Maritime cities host Girl Guide rallies

The Maritimes is experiencing the Girl Guide movement. More than a thousand Guides and Guiders took part in an outdoor rally on Saturday in New Brunswick and P.E.I.

It’s all about having fun and being themselves. “You can show who you actually are and you don’t have to hide it, and everyone is like different, so it’s like you’re going to fit in perfectly,” said 11-year-old Girl Guide Hailey Vey. “We get to have new adventures together,” added Addyson Legacy. “We get to see each other’s personalities and have different experiences.”

There was a wide variety of things to do, from canoeing to drumming to light sabre lessons.

This rally is also very much about increasing the number of young people getting involved in the Girl Guide movement. “We’re looking for new, not only girls but we’re also looking for new Guiders, because it’s hard sometimes to recruit the adults unless you have a child in the program,” said organizer Vicky Bachiu.

There are many options young people can choose to have fun so leaders say it’s important to sell the uniqueness of the Girl Guide world. “We go camping, we have rallies like this, we learn life skills, we learn about banking, we learn about building a campfire or cooking outside,” added Bachiu. “We learn about everything in guiding.”

Even how to deal with things like bullying. “Even if you don’t really like a friend at school and they go to guides with you, you can get to know them better, and eventually, you’ll figure out they’re not actually that mean,” said 10-year-old Girl Guide Kayleigh Gordon. “You’ll get to be good friends even though you were enemies the first time.”

About 950 Guides and Guiders took part in Saint John today, 500 in Miramichi and about 250 in Charlottetown.