Camp introduces Indigenous girls to future careers as first responders

April 13 is the deadline to sign-up for Camp Courage’s free eight-day camp that allows young Indigenous women to study everything from CPR to crime scene investigation

CITYnews halifax \ Steve Gow

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A summer camp is offering young Indigenous females a one-of-a-kind opportunity to get hands-on experience as firefighters, paramedics and police officers.

Founded by firefighter Andréa Speranza, Camp Courage has been giving young women an introduction to careers in the emergency services field since 2006, but this year the non-profit organization has launched a special Camp Courage Indigenous.

“We have always wanted to do an Indigenous camp — we just never made the right connections,” says Speranza about the free camp open to girls aged 15 to 18. “I want to help the people who need the most help, so it was just a natural connection between what I want and my values, and the camp’s values and what’s lacking in our essential services.”

That lack in essential services actually plays a large part in Camp Courage’s success. After all, not only do women make up the minority in emergency services, but the past two years of COVID-19 has only compounded that gender imbalance.

“(It’s been) reported that 1.5 million women lost their jobs due to the pandemic and RBC said women’s participation in the labour force reached its lowest level in three decades,” adds Speranza about the RBC Economics study that showed more than 20,000 women fell out of the labour force between February and October 2020. “(That’s) even (worse) for Indigenous females.”

With Camp Courage, Speranza promotes future careers as first responders through an eight day program providing campers with a unique array of experience in each of the three emergency services.

“It’s all an experiential camp, there’s hardly any talking,” says Speranza who adds campers will learn everything from CPR and first-aid to zip-lining, rappelling and putting out fires. “We do life skills everyday — it’s more like fun life skills — so it’s all in the form of stories.”

Each day focuses on a specific facet of either firefighting, police or paramedic work, with the final day culminating in a grand finale scenario where the campers can show off their new skills and perform a demonstration before a formal graduation.

“This year it’s going to be a little different,” adds Speranza, noting Camp Courage Indigenous is in partnership with the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre. “We are going to have lots of culturalization of the program. We’re going to have drummers, singers, dancers, smudging everyday (and) we’re having Indigenous guest speakers at lunchtime who are in the essential services.”

For Camp Courage, the primary goal is to have campers leave “with a sense of empowerment and increased confidence to believe that they can achieve any goal, career or dream they desire” however Speranza has noted many young women continue to pursue opportunities in emergency services long after they leave.

“This all about developing our future leaders,” adds Speranza, who says more than 35 percent of graduates go on to study or work in emergency services. “Women bring extra tools to our problem-solving and our tool box, but when we add the Indigenous teachings and community, that adds another tool box altogether.”

Running from July 3 to 10, Camp Courage Indigenous will remain open for registration until April 13 and applying is as simple as filling out an online form and answering an essay-type question.

“The camp is 100 percent free,” adds Speranza. “(But) they have to write an essay on how to improve someone else’s life that’s less fortunate or how to improve their community, so instead of paying tuition, they say it in their essay (and) that’s a great life skill — to look outside yourself and know that even though you are one and young, you can make a difference.”

Graduates don’t just walk away with a unique set of life-saving skills after the summer camp either. They are also eligible to apply for high school credit, first-aid and CPR courses as well as several educational bursaries and Camp Courage’s own post-camp mentorship program.

After more than 15 years, Speranza is especially excited to finally launch Camp Courage Indigenous and looks forward to potentially expanding the diversity of an already impressive class of dedicated first responders in Nova Scotia.

“A lot of our campers come back for a decade after as teachers and mentors and some are on our board of directors,” notes Speranza about one of the greatest rewards of founding Camp Courage. “So that makes me happy — they are strong, independent community-minded leaders.”

To apply or for more information on Camp Courage, visit the website.