Genevieve (Jenny) Duquette is from the Mistawasis Nation, a member nation of the Saskatoon Tribal Council. She is a mother of four grown children and grandmother of five. Sadly, Jenny’s daughter passed away three years ago and Jenny has been raising her granddaughter, who is currently in HIPPY, ever since.

Jenny has a life-long interest in education, earning her Early Childhood Education Certificate in 1995. However, it was becoming a HIPPY Home Visitor that changed her life:

Before I was always a caregiver. I was looking after my father and then my mother and then my daughter and then my uncle all passed away just three years apart. Then I lost my uncle in a year. I lost my whole family. I was at a point where I didn’t do anything. I was depressed. When I was selected for this interview and then I was selected for HIPPY, it brought back my caring and my willingness to help others.

As a Home Visitor, Jenny was involved in the Aboriginal HIPPY pilot program at Saskatoon Tribal Council. She has been a dedicated member of the HIPPY team at Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) ever since, helping to provide families with services to educate, heal, and empower. With STC, Jenny has been working toward building constructive relationships between children and parents and, through the 16 families enrolled in the program with her, she has seen first-hand how HIPPY can strengthen the bond between parent and child.

Jenny would like to continue as a Home Visitor with HIPPY. Her goal is to reach as many families and parents on Mistawasis First Nation as possible to help teach them how to teach their own children the Aboriginal HIPPY program curriculum. She also has important personal goals for her family:

Continuing teaching my grandchildren and children and helping them to strive in school. And teaching that the parent involvement in children is very important. I’d like to continue to be a Home Visitor.