Page 18 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 129

18 Issue #129 October 2023 www.sportsenergynews.com

Adventure in Understanding with Logan Leroux

By Christine Ouellet three canoes. They had to carry
everything in the canoe: packsack,
he Rotary Club of Cornwall food barrels, teepees, poles, which
Tsponsor a youth from our had to be taken with them in the
region each year for “The morning. To add to the challenge,
Adventure in Understanding” at Camp Kawartha they had to
program. Twenty-four young First hike up a trail and haul everything
Nation and non-native youth ages up.
sixteen to eighteen years old got to Logan Leroux described the
live this annual six day, five night adventure; “We canoe for however
cultural canoe experience. This long it would take us to get to our
year, Logan Leroux, who is now destination, 10 km – 20 km, and
in grade 12 at St-Joseph Catholic set up tent. The paddling was very
High School, was selected.
long but nice, waters were calm
The program took place the except for one day where it was a
last week of August just before little bit rough and rainy. We were
the Labour Day weekend. It is a then at Burleigh Falls which is a
100-kilometer canoe trip bringing wide-open area. This Provincial
indigenous and non-indigenous Park is home to Canada’s largest
youth together for cultural concentration of petroglyphs,
learning. It is a co-ed canoe voyage Aboriginal rock carvings. They
along the Trent-Severn Waterway, are like the famous cave paintings,
starting from Beavermead Park but paintings on rocks, they are
in Peterborough, ending at Curve the oldest petroglyphs. We were
Lake First Nation. with elders who told us what they
believe they meant. Some showed
Developed by the Rotary Club
of Peterborough Kawartha with different trauma, others were
the assistance of the Curve Lake inspirational, it was incredible to
First Nation Youth Committee, it see the way they lived. We learned
is offered with the co-operation of about the history, how they lived,
Camp Kawartha and the Canadian their games, how children played.”
Canoe Museum. Participants meet It was an amazing experience
with Elders and members of the for these participants, he adds, Logan Leroux and Konner Ehrenfeld in the bus to Adventure in
community along the way for “I cannot think of a better trip to Understanding Photo Submitted
learning sessions. go on. We had a strange moment skills they would later use as adults
where there was this giant crane It was an un-plugged trip, no
The daily routine roughly started when hunting bison in the tall cell phones were allowed, so no
by breakfast, wrapping up, load the depicted and my friend was going grass. He realized that everything one could take pictures. But he
canoe, then paddle for a several to ask about the crane and just as they did had a purpose. For him found the experience of living
hours to the next destination. There, he put his hand up to ask, the elder one of the best moments of the day without phone interesting, in that
they set up the teepee, cooked looked over and started to talk about was being able to sleep in a teepee it helped making friends and know
dinner, played games, physical the crane. Another best moment is and see the sky through the hole at everybody by their name. It was
activities, cultural activities such as when we saw Elon Musk’s Starlink the top and live like they used to good that there was no technology
water teaching, wild rice teaching, satellite going up in the sky. It was live before. They learned how to on this incredible trip.
ceremonial tree planting, before a really cool moment.” start a fire with flint, which is not
retiring in their teepee for the night, They played some of the games easy, watching the smoke going Adventure in
exhausted. the kids would play to gain out through the hole at the top of Understanding: https://pkaiu.com/
about/
They were distributed in strengths and endurance and learn the teepee.