Andrea Godin shares insight into how to mitigate natural disasters within Indigenous communities

By Laura Mushumanski

(ANNews) – “Whatever you learn in life, you share it,” says Andrea Godin. There is strength in unity, she adds, and when coming together and doing good things, knowledge sharing is at the core of all that we do.

Godin has been working for her nation – the Dene Tha’ First Nation located in Treaty 8 Territory – in some capacity, since she finished high school. But it wasn’t until she turned 21 that she decided to put an end to a cycle she noticed within her communities and family systems. “I wanted a different journey,” she shared. That led her to pursue an education in business administration at MacEwan University. While employed by her nation to work with numbers and administration, Godin was elected for a council position. In this capacity, she managed the HR portfolio for her nation under governance and administration.

During Godin’s time as councilwoman, she expanded on economic development that would support the longevity of her community, by building and expanding the community. She worked with summer students, that led to researching and proposal writing for funding. In the first year, her nation – which occupies 3 reserves – was able to hire 99 students for the summer months in their community reunification program. They also secured funding for their income security program, leading to 37% of the Dene Tha’ Nation community members no longer needing social assistance.

Godin next became the nation’s Director of Emergency Management. “It was a chaotic 5 years with the nation. After studying historical data of our nations, we [realized we were] entering a 100-year flood [period],” she said. “In the time of crisis,” Andrea commented, “you want to be streamlined and calm; there was a lot of monitoring on my part where I had to be comfortable enough to do the work.” Because of Godin’s prior work experience within building structure and organizing how to manage and mitigate issues by addressing challenges and turning them into a success rate, she was able to create a structure to ensure the safety of her nation once the 100-year flood occurred.

“I had a bigger calling, in this case, and with the work that I was called to do, I had to keep myself in check,” she shared. “When carrying the weight of the community, the amount of emotions that come in is tremendous. You have to keep yourself balanced, grounded – a lot of things I got through when my community was flooding, was by praying. It helped me to find my peace. I prayed 30 minutes each day to ground myself.”

Andrea Godin founded En’ah Consulting Services, with a specialization in First Nations Governance & Administration, and Emergency Management. She is passionate about building resilience with governance structures for nations, as well as effective management systems. Godin has a “deep passion for helping others and a strong understanding of the unique challenges faced by First Nations communities.”

She can be contacted by email for any inquiries relating to consultation with First Nations Governance & Administration, and Emergency Management: [email protected]

Laura Mushumanski is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.