Club Events
RACCC YouTube Channel!
As the days get shorter and cooler, you may want to check out the RACCC YouTube Channel. It contains seven seminars from the canoe club's 2021 winter seminar series. For example, get ideas for weekend flatwater trips or day whitewater trips.
Ted Blake Award Nominations 2022
Your club executive is looking for nominations for the Ted Blake award which is a beautiful paddle inscribed with the names of the winners. This annual award is given to club members who have made outstanding contributions to the club, usually over the course of several years.
The club is fortunate to have a number of people who have gone the extra mile (kilometre?) to help club members. Do you know someone who has made a really big difference to the club? If so, please submit your nomination to any member of the club executive. Nominees should be current members of the club and cannot have won the award in the past. In addition, nominees should not be members of the current club executive.
Nominations can be submitted to any member of the club executive not later than Monday October 17 2022.
History of the award
The award was created 2003 in recognition of the long and dedicated service given to the club by Ted Blake. He joined the club (then the Y Canoe Club) in 1978 – before the club even had a boathouse. It was he who negotiated a deal with the YM/YWCA to get the club’s first boathouse and to organize club members to build it. He remained active with the club until his death in 2011. Click here for more information about him.
Club member Dot B created the beautiful award paddle.
Previous Ted Blake Award Winners:
Trip Planning Seminar
Wednesday 26 May 2021, 07:00pm - 09:00pm
This presentation will go through how to plan for a trip be it a day trip, weekend, or even a week long trip.
Topics:
Planning things to consider,
What is the minimum legal and recommended gear
How to plan for the what if situations
Planning for emergencies.
Also will cover Float plans and importance of this document.
Because of the COVID restrictions all this year's seminars will be held on Zoom.
Details for joining the meeting are listed here. For security reasons and to help ensure that we do not exceed the capacity of our Zoom account, please do not share the login details with people who are not members of the RA Canoe Camping Club.
Non-club members can get the joining instructions by contacting Dan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The details will be sent starting about 3-4 weeks before the seminar up until the day before the seminar.
Basic level guidelines on Zoom are on the club website here. A 1-2 minute review of the guidelines will be held at the beginning of the seminar.
Mental Health Seminar
Wednesday 28 April 2021, 7pm - 9pm
Nicole Lewis presented Group Dynamics 2.0 to the club a few years ago and again is returning to do another presentation on a mental health topic.
This seminar will focus on the challenges groups face as they develop. We will be looking at how to maintain healthy teams through understanding that everyone is different and how our roles and responsibilities within teams/groups can enable better team functioning. We will do this by exploring dysfunction and how to identify solutions for dysfunction rather than ignoring it. Participants will have the opportunity to look at approaches to address conflict and communication techniques for managing healthy teams.
Nicole is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor and professor at Algonquin College and teaches in a variety of programs focused on mental health and interpersonal communication. She studies and provides consultation on outdoor and experiential therapies in the Canadian context. Nicole has a variety of experience in private practice and community based eco and adventure therapy programs and continues to explore this area. Nicole loves to be outdoors year round and although is no longer leading group trips enjoys lots of solo paddling with her dogs in the summer and snowshoeing and skiing in the winter.
Because of the COVID restrictions all this year's seminars will be held on Zoom.
Details for joining the meeting are here for club members. For security reasons and to help ensure that we do not exceed the capacity of our Zoom account, please do not share the login details with people who are not members of the RA Canoe Camping Club.
Non-club members can get the joining instructions by contacting Mark at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The details will be sent starting about 3-4 weeks before the seminar up until the day before the seminar.
Basic level guidelines on Zoom are on the club website here. A 1-2 minute review of the guidelines will be held at the beginning of the seminar.
Stuff You Can Do: Canoeing during COVID
Click here for a CTV article which includes an interview with the Canoe Club's Mark S. This article is a transcription of a segment which appeared on the May 1 CTV News at 6. The 2 minute segment with Mark appears at the 24 minute mark. You will have to watch a few advertisements before you are allowed to get to that point.