An organization in Terrace is helping those living on remote first nation reserves get their drivers license.

Owner of All Nations Driving Academy Lucy Sager says it’s a huge barrier to getting education and employment. She says it was also evident last year during the forest fire season how imperative the skill can be to transporting people to safety. ” So if you think about the geography of British Columbia and where reserves are, you may have a reserve that’s 100 kilometres down a forest service road and if people live there and they don’t drive, how are they going to access driver training? And so, often we see people driving without a license, we see a lot of hitch-hiking. This can actually be a life saving tool.”

All Nations Driving Academy started early in 2018 and Sager says it was successful in working with the Haisla First Nation in setting up its own school. “And to date I’ve been working with the province of BC to support driver training along highway 16. So a lot of British Columbia’s know that stretch as the highway of tears. And we also have a number of major projects happening in that corridor and we’re proud to also be working with the Burns Lake Native Development Corporation to help them set up their own school.” She adds that driving can also help save lives as was evident last year during the busy forest fire season.

Sager says it’s had great success so far and has really helped people improve their lives. “One of the things we’re really proud of is ever person who got a drivers license to date, is working or is driving themselves to school. And so to have those kinds of statistics, they also become a mode of transportation for their family.” Sager has received interest in expanding the service beyond northwestern BC and even outside the province altogether.