An Indigenous camp on Tobin Lake is teaching youth traditional life skills including fishing, hunting, cooking, and drumming.
The youth spend four days on the lake learning about their culture and getting hands on experience.
One of the organizers, Tommy Clark, said although the camp is fun, one of the goals is for the youth to find healing in going back to their roots. There is meaning behind everything they do, he said.
“And being out in nature is really rejuvenating.”
Elder Maryrose Naytowhow works with the youth at the camp and said the healing aspect is important as many of the youth come from communities that struggle with gangs as well as alcohol and substance abuse.
“We’re reclaiming our youth, going back into our Indigenous ways. Trying to influence them in positive paths,” she said.
The camp started earlier this year after Clark, along with others, spent the summer pitching the idea to surrounding communities. The funding came from a federal program called Jordan’s Principle which Clark said makes it accessible to the communities that come out
So far Clark said it’s been a success as many groups have even come back a second time.
“I was out there growing up on the lake, fishing, and hunting and working. That’s what we want to bring to our youth.”
Clark said he hopes to continue running the camp in the coming years and hopes to expand to other communities outside of the immediate region.
