This month’s Sharing is Caring post (as in September’s post… we are educators. September gets busy...) is centered around Quetico Provincial Park. It is a special place for a lot of people and we wanted to feature a special organization that recognizes this: Quetico Foundation. Who are they? Quetico Foundation began in 1954 with …
Reflection: Inclusivity in the Outdoors
Let's have a look at a lot of our Outdoor Education programs. Who are your students? Are they diverse? Does your school intentionally try to provide outdoor education for a diverse cross section of their student populations? Or is it the other way? Are our outdoor education programs present simply to entice the typical outdoor …
Sharing is Caring: Project Canoe
Who are they? In the summer of 2013 I was lucky enough to work as a Trip Leader for Project Canoe, and I can honestly say this is the summer I hold most dear to my heart. At the time our small staff group was based out of Temagami in a little ranger cabin, and …
The Privilege to Paddle & A New Blog Series: Sharing is Caring
Globe and Mail journalist, Margaret Wente, recently published an article about the need to discuss privilege in Canada. She included a short test that she created herself to see how privileged you are. One of her markers of privilege is “You can paddle a canoe.” In all honesty the four of us are quite privileged …
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Trip Planning: Maps Are Important: Which Ones to Bring
It was day one of our trip. We spent the morning loading the car. We visited the park office. We spent an hour and a half driving down forest roads spending much attention to our kilometer counts. We finally found the portage after driving past it a few times. We had just finished loading our …
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Reflections: On feminizing canoe-tripping: Why we chose the name Lily Paddlers
*The term lily paddlers is a play on the term "lily dipper." A lily dipper is a person who paddles close to the surface of the water, without really pushing the canoe forward. Lily pads are an aquatic plant that sit on the surface of the water, thus lily dippers only dip their paddle deep …
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Reflections: The Importance of Acknowledgement
By Katherine Scott From my short but valuable time on this earth I have come to see that giving and receiving acknowledgement is an important piece (or peace) for us humans to feeling whole. Meaning that when someone listens to what we have to say or recognizes the actions we have taken, we feel more …
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Trip Planning: 5 Ways to Decolonize Your Canoe Trip
It has been around that time of year where some Canadians are celebrating our 150 birthday. Now as someone trained to be a history teacher, I could write a whole lot to complicate that number 150. That’s not why I am writing this piece today though, but it is related. Canadians need to decolonize themselves. …
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Thank you to Lakehead University School of Outdoor Rec!
Today we picked up the remaining gear we require for our trip from the Lakehead University Outdoor Rec Rental Depot! We are so grateful to the Outdoor Rec Depot and Lakehead University School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks, and Tourism for their generous donation of a rental canoe, bear barrels, GPS, SPOT messenger, and other equipment! …
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Reflections: The Search For Women In Nature: Where Are They?
We believe that access to, and experience in Nature cultivates the growth of strong, independent women who then become advocates, spokespersons, and caretakers for those natural places and each other.