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Continue reading →: How low ropes taught me how to be a better Guider
Earlier this fall, I attended a large fall camp for 500 Guides and Pathfinders at Camp Wyoka, a phenomenal Girl Guide property near Minto, Ontario. I was an assistant for the first session of low ropes, an obstacle course that encouraged problem solving and teamwork. When we arrived, our lead…
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Continue reading →: Say No to Violence – end of discussion
16 Days of Action to Eliminate Violence Against Women started on Friday, Nov. 25. We’re highlighting girls’ voices on social media throughout the 16 Days. Check out what Rishi has to say: Living in Canada, we often believe ourselves to be above sexism. But are we really? As girls and young…
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Continue reading →: Work hard. Be kind. That is all.
“You’re not good enough.” “You don’t try hard enough.” “You don’t fit in.” These are messages that girls hear not only from society, but often from each other and themselves as well. I volunteer with a Guide and Pathfinder unit and when I saw the new Be You challenge, I…
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Continue reading →: Spicing up the program
At a recent unit meeting, we tapped into our Guides’ creativity by having them design and market their own potato chip flavours. I made a trip to the store to buy all the spices and flavourings and went a little crazy. Savoury and sweet spices, spice mixes like tandoori and…
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Continue reading →: Empowering girls – today and always
Over the past two days, there has been an incredible shift in the conversation about female role models and females in the lead – a conversation that has shifted from one of hope to one of despair. As the CEO of Girl Guides of Canada–Guides du Canada (GGC), I want…
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Continue reading →: The rewards of volunteering are real
In my role as District Commissioner, I often take advantage of the incredible opportunity to visit units. So when I walked into a unit meeting with the 2nd Dartmouth Guides, several of the girls yelled, “Hi, Giggles!” I smiled as I saw so many familiar faces. So many of my…
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Continue reading →: So many Pokémon, so many ways
Pokémon GO became available in Canada just as Guiding Mosaic 2016 was ending, and I’ve been playing ever since I got home from camp in Alberta. Here are 10 ways to incorporate Pokémon GO into your unit’s activities: Map reading/orienteering. Using the map view on your phone or tablet will…
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Continue reading →: Sometimes, we all need a life preserver thrown our way (literally!)
When the phone rings before the morning alarm, panic sets in… “Hello?” “Mom…” I could sense my daughter’s tears before she said the next words, “I’m in trouble.” As a parent, with a university student living 1,400 km away, nothing can be more terrifying. “What’s wrong baby?” Holding my breath;…
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Continue reading →: Boo! Cooking for a cause
Iron Chef is West Coast Area’s annual Halloween-themed outdoor cooking competition for Pathfinders, Rangers and adults. The 1st Burnaby Lakes Pathfinders have been attending the competition for the past five years and every year they have a blast! The girls work in teams to prepare a three-course meal (appetizer, main…
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Continue reading →: Campfire on the Hill
Imagine 500 of your closest Guiding friends, one big campfire, an unbeatable location, and surprise guests who are truly living the Guiding Promise to “take action for a better world.” That’s pretty much what happened at this year’s Girl Guide campfire on Parliament Hill. Every year, Ottawa Girl Guides gather…
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Continue reading →: 100 Years Strong – GGC Receives Heritage Plaque
Today, Girl Guides of Canada–Guides du Canada (GGC) received an incredible historic honour – we were presented with a Heritage Plaque from the Government of Canada recognizing our impact on girls and women over the past century. To celebrate this momentous occasion we hosted an unveiling ceremony with Parks Canada…
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Continue reading →: The chance to make a change: Are you ready!?
In reading this blog post, be prepared to be very excited! Girl Guides of Canada is currently recruiting for our first ever National Youth Council! Let me repeat that: First. Ever. National. Youth. Council. Applications are now open for girls in Rangers to get involved in this amazing new opportunity. What…
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Continue reading →: An investment in girls is an investment in our future
This summer I took my nine-year-old daughter, Helen, to Kenya for the African Regional Conference of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). While in the capital of Nairobi, Helen met Brownies and Guides and young leaders from across Africa. Confession: I thought Helen would find interaction…
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Continue reading →: STEM and the gender gap: Let’s balance the equation
STEM – science, technology engineering and math. When we think of these things, we still typically picture men doing these jobs. While many women do in fact have careers in these fields, it still for some reason seems like a taboo career choice. As a young woman who will be…
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Continue reading →: Opening the Vaults: Before there was Instagram…
Long before Instagram and eons before selfies, Girl Guides captured their forever memories by printing and developing photos and carefully preserving them in photo albums. Among the favourite items in our national archives collection are two black photo albums titled, “Early Days of Guiding in Canada Prior to 1934” and…
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Continue reading →: My Guiding Journey
When I think of my journey through Guiding, I can’t help but reflect upon the inspirational leaders who have played such a major role in my life. These amazing women are always there for me in both the highs and the lows. They encourage me to try new things and…
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Continue reading →: Welcome to Canada – we hope you like it here!
At the recent Burnaby Mountain District camp, girls had a great time all weekend with the theme “Camp Flower Power.” Activities were designed, where possible, to fit around the concepts of peace and love. This didn’t only involve tie dye (though it did, of course, also involve tie dye!). The…
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Continue reading →: All-access pass to Guiding
It’s time to kick-start another awesome Guiding year – and to introduce or re-introduce girls to what Guiding is all about and the kinds of activities your unit will participate in. There are lots of simple tricks you can employ to ensure every girl and her family feels welcome and…
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Continue reading →: Guiding Our Way Through A Wedding
Midnight. The night before camp. My fiance is sitting on the couch cutting out tiny white felt circles with child-size scissors. He loads the vehicle for camp, videotapes our enrollment, and has his own special name-tag that says “Mr. Sparkles” because he heard that the other Guider husbands have special…
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Continue reading →: Marching with pride
Being a member of Girl Guides of Canada–Guides du Canada has always been an influential and positive experience for me. But I never realized just how proud I was to be a member of such an incredible organization until I was given the opportunity to walk in the Halifax Pride…
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Continue reading →: Special Delivery
It’s that time of year again: it’s time to unpack the toadstool, get everything in order and invite the girls back for another exciting year of Guiding. For some of the units in Newmarket, Ontario, that means sending out welcome cards, addressed to the girls, by good old snail mail.…
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Continue reading →: Summer Guiding projects
I am a crafter. In the various areas of Girl Guide programming (and life in general), I have always excelled in the area of crafts, art and nifty things you can make. While this is a great skill to have, I have yet to find a full-time job where being…
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Continue reading →: Go team Sparks!
I love all of my girls in Guiding, but sometimes a group of girls touches my heart in a very special way – and that was the case with 4th Dartmouth Sparks this past year. I was constantly amazed by their cohesion, their desire to be a team, and their…
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Continue reading →: Meet Charlie
Want to meet someone inspiring? We’d like to introduce you to Charlie Lowthian-Rickert. As a first-year Girl Guide, she’s had the chance to explore and speak out about the issues she cares about while making a difference in her community. Charlie, who was born as a male but identifies as…
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Continue reading →: What’s next on your volunteering bucket list?
Whether you’re interested in helping shape the programming Guiding offers girls or having a role in our international travel program, our national volunteer opportunities are a great way to make your mark on Guiding. (Bonus! These roles are also an opportunity to develop many valuable and transferable skills.) In this…
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Continue reading →: Bullseye at district camp
“What was your favourite part of camp?” That’s a question that we like to ask as many girls as possible when we ride the ferry home from Burnaby Mountain District’s Camp Flower Power, held each June at Camp Olave on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast. This year, several of our older girls reported…
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Continue reading →: Splash! Water-balloon catapults at camp
This year, the 3rd Guelph Guides put their lashing skills to use on a different sort of camp gadget – catapults! This activity also reinforced physics, teamwork, safety and leadership skills. And, the fun of water balloons! Several parts of the Guide program include making camp gadgets. Today’s fancy lightweight…
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Continue reading →: Helping the Bees
Earlier this spring, the 2nd Cedar Park Guides in Quebec took an environmentally friendly action for the 3rd years to complete their Lady Baden-Powell Challenge and to help the bees. They also invited the 3rd Cedar Park Brownies to partake in their challenge and learn about Guides. The meeting consisted…
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Continue reading →: Little Free Brownie Library
The current National Service Project: Words in Action has been well-enjoyed by our unit! In its first year (2015), our unit held a book swap which resulted in a donation of 325 books to our city’s library. This year, we thought we’d do something a little bit different by building…
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Continue reading →: Opening the vaults: A camping we will go…
As girls are set to arrive at Guiding Mosaic 2016 (July 9 to July 17), our 13th national camp, we have combed through the archives and discovered some pictures from past national camps. Our first national camp was held in 1927 in Victoria, B.C. It had 316 attendees from eight…
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Continue reading →: Until September…
The Guiding year is coming to an end – insert sad face emoji here. For girls and Guiders alike, it’s a time to celebrate – the good times, the fun times, and all of their achievements together as a unit. In today’s blog, we share the perspectives of a Guider…
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Continue reading →: 2,000 pictures
I have a thing about taking pictures. A lot of pictures. It started the first year I joined our unit, the 12th Ottawa Guiding group. First, I used photos to make personalized enrollment certificates. And then, collages of the photos made really nice thank you cards. By the end of…
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Continue reading →: Proud of ‘My Girls’
This past weekend, I had the absolute pleasure of watching ‘my girls’ receive their Lady Baden-Powell awards. Were you there? Did you see that person hiding in the back with a box of Kleenex? That was me. Yup, I cried. This year, the crying started the night before, as I…
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Continue reading →: Opening the Vaults: Timeless summer fun
Exploring the outdoors through activities such as hiking, camping and rock climbing can have an extraordinary impact on a girl’s life. With the approach of summer, we’re showcasing some of the outdoor activity photos from our national archives. Although the uniforms and photographic methods have changed, many of these activities…
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Continue reading →: The best seat at the campfire
Sit-upons, bum buckets or camp chairs: The great debate One of the central parts of a camping trip is the campfire. It’s where we cook and eat, where we bond and strengthen our sisterhood, and where we sing and create memories that can last a lifetime. But sometimes, the worst…
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Continue reading →: A Sparks outing to Fire Hall #6
This week, girls from the 1st Burnaby Mountain Sparks had a very exciting visit to Burnaby Fire Hall No. 6 — a little bit more exciting than they had hoped! Every time Guiders book this outing they are warned that it is an active on-duty fire hall and should there…
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Continue reading →: Going green and going global with Guiding
This past March, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Helen Storrow Seminar (HSS) at Our Chalet in Switzerland. HSS is a WAGGGS leadership development event that focuses on the environment. It’s all about young women leading for a greener future. I met 22 passionate and inspiring individuals from…
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Continue reading →: Reflecting on positivity
Our unit is just starting the Key to Me, and being the end of the year I really wanted to find something special for our girls to do. I knew it was recently Mental Health Week in Canada, and there were many related Instant Meeting activities we could incorporate into…
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Continue reading →: Avoiding checking out too soon
If you’re like me, you may have noticed the girls in your unit have had a little more trouble sitting still lately. Maybe they’re just a little more chatty than normal. You may have even had to remind yourself to focus in meetings, or go that extra mile to plan…
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Continue reading →: In Guiding, I know my daughter is accepted
Most of the time, being a mother to Ella, who is six and has down syndrome, is just like being a mother to my son or younger daughter. That being said, every child is different. Every child progresses at their own pace and in their own time. Some children are…
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Continue reading →: Now my family understands why I’m a Guider
It’s almost the May long weekend – which means you might be camping in shorts and T-shirts, wearing flannel and a toque, or a combination of both on the same day. In this blog re-post, Guider Jodi shares how her Girl Guide skills saved the day on a rainy family…
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Continue reading →: A Very Royal Correspondence
Earlier this spring, Sparks in Regina packed their sleeping bags for a night at Regina’s Guide building. But this wasn’t just any sleepover – it was a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Pax Lodge, one of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts’ World Centres. The sleepover…
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Continue reading →: Guides learn the nuts and bolts of auto mechanics
This year, our programming has been focused on trying new things. Our unit brainstormed ideas of things that girls should know how to do but might not traditionally learn. Most of the girls had participated in a tool or building night in Sparks and Brownies, so that led us to…
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Continue reading →: What has Guiding taught me? Where do I begin!?
A few weeks ago, I was at a community breakfast for volunteers when a woman across the table spoke of how her organization had recently partnered with a local youth organization. I immediately mentioned my involvement in Girl Guiding and how I would love to pass on her organization’s information…
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Continue reading →: Girl Guide night in Qatar
It was important to me to enrol my daughter in Brownies to help her learn about all of the great things girls can do. I was pleased to see that participating in Brownies was one of my daughter’s favourite activities. Every week she would put on her uniform, excited to…
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Continue reading →: Words in Action: It’s more than just collecting book donations
When we started off the 2015-2016 Guiding year, we asked our Guides what they thought Guiding was about and what they wanted to focus on this year. To our surprise, the number one answer (tied with camping) was community service. As a “literary agent” (a resource Guider who helps units…
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Continue reading →: Rangers Take On Taxes
I’ve been working with teenage girls for over 20 years, the last four years with Rangers. In all that time, I thought I’d done it all, so I was not at all prepared when this year’s Ranger group started planning their year and asked me for a crash course in…
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Continue reading →: Opening the Vaults: Mountaineer, explorer and Girl Guide Phyllis Munday
Girl Guides of Canada–Guides du Canada was thrilled to hear that former member, and famous mountaineer, Phyllis Munday has been nominated as one of the iconic Canadian woman to be featured by the Bank of Canada on a new bank note. Phyllis Munday, born in 1894, was enrolled as a…
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