LAKELAND – Stacey Harrison, the executive director at BGC Saddle Lake, has spent years ensuring youth have a strong foundation to build their future, providing a place to grow and a community to rely on.
On March 17, Saddle Lake Chief Jason Whiskeyjack presented Stacey with the King Charles III Coronation Medal, in recognition of the work he has done.
The medal is part of a national initiative recognizing individuals who have made significant contributions to their communities or the country.
For Stacey, it is not an individual achievement but a reflection of the collective effort that defines BGC Saddle Lake.
“It’s a testament to what we do,” he says.
For over three decades, BGC Saddle Lake has been a sanctuary. The youth centre provides a foundation for young minds to grow, to allow a safe space for young people to fail, so they may rise again and become more than they imagined.
The youth club is part of a national network of over 1,400 organizations serving over a million youth annually, providing dozens of programs.
“Kids are our future, and we have to believe in them and give them a chance,” says Harrison.
“You'd be surprised what a kid can do. Even though they're not always listening to you, they're always hearing what you have to say. So, keep speaking, and eventually they'll hear you,” he says.
"Who knows, 10 years down the road, they might come through your door as a coworker - or as a friend.”
Kallie White, who previously volunteered at BGC Saddle Lake and worked with Stacey, expresses her pride in seeing Harrison receive the medal.
“I’m really proud of him,” she says. “He’s always been here as long as I can remember. Seeing all of the generations that have come through the youth centre, and how he’s been able to help, has been really incredible.”
White was also a member of the Saddle Lake Community Cadet Corps – a group that Harrison helped form.
Stacey’s father, Robert Harrison, is a former executive director with the Mannawanis Native Friendship Centre in St. Paul, and worked with some of the people who were instrumental to the founding of the BGC in Saddle Lake.
Robert says his son grew up in a challenging environment, which helped inspire Stacey to serve youth.
Robert was a single parent to two children. The family moved a lot in Stacey’s childhood, which sometimes affected the children’s education.
“Since they were eight and nine, it's just been the three of us. I told them, we're in it together, and you got to pull your weight. And that's what they've done,” says Robert.
He says Stacey did not allow the challenges of his youth to stop him from helping others and Robert felt “honoured” seeing his son’s work recognized.
In 1984, Stacey was awarded the Queen’s Venturer Award from Scouts Canada. When he was kicked out of school later on, he was still able to achieve a general and advanced diploma from high school in 1988.
For a year, he joined a carnival to travel across Alberta, before pursuing post-secondary studies in forestry, where he was crowned “Bull of the Woods.” He was the first student to beat his instructors in lumberjack competitions. He graduated in 1989.
Following graduation, he joined as a summer camp staff member at the Mannawanis Friendship Centre, then found work as a cook at BGC Saddle Lake in 1990.
But perhaps, among Stacey’s biggest achievements was quitting alcohol and drugs 34 years ago.
Since then, Stacey hasn’t stopped serving the youth. He worked at Poundmaker’s Adolescent Treatment Centre as relief staff in the 1990s and even became a semi-professional magician, performing at various youth conferences across Canada over the next two decades.
In 1997, he worked at Kochee Mena Open Custody Group Home in Edmonton, before working at Bosco Homes in 1999.
According to information presented during the medal presentation, Stacey dislocated his kneecaps while working at a group home for extremely high risk and highly troubled youth, “during an extremely emotionally charged situation with a youth.”
But that did not stop Stacey. He moved to Saddle Lake in 1993 to support his wife, who was living alone after his mother-in-law passed away and continued with his work.
He was later hired at BGC Saddle Lake as a program coordinator, where he pushed for more programming for the youth, including taking them on trips across Canada.
He became the youth justice facilitator at Saddle Lake’s restorative justice program in 2014, and he received the George Brertton Award in 2017 for his work with restorative justice, not only in Saddle Lake but across Alberta.
In 2021, he became the executive director of BGC Saddle Lake. But on the same day he took on the position, a water pipe burst at the youth centre, which took over a year to repair, and the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in even more challenges. The organization effectively closed and moved to providing resources virtually.
“But we're going to have a grand reopening here in the next month or two and be back to business serving the kids in Saddle Lake,” says Stacey, who clearly still has lots of work left to do.
The youth centre does not only serve youth in Saddle Lake, but “anybody who can come out here and be a part of the process . . . We’re all inclusive.”
He adds, “We accept you as long as you prepared to follow the basic rules of respecting yourself, respecting each other and respecting the building.”
