A big step with Step By Step

Angie Diabo had always wanted to be a teacher, but that couldn’t be her first priority - she had children to feed and clothe, bills to pay, and working at a cigarette factory paid well and enabled her to make ends meet.

But when she heard that Step By Step Child and Family Center was teaming up with the CEGEP of St. Felicien to train early childhood education workers right here in Kahnawake, her children - now grown adults - were quick to encourage her.

Now, more than a year after taking a “leap of faith,” Diabo is one of a cohort of 13 Kahnawa’kehró:non graduating with a diploma and embarking on a new career as an education assistant at Step By Step.

The program was nerve-racking at first. Some of Diabo’s peers were her children’s age. But she quickly found a sense of community and belonging in the group, and now she goes home happy, content in the knowledge she’s changed her life.

“You know when you complain and you just don’t like your job? That was me,” Diabo said. “Now, my kids, they all see the difference. I’m smiling. I’m not exhausted all the time or regretting work. I’m happy to go to work now for once, and when the kids are running in the hallway, smiling and yelling your name, that right there makes you know you’re in the right place.”

The 14-month program was the first of its kind for Step By Step, which has faced staffing challenges since the COVID-19 pandemic. Executive director Natalie Beauvais saw the centre needed an innovative way to maintain the staffing it needs to instill Kanien’kehá:ka values while offering a quality of inclusive early childhood education that exceeds ministry standards.

“These are our children. These are our future leaders,” said Beauvais. “We want to do everything we can to equip them with the tools they need to be successful and to reach their potential, to build that foundation strong in identity, culture, and language.”

Step By Step’s partnership with the CEGEP of St. Felicien enabled the cohort of Kahnawa’kehró:non to obtain a diploma on site at Step By Step while earning an income.

The ease of attending the program right in the community was cited by a number of the graduates as making their participation possible. But it was the passion for what the centre does that motivated them most.

“Having the language, the culture, and everything, it’s not just for the kids. It’s for the adults too,” said Diabo. “We’re learning as we go. And I think that’s the best way that you can teach, is you’re learning and they’re learning, together.”

Iakothahonni Delormier, another of the cohort, went from working with elders at Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre to now working with the community’s youngest.

“Working with kids is an amazing career,” said Delormier, who didn’t picture this just a few years ago. Many of the cohort are even interested in going on to get a bachelor’s degree, she added.

“The projects we have to do, the presentations, it made us see that we could achieve these things. It made us motivated, proud. Just learning more about the kids, how smart they are and what they’re capable of, it’s a big learning experience. It wasn’t easy, but we made it.”

Along with on-the-job training, they had sessions with their teacher Minh-Nhi Tran on Wednesdays, which helped ground them.

McKenzie Deer wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after being home with her baby boy for a year, but when the time came to think about going back to work, she heard about this program starting up.

Now her son is almost three years old, and she’s even been able to take some of what she’s learned home with her.

“It might seem just like a daycare, but they’re coming here and learning so many different things socially, emotionally, creating new friendships,” she said.

“I think Step By Step is just really important to our community because it’s where everything kind of starts.”

Cira Cross graduated from high school with dreams of going to Dawson College to get into early childhood education, but she wasn’t able to do so, and then she became a young mother.

“I was in school and working, already doing something else, and then this came up. I was like, ‘Oh my God, you know, it’s in the community, it’s so close to home. This could benefit me for life. I could build a career, support my children, my family. It was just an amazing opportunity,” she said.

Her own kids have all come to Step By Step, and she knows how anxiety-inducing it can be for a parent to leave their children in someone else’s care.

“Now being on the other side of it, I understand the teachers really put everything into what they do here. I treat my students the same way I would my own children. If they need something, I’m there to give it to them. They make me so happy, and I feel so grateful to be here with them. It’s just a great feeling,” she said.

The excitement is not done for the grads. In May, they’ll have a large celebration at Two 0 Seven Steak & Seafood.

“I never had a graduation,” said Diabo, whose family will be in attendance.

“I’m excited to get to see everybody in their outfits. We’ll all be up there together, and we did it. I’m excited to see that.”

[email protected]

Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter