Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 19, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - A new initiative has been launched to create a summer camp for teenaged girls from around the NWT.

The Taiga Adventure Camp would be for approximately 160 girls aged 12 to 17 from all communities in the NWT.

Shannan Schimmelmann: co-founder of Taiga Adventure Camp for teenaged girls.

The goal of the camp would be to promote healthy living, confidence, leadership skills and self-esteem.

"The idea is to be able to offer a variety of activities to build on the skills people already have or build new ones," said Kirsten Carthew, a member of the board of directors for the camp.

She added the camp would be unique because there is currently no summer camp specifically for girls in the NWT or targetting all communities.

Plus, the idea is that each year the camp would be held in a different community, with the first to be held in Fort Smith in 2008. The following year, it would move to Inuvik.

The proponents are working as a registered, not-for-profit charity under the umbrella of the Yellowknife YMCA. The proposal also has the backing of the Status of Women Council of the NWT, the Aboriginal Sports Circle of the Western Arctic, and the Native Women's Association of the NWT.

Organizers have launched an effort to obtain multi-year funding for the idea from government, business and national organizations.

Carthew said it is important to have multi-year funding or in-kind support so the camp can be held for more than one year, and hopefully become permanent.

The proponents have given themselves until March to raise enough money and in-kind support for the camp to happen.

The camp would cost between $2,000 and $3,000 per camper for a 10-day overnight session, including transportation.

"We're trying to subsidize that by a lot," said Carthew, who estimates the overall budget for the camp would be about $400,000 each summer.

If the fundraising efforts are successful, the girls would be charged about $200 each.

Currently, the board of directors and staff are volunteers, but a project manager is to be hired in January.

Shannan Schimmelmann, another member of the board of directors, co-founded the camp along with Carthew.

"It's a program that offers the opportunity for young girls to learn about healthy living and leadership, and to meet other young people from across the NWT," Schimmelmann said, adding it would also include on-the-land experiences.

She said the fundraising effort has just begun, adding, "I'm optimistic that we will reach our goals."

The idea for the camp evolved from a healthy living and self-esteem workshop series, Get Your Groove On, which toured the NWT from 2003-2005.

In 2006, a feasibility study was conducted to gauge the desirability and possibility of creating a summer camp for teenaged girls in the NWT.