TO THE OUTDOORS
The first time she went to Algonquin Park, Fei Wu was bowled over by the beauty of water lilies near a bridge. ‘It was just like a Monet painting,’ she says in wonder.
Moreover, not all newcomers feel welcome when they do visit national or provincial parks, in part because they don’t see many faces like theirs. “If everybody they meet who wears a park uniform is white and grew up here,” Carruthers Den Hoed says, “it’s a little harder to feel it’s an accessible opportunity for them.”
Some are even disconcerted by the uniforms worn by park rangers and conservation officers, which may conjure images of authoritarian figures in their native countries, Yanchyk says.
For African youth, the whole way parks in Canada are run and organized takes some getting used to, says Awad Ibrahim, a University of Ottawa professor whose specialty is cultural studies.
“The idea of parks that are managed by a governmental institution, that is a new notion for them,” says Ibrahim. And going camping for the weekend would be a “foreign idea.”
African youth use parks to “hang out,” Ibrahim says. Or they organize group picnics with the same forethought that they might plan a wedding. “The idea that you can just put on sneakers and shorts and go for a walk, for the majority is a particularly new notion for them.”
To overcome the barriers, park authorities and other organizations have come up with a knapsack full of initiatives — everything from learn-to-camp programs to park materials translated into Mandarin and Tagalog.
They’re also talking to new Canadians and asking them what they want. For example, new Canadians in Alberta say they’re more interested in fishing, hiking and day use of parks, says Carruthers Den Hoed. “We run the risk sometimes of being really normative in how we approach inclusion: We like camping, so we want them to camp.”
One of Carruthers Den Hoed’s biggest “ah-ha moments” was hearing about the spiritual connection some new Canadians feel while in the mountains. “One said, ‘This trip is the first time I’ve felt like I could pray.’” Alberta Parks has since built time for reflection and prayer into some of its programs.
Attendance in national parks had been trending down from its peak in 2000, when there were 16 million visitors, until about five years ago.
“We’re starting to climb out of that now,” says Bertrand. After several years of little or no growth, attendance rose by six per cent in 2014-15 to 13.5 million.
“The conclusion we’ve come to is the work we’ve done in the last four or five years to be more present in urban areas, to work with others to get more visibility and marketing collaborations, has really benefitted the organization,” Bertrand says.
That hasn’t happened yet in Ontario, which has also undertaken numerous efforts to woo new residents, including the country’s first learn-to-camp program. In fact, park attendance fell by more than one million visitors, to 8.5 million, between 2010 and 2014.
Yet Dave Coulas, the superintendent of Ontario’s iconic Algonquin Park, says the park has seen a “tremendous increase” in visitors from minority communities. Its visitors now roughly reflect the province’s demographic mix, he says.
That’s very encouraging, says Bartram, who believes the efforts made over the past decade to attract new audiences to parks “are starting to show some early success.” That said, he cautions, “if Algonquin is saying their (visitor) demographics are in line with their region, I would say they’re well ahead of anyone else.”
Despite the challenges, many who are working to expand the audience for our parks are optimistic about the future.
“I don’t despair here at all,” says Sole. “We’re at a point in history where we’re going to realize that we need to actively expose young people to positive outdoor experiences. And that would include going camping in provincial parks.”
The key to it is inclusion, says Carruthers Den Hoed, “making it OK for an adult to go and play in nature.
“There’s a whole bunch of people who would love to have opportunities in nature,” he says. “They just don’t know where to start. My optimism comes from this being a kind of low-hanging fruit. It’s a lot easier to get someone who’s excited and passionate and just overcome a few barriers.”
Just ask Fei Wu, who’s now a devoted camper. “I have all the equipment,” says Wu, who earned a master’s degree from the University of Ottawa and now works on contract for the Ontario Tennis Association.
Camping offers a welcome break from her routine. “It just lets me leave all that behind and be close to nature. It’s that simple.”