An early childhood educator in the Comox Valley received national recognition from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week for her extensive career working with Indigenous youth on Vancouver Island.
Cumberland resident and Qualicum First Nation Child Care Centre manager Pam Moore was in Ottawa on May 2 to receive the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Early Childhood Education.
“Prime Minister Trudeau presented the award. He was nice enough to come in and meet all of us as well, prior to the ceremony,” said Moore, who was nominated for the honour by her staff.
While only five early childhood educators across Canada receive the honour each year, Moore stressed that many others she has worked with would be equally deserving.
“Over the course of my career, I’ve worked with some excellent ECEs and other staff, any one of whom could have been deserving of this award as well,” she said. “There are some excellent ECEs out there and I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of them. That in itself contributes to my growth as an ECE.”
Moore, who has lived in the Comox Valley for 25 years, has morethan 30 years of experience in the field.
After 19 years of working as an early childhood educator with the K’omoks First Nation and Comox Valley Aboriginal Headstart pre-school program, Moore’s career took her down-Island, where she became an early childhood and cultural educator with the Qualicum First Nation.
“A long time ago, when I went to take my ECE, someone had said to me ‘you’re really good with kids, you should look into working with them’,” she said. “So I took my ECE and I’ve been doing early childhood education ever since.
She said she’s always felt lucky to do what she gets to do for a career.
“It’s a great job. You get to work outside, you get to have fun with the children every day, it’s creative, it’s interesting,” she said.
“To work with kids is such a joy because they’re so much fun to work with.”
Other recipients of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Early Childhood Education this year included Ashwak Bawa-morad of Edmonton, Maria Cortese of Vancouver, Yvette Sorin of Winnipeg, and Matthew Sampson of Halifax.