Pride

When looking up the word “pride,” the common word associated was “worth.” What does it mean to feel pride in your job? It’s waking up every day and going to work because you know the job cannot be done without you. It’s also about the individual passion people bring to the job, it’s living in a dangerous condition daily and coming out of it feeling like a hero. The men and women working in these industries know the sacrifices made, staying late, the mental and physical strain put onto your body daily, the strength it takes to be away for your family to ensure you have food on the table. They also know the worth, the satisfaction of knowing that at the end of the day you can look back be and be proud of what you accomplished, and who you accomplished it with.  Having the backs of those around you because you know that any move you make can affect their lives. 

Working in these industries is about understanding the power each job holds and knowing how to use it. 

Why?

A mining technician’s story,

When I started in mining, there were no mining t-shirts; we were limited to what mining suppliers gave us. We were all searching for something that could tie us to what we do and who we are because of it. I’m taken back to a time when I saw  “keep mining in Canada” shirts. Everyone wanted it;  you could see that finally, we had something to grasp onto. 

But nothing else ever came of that; we were in search of representation, something to associate us with mining outside the workplace. There was a demand and no supply. We held onto our mining t-shirts for quite some time; if I wore an MTI mining hat, suddenly I could find a friendly face everywhere I went, it became a conversation starter for anyone related to the mining industry. It felt as if we were all part of a club. 

When I worked at River Gold, I had felt that something was missing; the hardworking men and women needed more than just a story to tell their families. Thus began the beginning of the mining yearbook; a collection of stories told through pictures. When I proposed the idea, I didn’t quite know how I was going to pull it off; this was a project that no one had assumed miners wanted. But when the ball got rolling, it didn’t seem to want to stop; miners at the end of their shift helped cut pictures for the book’s draft. I still have a clear image of these miners with big hands doing art and crafts to promote their mining pride. When we showed up with cameras to take pictures of the workers, it's almost like they were kids that had cleaned their room;  they had imagined their poses. My co-workers were so proud to see someone was recognizing them, someone was finally seeing their work. They held their tools like war heroes holding a gun. The yearbook became one of the only looks into the mine many had ever seen. I got the opportunity to work alongside people that I had not worked with on a personal level; you could feel the morals rebuild themselves across the mine. 

Inspired by the success of the book, there was a passion that built inside me. I knew there was something missing in the industry, it was not the lack of passion or pride, it was the recognition of this pride that was needed.  We still needed something that was outside of the workplace, outside of the companies, something that can unify us all on a deeper level. 

Anticipating child number 2, I tasked myself with an individual goal of conceiving an idea that went beyond just myself. Thus began the creation of My Mining Tee.

A mine technicians kid’s story

When I was younger, my dad worked in the mines. My brother and I had gotten used to being away from him for days at a time. When he was home, we wouldn’t leave his side. As I grew older, his time home seemed to grow longer; suddenly he was home every morning and almost every night. As his shifts started early and he had to travel well over 2 hours each day, he often left the house between 5 and 6 every morning. Once I noticing this pattern, I started to get up around the time I knew he would be getting ready. Fully dressed, I sat at the table with my father enjoying breakfast in the early mornings. As he would leave for his day, he would kiss me on the head and put me back to bed. When my mother would wake, hours later, she would find me fully dressed with brushed teeth.

At night when he came home, I would run down the long halls of our house and jump into his arms; he would talk about his day, teach me mining lingo, and often give me a slice of pizza from a meeting he had attended that day.

When we talk about pride in the mining industry, that pride is passed down to their kids. I will never forget the memories, laughter, and pizza shared all because my dad worked in the mines.

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