Educational Workshops

This Canadian Red Cross Remote First-Aid 20hr program is a national certification through the Canadian Red Cross. This course will be taught at Campsite #3 in Frontenac Provincial Park, so a wilderness first aid course taught in the wilderness. Course instructor will be Steve Tripp. Course cost is $295, which includes course fees, park fees, parking and taxes.

This Canadian Red Cross Remote First-Aid 20hr program is a national certification through the Canadian Red Cross. This course will be taught at Campsite #3 in Frontenac Provincial Park, so a wilderness first aid course taught in the wilderness. Course instructor will be Steve Tripp. Course cost is $295, which includes course fees, park fees, parking and taxes.

This WCA interactive zoom session will feature a joint presentation by John McDonnell (Executive Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Ottawa Valley Chapter), and Wally Schaber (Head Volunteer, Friends of Rivière du Moine) giving an overview of the Three Rivers project led by CPAWS, to create a large environmentally protected area in the watersheds of the Dumoine, Coulonge, and Black rivers (adjacent to the Ottawa River in west-central Quebec), and continuing efforts to extend protected status to adjacent watersheds, as well as specific measures to support wilderness recreation on the Dumoine.
Over the last decade Friends of Dumoine has mobilized efforts to support sustainable wilderness recreation on the Dumoine River, including the installation of campsite thunder boxes, portage maintenance (including boardwalks at the busy Grande Chute portage), refurbishment of the Tote Road recreational trail from the mouth to Grande Chute, and the conversion of an old cabin at Grande Chute to a visitor centre and trail museum. Current plans are to convert a property at the south end to a trailhead gateway and information centre.
CPAWS Ottawa Valley led efforts starting in 2008 to protect the Dumoine River and part of its watershed, with full protection of 1,776 km2 granted in 2022. Protection means there will be no logging, mining or hydro-electric development, but recreational activities will continue to be permitted. Protection for another 850 km2 of the Noire and Coulonge watersheds was added in 2023, accompanied by ongoing activities that support regional biodiversity. Current efforts are also focused on extending protected status to as much as 5,000 km2 of lands including iconic rivers like the Kipawa, the Fildegrande and the Poussiere (an under-appreciated tributary of the Dumoine).
Tune in to learn more about these exciting opportunities and how you can help FOD and CPAWS-OV protect these special places for current and future generations.

This will be the third year in a row that the WCA has offered this workshop in the urban area of Toronto. Again we are kindly being hosted in the Mountain Equipment Company's Community Room. We will have an instructor from the CWMT Wilderness First Aid training group. This 16-hour course concentrates on the basics of packaging and transporting patients and managing life and limb threats in remote environments. It includes prevention and treatment of common environmental problems like hypothermia and heat exhaustion and stroke. The Wilderness First Aid programs are designed for the recreational outdoor enthusiast, club leader, and the professional guide. These courses are based on the principals of wilderness care and first aid. ** The WCA highly recommends that people organizing back country canoe trips take this course -- especially on multi-day trips where 911 help isn't accessible. Also, it doesn't hurt to have multiple people trained on any trip.
The CWMT is giving us a especially reduced rate of only $226 (tax in) for this course.

The Wabakimi Area, a vast and virtually roadless wilderness nearly three and a half times the size of Algonquin Park (almost 26,000 square kilometers), is located three hours north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Accessible by over 6,000 kilometers of historically and culturally significant canoe routes, it offers a unique opportunity to explore a pristine, remote landscape. Vern will share what makes paddling in Wabakimi such a special experience and explain how the Friends of Wabakimi are working to protect the area’s wilderness values. This summer, the Friends of Wabakimi will undertake the second year of the Wabakimi Boreal Caribou Citizen Monitoring Project, a unique initiative that combines canoe tripping with citizen science to support the conservation of the threatened boreal caribou. Kate Prince, project manager, will provide background on caribou in Wabakimi, explain the importance of this project, and show you how you can get involved as a paddler—either by joining a survey trip or sharing your own observations from personal canoe trips. Join us to learn how FOW is contributing to the conservation of Wabakimi’s boreal caribou—and how paddlers can help while experiencing one of Ontario’s most remote and beautiful wilderness areas! Vern Fish, currently the president of the Friends of Wabakimi, is the former Executive Director of the Black Hawk County Conservation Board in Waterloo, Iowa. He serves on the board of directors of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Board. An advocate for clean water, he serves as an elected commissioner on the Black Hawk Soil & Water Conservation District. As a passionate paddler, he has run wild rivers from the Mexican border to Hudson Bay and north to the Arctic Circle. Kate Prince is the Project Manager of the Wabakimi Boreal Caribou Citizen Monitoring Project, combining her passion for environmental stewardship, community involvement, and paddling in wild places. Having spent her adult life as a wood canvas canoe builder and her entire life as a canoe tripper, Kate has explored wildernesses from Labrador to Northern Ontario to Canada’s far north each summer, "field testing" her handcrafted canoes.