc Diotte, JLP National Initiatives Coordinator, hosted the orientation session held at the Four Points Sheraton from December 2- 6. The week-long event was facilitated by Program Officers Nathalie Duquette (employer) and Konstantin Kilibarda (union).
The workshop was amazing! Really useful and lots of fun! I feel it was absolutely worth the time spent. - Nirmolak Kang, Employer
The Program Officers remarked that the group was open, generous and authentic throughout the week. They are confident and are ready to take on the facilitation challenge.
Learning from someone you weren’t expecting to learn from is a powerful experience I’ve only felt through a JLP workshop.
- Nick Nadeau, Union
The aspiring facilitators worked with the Preventing Harassment and Violence in the Workplace and Understanding the Collective Agreement in-person workshop kits. During the first pilot year at Parks, facilitators will be delivering Understanding the Collective Agreement and Labour-Management Consultation, both as in-person and virtual discussions. The learning activities, based on the experiential approach, honed the participants’ facilitation as well as their communication skills throughout the week.
Front row (left to right): Sammy Abdelhafez, Julie Fortin, Angela Decker, Chyrin Bu-Aram, Gail Budgell, Sandra Borger, Ellen Cross, Meaghan Ruston.
Back row (left to right): Meghraj Khadka, Nathalie Duquette, Kevin Shanahan, Thomas Pouseler, Nick Nadeau, Mohammed Zaid, Nirmolak Kang, Matthew Donovan, Marc Diotte, Konstantin Kilibarda
Missing from photo: Jonathan Arnold, Crystal Villanueva-Berry
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In the words of Marc Diotte, “This is a great first step in ensuring a successful Parks pilot. We’ve got 16 super facilitators to get things rolling in this new partnership.” The JLP welcomes its new Parks facilitators to the JLP family!