"This was the best job ever!" says former Youth Ambassador Sahej KaurSahej Kaur is a 4th year student at the University of Ottawa studying Health Sciences with a minor Psychology. Back in 2017, Sahej was scrolling through Facebook when she came across a promotional video from Parks Canada about the Youth Ambassadors Program. One click lead to another and she found herself on the Parks Canada website filling out an application for the position. "I have never been to a National Park, I'm not super outdoorsy, and I have really been camping" thought Sahej. But that did not stop her from applying to the program. After sending in her resume and cover letter, Parks Canada immediately replied asking for a video about herself. After submitting the video, Sahej thought that she was "never going to get" this job, but was still hopeful. A few weeks later, Parks Canada announced the Youth Ambassadors for 2018-2019: Joe McLeod from Keswick, Ontario and Sajeh Kaur from Ottawa, Ontario. She was in shock at first, but extremely excited to see what this opportunity would mean for her.
In the beginning, Sahej went through a lot of training to get familiar with Parks Canada's mandate and mission and learned more about her role as a Youth Ambassador. "It was very personal, like they gave us the tools and training and it was really all about how we wanted to do it" says Sahej. "Parks Canada helped us plan the trips by giving us contacts to reach out to, by supporting our ideas, and by connecting with the National Parks across Canada. We really just wanted to make the trips and projects meaningful, to us and to the locals". Sahej said that the planning was the most difficult part because they wanted to plan every day and every detail, but once they arrived at each location, the team was able to "spit up the work evenly and work off of each other's strengths", she claims that her duties were mostly doing the dishes and storytelling. The Parks Canada Youth Ambassador job really allowed Sahej to learn about national parks and heritage sites, to meet people across the country, and to listen to their stories of what they call home. It was very special and eye-opening. One of Sahej's most memorable moments was when she went to Sable Island. She explains Sable Island as "a big sand bar of 1 mile wide and 26 miles long, just off the coast of Halifax". This trip was especially cool because Sahej had done a project about Sable Island in the tenth grade when learning about Canadian geography. Sahej says that "no one lives [on Sable Island], there are lots of wild horses, lots of sand and grass, and a species of bees that lives there". When visiting Sable Island, the conservation officers shared stories about the life on the island. The island is not really that "liveable" so a plane comes to the island with supplies every week or so with food and supplies. It's also pretty impossible to "casually visit", unless you can charter your own plane or are doing a research project there. Sahej says that "Parks Canada really made the impossible, possible. [She] had always dreamed of going to Sable Island to learn about it firsthand instead of reading articles and research data. Being a Parks Canada Youth Ambassador made this dream a reality." Article written by Chelsey Brassard, with quotes from interview with Sahej Kaur
Graphics by Chelsey Brassard Chelsey Brassard is a 4th year student in French & Communications at uOttawa and is one of the Co-Leads of the uOttawa Parks Canada Campus Club
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Memo: Parks Canada Memberships for 2019-2020
The government has created new policies about post-secondary tuition which allows students to opt-out of Student Fees. These student fees are around $60 per semester, and go to many groups on campus such as Faculty Student Associations, campus radio, campus newspapers, Legal Aid Clinic, Student Life, and more. Unfortunately, campus clubs fall under the Student Life fees - one of the highest fees at $23 - so campus clubs will not get the same funding from the Student Union (UOSU) as they did in previous years. Due to these new policies about tuition fees, the uOttawa Parks Canada Campus Club will be charging for memberships for this 2019-2020 academic year. // Le gouvernement a créé de nouvelles politiques sur les frais de scolarité au niveau postsecondaire qui permettent aux étudiants de se retirer des frais de scolarité. Ces frais de scolarité sont d'environ 60 $ par session et sont versés à de nombreux groupes sur le campus tels que les associations étudiantes des facultés, la radio du campus, les journaux du campus, la clinique d'aide juridique, la vie étudiante, et plus. Malheureusement, les clubs de campus sont soumis aux frais de vie étudiante - l'un des plus élevés, soit 23 $ - de sorte que les clubs de campus n'obtiendront pas le même financement de l'Union étudiante (UOSU) que les années précédentes. En raison de ces nouvelles politiques sur les frais de scolarité, le Club Campus de Parcs Canada de l'Université d'Ottawa exigera des frais d'adhésion pour l'année scolaire 2019-2020. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. / Merci de votre compréhension et de votre coopération. FAQ *Le français suivra* How much will memberships cost? Memberships will be a low price at $15 per academic year. What if I’m only here for one semester? All memberships are priced at $15. How can I pay for the membership? We want to make this a smooth process, so we will be accepting e-Transfers to our club email [email protected] . Please put your name and uOttawa email in the “Notes” or “Message” section of the e-transfer, or send us a follow up email to let us know. As well, you can pay cash at any of our events (including club promotion events, ie: Clubs Fair, tabling, etc). If there are any issues, please do not hesitate to email us or message us on Facebook. We’re here to help! We do not accept credit cards at this time. I don’t think $15 is worth it. What is included in a membership? With your membership, you’ll also receive:
I’m so confused. Where will the information be posted? Our website (www.parksclubuottawa.weebly.com), Instagram account (@parksclubuo) and Twitter account (@parksclubuo) will be public, so we will post about our registration for events on there, once the members have signed up. We will also post pictures at our events on both accounts. Our Facebook Page (Parks Canada uOttawa) will also be public. So any information about the club, registration for events, or results of events will be posted there. However, our Facebook Group (Parks Canada uOttawa - Members Group) will be for members only. We will be removing all current members of this group on August 21st 2019 - after the results of the current election have been announced. From then on, this group will be for members to converse, and for exec to post about upcoming events, elections, and any other relevant information. This sounds fishy. Do executive members pay for this membership? Yes, all of our executive members have paid the $15 fee in order to participate in events at the same price as other members. I still don’t understand why I have to pay… We’re asking for each future member to pay $15 to the club to see a confirmed interest, for administration to document the number of students in the club, and for easier event planning. If I become a member, do I have to go to all the events? No, we absolutely understand that you have a life. We would of course love for all our members to attend all events, but we realize that we won’t reach all of you on the same day. We will plan events for different days of the week so that in case you have class or another weekly commitment, we will be able to accomodate. *Le français commence* Combien coûte l'adhésion ? Les frais d'adhésion seront réduits à 15$ par année académique. Et si je ne suis ici que pour un semestre ? Tous les abonnements sont au prix de 15$. Comment puis-je payer mon adhésion ? Nous voulons faire en sorte que ce processus se déroule sans heurts, c'est pourquoi nous accepterons les virements électroniques à l'adresse électronique du club, [email protected] . Veuillez inscrire votre nom et votre courriel de l'Université d'Ottawa dans la section "Notes" ou "Message" du transfert électronique, ou envoyez-nous un courriel de suivi pour nous en faire part. De plus, vous pouvez payer comptant à n'importe lequel de nos événements (y compris les événements de promotion du club, c.-à-d. la foire des clubs, le dépôt, etc.) Si vous avez des questions, n'hésitez pas à nous envoyer un courriel ou un message sur Facebook. Nous sommes là pour vous aider ! Nous n'acceptons pas les cartes de crédit pour le moment. Je ne pense pas que 15$ en vaille la peine. Qu'est-ce qui est inclus dans une adhésion? Avec votre adhésion, vous recevrez également :
Je suis si confuse. Où l'information sera-t-elle affichée ? Notre site web (www.parksclubuottawa.weebly.com), notre compte Instagram (@parksclubuo) et notre compte Twitter (@parksclubuo) seront publics, de sorte que nous afficherons les informations concernant notre inscription aux événements sur ce site, une fois que les membres s'y seront inscrits. Nous afficherons également des photos de nos événements sur les deux comptes. Notre page Facebook (Parcs Canada uOttawa) sera également publique. Ainsi, toute information sur le club, l'inscription aux événements ou les résultats des événements y seront affichés. Cependant, notre groupe Facebook (Parcs Canada uOttawa - Groupe des membres) sera réservé aux membres. Nous retirerons tous les membres actuels de ce groupe le 21 août 2019 - après l'annonce des résultats de l'élection actuelle. À partir de ce moment, ce groupe sera pour les membres de converser, et pour l'exécutif d'afficher au sujet des événements à venir, des élections, et de toute autre information pertinente. Ça a l'air louche. Est-ce que les membres de l'exécutif paient pour cette adhésion ? Oui, tous nos membres exécutifs ont payé les frais de 15$ afin de participer aux événements au même prix que les autres membres. Je ne comprends toujours pas pourquoi je dois payer.... Nous demandons à chaque futur membre de payer 15$ au club pour voir un intérêt confirmé, pour l'administration afin de documenter le nombre d'étudiants dans le club, et pour faciliter la planification de l'événement. Si je deviens membre, dois-je assister à tous les événements ? Non, nous comprenons parfaitement que vous avez une vie. Nous aimerions bien sûr que tous nos membres assistent à tous les événements, mais nous réalisons que nous ne vous rejoindrons pas tous le même jour. Nous planifierons des événements pour différents jours de la semaine afin que, si vous avez des cours ou un autre engagement, nous soyons en mesure de vous accueillir.
Looking to pay for a membership now? Maybe sign up for an event? Watch this video of how to correctly send us an E-Transfer
Vous cherchez à payer pour une adhésion maintenant ? S'inscrire à un événement ? Écoutez cette vidéo pour savoir comment nous envoyer correctement un E-Transfert Step Towards a Sustainable 2019 with uOttawa Parks Canada Campus Club |
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