New Canadian Children – Understanding your natural surrounding

The Waskasoo Environmental Education Society (WEES) operates the Kerry Wood Nature Centre, Historic Fort Normandeau and the Allen Bungalow in Red Deer, Alberta. WEES has a new initiative in development that fits within this new Aviva mandate for funding.

Red Deer has a growing population of new-to-Canada citizens with young children attending new schools in a natural environment they are unfamiliar with. We intend to help bridge this gap by providing a low or no-cost after-school interpretive program for these citizens. Being comfortable with one’s surroundings is paramount to building positive relationships and vibrant communities. This program will employ group-based experiential learning strategies that help build necessary social skills in children.

We are targeting new-to-Canada school aged children and youth and have selected certain schools that serve communities with a high proportion of low-income, new to Canada residents. Currently we are looking at Camille J. LeRouge, Fairview Elementary, Oriole Park Elementary, G.H. Dawe Community School and St. Patrick’s Community Schools.

According to the 2006 census the city of Red Deer has 7 655 immigrant status citizens with a growth rate of over 350 new citizens per year. This is a large growth segment with many difficulties facing them; we hope to be a bridge to help make their new community home.

This program is being designed to create connections between these children and their surrounding natural environment. Our connection and understanding of this environment creates our base relationships; by facilitating this foundation in children, research has shown it easier to create positive social and community oriented relationships. The people who will directly benefit from the project are the children in the program, their families, their new friends, their teachers and support workers. These relationship-building skills will help the children create a diverse, dynamic and understanding community to surround them.

Our new program will be taking place during the critical after school hours where there is currently no other options like this available. It is offered at low to no cost to ensure that the economically disadvantaged face no financial impediment to participating.

Through the program’s experiential-based (hands-on) learning strategies, children will develop critical social skills and could create lifelong bonds with fellow participants and the natural world of Central Alberta.

By creating an understanding of the children’s new natural environment, a high level of comfort will be attained allowing for better integration within the community.

The focus will be primarily on fostering the children’s appreciation and understanding of their new natural environment through different experiential group based activities. The major benefit of experiential based learning is that the children will be interacting together through hands-on activities, games and facilitated group discussions.

This program will be based on experiential education strategies. Children will take part in guided nature walks, scavenger hunts and other outdoor-based educational activities designed to create an interest in the local natural world. The activities will be delivered on the trail systems through Red Deer’s aspen parkland and river system as well as the Kerry Wood Nature Centre and the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary.

Dependant on funding this program will be developed and a pilot program will launch in Red Deer by December 2009. Ideally this program would run fivedays a week, once for each school. As this program is funding-dependant, the budget will directly relate to funding received. If we are able to secure enough funding we will be able to provide transportation for the children as well as increase the amount of programming offered (e.g. five days a week versus only one).

The Program budget has not been fully developed as of yet. The funding will need to cover program development time and as much of the program delivery cost as possible (to ensure cost to participants is affordable).

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