After finishing their contact with Suncor at their Fort Hills Operations, Korean Based SK Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (SK E&C) wanted to leave one final mark in our region.
To do this SK E&C donated 100 laptops to Fort McMurray #468 First Nation.
With the community members being the Indigenous people of the Land, David Choi of SK E&C told MyMcMurray the donation was also a way for them to take part in a form of reclamation after benefitting from a project that disturbed the land.
David Choi told MyMcMurray that the donation also comes from the company’s respect for Canada’s Indigenous people and it was a way for the company to apologize for the way their oil sands project destroyed their land.
The laptops will be used by local community members and will give them access to education, training and employment opportunities. Some laptops will remain at the band office and will be utilized for in-house safety training, resume writing, job searching and youth programming.
Band Manager, Cindy Miller told MyMurray what this means for the nation.
“By having the laptops we can actually put together our own training and education programs which will reach more of our membership,” said Miller.
“We are relativity close to Fort McMurray, 40 kilometres south, but when you don’t have transportation or the means, you might as well be 400 kilometres away, so by having the ability to deliver our own programs and services by utilizing these laptops and then sharing them with the community it really will help them to access better services , better programs.”
Miller adds that the donation helps bridge the gap the nation has with technology world and will help give the community access to the internet, online services and general information that they might need.
