DEH CHO - Rhonda Grossetete has never been to any of Canada's 42 national parks, 167 national historic sites or three national marine conservation areas.

Natalie Bourke, front centre, a public outreach education officer with Parks Canada speaks to a group of students at Echo Dene School in Fort Liard during a week-long tour of five Deh Cho schools. - photo courtesy of Karen McColl-Parks Canada

The 12-year-old from Jean Marie River, however, has now included some of them on the list of places she'd like to visit. Grossetete is one of the students from across the Deh Cho who learned last week about Parks Canada and what it does. From Oct. 25 to 29 Natalie Bourke, a public outreach education officer with Parks Canada, toured schools in Fort Simpson, Jean Marie River, Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte. The tour was part of the agency's expansion of its school outreach program into the region.

"Public outreach, it's engaging the hearts and minds of Canadians," said Bourke.

Through her presentations Bourke said she seeks to foster an awareness and understanding about Parks Canada in students and hopefully increase their interest in national parks.

To engage students Bourke drew on a range of interactive activities. The presentations started broadly with younger students learning a song about how the land is life giving and must be respected.

Special note was made of the fact the national parks system in Canada is 125 years old and started with the creation of Banff National Park in 1885.

"We actually have one of the oldest national park systems in the world," Bourke said.

Video clips on habitat introduced the importance of food, water, shelter and space for species. The concept of how much space a species needs was reinforced with a game of freeze tag where students were chased by a predator in a large area and then in a smaller one.

Grossetete who had a turn at being the predator said the game was fun. Between the video and the game Grossetete said she learned animals need more space than she thought. Animals like bears need a lot while muskrats need a lot less, she said.

The broad introduction segued into a section of the presentation on the Deh Cho's newly expanded Nahanni National Park Reserve. A team of heritage presenters and interpretation co-ordinators from the park office in Fort Simpson travelled with Bourke to the schools to share stories and traditional knowledge linked to the park.

"They were very interested," said Bourke about students' reaction to the presentation.

Zaida Sanguez, a nine-year-old student at Louie

Norwegian School, said she learned lots about Parks Canada. Parks are important for animals because they need food, shelter and water, Sanguez said. People also like to visit national parks in different areas, she said. Students responded to the hands on, interactive nature of the presentation, said Terry Davidson, the school's principal.

"They engaged every one of my children," he said.

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