Dallas posing in Squamish

My name is Dallas Sassie and I am from Fort Liard, Northwest Territories. I am 16 years old, and I am a participant of NYA Canadian program, where I get to experience life in southern Canada for five weeks.

My host family is Ken who watches us and his son Justin. They have two cats and a really nice house. The view is really beautiful where we stay and they are fun to talk to, caring and supportive when we are homesick, they take good care of too. Sometimes we have wild raccoons come by, the mother and her four little cubs when they are hungry.

I am placed in Squamish BC, and my workplace is at Greg Gardner Motors, where I volunteer and gain experience on how to repair vehicles. I sometimes work in the parts department where I stack parts that get delivered and watch technicians repair vehicles. The best part is that I got to meet everyone working in the shop and some of them were soccer players, so we get along well.

It gets dark around 10 here but it’s twenty-four hour daylight in my hometown. Squamish is a good place to get a good experience about life because they have a lot of shops, cafes, and services where people could get jobs and the people are friendly here too.

The people in Squamish aren’t to different from the North, we all respect each other, and we all love our family and friends. We both have strong ties to the native culture, and Squamish is strongly influenced by Vancouver.

When we arrived to Squamish we went to the restaurant A&W. Then we went to Whistler which is 40min drive, to watch a movie at the theater. We watched the new Spider-Man movie in 3D, and I got a chance to see my friend in Whistler, we hung out for a while, and went to the swimming pool.

This is the first time I’ve worked at a car dealership. I have worked in the parts and services departments and learned how to deal with professional people. I am grateful that I participated in the NYA program, and that I get to meet so many people along the way and make many friends like Delainea, Matt, and Seth. I also have got to learn about other people’s culture and this is a great opportunity to get experience on living south. It has been the best summer.