When Jodi Tweed arrived for work at Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) on June 8, she had no idea about the recognition that was waiting for her.
Tweed, a student services counsellor at ECS, said she was in the school’s staff room with other ECS employees. That’s when principal Pat Jeannot walked in and started talking about the tragic events in La Loche on Jan. 22, 2016, when a young man killed four people, including two during a school shooting.
That’s when Jeannot announced that Tweed was among the recipients of the Premier's Award for Excellence in the Public Service, for her role in the Inter-Ministry Response Team that travelled to La Loche following the shootings.
Jeannot then presented her with the award.
“I had been part of the team that had gone, and I was completely caught off guard (by the award),” said Tweed. “It was a tremendous honour.”
The most recent Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Public Service were actually announced last November, and the Inter-Ministry Response Team was saluted for their quality of service. But due to the size of the team, the individual recipients were not disclosed.
Tweed was one of six counsellors from South East Cornerstone Public School Division who travelled to La Loche following the shooting. They were joined by a team from the Prairie Valley School Division, who had already spent time in the remote northern community.
“Every week they were putting together a compliment of staff to go, as far as counsellors, teachers … and different professionals to go help,” said Tweed.
After the shooting, Tweed said an email was sent out, looking for people who were willing to go.
“I hope we never have to use that skill set in our community, but I also knew that if it happened here, we would need people to come and help us,” said Tweed. “I just thought that it was the right thing to do, to go and help, and being a counsellor, and being from Saskatchewan, I think we’re an incredibly connected province.”
People from Saskatchewan are always there to help others in need, she said.
Other South East Cornerstone staff members who were part of the team were Dan Graf from Arcola, Marge Phenix (now retired) from Redvers, Manor and Maryfield, and a trio of counsellors from the Weyburn area. Some of those team members have since made presentations about their experiences, including a South East Cornerstone board meeting last September.
She noted that while they were gone, the other counsellors at their respective schools had to cover their caseloads.
“Everyone really worked together to allow us to be able to go,” said Tweed.
Tweed and the other people from Cornerstone and Prairie Valley were there from Feb. 22 to 26, which was the week the students returned to school, so it was good to be there with a team that had been there already.
“It definitely had its own host of challenges in being up there during that time,” said Tweed. “There were people who were re-entering the school building for the first time since the incident.
“They also did a walk or a march through the town site, back into the school, and they had a circle and a prayer that was led by some of the elders in the community.”
It was a difficult time, but it was impactful, to see the community take back the school, she said.
There was a triage desk in the school, and students and others could come and access counselling. She noted that Kevin Cameron, who is an expert in threat response, held a town hall meeting with the community, and he also conducted meetings with the different professionals in the school.
“La Loche is an incredible community,” said Tweed. “It was very obvious when we were there that they are very connected. It was a just a really powerful experience to be with those people during that time, and if we were able to offer any support, I would consider that a great success, because it just affected many layers of the community.”
The people of La Loche were very welcoming, and they treated the team members very well, especially after the tragedy they had been through.
“To welcome us with open arms, it was just a really touching thing to be part of, and to see this community,” said Tweed.
She has remained in contact with people from La Loche, including some of the counsellors and some of the other people they met.
Several team members from South East Cornerstone went to La Loche a second time, but Tweed was not one of them. She was unable to go for family reasons. But she would have gladly returned if the opportunity presented itself.
Teams were deployed to La Loche for weeks and months following the shootings. After a while, there were fewer people sent to the town.
Tweed suspects the government wanted to send people who were closer to the community, which makes sense, she said, because there would be more consistency and familiarity for the people helping out the town.
But she believes the town will need ongoing support for a long time as it continues to heal from the shooting.
