Registration is now open for the Rotary Club of Peterborough Kawartha’s annual “Adventure in Understanding” 100-kilometre canoe journey for First Nations and non-native youth this August.
The six-day and five-night co-ed program provides a shared cultural canoe experience along the Trent Severn Waterway for 20 First Nations and non-native youth who are 16 to 18 years of age. It will depart on Sunday, August 25th from the new Canadian Canoe Museum on the shores of Little Lake and arrive at Curve Lake First Nation on Friday, August 30th.
During the journey, participants (including four leaders) will travel in three 26-foot Voyageur canoes over the Peterborough Lift Lock, experience the ‘teaching rocks’ at Petroglyphs Provincial Park, and visit with Curve Lake First Nation Elders.
The group will camp overnight at Trent University’s Champlain College, Lakefield College School, Camp Kawartha, Wolf Island Provincial Park, and Curve Lake First Nation.
The program was launched in 2014 by the Rotary Club of Peterborough Kawartha and is now offered with the assistance of the Curve Lake First Nation Youth Committee and the co-operation of Camp Kawartha and the Canadian Canoe Museum. Due to the pandemic, it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 but returned in 2022.
Last year’s journey saw youth from 12 Ontario communities participate — five from the Peterborough area — alongside a Rotary exchange student from Kanzawa, Japan as well as a former student of Dorianna Chessa, a land-based educator who came from British Columbia to participate in the trip, bringing two paddles with her that were carved by someone from Curve Lake. Five of the participants had Indigenous heritage as part of their background.
“This trip taught me a lot about Indigenous cultures and the Trent Severn Waterway, finding common ground with people I had never met before, perseverance, and tackling a challenge head-on,” said one of the 2023 youth participants.
The registration fee to participate in this year’s Adventure in Understanding journey is $400, which covers all food, all paddling and safety equipment, and all camping equipment except for a sleeping bag and sleeping pad.
To apply, and to view videos and photos from past trips, visit pkaiu.com. Applications are due by June 1, 2024.
