Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Okay, 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 with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time and the fact that you spending with us truly doesn't mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:21 Oh, she caught me, loves near listened to the next every morning.
Speaker 0 00:00:30 All right. And we're back. Okay. I'm really looking forward to this episode because it's my favorite type of episodes. When I don't know the person I'm talking to. Uh, as you guys know at this point, I don't introduce my guests because they can do a better job at it than myself. So on that note, sir, can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 3 00:00:46 How's it going to buddy? Not to be here. Thank you for having me on man. Same thing for the behind the mic. My name is JT. Um, moved out here for work purposes, used to live here before he used to work with Syncrude. Um, yeah, just love the fucking form of Marie Canada. And I'm in my name even more that's I saw here.
Speaker 0 00:01:12 So when you moved out here before, how long ago were you here?
Speaker 3 00:01:16 Uh, was here 2010. I believe I was here four years. Okay. And
Speaker 0 00:01:21 What were you doing that
Speaker 3 00:01:22 At that point? Uh, that time I was working for Suncor, uh, pretty much anything that they needed me to do. Um,
Speaker 0 00:01:32 Yeah. And so what brought you from, what part of Canada? Where did you come from?
Speaker 3 00:01:35 Uh, I'm from the east side. So Ontario, uh, raised in Ottawa, uh, went to elementary, high school, college, and then after the transition to Alberta, all work-related Ontario is more a government and not my type of style, you know what I mean? So I prefer hands-on um, I don't like sitting behind a desk period later. I'll be bored obviously. Yeah. Can I close it in here? No, not really.
Speaker 0 00:02:06 We try our best not to, but at the end of the day, if you do listen, you wouldn't be the first and you won't be the last yeah. That's all right. We try our best not to though, but it's okay if you do. So now you're living in Ontario for McMurry, Alberta, middle of nowhere, top of Alberta. How did you hear about this community
Speaker 3 00:02:27 For the soul?
Speaker 0 00:02:28 No, no, no. Not to show with Marie.
Speaker 3 00:02:31 Yeah. So yeah. Crazy coincidence. So I was with a friend of mine that actually lived like he's originally, I grew up with him in Ottawa. He came out here for like a year or two did some schooling and stuff like that. Then afterwards he came back to Ontario. So obviously we linked up, started chatting. He was like, yo, you should move to Alberta. He lived in Edmonton at the time. So I'm like, okay. So what's there. He's like, oh, I don't know nobody. I don't have no family over here. So literally he's the only person I know, decided to take a risk. He's like, yeah. And I came out here. It's just like that pretty much like from whatever he told me. Yeah. That's a crazy wild guessing.
Speaker 0 00:03:13 So he was living in Edmonton at the time
Speaker 3 00:03:15 He was living in the Edmonton, but he would travel to different locations. So he never had a station with a whole branch was in Edmonton. When he will go to Leftbridge who go to Madison high, he will go to up north form of Marie Perri lake heal, the whole travel a lot, these surveyor pretty much.
Speaker 0 00:03:34 Okay. So when you move it up here, you, you lived here for four years. Like how did you like it when you first got it?
Speaker 3 00:03:40 Oh, I loved it. I'm not going to lie. I actually found the community very interested and there was a lot of, um, chaos going on at the same time when I first
Speaker 0 00:03:51 Came on, actually back then. Yeah. It was crazy.
Speaker 3 00:03:53 Yeah. It was super crazy. Um, but even in all that mislead, I wasn't involved in that. I go to work, come back, go out to wherever the casino, so food, whatever. Right. But other than that, it was, it was nice.
Speaker 0 00:04:09 That's awesome. So then, so you're working at site, you got four years, that's a good amount of time in Fort McMurray, but then you decided to move back east. What was the, what was the reasoning for that? So,
Speaker 3 00:04:21 Pretty much I was hoping on my mom because she was at the end of her days of work, she was retiring. So she's like, I want to go back home and you know what I mean? Like she haven't seen her, my grandma in a minute. I'm like, okay. I hope you came back, went on Terry for like two years to help her settle her things, packer stuff. And, yeah. And, uh, where's back home for your mom? Uh, east Africa.
Speaker 0 00:04:45 Okay. So now are you born in Somalia? Are you born here in
Speaker 3 00:04:50 Kendall? Born of Somalia. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:04:52 When did you immigrate
Speaker 3 00:04:53 Canada? Actually, it was, I went, so I was a baby when I left, I lived in Italy for maybe six, seven years, something like that. So I lived in Milan before I came to Canada. Can you speak Italian? Uh, not as much as they used to was, you know, I understand.
Speaker 0 00:05:15 Very interesting.
Speaker 3 00:05:17 Yeah, no, I've been in Canada for like 20 something years. I might look young, but
Speaker 0 00:05:23 Yeah. Okay. Okay. Sweet. Okay. So you helped your mom, so she moved back to Somalia. Did she? Okay.
Speaker 3 00:05:29 Yeah. So she retired, she retired. It doesn't mean that retired is not working no more or she's not doing what she loves. She got a couple of organizations, she got an NGO, um, which helps. So females and empowering them pretty much. She's all about. And my sister was, uh, retinol is winter and she's helping her as well. So the whole, my mom's NGO's about is given females education, putting them in a power of, um, um, in a policemen or power with the government wanting to do business. So they're not reliant on men to do everything for them and whatnot. My whole household was all about independence. You know what I mean? Like rights and respect, all of that. So she's doing a great job. Like she comes up, she gets flown, flown out to, I think she went to Ryerson was the Toronto. Uh, she did a lecture over there. She goes to Sweden. So she travels the world, Bush, her house or home is back home, right?
Speaker 0 00:06:34 Yeah. So before you leave, if you know it, like we got a link that for your mom to give her some shine on the show, definitely what that organization is called and try to get more attention to it.
Speaker 3 00:06:44 The Swalley so Somali women, um, leadership initiative.
Speaker 4 00:06:50 We, uh, we love our moms on the Mac city morning.
Speaker 0 00:06:53 Yeah, we do. Yeah. Moms are awesome. Okay. So you go back two years, get your mom set up her and your sister then move. Did you right away decide I'm coming back to Fort McMurray? Like what was the thought process?
Speaker 3 00:07:05 I, so after all of that happens, just took time for myself. Um, the couple of things travel the world for a little bit. And then afterwards I came, when I came back and I came straight to Fort McMurray.
Speaker 0 00:07:22 I'm more interested in your world travels in Fort McMurray. Where did you travel?
Speaker 3 00:07:26 Um, so I went to Kenya. I went to Morocco, Casablanca, Nairobi. Um, I went to Uganda. I went to Chad, um, stopped at Dubai. Yeah. Um, then afterwards went to Turkey, Istanbul. Then after that I came back to Canada.
Speaker 0 00:07:46 Very cool. So you like to travel obviously. So when you travel, like obviously, like I feel once you get over to Europe or to other countries, it becomes a little bit cheaper to get from one to the other, other continents. You mean? Yes. Other comments. Good call. Thank you. But, so when you travel, like what kind of traveler are you? You have some people who are like resort travelers. You have like my business partner who loves staying hostels, which I'm like, dude, but it's his thing, but like what kind of travel?
Speaker 3 00:08:15 Um, more and more hostels I can do, because if it was somebody that I don't know, you know what I mean? It's kind of, if he,
Speaker 4 00:08:21 Yeah. I don't like keeping my stuff in the same room as another person. I have no idea. Anything about
Speaker 3 00:08:28 Exactly. You don't know what kind of disease or whatever,
Speaker 4 00:08:31 Steal your stuff or?
Speaker 3 00:08:33 Yeah, like stealing, like I'd rather get somebody steal my stuff rather than me come out with malaria or some or some bedbugs. And you know what I mean? Some third world
Speaker 0 00:08:44 I am on the same page as you, but yeah, my business partner, although like,
Speaker 3 00:08:48 No, I'm more of a horrible hotel
Speaker 0 00:08:51 Hotel kind of guy. Okay. Yeah. He likes to stay in hostels. I'm like, dude, this is something when you're young and you're a backpacker and like your financial situation forces you to stay in those types of circumstances you go with. He's like, no, man, I like meeting people so crazy to me. So like when you're traveling, um, how many, what's the duration of time you'd like to try to spend in like one location?
Speaker 3 00:09:15 Um, I'm not one of those other people that stay in a place for like a week or two. What are you going to learn in a week or two? Right. It's like, I love and love. You might fall in love with it. You might hate it. Like the beginning is always iffy. So I like to stay for like a month or so. Okay. And then afterwards, if I like it, I'll stay a little bit more. Keep moving on. Like my last job I did, I was gone for about a year and a half. Yeah. And also, yeah.
Speaker 0 00:09:42 And everywhere. So when you're in these countries for that duration of time, are you trying to work at all or are you just absorbing the culture that you're,
Speaker 3 00:09:50 It's pure culture and culture. We try to food, get to know the language, get to know the people come in and it's just the experience of it.
Speaker 0 00:09:59 That's cool, man. That's really interesting. Okay. So now you're back and forth. McMurray. What do you do? What are you doing now?
Speaker 3 00:10:06 Uh, right now, like I literally just moved back. Um,
Speaker 0 00:10:11 Yeah. You said like when you texted me like a month or two in yeah.
Speaker 3 00:10:15 Yeah. Brand new is smoothed in September 1st. So, uh, pretty much retinol is, is focused on working and trying to make that money back that I spent.
Speaker 0 00:10:27 It's not cheap to travel, man.
Speaker 3 00:10:28 Nah, it's not. Um, good thing. A shout out to my sister gave me the heck, uh, the link up for, um, the plane tickets, the chief, all of that. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:10:42 Nice. So what line of work would you like to get back into now that you're in Fort Mac?
Speaker 3 00:10:46 Um, pretty much. I used to be, I did safety for a total of eight years, so pretty much, but like safety's taken a turn. Um, I used to work in the rigs. I used to, um, like I went to Fort St. John. Yeah. Went to Fort Nelson everywhere. But like, if this is not the way, like, like what it was, I started and yeah, right now I'm just going into trades. So I nearly got my blue book to be a pipe fitter. I'm working towards that retinol.
Speaker 0 00:11:22 Yeah. There you go, man. All right. Well, Tanner just gave me the signal that it's a time for the Mac city minute. This is Tanner segment. He's going to ask you five questions. I don't know what he's going to ask you. I wish you nothing but the best of luck, Tanner hidden with the maxi minute. Alrighty.
Speaker 4 00:11:35 The question number one. What is one thing you missed about Fort McMurry when you left
Speaker 3 00:11:41 One thing that I missed? Well, other than the money, um, I would say know it's just a community. You know what I mean? Like just the people in the city lake, some people are awesome as fuck. Like, yeah. That's okay, man.
Speaker 4 00:11:57 That's
Speaker 3 00:11:57 Not wrong. As soon as I meet them, it's like, we clicked right off the bat. And we're like, what? Like where have you been? Yes. Like, yeah.
Speaker 4 00:12:05 Question number two. What is one thing that makes you so passionate about Fort McMurray?
Speaker 3 00:12:12 Um, Hmm. Does it have to be one thing? Oh, you can go on man. You can ramble. All right. Um, so the community was how everybody knows each other and pretty much it's like you came, put yourself in a better position, even though you're not in a good position. Like yes. You know what I mean? Opportunity, opportunity. And there's also like emotionally wise people that are actually late. Like my bosses. They're awesome. And they're like, if you have a problem, like I had a little issue and everybody started sending me texts and love and support and everything else. And it's just the way they look out for each other. Yeah. You don't get that a lot of places. Yeah. That's true. That's very true.
Speaker 4 00:12:57 Question number three. What is one thing you remember about your move from Italy to Canada?
Speaker 3 00:13:05 Uh, not being able to speak English and, uh, getting teased as a kid. I mean, but no, hold on. This is what, w what,
Speaker 4 00:13:21 What is one thing you remember about your move from Italy to Canada?
Speaker 3 00:13:26 Oh, the airports, uh, when I landed, like, cause it was during winter times and I came from the summer, so I wasn't even prepared. And my mom didn't know anything about Canada. So like I just come out and I'm freezing and I'm asleep. But as soon as I got in the car and started driving on the highway, I'm just a little kid, right. Looking out the window and, and you know, I have this lady just across like two, three lanes in Toronto and she just waved at me. And, um, I just had like the biggest smuggled I'm like, my eyes were open. I was like, that was a good welcoming note. Yeah. That's beautiful, man. I remember that.
Speaker 4 00:14:10 Okay. Question number four. What is the weirdest dish you've enjoyed on your many tracks.
Speaker 3 00:14:17 Okay. So out of, I forgot what the name is called. Yeah. But it looks like a green goop and it's a delicacy. And what is this from? Um, pretty much Eastern. There's more, it's not like, I don't know if it Kenya, not Kenya, Somalia and all those. I know somebody who doesn't do it, but I'm guessing it's like more Sudan. And um, but then it was, I forgot the name, but it's a green group. And if you look at it, it looks like, like a goo. Yeah. But it's so delicious. I'm going to search it up. I'm going to move it to one of these, my friend book.
Speaker 4 00:15:04 Is it like south African or like African
Speaker 3 00:15:09 More east African anywhere like, uh, then, uh, Kenya, I guess Tanzania and Uganda
Speaker 4 00:15:22 Can't find anything on Google for you.
Speaker 3 00:15:25 Ah, I'll call my friend at the end of the show
Speaker 0 00:15:30 In the comment section
Speaker 4 00:15:31 And your final question. What is one thing that the people in Fort McMurray share in common with the people you've met in your travels?
Speaker 3 00:15:41 Um, a lot of people, a lot of people, former Marines are curious. So they actually take time to speak with you with questions. And yeah, that's the same thing as like, when I was traveling, nobody else know where I came from. What my, yeah. Yeah. Those
Speaker 0 00:16:09 Have been your five questions. So I'm extremely fortunate, but more often than not people are from somewhere else and like yourself, they come, they might know one or two people, but like it's, it's a, it's a brand new place. They know what it's like to move to new community. So when somebody else comes in, they're like, Hey, I used to be you maybe like a year or even 10 years ago, but I know where you're coming from. I know what that struggle feels like. Or somebody was friendly to me when I first moved here, I'm just going to pass out buck on, you know what I mean? So I do find in my travels and when I come back to Fort McMurray, you really get that sense of community here that wow. People really are genuinely nice and interested in what's going on. So, and I feel, that's why I could be wrong with that.
Speaker 3 00:17:03 No, no, no. You're a hundred percent. You hit a red on the head of the nail. I mean, um, when I came here, like a lot of people need, like I was doing like petty jobs. I mean, like being a cleaner, just to get my Coke or whatever. And I meet people. They're like, yo, you stopped doing this. If you really want to get into this, here's my business card. Here's my company info. Um, better yourself. Come in. We'll take you in. I'll teach you. And yeah, that's how I actually got the job that I have right now because a friend of mine saw me and he's like, I'm like, you I'm struggling. Like I need, you know what I mean? Stability because safety, wasn't really a stable thing. It's like, seasonal is not sure if you eat, you gotta like suck up to the dispatcher in order for you to get sent out. If the dispatcher don't like you, you're not going anywhere. There's more jobs for you. Even if there's a hundred jobs. So pretty much the guy told me, I'm like you, I can't handle this. He's like, you know what, let me get back to you in a week later, he calls me up. He's like, yo, do you want a job? Yes, here's my resignation. He ran home. I jumped ship. So it's like that. And yeah,
Speaker 0 00:18:14 It is very different. I know safety back in the day used to be like a, really, a lot of my friends once we finished high school either like got, because it's summertime you just looking for something transitional, right. Either did safety or did moving work for moving companies, things like that. And I remember back in the day, like it was a really stable, good job to get into, especially if you were like working out at site and you're working in one of those safety, um, buildings, and then just like surveying, like the area. I've only heard positive things from back in the day, mind you and like yourself and I'm not young. So, um, back in the day, like it used to be definitely something that was, uh, a corruption. That was a good one.
Speaker 3 00:18:54 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Late. Uh, sure. Yeah. I mean like when everybody was actually genuinely honest and your hard work would get paid off. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:19:05 Yeah. All right, man. Well, I just got the signal that we're at the end of our 20 minutes short and sweet time flies. I know. So, uh, before everybody leaves though, uh, they get a sh uh, shameless shout out or plug. So you got the mic on you. You got the camera on, you have some fun.
Speaker 3 00:19:22 Just give me a shout on
Speaker 0 00:19:23 Somebody's shameless. Shout our plug, man. Anybody, anything or anybody want to say hi to
Speaker 3 00:19:28 Shout out to Chad Turner, shout out to Steve, uh, Morton army shadow to Elliot Tanner gang gang
Speaker 3 00:19:43 Oh yeah. Shout out to my mom and my sister. There we go. If my brother was here to shout out to him.
Speaker 0 00:19:50 It's okay, man. Well, thank you very much for coming on the show. I tell this to everybody and I truly do mean it. Come back again and again, and again, it's set up for 20 minutes. So people just get a glimpse into your life, but obviously you're more interested in, in 20 minutes. So if you ever want to come back on the show again, you know how to get in contact with us.
Speaker 3 00:20:07 I appreciate that they could have me guys and been a pleasure.
Speaker 0 00:20:10 Oh man. All right. Well Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. That's been another episode of the Mac city morning show. Thank you so much for tuning in it truly does mean the world to me on that note, I hope you're having a great day. We'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
