Mckenna Francour, Colby Goodvoice, and Rebecca Strong play basketball this week. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski.
Prince Albert Grand Council’s new summer day camp is offering plenty of fun activities to give its urban youth a healthy outlet for their energy.
PAGC’s 13 First Nations have a lot of urban members between the ages of 12 and 17, which led its leadership to offer the camp this year, said Korey Diehl with PAGC Sports, Culture and Recreation.
“We thought there was a high need to maybe get all these kids busy throughout the summer through youth activity, culture activity, recreation activity,” Diehl said.
Youth like Colby Goodvoice, McKenna Francour, and Rebecca Strong all agree. They have been attending the camp so far this summer and said they spend a lot of time at home during the summer, so this is a welcome addition.
Goodvoice gave his seal of approval in the normal fashion of someone his age, saying excitedly “I thought it was gonna be boring but it’s actually pretty fun.”
The two months are packed with activities like paintballing, visiting a water park, trips to the Saskatoon Zoo, movie outings, and lake trips to swim and fish.
Part of the success of having up to 40 children show up in a day comes from how those activities were chosen.
Diehl said after the first day, they invited the kids to jot down their ideas and have formed the activities around that.
More traditional activities like beading have the kids excited as well. Strong and Francour both said they were looking forward to developing that skill.
This week, the camp hosted a sharing circle with Elder Russell Badger from Mistawasis, who is a former teacher.
He said often hear that youth are our future, but need to show it too.
“They don’t learn what you tell them, they learn what you show them. And sad thing in our communities, a lot of drugs and alcohol and it’s showing these young people what that is and these young people, that’s what they’re going to aspire to,” he said.
He didn’t shy away from talking about tough topics like drugs and alcohol.
“It’s important not to sugar coat stuff for kids because kids are intelligent. You tell them things and they know what you’re talking about. People don’t give them enough credit for being intelligent,” he said.
His message focused on the emotional effect of intoxicants, as well as the importance of treating women with respect. Badger said often, men focus more on their physical strength because it’s one of the few aspects of their self that is superior to women. He wants younger people to learn that they need to also value their mental, emotional, and spiritual self.
Badger said the camp will have a positive effect on the youths.
“These guys here are doing stuff with these children and showing the kids that they’re important, that they’re loved, that they’re cared for, that they’re valued,” he said.
Traditional activities are on the docket for the next month and a half, including snaring, trapping and fishing.