Indigenous youth experience trail training this summer

By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on July 14, 2022.

Submitted photo Youth at the Mink Camp work to build trails around the Quetico Provincial Park in Atikokan, Ontario. Developing hands on skills through Trans Canada Trails Outland Youth Employment Program.

Trans Canada Trail is announcing the second annual edition of its Outland Youth Employment Program, a trail training opportunity for Indigenous youth in partnership with OYEP running from July 19 to August 19 in five provinces across Canada.
Youth are employed in a stewardship role to learn hands on skills such as chainsaw handling and safety, environmental awareness and respect for local wildlife, along with hands-on construction of trails across Canada. The program works with local Indigenous tribes through OYEP’s partnership to create a curriculum for youth to attain hands on skills that can lead to viable career paths in the trail sector.
Trisha Kaplan, national manager, program and inclusion initiatives for Trans Canada Trail, says this opportunity can lead to future employment and help develop skills to put them ahead in a thriving sector.
“One of the main goals is for the youth to see the trail sector as a viable career option for them. Because the sector is really booming and needs more young people going into the sector.”
Launching back in the summer of 2020, Trans Canada Trail approached OYEP, part of Dexterra Group, to put together a program that would employ Indigenous youth. Combining an education of hands-on skills and trail knowledge while also incorporating Indigenous collaborations with local communities and consulting Elders to ensure cultural and spiritual support in the workplace. Branching out from its first year of only two provinces, Alberta and Ontario, the program has expanded to BC, Manitoba, and new this year, Quebec. Kaplan says the program has been rapidly expanding since beginning back in 2020.
“(We) proposed having the youth join us for trail training, and they were really excited. So in our first year, which was 2020, the youth were only in the Alberta camp, and the Ontario camp. The youth came out and tried taking part just for a few hours in some trail activities, and it was really successful. So in 2021, we took the trail program across the country.”
Attendees contribute to building boardwalks, equestrian trails, and amenities such as picnic tables and bird boxes. Youth learn how to construct trails through manual labour working with the environment and learning traditional use of trail construction. Kaplan says the curriculum is aimed at making lasting impressions on the land to help all groups who inhabit the area.
“Our trail curriculum is really based on what the needs are of the location where we’re building trails. So, for example, in Alberta, the First Nations needed some trails built. So, we were able to have an instructor go up there and teach the kids about trail building right there on the First Nations land in the project that they were looking for.”
In Alberta instructor Ramzey Zallum will instruct youths in Lubicon Lake through the beginning of August helping develop hands on skills for trail building while incorporating knowledge of the land and the First Nations that inhabit the area. OYEP is a national network of innovative education that provides training and opportunities for Indigenous youth.
“Working on the Trans Canada Trail last summer was such a rewarding experience to be a part of. We were able to demonstrate problem-solving skills, while developing as leaders through the process of making a boardwalk. It’s really cool to think that with everyone’s hard work, we’ve created something that connects us physically, from coast to coast to coast, and spiritually to whomever will use the Trail, and the history of this part of the land,” said Sage Moses Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, OYEP Supervisor.

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