Six-Day Canoe Trip

 

A program of the Rotary Club of Peterborough- Kawartha

 

The Adventure in Understanding program is a six day cultural canoe experience for young Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth ages sixteen and older.
It is a co-ed canoe voyage along the Trent Severn Waterway from Beavermead Park in Peterborough to Curve Lake First Nation.
The program has been developed with the assistance of the Curve Lake First Nation Youth Committee and is offered with the co-operation of Camp Kawartha. The program coordinator will be Glen Caradus of the Camp Kawartha staff.
The sixteen campers and four leaders will travel in four of the larger voyageur canoes. 

 

Everyone will gather at Beavermead Park on Wednesday afternoon/evening, August 27th for introductions and orientation.
They will leave Thursday morning for a short day’s travel through the Peterborough Lift Lock and the local canal up to the area of Trent University.
Friday they will continue traveling northward through Lakefield and Young’s Point to their next overnight stop at Camp Kawartha on Clear Lake.
Saturday’s itinerary will take them through Hell’s Gate, past the iconic St. Peter’s Church on the Rock, and westward through Stoney Lake to Burleigh Falls. At Burleigh Falls they will leave their canoes behind and travel by bus to Petroglyph Provincial where they will learn the significance of these ancient carvings.
Sunday will be spent in the Burleigh Falls area and then Monday (Labour Day) they will sprint for Curve Lake First Nation and a joyful celebration of their new understanding and their shared experiences.

 

The idea to create such a program was formed during author Joseph Boyden’s visit to Trent University to present the 2012 Jack Matthews lecture.  
For some time before his visit, a fellow Rotarian and I had been discussing the possibility of organizing a canoe trip to Algonquin Park as a way of presenting a unique glimpse of life in Canada for international exchange students hosted by local Rotary Clubs.
As I listened to the stories about his involvement with the Cree of James Bay and the Elder who went with local youth to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission meeting in Winnipeg, and as I sat in the Great Hall of Champlain College next to Canada One ( the canoe that had been in the Queen’s Jubilee Flotilla) I mused about the possibility of organizing a canoe trip on the Trent Severn Waterway.

 

The immediate ideas were:
To provide a mixed cultural canoe experience for a small number of late teenage First Nation and Canadian youth
To use four of the larger voyageur type canoes
To call the program “Adventure in Understanding” to emphasize that the goal of the program would be  to optimize the shared time together rather than the distance covered

1.    What are the qualities expected of participants ?
Healthy participation in peer society - NOT a program for “Youth at Risk”
Motivated to both learn and share cultural identity
Proud of cultural heritage

 

2.    What are the program expectations of participants ?
Willing to share cultural identity
Open to learning through listening and participating
Willing to follow directions and assume tasks requested by program leaders
Co-operative with fellow paddlers and leaders
Willing to share enthusiastically in all program opportunities

 

This program will give both the aboriginal and non-aboriginal participants an opportunity to demonstrate/express/learn more about their own identity and that of the other.
In the end, all participants will grow through listening and learning.