Camp fYrefly program coming to city schools

Students taught to treat each other with respect, kindness and dignity

It gave me the skills to go back out into the world and navigate all of those social challenges there.

The Camp fYrefly initiative for sexual and gender-minority youth will no longer be limited to the summer.

Organizers say the fYrefly in Schools Program is coming to Saskatoon.

“When young people are exposed to information, correct information, and how to treat one another respectfully and with kindness and dignity, it affects everyone,” fYrefly Saskatchewan Coordinator Jessica Fisher said. “It affects the entire community.”

Originally founded in Alberta in 2004, Camp fYrefly has grown to become the largest volunteerbased “summer leadership retreat” for sexual and gender minority youth in Canada. It came to Saskatchewan in 2008.

Tressa Dent, 21, is a former camper and youth leader with the program. Growing up homeschooled in a small Saskatchewan town, Camp fYrefly had a huge impact on her after she came out to her mother as a teenager, she said.

“Camp completely changed where I was at in my life when I was 16 ... it gave me the skills to go back out into the world and navigate all of those social challenges there,” Dent said, adding that she was fortunate enough to have a supportive family at home.

Now, Camp fYrefly’s lessons of awareness, acceptance and social leadership will be available to schools across the city.

“I’m glad that we’re getting to that point now where we can go into schools and talk to kids, and just raise awareness and bring a little bit of that fYrefly community of acceptance to schools all across Saskatoon,” she said.

Camp fYrefly was brought into Saskatchewan by Herb McFaull and his husband Anthony Bidulka, who are currently co-chairs of the Saskatchewan camp. McFaull said their ultimate goal is for the program to no longer be necessary in the province.

“We often say we’re going to run this until we don’t have to anymore,” he said.

“If we can lower the incidence of school dropout, if we can lower the incidence of mental depression, if we can lower the incidence of suicide in this province with respect to this segment of our population — these wonderful, beautiful youth who are feeling that they have to do one of these three things — that’s our goal.”

Registration is now open for this summer’s camp in Saskatoon from August 10-13.

LIAM RICHARDS Former participant and youth leader Tressa Dent told a media event on the University of Saskatchewan campus that spending time at Camp fYrefly as a teen changed her life for the better.