Shortly after Russia invaded and occupied parts of Ukraine in 2022, 15-year-old Ukrainian Yaroslav Drukarenko arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland. While he and his family were staying at a hotel and figuring out their next steps, he heard about the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s WILD Outside program. He went to his first event—a hut-building exercise—within his first two weeks of being in the country. He was hooked. For the rest of the year, he didn’t miss a single WILD Outside event.
“I’ve met a lot of really interesting people with different backgrounds and lives,” the now-16-year-old tells Global News. “The program gives you a lot of different opportunities.”
In partnership with the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF), we take a look at how the not-for-profit organization is inspiring the next generation by creating a conservation-based youth community through two key programs: WILD Outside and the Canadian Conservation Corps.
Finding passion through conservation
According to Tirian Eynon, CWF’s senior manager of youth programs, educating young Canadians through the hands-on experiences they receive with WILD Outside and the Canadian Conservation Corps is a way to ensure the future of Canadian conservation. But it’s also a way to connect younger people to the outdoors and home communities through experiences they may not otherwise even know about.
“Young people today don’t spend as much time outside as they should, and we know that for our mental and physical health, it’s really good to be able to be outdoors and in the natural world,” she says. “These free programs help youth access outdoor spaces in their communities.”
READ MORE: Canadian kids aren’t playing outside enough, experts say, and it’s harming their health
Both programs are developed by the Canadian Wildlife Federation and funded in part by the Government of Canada under the Canada Service Corps program. CWF is the country’s largest donor-supported conservation charity, and one of its core pillars is education. These youth programs are specifically designed to provide important conservation education while inspiring the next generation.
The Canadian Conservation Corps launched in 2018 and has since had an estimated 500 people participate. The program is designed for 18 to 30 year olds and is comprised of three stages: leadership training delivered through an immersive wildness adventure, an experiential field placement with national conservation leaders, and finally, the development and delivery of service projects in participants’ communities.
WILD Outside is a newer program that launched in 2020 and has already won several awards. The program allows 15 to 18 year olds to participate in conservation and community service projects, as well as outdoor recreational activities. The goal is to reach 120 hours of service before participants have completed the program. Those hours can also count towards community service hours in provinces where schools mandate them.
“We wanted to have a program to get youth engaged in the outdoors because there’s a lot of eco-anxiety with that age group right now,” Eynon says. “This gets them outdoors and gives them an appreciation of nature, the natural world, animals and their habitats, and allows them to give back in a meaningful way and make a difference.”
Some of the adventures include activities like canoeing, hiking, snowshoeing, and Drukarenko’s favourite, whale watching. Then, groups return to those areas to do projects based on their findings, like putting up bat boxes, pulling invasive species or doing a cleanup.
“Whatever the youth are interested in, we will help them to develop the project,” Eynon adds.
Fostering and growing conservation
To date, WILD Outside and the Canadian Conservation Corps have collectively provided nearly 400,000 hours of conservation service. CWF currently run its youth programs in 17 cities across the country, but it plans on expanding to more remote and rural communities in the near future.
“We have volunteers across the country that come out and help run the programs and act as role models. It’s really important we have volunteers in every city,” Eynon says. “It is a barrier-free program that we don’t want to charge young people for. It can get expensive to run, but that’s what fundraising is for.”
She adds that since the inception of both programs, they have attracted diverse participants from communities coast-to-coast.
“Traditionally, the outdoors isn’t seen as a place that is as inclusive as it could be, so we want to make sure young people from all walks of life have an opportunity to be out there,” she says.
“Right now it’s pure interest and I am enjoying it and learning about new local areas and animals, but I think it will still help me in the future,” he says. “There are so many interesting events and different people. I would definitely recommend it.”
For more information on the youth programs, CWF, or to volunteer or donate, visit the Canadian Wildlife Federation.