Tipi Camp

GUIDING HANDS RECREATION SOCIETY’S
TIPI CAMP NATURE RETREAT
ANNOUNCES:

The YA! PROGRAM for Young Adults

Crawford Bay, BC: Guiding Hands Recreation
Society announces the launch of a new YA! Program for Young Adults from
August 21-31, 2012. The YA! (Young Adult) Program is an 11-day wilderness
experience for youth 17-21 years of age. With an in-camp and mountain
adventure component, this transformative nature program leads young people to
discover who they really are and provides them with the tools to express this new
sense of self in effective ways.

The YA! Program began as a collective vision of instructors and participants in
the Tipi Camp’s wilderness programs for teens and children. Everyone agreed
we needed more. In 2011, the first-ever YA camp took place. The program was
a huge success, and has opened the way for an even more transformative and
empowering experience in 2012.

“This program has altered the course of my life in a hugely positive direction. I
am happier and healthier for the time I’ve spent here.” – Kyoko, YA participant
2011

This year’s YA! Program puts greater emphasis on nature immersion, inviting
participants to connect to the powerful elements of the mountains, forest, and
pure waters of Kootenay Lake through a variety of individual and group activities.
We have seen over the years that the power of wilderness immersion gives
young people space to uncover their own individuality in ways that are unique to
each person. Absorbing the power from wilderness, with supportive mentoring
from the staff and elders, each person receives the necessary self-awareness,
confidence, inspiration and passion to fan the flame of personal leadership in
their field of choice.

“The program has pushed all our true selves to the surface so we can really see
each other.” – Rosie, YA participant 2011

Insights from First Nation perspectives and ceremonies are woven into the
leaning experience. In the first four days, traditional purification lodge ceremonies
help set the tone for the journeying to come.

“Safe spaces are rare these days, especially for young people. This place, that is
so free from judgment and selfish thought, is a huge blessing.” – Kyoko

Participants have the opportunity to sleep in a tipi, backpack and camp in the
high alpine, and summit a major mountain peak. The young adults explore nature

journaling, create an action plan, join in food prep in the community kitchen,
connect with mentors and elders, and participate in lots of fun & games. At the
heart of the program are the enduring friendships and camaraderie amongst an
inspired group of young adults.

“You have given us a place where we can learn to trust people again.” – Kyoko

To give youth the quality of experience they deserve, and to fulfill the mandate
for low-impact mountain trekking, the program will only be open to 15
participants each year. To show their commitment to the program, those who
wish to take part must participate in a challenging admission process and involve
themselves in community-based preparatory activities for 2 months before the
camp begins.

The cost to the participant for this 11 day adventure is only $300 CDN,
which covers individual food costs. The remainder of the tuition is paid by grants
and donations from people and groups that understand what we are doing.
The real payment comes from the commitment and enthusiasm of each young
person.

Guiding Hands Recreation Society has educated people about the value of
nature and outdoor recreation for 24 years, and taught individual responsibility
for conservation, ecological awareness and sustainability. Under this mandate,
the society operates the secluded lakeside Tipi Camp on Kootenay Lake BC, the
base camp for the YA! experience. Partnering in this offering is the Self Design
High School of Nelson, BC. Self Design is an innovative alternative to public
school education.

Anyone interested in the YA! Program can go to www.tipicamp.bc.ca
The Tipi Camp is also on FaceBook. Applications can be made at: http://
www.tipicamp.bc.ca/events/ya/ya-application-form . Deadline is June 1.
Applicants will be invited to participate in the YA! Program based on a process
which includes a statement of interest and intention, and recommendations from
the members of the applicant’s home community.

For more questions or direct contact:

Sandra Bernier
P.O. Box 20, Crawford Bay, BC V0B 1E0 Canada
Phone: 250-505-3173
Email: ya@theeastshore.net

Jonathan Taylor
Phone: 250-354-7511 or email: jetnelson2009@gmail.com

Monica Nissen & class

Beyond Recycling students ‘tuned out’ at Earth Hour, working all month on Eco-Challenge

Columbia Basin, B.C. — Beyond Recycling students in nine classes at eight schools in the
Kootenays are participating in a one-month Eco-Challenge to reduce their energy use and lower
their impact on the Earth.

To mark the beginning of this Eco-Challenge—and of greener habits—they marked Earth
Hour last Saturday, March 31, at 8:30 pm. That means they turned off the lights, unplugged
the computers and experienced life without the buzz of all that electricity. Now, they plan to
go ‘beyond Earth Hour.’

“Students have been studying and debating as part of the Beyond Recycling curriculum,” said
Monica Nissen, Wildsight’s Beyond Recycling program manager. “They’re excited to see how
they can reduce energy use in their own homes, how they can create less waste to go to landfills,
and how they can support local food producers.”

The Beyond Recycling blog is a flurry of activity, as students from Jaffray to Blewett have
posted short articles on what they’re learning in Beyond Recycling and why it’s important to
them.

“I liked this lesson today because it taught us what we can do to prevent climate change,” wrote
Kacie, a Grade 6 student at Twin Rivers Elementary in Castlegar.

(Read more at www.beyondrecycling.ca/blog.)

Nissen hopes parents of Beyond Recycling students will help conduct home energy and waste
audits.

“The kids know how to do the audits,” Nissen said, “but the parents know where the natural gas
and electricity bills are, and have a better idea of how much garbage and recycling their families
have each week.”

Wildsight’s Beyond Recycling education program works with partners at FortisBC and the
RDCK to deliver Beyond Recycling to different classes around the Columbia Basin every
year. It’s a 20-week curriculum that covers a lot of ground. In the Nelson area, students at
Blewett Elementary School, Trafalgar Middle School and Brent Kennedy Elementary School are
participating this year.

“When you add it all up,” Nissen said, “figures show if everyone on the planet lived like North
Americans, we’d need more than five more planets to meet everyone’s needs.”

“Kids grasp how untenable this is. They want to do something about it. And they can—but it
really helps to have their parents on side.

“Let yourself be inspired by your child’s commitment to action,” Nissen said. “And have a great
Eco-Challenge—and beyond.” ]]> http://inthekoots.com/2012/04/03/kids-and-parents-take-the-eco-challenge/feed/ 0 http://inthekoots.com/2012/04/03/new-business-redefines-how-we-age/ http://inthekoots.com/2012/04/03/new-business-redefines-how-we-age/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:22:28 +0000 julia http://inthekoots.com/?p=10695 There is a new Nelson B.C. based business that boldly challenges one of society’s longest held assumptions with a simple but powerful notion: we have the ability to control how we age.
Redefine Your Health is the culmination of husband and wife team Richard Klein and Yogita Bouchard, two teachers, leaders and guides who for the last 5 years, have been helping men and women over 40 rediscover their vitality by redefining what is possible as the body ages.

Press Release:

Members and guests listened attentively to Project Manager Russell Precious explain how we got
here and what the property development options may be. Dave Wahn, City of Nelson’s Senior
Planner, presented the City’s perspective on the redevelopment, and Co-op Finance Manager
Paul Dawson helped the membership understand the financial context for the upcoming vote on
the Special Resolution.

The Special Resolution …

That the Cooperative invest over 75% of its financial reserves for the sole purpose of
acquiring and developing the property described as 708 Vernon Street, Nelson,British
Columbia.

passed with an overwhelming majority: 119 votes in favour with 6 votes opposed.

The meeting concluded with celebrations and member mingling while enjoying sparkling cider and cake. Members were invited to sign up for upcoming redevelopment forums and express their ideas for the Co-op’s new home on a collage which will be ongoing and displayed in the store.

“I am thrilled with the impressive member turnout and the strong show of confidence for the Board and management” said General Manager Deirdrie Lang. “It is gratifying to see how supportive our owners are during this big decision making process and I congratulate the whole community as we move into this exciting phase in the life of the Kootenay Co-op”.

If you would like up-to-the-minute information on this and all Co-op activities, you can sign on to receive their Enews from the homepage of www.kootenay.coop, as well as regular updates in their newsletter and on Facebook.

For more information, contact Russell Precious, Project Manager at pm@kootenay.coop or Deirdrie Lang, General Manager at dlang@kootenay.coop.

250 352 6442 
or email sweetwater@netidea.com

The All-In-One Event Calendar which was invented by The Seed Network (parent company of Inthekoots) for the Kootenays has become the most popular calendar/event planning plug-in in the WordPress community (the world’s largest website platform).

Since the launch only 4 months ago, our plug-in has been downloaded 101,631 times. Even more impressive is that with 194 reviews – it is still averaging 4.75 stars (out of 5).

The All-In-One Calendar system was invented to help organize community/business events and bring people together in the Kootenay Region. By simply posting events onto your own calendar, any other calendar in the network can subscribe and also promote your events.

For more information about how the calendar work see Inthekoots Video.   Download the plug-in at All-in-One Event Calendar Plug-in

Bradley Roulston is a partner of The Seed Network and publisher of Inthekoots

Rachel MacDonald (left) at the UVic Human Anatomy lab

Around the world, more than 500 talented young British Columbians, including Rachel MacDonald of Nelson, are studying at fully accredited medical schools in places such as Britain, Ireland and Australia. But unless bureaucratic hurdles are removed, they will not have the chance to come home and become part of British Columbia’s health care system.

Each year, 80 to 100 young British Columbians graduate from excellent medical schools outside North America, with dreams of returning home to BC to become doctors and serve their communities. Unfortunately, in the past five years, very few of them have returned to train here due to Provincial government policies that discriminate against them.

And despite having a health care system that faces a critical shortage of doctors, long surgery wait times, emergency room closures and compromised patient care, the government is standing by those policies and choosing instead to not accept these trained BC doctors who have saved the government of BC millions of dollars by paying for their own education. They should be welcomed with open arms.

Each year, many students apply to enter the University of British Columbia’s medical school, the school which trains doctors on behalf of the Province of BC. With just under 300 spots available, many BC students choose to attend medical school abroad, in countries like Britain, Ireland and Australia.

Once they graduate, to become doctors, medical school graduates must complete two to six years of post-graduate training in teaching facilities across the province, also administered by UBC. The Ministry of Health reserves nearly 300 of these apprentice positions, known as residencies, for Canadians and Americans who graduated from North American medical schools.

Students from BC who graduated from foreign medical schools can only compete for a residency here by first winning a spot in UBC’s International Medical Graduates program, a program tailored mainly for immigrants. And once successfully completed, this route provides access to only 26 spots. In addition, exams to qualify for these positions are only offered long after the regular residency positions have been given out.

While this program is an important one for immigrant doctors coming to BC, it fails BC graduates from foreign schools and forces them to choose between waiting an extra year, in hopes of maybe landing a restricted residency here, or working immediately in another jurisdiction. The reality is, we know of no British Columbian graduates from abroad who have been accepted and graduated from this program.

Despite annual throne speech promises to address the problem, nothing has been done. Instead, the Province is continuing to actively recruit foreign-born doctors who graduated from the very same schools our students from BC attended, as well as doctors from countries that face their own physician shortages.

According to Dr. Drew Thompson, a cardiac surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital and President of the Society for Canadian Students Studying Medicine Abroad, the simple and virtually cost-free solution is to offer qualifying exams more often or earlier, increase residency positions, or let British Columbians who studied abroad compete for UBC training residencies at the same time as graduates from North American schools.

“These young British Columbians want to come home and practice medicine in BC,” says Thompson. “All they’re asking for is to compete on a level playing field for residency positions. With hundreds of BC physicians set to retire in the next few years, the discriminatory policies that treat BC graduates from foreign medical schools as second class citizens must stop now.”

The good news is that, while their home province is turning them away, other provinces, US states and countries around the world are eagerly recruiting them.

At the latest Union of BC Municipalities convention, mayors from across BC said they were prepared to commit financial support to help fund the cost of residencies so British Columbians could come back home to train and work in their communities.

When British Columbians consider the state of their financially unsustainable health care system, Dr. Thompson says the question they should ask their MLAs, the Minister of Health, the Premier and the University of British Columbia, is not “Why don’t we have enough doctors?” but “Why won’t you let our children come home to become doctors in the communities that need them?”

The Society for Canadians Studying Medicine Abroad (SOCSMA) is a group of parents, families and supporters of BC students studying medicine abroad.

Drew Thompson is the President of The Society for Canadians Studying Medicine Abroad (SOCSMA)

This morning the B.C. Teachers’ Federation announced the results of a union vote that saw teachers vote 87 per cent in favour of the job action.

In a press release sent out to media, Staff Sgt. Dan Seibel  reports the two skiers, a man and a woman from Nelson, were found safe – if cold and wet – on Tuesday morning

Creative Commons - WestWave Dance Festival – Pictures

Applications can be downloaded from www.rdck.bc.ca/corporate/grants/cbt.html.

For more information, please contact:
Judy Madelung
Project Coordinator
Phone: 250-352-8170 / 1-800-268-7325
Email: jmadelung@rdck.bc.ca

or, contact:

Joy Barrett
Cultural Development Officer
City of Nelson
cultural@nelson.ca
tel: 250-354-9169