Native instructors wanted

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Outward Bound Canada is putting new emphasis on Native programs and on recruiting Native staff this year.

The organization's courses develop and improve technical and leadership skills and teamwork in a wilderness setting.

It is a non-profit, charitable educational organization and independent school, begun in 1976 with programs aimed at educators and lovers of the rugged outdoors. Courses in canoeing, mountaineering, sea kayaking, first aid certification and much more help people achieve their personal best and sometimes find jobs.

Giwaykiwin, or "coming home" in Ojibway, is the name for the program offering courses exclusively to Native people, courses that reflect both Outward Bound's philosophy and Native cultural values.

Currently four separate programs, each about a month's duration, are offered to Native people. They are the Native Youth Challenge in July; Native Leadership Development Course in September; and the Native Instructor Development Course in August; and customized contract courses for organizations, schools and youth groups are offered all year 'round.

Amanda Cliff, regional director of community programs in Burk's Falls, is enthused about their intensive, 30-day Native instructor development program, new this year, that she hopes will lead to Outward Bound being able to recruit more Native people to its own staff.

Although the application deadline was April 15, the program as "not quite full" and they were still taking applications at the end of May. This year they can accommodate 10 people, all of whom must be at least 20 years of age.

"We're responding to interest from participants who are interested in being involved with our program. We ran a one-week leadership program, and we were filling that every year and people were really enjoying it, but people were interested in getting something more in-depth. So this program is a four-week program and it's a real focus on skills training. So people can come and do this program with us, and it still has the cultural components built into it. It's taught by Native instructors and designed by our Native instructors here as well. So, it's got that stuff built into it, but the real focus there is on instructor development.

"So people who are interested in being outdoor leaders or facilitators or wilderness guides, it's a great course ... to increase their skills in that area.

Cliff said people taking the Native instructor development program need some outdoor skills to begin with.

"We recommend people come into it having already done some canoeing and have had some experience in the bush. We also recommend that people have worked in some role with students."

That would include teachers, community workers or people who have volunteered in their community centre "so that people have some leadership ability already, but that they're adding onto that leadership ability in the outdoor setting."

Basic first aid will be taught in the course, "so they'll leave with a certification from Wilderness Medical Associates."

When they put this program together, said Cliff, "we looked at what our requirements are for staff hiring, and then designed a course around having all those pieces in place.

So if you come and you get this, you get a certificate at the end, and it's a really good job certification, because the name Outward Bound tends to be fairly well recognized by other outdoor places. People who've come and done this course with us can then hope to be either employed with us or somewhere else."

Outward Bound has been running Native programs since 1985. Cliff estimates that about 50 people go through their all-Native program annually, and an additional 20 Native people go through the mainstream courses.

For more information, phone (888) 688-9273 ext. 236; fax 705-382-5959; or visit their Web site at www.outwardbound.ca.