What is Woodcraft Canada?

This shall be for a bond between us,
That we are of one blood you and I;
That we shall cry peace to all,
And claim kinship with every living thing;
That we hate war, sloth and greed,
And love fellowship.
And that we shall go singing to the fashioning of a new world.

Peace.

The Woodcraft Creed

Woodcraft Canada is an environmental and community service organization for young people based in Hamilton, Ontario. While not affiliated, we reflect the values of the Woodcraft Folk movement in the United Kingdom. Woodcraft Canada is based on the principles of showing love and respect for nature and wild spaces, service to the community, and providing a respectful and inclusive space for all youth.

We meet weekly during the school year in Kirkendall and are open to anyone who wants to make the trip.  Here we share and learn skills for camping and the outdoors, discuss and plan responses to current events and community issues, and learn interesting skills and stories from our neighbours.

We also take our love for nature outdoors, and camp and explore natural areas often, including provincial parks, conservation areas, the Royal Botanical Gardens lands, and the Bruce Trail. We are committed to learning by playing and exploring safely in the outdoors.

Finally, we are committed to the principles of social justice and democratic decision making, and are always working to ensure fairness and justice both within our group and our community.

Come and see what we’re all about at woodcraft-canada.ca or by contacting us at woodcraftca@gmail.com and let us show you a world waiting for your child to explore.

Who Are We?

We are a group of community leaders who are passionate about getting young people into nature, and for standing up for peace and justice in the world.  If your children were involved with Scouts or Guides in Kirkendall in the past 10 years, you probably know some of us. Together we have over 30 years of experience helping youth to experience the magic of the outdoors, and to learn how to raise their voices when they see injustice in our world.

What Happens at Woodcraft?

Woodcraft Canada has weekly meetings on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 pm at First Unitarian Church (170 Dundurn St N) where we gather to play outside, explore topics about the environment and society, plan projects and prepare for camps.  We participate in regular community service projects such as park and alley clean ups or taking part in climate strike rallies and pride parades.  We also work with our hands to create useful things, and learn how to safely use knives, saws, axes and Coleman stoves, how to tie knots, and learn other camping skills.

Finally, several times a year we go camping for the weekend at nearby (or not too far) conservation areas and provincial parks where we explore and learn about the natural world, and how and why it should be protected.  We also run around a lot in the woods and see where our creativity takes us.  We hike, we play in lakes and streams, we build structures in the woods, and sometimes we even sleep in them overnight.

We do this all while learning how to stay safe, and develop leadership skills, resilience and self-reliance so we can help young people to become the leaders and doers that our world so badly needs.

We are also committed to consensus based decision making, and a democratic process.  We work hard to ensure everyone’s voice is represented equally, and that the youth all feel they have a say in how the group is run and what activities we do.  We are also committed to consensus based decision making at the leadership level, and believe that many voices are much better than just one.

How Can My Child Get Involved?

Woodcraft will be restarting on September 26, 2023 with our regular Tuesday meetings and weekend activities.

Our program is open to any youth who is between the ages of 9 and 14 as of October 31st, 2021.

Masking indoors will not be mandatory this year, and is at the discretion of families. Those choices will be supported by our leaders.

Meetings will either be at First Unitarian Church on Dundurn Street or at other locations which will be communicated well in advance.

We will be forgoing one Tuesday meeting a month in favour of a Saturday meeting, so we can do some activities in daylight and sunshine.

Registration for the fall season for new families will begin September 20th and the fee for the year will be $220.  Youth are also encouraged to participate in our ‘painless’ fundraising efforts, which mainly consist of bottle drives.

There may be an additional cost for events such as camps, or other events where we are charged for participation.  We are making every effort to keep our fees low, and at this point nearly all of our registration fees go to pay our annual insurance costs.

If this fee is a barrier for you or your youth, please reach out to woodcraftca @ gmail . com (please remove the spaces from the email address before sending) as bursaries are available.

To be emailed a registration package on September 12th (for new families), please send us an email to the above address and we will add you to our list.

Thank you, and we look eagerly forward to meeting again in September, and meeting you and your youth, and showing them what is so very special about the ecosystem, communities and city where we live.

 

 

 

Contact

Woodcraft Canada

woodcraftca@gmail.com

Contact Jason Allen

(905) 920-4954