Cree kids thrive during Ottawa experience
Groups of Cree children from all Eeyou Istchee communities had the opportunity to learn life skills in early April at camps hosted by Tim Hortons and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ottawa.
Kids from the inland communities attended Tim Hortons’ Camp des Voyageurs while coastal youngsters attended the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ottawa’s Camp Smitty. All of the children attended WE Day’s national event in Ottawa April 1.
“The Department of Justice, with the support of the Cree Nation Government, offers these camps. We hope to be able to offer them every year to do fun activities, to do activities that help build character and values, that challenge them together and build friendships,” said Donald Nicholls, the CNG Justice Director.
It’s all part of the Justice Department’s prevention programming. Nicholls said that the idea, particularly with WE Day, is also to show that they belong and can do anything. WE Day is organized by Free the Children with the premise of empowering youth to become global citizens through education to help fellow youth. It brings activists and big-name celebrities together with inspirational youth who have made change globally.
With the success of last year’s event, Nicholls said that they were looking to extend the experience to children from Grades 5 and 6 throughout the Cree Nation. While a camp for the coastal kids could not be made available through Tim Hortons for the same time slot that would also allow them to go to WE Day, Justice was able to get those children a similar camp experience through the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa.
“This gave us the opportunity to bring more children and so that is how Camp Smitty came to be and we were very fortunate that they were able to open up their camp as they usually don’t open it at this time of year,” said Nicholls.
According to Rosie Warden, the Manager of Outdoor Education and Youth Leadership for the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, Camp Smitty teaches kids social and life skills.
“We try to provide them with an opportunity to feel safe but also to develop the skills that they don’t necessarily get in their natural environment and they get this in a positive, energetic way. It is about building lifelong healthy relationships,” said Warden.
According to Warden, this is carried out through fun activities that engage kids in working together to accomplish their goals. These include relay races, problem-solving challenges, creating skits and other challenges.
“We only really had these kids for about three days and from day one until the day that they left, the transformation that we saw in them was absolutely phenomenal,” said Warden.
“We generally get kids for 10 days in our summer camps, but in just the three days that we had these kids we saw them go from reserved and quiet to being so full of energy by the day that they left. To have had that kind of impact on them is something that we really pride ourselves on.”
Over at the Camp des Voyageurs, General Manager Marie-Frédérike Scott said the kids who attended April 1-7 participated in wonderful activities.
“With these kids it was different because they were here for so much longer [than usual] and so we were able to spend a lot more time with them and get to know them. By the end of the week we were all hugging and it was just so cute to see,” said Scott.
According to Scott, kids at the Tim Hortons camp participated in outdoor activities, photography, putting together plays and campfire circles. The kids also shared their extensive knowledge of nature with camp counsellors.
“We have a nature class and in that we have a gecko and a few turtles for this class. This is something that kids usually really like as they are just drawn to animals. This was really neat to see because we also have some furs from different animals. Our counsellors said that they actually learned a lot from the Cree kids because they know so much about nature,” said Scott.
Edna L. Neeposh is a prevention program officer for Department of Justice and Correctional Services who delivers the Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) program offered to elementary school children in the Cree communities. She attended the Tim Hortons camp to carry out SNAP activities.
“We did two SNAP sessions with the kids. We helped out the counsellors and the chaperones with the kids and for me it was a really good experience because when I was young we didn’t have stuff like this. I don’t recall ever going to a camp when I was young and so for me I was excited to go just to be able to have that kind of an experience with the kids,” said Neeposh.
What stood out for Neeposh was how the children from different communities formed bonds and made new friends. With full days of activities the kids rarely had a chance to be homesick though for some this was their first real trip away from home and family.
Neeposh and her fellow program officers carried out two SNAP sessions based on respect and the process of complementing and rewarding one’s self. But, when tragedy struck with the deaths of five young hunters from Mistissini on April 2, the SNAP format also allowed for the children to discuss the tragedy in a sharing circle to express how they felt and comfort one another. This was particularly important as one of the children present had to return home.
“The sharing circle was very powerful,” said Neeposh. “We made sure that they knew that it was okay to cry when they were feeling hurt. Some of them shared and some of them just cried and some of them consoled their friends and their newfound friends. We ended the circle with a prayer and a hug and so this was really refreshing for everybody. It seemed to give them hope as we had sensed that their spirits were very low.”
Neeposh said many children were inspired by their participation in the WE Day event with 16,000 other attendees at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre. They were particularly impressed with some of the youth speakers.
“Some of them were just a few years older than the kids that we had brought and they were really making a difference in the world. There was a 14-year-old boy who suffered from a very painful skin disease. He was in a wheelchair and said that his whole body hurt right now but he was just so inspiring and uplifting, what he said was amazing. You could not believe the words coming from his mouth,” said Neeposh.
According to Annie Ethier, Free the Children’s Ottawa and Montreal Director, this year’s WE Day tour was called the Tour of Empowerment.
She said the stage was set up as a classroom to present four select themes: economic empowerment, technological empowerment, social empowerment and empowerment through education. Guest speakers at the Ottawa event included: actor Mia Farrow, US Ambassador Bruce Heyman, actor Marlee Matlin, Degrassi’s Jessica Tyler, and Free the Children founders Craig and Marc Keilburger.
“We are always happy to see the Cree kids. Every year now they keep coming back and they get inspired by these events and so we are very happy that they have the opportunity to come and they must enjoy if they keep coming back,” said Ethier.