GKP Enters its 8th Year | Nicholas Mills Trial | and Your Feedback Please!

Get Kids Paddling Begins Its 8th Year!

Eight years later and we are still advocating to get more kids paddling. Thank you for your support.


Nicholas Mills Trial

On October 6, we should have the verdict in the Nicholas Mills Trial. The impact of that decision will be ours to address. 

Get Kids Paddling has already developed a position paper on the drowning which was published in our August Blog. That position was referred to in the following Toronto Star article.

Here are two relevant reports on the trial:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/09/02/why-did-jeremiah-perry-drown-how-a-system-meant-to-keep-ontario-schoolkids-safe-may-have-opened-the-door-to-compromises.html

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/09/03/judge-delays-decision-in-case-of-toronto-teacher-charged-in-teens-drowning.html


What’s happening?

What happened in your area this past summer, or what are your plans for the upcoming year?

Has Covid-19 or other forces shut you down your effort to get kids paddling? Write and let us know. If you don’t want to go into detail, let me know and I’ll contact you.


Visit Us!

Our first Steering Committee meeting of 21/22 will take place on Tuesday, September 28 at 7:30 pm ET, and you’re welcome to join us. See how below.


Your Input is Requested!

And finally, help our Blog “managers” resolve an ongoing discussion.

One of our managers thinks that our readers need more instruction in how to respond to us, and that it why the Blog hasn’t become a nationwide forum.

Another manager believes that blogs are passé, and that twitter, instagram or other social media should be used instead.

Tell us what you think. (You could also, of course, let us know what’s happening in your area, or what the impact of the trial has had, or whether you want to come to the Steering Committee meeting on Tuesday. Or just write to say, “Hi”.)

Your responses or lack of them, will give us direction. Send us your input on any subject in this post by using the comments section below!



Best wishes.
Dave Goldman,Chair, Get Kids Paddling

Get Kids Paddling Responds

Hello again!

It is certainly a summer like no other I’ve experienced!  The Climate Crisis is increasingly apparent and the need to organize critical. 

Covid-19 is still with us and there are numerous other unsettling issues. 

Where Get Kids Paddling fits in all this is a question for each of us to answer. With over 80% of our 4 million plus youngsters living in urban environments, how can we hope for them to appreciate the outdoors?  

In Ontario, the Nicholas Mills trial over the drowning of Jeremiah Perry has still not been resolved. We are advised that on September 3, 2021, the judge will either deliver a verdict or ask questions of the lawyers. If the latter, the decision will come several weeks later. On July 9, 2021 the following Canadian Press article on the trial was published.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/07/09/crown-to-begin-closing-arguments-in-case-of-teacher-charged-in-teens-drowning.html

In June, Get Kids Paddling developed the following response to the drowning and trial. We welcome your comments.

https://getkidspaddling.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GKP_Response-Jeremiah_Perry_Incident-Nicholas_Mills_Trial_20210708.pdf

Finally for now, Paddle Canada has made the following offer.

https://www.paddlecanada.com/youth-paddling-grant

Best wishes.
Dave Goldman, Chair
Get Kids Paddling

Beautiful & Messy : Outdoor Education

Dear friends- our most-recent blog post update, which may have arrived to you via email newsletter should have directed you to this post and article by Morten Asfeldt. Please forgive our second attempt to share this post and great piece of writing with you:


Most readers of this blog can give solid reasons to answer the question, Why Get Kids Paddling. Yet when faced by the powers that be, we have not produced the evidence to support what we intuitively know.

Many thanks to Morten Asfeldt for sharing the following article that has been submitted to Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education, Spring 2021 Issue. 

A Beautiful Messy Process : Outdoor Education in Canada

We hope that it and other supportive articles we plan to share, will help us build that evidence and those arguments. Please share your thoughts with us in the Comments section below. And please share with us any articles, evidence or arguments that you think will help.

Why Get Kids Paddling?

Most readers of this blog can give solid reasons to answer the question, Why Get Kids Paddling. Yet when faced by the powers that be, we have not produced the evidence to support what we intuitively know.

Many thanks to Morten Asfeldt for sharing the following article that has been submitted to Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education, Spring 2021 Issue. 

A Beautiful Messy Process : Outdoor Education in Canada

We hope that it and other supportive articles we plan to share, will help us build that evidence and those arguments. Please share your thoughts with us in the Comments section below. And please share with us any articles, evidence or arguments that you think will help.