Julie Ginn first heard about Camp fYrefly from a relative. After hearing about the life-changing effects of the leadership camp for sexual and gender minority, and allied youth, she said she knew she wanted to participate.
So she did. Ginn, a 16-year-old from Bow Island, was one of 45 campers for the inaugural Camp fYrefly-Calgary, which ran from July 11-14 at Cochrane’s Camp Jubilee.
“I couldn’t wait to get here, but I didn’t know what to expect,” said Ginn.
“But once I got here and met my cabin and pod mates, I felt welcomed. It felt like home, like I could finally be myself.”
Like many of the camp participants, Ginn said she is unable to unleash her true self in the small town where she lives. By attending Camp fYrefly, the well-spoken young woman is looking to leave with the tools she needs to empower herself and become a leader in the community.
The development of those tools is, essentially, what Camp fYrefly is all about, said Kristopher Wells, co-founder and co-director of the camp. Based in research, the camp is a community educational outreach project from the University of Alberta’s Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services.
“We’ve created a world that does not exist for four days — this is a fiction,” said Wells.
“Camp is four days, but the other 361 days belong to the community. Arguably, those are the most important days.
“These youth not only need but deserve support everyday in their community.”
This support is not easy to come by, said Wells.
“Nowhere in the entire K-12 program of studies in the Alberta curriculum is there any mention of sexual orientation or gender identity,” he remarked. “We account for those absences in the curriculum. They should be celebrating their identities instead of having to hide them to survive in schools.”
Cochrane High School counsellor Suzanne Tiemstra has been on the counselling team at Camp fYrefly for the past two years, but has been recommending the camp to students since the camp’s inception 10 years ago. She said it’s fitting that Cochrane play host to the innovative camp.
“Cochrane is very well known for leadership and student youth movements,” said Tiemstra.
“Social justice and youth moving for change is nothing new for us as a community. Adding the LGBTQ piece is a bit different for Cochrane and I’m aware of that. But I’m also aware, working in the high school, that I have students who struggle with how to be authentic and how to be who they are in a small town in southern Alberta.”
She said that Cochrane High School does have a fledgling Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), but that it operates based on the desire and needs of the students.
She said much of her counselling is done on a one-on-one basis after school hours.
She added that Cochrane-based resources for sexual and gender minority youth are limited.
