Indigenous youth spend time at the Canadian Armed Forces youth camp

By Rick Garrick

FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION—Camouflage and assault boat training were among the highlights for a group of Indigenous youth at the Canadian Armed Forces Eagle’s Nest 2018 Indigenous Youth Camp in Fort William.

“They were right into it, painting each other’s faces and having fun with it,” says Master Corporal Denise Ningewance, a Canadian Ranger from Lac Seul, about the camouflage training. “It’s not something we do with the Junior Canadian Rangers (JCRs).”

Ningewance says the group of about 21 youth also enjoyed the assault boat training even though the water was “pretty rough.”

“It was wavy, it was windy, but I was really impressed with all of the youth,” Ningewance says. “They handled it really well. They just went for it; they didn’t hesitate, so that was really good. Everything they had thrown at them, they accepted the challenges.”

Three JCRs from Lac Seul also helped out with the camp by supervising and passing on some of their leadership skills to the youth.

“It’s been great,” says JCR Reilly Thivierge. “They learn quick, they catch on to stuff a lot.”

JCR Dylan Chisel says there was “some real great team building” by the youth during their activities.

“And we’re doing a sweat lodge today,” says JCR Terrance Angeconeb.

Capt. Brent Bastien, camp commandant for Eagle’s Nest 2018, says the camp staff, who are mainly from 38 Canadian Brigade Group, and the youth began bonding well by the third day.

“Our staff are starting to give them that leadership and inspiring them to give leadership to those other candidates that maybe don’t have it as much, so it’s really good to see,” Bastien says. “The kids have been very busy. Right now, we are doing assault boat training, so they are paddling around with the assault boats. We had the HMCS Griffon out here with their Hurricane zodiacs and we’ve been doing zodiac rides. And they actually just finished up a beach assault competition where they had the assault boats out in the bay, paddled them in, beached them and then [made] an assault on the position here.”

Bastien says the youth have also done some weapons handling and are scheduled to do a simulation range shoot.

“They were over at Chippewa Park doing orienteering using a map and compass,” Bastien says. “They’ve been doing some physical training, what we call PT, every morning, lots of sports, playing soccer. We’ve been doing a lot of field craft, so things like setting up snares, fire starting, camo concealment, stalking. A lot of activities have been going on in the last couple of days and we still have lots to go too.”

Bastien says the youth enjoyed doing the camouflage concealment exercise.

“They love putting camo paint on and disappearing into a patch of woods and having our guys go and try to find them,” Bastien says.

Lieutenant Colonel David Ratz, commanding officer for Eagle’s Nest 2018, says the camp was a success.

“Judging from the faces of the kids, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves,” Ratz says. “They’ve made new friends, they’ve had some really interesting activities, some with a military theme, some without, and they’ve actually enjoyed the army food.”

Eagle’s Nest camps have been held over the past five years in five different locations across the country: Manitoulin Island, ON; Muskeg Lake, SASK; Elsipogtog, NB; Atikamekw of Manawan, QUE; and Wanipigow, MAN.

The Canadian Armed Forces also offers three six-week summer training programs for Indigenous people: Bold Eagle, Raven and Black Bear.