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Carla Wayman with Cori Hayden and Jaden White

The Paul Mulrooney Memorial Award of Excellence award, sponsored by the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC) is presented to the employee of an operator member company who has demonstrated progressive advancement to and within management positions. Recipients of this award must have demonstrated excellence in their positions, demonstrated leadership in team management, have honoured the highest ethical standards, have maintained the highest industry safety standards, and who must be willing to act as an ambassador in the promotion of our industry and show compassion by supporting the pathways through education for youth choosing aviation as a career. The award provides for a grant to be made to an employee of the recipient’s company who is pursuing a career in aviation.

The grant was made possible as Carla Wayman, Rise Air’s Director of Flight Operations was the recipient of the award this past year.

Cori and Jaden receive $1000 each from the ATAC bursary and a matched amount from Rise Air for a total of $2000 awarded to each.

Carla Wayman said “Congratulations to Cori and Jaden, this bursary is provided to them in recognition of their work performance and diligence in pursuing their careers. I hope that they will pick up the torch and act as ambassadors in the promotion of our industry and support other young women and men pursuing aviation as a career.

I wish you both the best of luck in pursuing your dreams”.

Cori Hayden and her colleagues

Jaden White, her father and Carla Wayman

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Orano, Cameco, Athabasca Health Authority, RCMP, QM Points, Athabasca Basin Development, and other local firms, Rise Air joined in supporting Keewatin Community Development Association’s (KCDA) annual fly in career fair. This fair is designed for Indigenous youth and older graduates seeking employment within the communities of Black Lake, Wollaston Lake, and Fond du Lac.

At each school the event is split in to two sessions, one for younger students and the other for those between grade 10 and 12. This gives the different age groups more time with each of the exhibitors. The older students can ask career-specific questions, while the younger ones can ask more broadly about the world of work and life after grade 12.

Rise Air’s part in sponsoring the fair Included planning support and freight shipping. Supporting the dreams and ambitions of our youth is incredibly powerful and we were honoured to provide transportation for these organizations and their representatives into the north to inspire the next generations.

Tracy Young-McLean, Rise Air’s Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Services said, “We are thrilled to collaborate with the KCDA. We’re 100 per cent owned by the communities that we serve, and we have a clear goal to employ more Indigenous community members.

We want community members to know that we are committed to increasing the number of Indigenous employees from the Athabasca region through our recruitment practices. A key part of this is being present in the north to have conversations with community members about the opportunities that we have. We welcome Indigenous people with all levels of education and experience to help build a more inclusive and representative airline.

We are also glad to see that SIIT, Northlands College and FNU were all present at the fair to help people plan and actualize personal goals to achieve everything from professional certificates to degrees and more”.

Cara Greyeyes, KCDA Program Manager, “I feel that we’ve had tremendous success, and I believe that the successes that we have is from the powerful messages our young professionals bring to the youth about education and we’ve had so much support from the local community as well as the Athabasca Basin companies.

Daniel Redekopp, RCMP, “All of the events has gone very well, in my opinion. I enjoyed it. This is about the fourth or fifth time that I’ve done this event and I always look forward to it. The kids’ take away is just the opportunities that are out there for them. I never had something like this when I went through high school, so doing this for these students is great for them to have that opportunity”.

Glen Sigstad, Team Drilling, “it was great to see students that are interested in careers and opportunities out there. It’s great to see the knowledge they have in their interest in certain careers, certain trades and stuff like that. Also get their opinions on what they actually want to do when they grow”.

Allison Strong (right in photo), Athabasca Basin Development, “What did they gain from coming to this event? I think it’s confidence because they were asked to ask questions and step out of their comfort zone. Some of them, maybe they’re not used to speaking to strangers in a professional sense.

Paiton Tegstrom, Northlands College, “I think it’s important to have this event because it’s absolutely imperative to meet communities where they are at. It’s not always accessible for people to come down south and go to school. So, it’s really important for us to know that there are options within our communities and also build those relationships that we can hopefully bring in more programing, where it is needed and what’s needed”.

Emma Blondeau, Flyer Electric, “It was great to speak with many students all ages to learn about their passion and to talk about the different education paths and opportunities available to them. Being part in helping navigate the endless opportunities by speaking with the students was empowering because they are the leaders of tomorrow. When you enjoy what you do then everyday is a great day which I felt was important to express to every student to let each one know that they can pursue their passion into a career.

Dan Gold, Rise Air “This was an incredible event to be a part of. As you looked around the room, you could see the engaged students listening to the inspirational stories from the on-stage speakers Allison Strong, Dene Robillard, and Brianda Robillard.

Depending on the grade of the student, they asked very different questions. Many did not know that their community was an owner of Rise Air and quite a few thought that pilot jobs were the only ones we had as an airline.

When the students listed their interests from computers to math, art, and science, it was important to show them that their skills were ideal for different parts of an airline operation. From IT, administration, and management to engineering and being a pilot. It’s important to show a direct link between success at school and the opportunities that they can achieve”.

We are committed to returning to the KCDA Flying Career Fair in 2024 and beyond!

Images: Athabasca Basin Development. 

Rise Air will be implementing a change in the cut-off time for all scheduled service flights starting July 1, 2023. The new cut-off time will be 45 minutes prior to departure. We kindly request you arrive for your flight ahead of time to account for this adjustment.

We appreciate your support and cooperation. Our reservations team will inform customers of this change at the time of booking.

Thank you for choosing Rise Air.

View the Rise Air Impact Report in full by clicking on the thumbnail below.

Included in this edition:

• Year in review
• Investing in the future
• Rosalie Tsannie-Burseth’s profile
• Our community impact stories
• Helping in the wake of Hurrican Fiona
• Diversity in our workforce

All of this and so much more.

This is the first of our DHC-6 Twin Otters to be fully upgraded inside and out.

Derek Nice, our President and CEO joined Nathan Catte one of our talented engineers who worked on the project for the unveiling in Prince Albert. Inside and out, the fit and finish of this aircraft is excellent.

“The outcome that you see…represents the passion of a lot of people that have put their hearts and souls into this upgrade.

This represents the future of aviation in Western Canada. This is a sign of the kind of change that is happening at Rise Air and reflects just how exciting this company is.

I mentioned the passion that the maintenance engineers had when they refurbished this aircraft. That same passion can be seen everywhere across our network with our pilots, our maintenance engineers, our ground staff, and all of our customer-facing people as well.

It’s an exciting airline and I’m proud to be a part of it”. Derek Nice, President and CEO, Rise Air

Our fleet replacement plan is underway and we will keep you up to date with all the latest news across our social media channels and here on our website.

Girls Take Flight 2023 with Mitchinson’s Flight Centre

Thank you to everyone who came to the Girls Take Flight event on the weekend. It was great to be present at the Mitchinson’s Flight Centre’s event alongside SIIT, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, the Saskatchwan Aviation Museum and other leading organizations.

It’s really important that we support the goals and dreams of those wanting to take up a career in aviation.

Across the globe, women are underrepresented in aviation and we want to play our part in changing that. In 2019, IATA launched its “25by2025” initiative as a voluntary industry-wide campaign that focuses on improving
female representation in the industry. The campaign targets not only airlines but also aircraft manufacturers, and aviation-services providers.

Currently, 100 signatories have committed to reaching 25% of leadership positions being held by women in 2025, or to deliver a 25% improvement in such numbers by that year.

Rise Air has surpassed this target with 50% of our leadership positions being held by women today.

We can’t wait to see you at the next Girls Take Flight event!

Ralph (the cat) knew where he would get attention, he took over part of our display.

If you are running an event and would like the team from Rise Air to come, complete the contact form and we will get back to you. Please make requests more than 4 weeks in advance so that we can do our best to get you in to our calendar.

Rise Air, We’re Going Places!

Rise Air is a BARS Registered Aircraft Operator with the GREEN designation. After forming the company in 2021, it was important for us to go through this audit process so that resource companies could trust our safety and operational standards.

Kevin Burnett, Rise Air’s Director, Regulatory Compliance explains what the purpose of BARS is, and what the audit process includes.

“The Flight Safety Foundation’s Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) program is designed to provide organizations that engage contracted aircraft operators with a standard to assist in the risk-based management of aviation activities. The Standard is suited to any organization that uses aircraft operators to provide contracted aviation support for their operations, particularly within remote and challenging environments”. – Flight Safety Foundation.

At 6am on December 15, the 22nd annual Santa in the North kicked off with the first flight to Wollaston Lake. A second flight followed shortly afterwards to Stony Rapids, road trip to Black Lake and a final flight to Fond Du Lac completed Santa’s journey on December 16.

We’re so thankful for all of the sponsors, supporters and volunteers. You have all made an incredible contribution to children in the Athabasca region.

This year we delivered a record-breaking 1380 gifts. Each one featured an orange, toy, candy cane, and an age-appropriate book. The majority of books this year were by Indigenous authors.

Thank you: Athabasca Basin Development Cameco Connects, Northern Lights Community Development Corp, Orano, SSR Mining Inc., Athabasca Basin Security, Flyer Electric, Team Drilling, Points Athabasca Contracting LP, Points North Group of Companies, Long Lake Insurance, Harold’s Family Foods, CTV News, Rise Air, Snowbird Aviation Services, Hands On Outreach & Development Centre, Imagine That Media YXE, Eagle Feather News, Real Canadian Superstore, Allison Strong, Bella McMahon, Ben Borne, Glenn LaFleur, Dan Gold, Christian Scibetta, Brady Tetzlaff, Stacey Hein, Joni Straker, Victor Fern, Rick Robillard, Joey Browning and Ashley.

To all those who stepped up at Rise Air to ensure that everything was packed in time – thank you.

Note: Images of the children are not included in the gallery. They have been sent to the schools for distribution subject to parental consent.