Recreation Grad Takes the Road Less Travelled to Career Success
March 19, 2021
“When I was taking journalism at Niagara College, I wanted to explore the unknown,” says the Orleans native. “Canada’s North was my unknown. I pondered it as a long-term goal. I was looking for a great challenge – something that would test my limits and push my boundaries. I found it in Tulita.”
Once known as Fort Norman, Tulita – population 520 – is a hamlet in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories. Cybulski learned about the isolated settlement a few years after his journalism studies when, frustrated with the development of his career, he went back to school for Algonquin College’s Recreation and Leisure Services program.
“The rec program was invaluable to me,” says Cybulski, 30. “I was able to develop my potential in a direction that had become important to me. Algonquin opened doors and gave me networking skills that ultimately brought me to the job in Tulita. I explored the options available in the North, tossed my name in the hat and of the offers that came through, Tulita’s was the best.”
So it was that 16 months ago the recent graduate made the long drive from Ottawa to the Territories –7,000 kilometres in all, the last 500 km on a winter road comprised of ice crossings and muskeg graded with plowed snow.
Tulita, while small, offers its citizens a wide range of recreational facilities, programs and opportunities. It hosts a multi-purpose recreation complex, with an ice pad for the rink, a drop-in centre for youth that features mobile internet access, a fully functional fitness area and gym, a softball diamond and a seasonal pool. The complex also functions as a hub that provides elders programs, and lottery and casino nights, among others. Community events can draw as many as 475 people.
Cybulski’s job as Recreation Director is to ensure the smooth functioning of the facility. Many days, he says his main task is writing grant applications to guarantee funding. On others, he is deeply involved in hiring staff, in staff and program development, and in dealing with the occasional customer complaint – “the things most department heads have to deal with to keep an operation afloat.”
He says he gained a lot of experience in youth development in Ottawa, “which ties in with what I do now. I hire a lot of part-time staff – local high school students or recent grads – and start building their careers. The idea is to make them valuable in the future in the job market in Tulita and down south.”
He oversees up to 22 staff during peak activity in the summer, and 10 to 12 in the other seasons, including no more than three full-time staff. Many of the part-time hires arrive as “blank slates,” he says – young people with lots of potential but with few skills or experience in self-development. “We really work on skills training and coaching certifications. In a remote community, you don’t have a lot of instructors to rely on, so we innovate and make do with what we have. We get down to it and it’s a rewarding experience for everyone.”
It isn’t only the job that’s rewarding. Cybulski and townspeople who just want to enjoy the great outdoors can make use of 25 kilometres of trails in the area used for hiking, snowshoeing, and riding skidoos and quads. Located as it is at the junction of the Mackenzie River and the Great Bear River, the hamlet also offers multiple boat launches for those who want to spend their days on the water.
There is so much to explore in this vast region of the country. Cybulski has had repeated opportunities to attend conferences in Yellowknife – “just 25,000 people, but here it’s as interesting as Montreal or Toronto is to someone from Ottawa.” You can hear the passion in his voice over the phone as he talks about exploring parts of the North from communities on the British Columbia border to Inuvik on the Arctic Ocean.
“It’s been eye-opening,” he says. “People have preconceived notions of what the North is. Yes, there are things we have less of here. But there is nothing we are completely without. The communities are so welcoming to people like me, an outsider, and the people and their stories are amazing. When people are considering what they want to do with their careers, I say ‘Don’t overlook the North.’ Remote communities here have a real hard time finding talent and they are very welcoming to skilled people who are willing to come here and put in the work.”
Cybulski judges his success by the reaction of the local people to his work. There wasn’t much infrastructure in the recreation department before he arrived. He created a seasonal itinerary and programming guide, and made a concerted effort to develop a rapport with youth, adults and elders in the community. The proof of success, he says, is in the consistent level of community participation in his programs. There were always activities before his arrival but participation was spotty, unlike today.
“People tell me I’ve made a difference. I’m so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to do this. I get to see things like the joy in the face of a 15-year-old boy who’s been given his first chance to play in a hockey tournament with another community. That kind of opportunity has a powerful emotional and psychological impact on young people who live in a place that only has road access three months of the year. It’s incredibly rewarding, the kind of thing that keeps you looking forward to every new day.”
(photo Cybulski (left) is with Constable Sam Redden of the RCMP – Tulita Detachment (right). Constable Redden had just finished volunteering to help assemble some new exercise equipment in the hamlet’s recreation complex, which Cybulski oversees. )