Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac CD morning show. I'm your host, Elliot Pierre. And as per usual, we're going to start the show off the same way we start every episode off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time and the fact that you choose to choose to spend it with us truly doesn't mean the world to me. So thank you very much on that note. Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:22 Oh, she caught me loves or listen to the next city morning show.
Speaker 0 00:00:31 All right. And we're back. We got a good one today. I'm really, really looking forward to this conversation because every time I have a chance to sit down with this individual, we have a great time. So it's going to be that just documenting at this time. As you guys already know, I don't introduce my guests. I let them do that themselves. So on that note, can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 3 00:00:49 So my name is Amanda Holloway. I am a mom to a beautiful boy, 12 year old boy Malakai, a wife to an incredible husband, John and I also had the privilege to work in the social profit sector here in Fort McMurray as a social worker with Canadian mental health association.
Speaker 0 00:01:07 Oh, very cool. Okay. Before we get into anything else I just got to ask. I know you've moved recently. And when I say recently, I mean, in the last little bit, how are you enjoying living in society again?
Speaker 3 00:01:20 Oh, um, it's, it's amazing to be out around people. Um, we were just chatting obviously before the show started, we were at a gala this past weekend, two weekends ago. Um, and normally that's something that I would run away from. Um, I did have a moment actually, before we even went out to the gala where I was said to my husband, do you just want to stay home and eat chips? You don't want to go. Um, but he kind of forced me out of my comfort zone and I'm so happy. I did it so good to just see people out again and enjoying each other. And hopefully it stays. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:02:02 I have a question. Cause maybe you were paying a little bit more attention than I was, you know, how they were giving out, like those fake diamonds did somebody,
Speaker 3 00:02:09 As far as I know, no. Oh good. As far as do you still have
Speaker 0 00:02:14 You still have mine? I never got a tested and jury snotty inside here. I'll tell you that. Yeah, but during the night I never heard them announce it. And I know there was people walking around and saying like, Hey, can I test your diamond? But they never came to me. And if they did, I was like, not right now. I'm in the middle of conversation. Yeah. So I still have my potentially real,
Speaker 3 00:02:33 I probably have it. So nobody cleaned at the end of the night. It had not been claimed. I had even, we had even purchased like little extra baggies because I really wanted the diamond. But yeah, no. And so prestige was down in the corner, casting them. But as far as I know it, wasn't claimed,
Speaker 0 00:02:53 Oh,
Speaker 3 00:02:54 Go home and check your stuff.
Speaker 0 00:02:56 I am. Well, I know exactly where it is, so. Okay. Yeah. That could be cool. Yeah. That was a wrong, yeah, that's right. I am. Yeah. I had a great time at the gala. So big shout out to Dennis and brand connect for posting that he, uh, put another event on a little while ago to the naughty or nice Christmas ugly sweater party. It was this past weekend.
Speaker 3 00:03:16 I get to that one. I didn't go one, one in a month is probably enough for me. Like as much as I loved it, I did find that I had to take a few days to just recharge my social batteries.
Speaker 0 00:03:30 Like you're not an
Speaker 3 00:03:31 Extrovert. I am not, I am not. Sometimes people think I am, but I can fake it really well. I just love to be at home. I love to chill. I'm not work as a socialist. I kind of get, and I'm very, very selective and um, how often I go out. So yeah. Yeah. That was a lot for me. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:03:50 So I see pictures of your little boy that you post online. He's boxing. How's that going for you? How did he get involved in that? And there's a mom. How do you feel about him potentially getting hit by other individuals?
Speaker 3 00:04:02 It's the, bizarrest when he's, he's gone to, uh, he's actually done like a couple of competitive fights and it's the bizarrest thing yelling at your 10 or 11 year old to like punch another kid in the head. It's such a weird experience. He was good though. He's incredible. Malakai is very athletic and he's very naturally gifted in lots of sports. And boxing is just one of those ones that he gravitated to. We had, um, an incredible, uh, studio here. It was called sweet science, boxing, and Malakai was doing martial arts and he wasn't really enjoying it. And he had seen boxing and he wanted to try it. Right. And so we walked him into the, into the studio and I can't even remember, he was young, like six or seven, maybe seven. Okay. Um, two young in essence for the studio and the coach was kind of like, I'll give him a try if he can manage to pay attention and do it and listen, he can come if he can't, I'll let you know.
Speaker 3 00:05:04 And Malakai was just eager and yeah, he loved it. So unfortunately the studio didn't make it after the flood, but he still maintains doing it. We have some incredible private coaches in town who do it, so yeah. He's he loves it. He hasn't had the opportunity to fight obviously with COVID, but, um, but yeah, it's, it's a cool sport, but it is bizarre. It's really weird allowing her on never forget the first time he actually ever got punched and bled, whereas head gear. So for anyone who's like, oh yeah, keep it safe. Um, but yeah, the first time he had a little bit of a bloody nose, he was like, oh cool.
Speaker 0 00:05:43 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. Yeah, my baby. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:05:47 Well, you know what? We got him into it because he's, um, he's always been a, a small kid and he isn't empath like he's mom, he's just he's hurt bleeds. And so we've, we're finding that he was kind of a little bit of a natural target being the smaller kid in school to be roughed around a little bit. And not that we're condoning violence, but we wanted him to know how to protect himself. Um, so that's kind of why we started him in those sports and he just developed a natural talent for it.
Speaker 0 00:06:17 I find most like growing up with, uh, like kids, obviously I find most individuals who are in some form of martial arts or boxing or some, some form of like physical, like activity. Those kids know how to mess you up, but never do. They're like they have the confidence and to just know like, Hey, I don't need to mess up. They're always the friendliest people always. So like in my, like when I say always I use that generally, but in my experience, they're always the friendliest people and they don't seem to be the ones that get into the fights.
Speaker 3 00:06:51 Well, no, because I think that's the thing that people don't understand. And what I love about the sport of boxing is it so much about respect. Um, and, um, it's not dirty. It's not about being aggressive. It's, it's, it's a very skilled sport, but Malakai has learned so much about confidence. I've learned so much about, um, yeah. Embracing his strengths and um, yeah. So I'm never concerned about him being reckless with it because that's such a core. And when he was in that studio, you weren't allowed to be boastful. You weren't allowed to be showing off. It was, you were there to learn and to be attentive and to be respectful. And so, um, for us, the biggest thing that we enjoyed about it was his confidence and how he can yeah. Just be more secure in himself and he doesn't need to be quote unquote aggressive.
Speaker 0 00:07:41 Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. I've question for you. You've been in Fort McMurray for a really long time now, downtown, but where are you from originally?
Speaker 3 00:07:50 I mean, the capital of Fort McMurray from Newfoundland, um, grew up in a little rural outport in Newfoundland, um, and came to Fort McMurray in 2006 for a PR like a practicum. I was in social work school. Um, had a boyfriend here, so came to visit and fell head over heels in love with this community, um, fell in love with the people and said, if I could ever afford it, I'll come back. Cause that was in 2006 and that's what it was like crazy. It was wild here. And so, um, yeah. And then my, so I was working at the center of hope then as a, as an intake worker and said, I would always come back. And then in 2009 was living in Calgary and the ed of, uh, who was my mentor was retiring and she had kind of reached out. Cause I always joked her with her.
Speaker 3 00:08:45 I was like, someday, I'm going to take your job. Like someday I want to learn. And she called and she said, I'm retiring. She said, so do you still want that job? And within like 30 days had packed up our house in Calgary and, and moved here. So then we stayed until 2013, I believe did the traditional Newfie thing, you know, got to move homes. So we moved home and when, uh, what did we do love loved it. Don't get me wrong. So happy we did it. It was incredible for our son. And I'm happy that, that we got to spend that time with our family, but it just solidified for us that we loved Alberta. We love Fort McMurry. And so yeah, we came back in 2016.
Speaker 0 00:09:31 Yeah. For is like, it's funny that you said did the traditional Newfie thing. Cause it is the truth. You see a lot of that. And um, but it always not always, but more often than not turns out to be like, Hey, you came back and like, yeah, it just wasn't the same. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. When I went home, I wanted to look through
Speaker 4 00:09:48 It. You look at it through rose colored.
Speaker 3 00:09:50 That's right. You know, I blame it on Republic of Doyle. I'm not joking. Like that was, I used to watch, I think it was like Thursday nights and Republic or Doyle was on and I will cry and like, oh, you know, I gotta go home. And then I went home and I'm like, they must have shot that entire season on the one sunny day. Cause it's like the weather's not like this. The, and again, it's, it's such a beautiful province. It's it's home and it will forever be home. Um, but it just wasn't for us. I mean, yeah. And my husband was commuting and we were not, not about that life. It wasn't, it wasn't for all. Hell. Yeah. And it was actually the fire when the fire happened, my husband was commuting and um, he was home on his rotation when the fire, you know, the evacuation, everything happened. And when he came back, he, it just maybe poor choices of words, but it just ignited a passion for this community and same thing for me home watching it, um, from home and I, we went now we want to be there.
Speaker 0 00:10:57 Yeah. That's really cool. All right. Well, listen, I just got the signal from Tanner. He's ready for the Mac CD minutes. We're going to throw a note to him. He's going to ask you some questions. I don't know what he's going to ask you. So I wish you the best of luck Tanner hit her with the maximum.
Speaker 4 00:11:10 Alrighty. Question. Number one. What is your favorite way to spend a night in Fort McMurray?
Speaker 3 00:11:17 I mean, that's, that's easy. It's sitting at home watching, watching TV with my husband or my kid or in my hot tub. There's lots to do in Fort McMurray, but yeah, I'm a home body
Speaker 4 00:11:29 Question. Number two. What is your favorite part of raising a child in this community?
Speaker 3 00:11:35 The incredible opportunity, um, that my son has, he has the opportunity to do all kinds of sports and activities. And even this, this past week can take into a climbing wall and it was, there's always something new and interesting and, um, we love being outdoors and there's no better place. Fort
Speaker 4 00:11:54 Question number three. What is the first thing about Fort McMurry that you fell in love with
Speaker 3 00:11:59 The people, the people hands down, it's the only place where you might not have family, but you have so much family, um, because your friends truly become that. So
Speaker 4 00:12:10 Question number four. What is the thing you missed the most about the community when you left?
Speaker 3 00:12:16 That's the people, the people, it was, um, it's hard to explain and everybody kind of likes to rag on Fort McMurray sometimes and it's, and I've had to spend a lot of time trying to explain just why you love it so much. And it's difficult to put into words, but there's just something about the people who choose to call this place home because there's an intention and they just, I don't know. That's, that's what I miss the most.
Speaker 4 00:12:44 And your final question. What is the biggest surprise you got from living in Fort McMurray for the first time?
Speaker 3 00:12:51 Um, because the prize, oh gosh, maybe just, I don't know how pretty it was here. When I first moved, I moved here coming from Newfoundland, had her kind of all the bad stuff. So when I first came here going, oh, that's not what it water's actually like. So I think that was kind of the biggest learning for me. Just the, how scenic and beautiful this region is.
Speaker 4 00:13:20 And those have been your five questions.
Speaker 0 00:13:22 Ah, I think the people thing where it comes down to is obviously like there's a huge east coast influence up here. So if for anybody who's ever not been to these coasts, I've spent a lot of time over there. It's super friendly. And so that's part of like the fabric of the east coast. And because like you said, this is so many east coasters live up here. We get that. But the other component I truly believe is because the majority of people outside of like myself and Tanner and there's some other unicorns, most people aren't from here, they're from somewhere else. And so when you come here from somewhere else, that's a hard experience to go through. But when the majority of the people have gone through what you've gone through, they show sympathy and they say, Hey, listen, I've been where you've been. I know what that feels like, let me help you out. Let me be a little bit more friendly because I've been in your shoes and then empathy, empathy. Yes. And because of that, I feel like that's the undertone of Fort McMurray in regards to listen. I don't have my family here. Do you want to be part of my family is my support system. And then that just, that's a ripple effect. Totally. So that's a cool place to be. You don't get it everywhere. That's for sure.
Speaker 3 00:14:28 It's like old school, traditional new fee mom. Um, and even she says that oftentimes again, that loneliness of, you know, wishing I was there, but she always says, you just always have so many good people there. So it's this, that added layer of comfort. And I think it's totally that most people don't necessarily have those connections. So they're very intentional in embracing people and being kind and being, you know, supportive to one another. And I think that, yeah, it just makes such a cool
Speaker 0 00:14:58 No, for your real job, you are a social worker. How are things going now? You're back to being in the office again. I, I don't know this personally, but I see it on a news like that people are having issues because of mental health issues. Cause COVID being locked down, everything else. How are you seeing that in your industry? What's what's it looking like?
Speaker 3 00:15:21 Um, yeah, I mean, it's, it's pretty prevalent. Um, people's mental wellness is not, is not great. I think we have, um, added layers here because of, you know, fire recovery, flood recovery, global pandemic that just won't quit. Um, and you know, but we're it, we're seeing it on so many levels. It's just so big and we've never, we've never been through this week, you know, and it's been two years and, um, a lot of everybody's talking about mental health, but I, and, and there's definitely crisis happening, but there's also just an overwhelming sense of just, um, numbness, I think for people and just being sort of done with it, knowing that they're not coping well, but not quite sure what to do with that. I even know myself. I'm very, self-aware when it comes to mental health, I've been opening about, I've been open about my own mental health challenges and journey and work within that field and even find myself being like, oh, wow, you're not paying attention to your mental health. Like what's, what's happening just because I think it's just so overwhelming for people. And there's, there's no real, I guess, end in sight. So it kind of makes people just want to turtle a little bit.
Speaker 0 00:16:39 So for people at home who are struggling, what are some resources that they can kind of get involved in are like, look into,
Speaker 3 00:16:46 Yeah, I, you know what, this is another thing I love about our community is that, you know, when there's needs there, there's people there. We have so many wonderful programs agencies in the region who provide mental health services and supports shameless, plug Canadian, mental health association being one of them where we have, um, lots of courses and peer support that we offer to the community, other great social profits, like some other solutions, uh, who provide counseling and supporting the community. So there's lots out there. I think there's also just been a sense though, that people have also been inundated with a lot of stuff. I don't know if you noticed this, but just everything online and zooms and you know, resources. And, um, and so, you know, I, I would just say to people, just do your research, look around, explore, you know, pick up a phone, call a place like Canadian mental health association. And we can help, you know, if it's not us, we can help direct you to the right space. But
Speaker 0 00:17:47 Yeah. Okay, good. Yeah. That's why I wanted you to talk it. Cause I feel like you just nailed it. Like there's a lot of noise in regards to like, where do I even start? I like, I want help, but now I'm overwhelmed with everything that I'm seeing. Which one is the one I go with, I'm obviously a little bit maybe embarrassed to make this phone call. How do I get started? And so, yeah, just like he just said, take time, figure out which one works and then go with.
Speaker 3 00:18:14 Absolutely. Yeah. You know, it's, it's very noisy out there right now, I think in regards to mental health and it's, um, and it's overwhelming and it's one of those things that it's so hard to take that first step to get to, to reach out for help or support or to know like, what do I need? And I think a lot of times people think mental health, I need a, sorry, I need a therapist or a counselor, or I need a psychiatrist, but there's so much more than that. There's a broad spectrum of supports and services out there. And so it can be overwhelming. It can, you're inundated with it. Um, you know, but if you can just pause, reach out to a place, make a phone call and there's people there who can help you navigate that.
Speaker 0 00:19:02 Yeah. That's perfect. No, it's, it's crucial. Um, I'm an annoyingly positive individual. Like it's, it's a bit of an issue
Speaker 4 00:19:12 If you're a negative individual.
Speaker 0 00:19:14 Yeah. So, but like, I know I'm on this end of the sex spectrum and even myself during this timeframe, like I've recognized like, man, I was chipper today or like mentally I'm a little bit down today and like I'm pretty introspective. So like I can identify when this is happening. Um, you're
Speaker 4 00:19:33 Positive about when you're negative.
Speaker 0 00:19:35 I am. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:19:37 I guess I'm in a bad mood today. That's really terrible. Darn. And you're like, nobody is that positive about being negative.
Speaker 0 00:19:45 But if somebody like me like can identify like, wow, I'm kind of struggling right now. And I'm on this end of the spectrum. It's horrifying to think of somebody who is a depressive or somebody who is just like teetering on that edge. It's great that the supports are there, if they can utilize and find them.
Speaker 3 00:20:01 And this is the thing, mental health doesn't discriminate, mental health or, you know, um, poor mental health is can touch anybody. Right. Exactly. Exactly. It's universal. Right? So it's um, yeah, even for people like you, I can imagine you're incredibly social and you love that must have been challenging for you to, to exist in a world where that was taken away from you.
Speaker 0 00:20:27 Hence the Mac city morning show. I got my little, this was able, I got my fix your hair by like talking to at least one person, like every day it was like, okay, that's something. Yeah. Okay. Listen, Tanner hit into the watch a long time ago. So I know we went over a little bit. That happens here more often than not. Thank you so much for coming. Please come back again. And again, like every time we get together, it's just hours disappear and chatting. So yeah. Before you leave though, everybody gets a shameless shout out. So the cameras are on you, the lights are on you, you got the mic. How fun?
Speaker 3 00:20:58 Oh, um, you know what? I think that the thing would people would plug their, you know, their agencies I've already plugged same ha my shameless, um, shout out is going to be to my husband. Um, and I think he's planning on coming on the show, but yeah, John Holloway, he's my rock. He is, um, such an incredible human being. He's an incredible, uh, business in this community. And I just thank him for putting up with, with me. So that's my shameless shout. I love you, baby.
Speaker 4 00:21:31 I think that's the first husband shout out. We've had a lot of, we've had a lot of wives, but I think you're the first wife to shout out a husband.
Speaker 3 00:21:41 He deserves a shout out for putting up with me. So that's awesome.
Speaker 0 00:21:45 Awesome. Okay. Well Fort McMurray wood, Buffalo, the rest of the world, that's been another episode of the Mac city morning show. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. I hope you're having a nice day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 5 00:21:58 It just dies that desk. Another Mac Sydney morning show Dawn.
Speaker 6 00:22:15 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
