New Canadians learning skills and belonging through Learn to Paddle program
Some nights there are as many as 20 people gingerly stepping into the canoes at Carburn Park, their first experience in a water craft that has connected this vast land for more than 1,000 years.
Participants are signed up through Immigrant Services Calgary, and qualified paddling instructors walk them through everything from putting on a life jacket and getting in and out safely, to draws, pries and j-strokes.
"When newcomers come to Canada, we are worried about housing, employment and the recreational doesn't always come first," said Erika Tam with Immigrant Services Calgary.
"They need to find a new identity of how they are in Canada, so canoeing is one of the ways of integrating," Tan said.
Learning to paddle is also a way for some to connect with new friends. Eunice Olorunleke said she wants to go camping, but felt she needed to develop some comfort on the water and some basic skills.
Canadian newcomers learn how to canoe
"I said: 'Okay. Let me just try," Olorunleke says. "I would love to travel with them to go camping, so I said let me just come and learn how to paddle so that I can go with them."
The lessons are free, part of a federal grant program given to Canoe Kayak Canada. Local clubs Rocky Mountain Paddling Centre, Bow Waters Canoe Club and Waterwerks Kayak Club provide a mix of equipment and instructors.
The learn to paddle program has only one more session this year.
Canoes can be rented in Calgary for as little as $25 a day, making them a fun and affordable option for families.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.