Page 66 Page 64 From twisting arms to having a pick of volunteers what a diference a year made for Musselwhite Mine s First Na tion Mine Rescue Competition team W e had to twist arms said briefng ofcer Frances Machimity who was asked to join the team by Ron Gray and Paul Dube The two mine rescuers came up with the idea of a First Nation team during a foor hockey game in the spring of 2006 thought about it through the summer and took up the idea again in the fall They asked a couple people then we went to Markus Uchtenhagen said Machimity Musselwhite s safety and training manag er told them to recruit enough membe rs for a team and then to come back Approximately 25 per cent of Mus selwhite s 400 workers are from First Nations but when asking and friendly persuasion fail ed to get the team up to strength Machimity said they had to resort to arm twisting Lucas Nothing Ray Quedent Charlie Bottle and Nora Shakakeesic joined Gray Dube and Machimity After that there was no looking back for what is probably the frst allFirst Na tion mine rescue team in Ontario No More Arm T wisting W e were all trained mine rescuers Machimity but we never trained to gether before or for competition The reluctance she said came from the increased time away from family and home that additional training for competition at the fyin fyout mine would take and we did a lot of over time training The next challenge for most team mem bers was studying particularly the mine gases unit Machimity said All those numbers she said with a sigh I found it overwhelming Management has been very sup portive said Machimity ensuring the team receiv ed training entering it in the district competition and even though they didn t win sending it to Sault Ste Marie to watch learn and participate as victims in the 2007 provincial competition Despite nerves all those judges with clipboards watching you and writing things down the team did all right in the district competition though they didn t feel good about the little mistakes that you know better than to make Machimity said The district competition however was a valuable learning experience that they will now be able to call on she said Had they compete d in the provincial competition I think they would have done pretty well Nerves gone at least for now the team is working hard for this year s district competition and a shot at the provincial competition she said Also gone is the reluctance of First Nation mine rescuers to join the team Clayton Kitchkeesik and W ilfred Machimity Frances husband who hadn t been trained in mine rescue last year volunteered and joined Others have asked to join Machimity said They say Y oure on the First Nation rescue team Is this year s team full W ed like to join it Musselwhite Mine s allFirst Nations mine rescue team plans to build on success having put frstyear competition anxiety and recruiting difculties behind them No More Arm T wisting Published in 2008 By The Mine Rescue Newsletter The MR newsletter was published at that time by the Mines and Aggregates Safety and Health Association This article ap peared in the ISSUE 5 MA Y 2008 The Ontario Mine Rescue newsletter is published three times per year now by W orkplace Safety North WSN