An Update from JB Vancouver!

The Vancouver JB just had our winter mini camp, and I think it was one of our best yet! We finally have moved into a new location, and it is so beautiful. Our new camp is in the middle a beautiful forest with lots of room to run around and play some super awesome games, mind you there are a few pot holes. We also had some delicious food, indoor soccer tournament, and a foosball table. (I don’t know if mini camp could have gotten any better!)

Our mini camp’s theme was Colours of The Rainbow, focusing on our national theme of diversity. We played some rainbow capture the flag, dealt with our own personal definitions of diversity, and even created our own CISV Vancouver Diversity Rainbow.

The Vancouver JB also wrote our postcards to send to all the JB’s of Canada. They have been sent, so get excited fellow JB’ers for some super sweet postcards just for you. The JB is also planning on giving some free hugs downtown next weekend to spread some CISV cheer. We are going skating afterwards and we are so excited!

Lots of love!

JB Vancouer

A Little Taste of Winter Camp!

Hey JB Canada! 

  A few weeks ago, we (CISV Ottawa) held our annual 14+ Winter Camp.  We had representatives from 5 chapters, including 2 countries (Sweden and Canada). We’re a self-run camp where we work together to create meals, activities, schedule etc.   

Soon after arriving to camp we were forced to alter our planned sleeping arrangements due to the  -37° temperature.

After getting ourselves organized, JB Ottawa ran an activity about #FirstWorldProblems (originally run by CISV Victoria at their 2013 Fall Camp).  

We put our own spin on it to match the 14+ age group and camp.  This now brings us to the theme: MAD LIBS! Write Your Own Story.  With this year's international theme being Diversity, we thought Madlibs would be perfect to showcase how unique everyone’s' stories are and to empower us to create the story we wish to live.  We also discussed in multiple debriefs how some people don't have the privilege to control very much of their story.  This led to our Word Of Camp being "subaltern".  “Subaltern is the social group who is socially, politically, and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure of the colony and of the colonial homeland.” -Wikipedia

This basically means the people who worked hard on a project (like building a railway for example) but are given no credit.  Popular topics in conversation and activities this year were human rights, poverty, immigration, and the subaltern.

Speaking of activities, we had some really good ones - a nice mix of outdoor, indoor, fun-based, debrief and a simulation activities, the latter led many (especially the LJRs) to tears, as well as lots of self-reflection and peer support.

Thank you everyone for writing winter camp so well and I hope to see you (and new faces) next year!

-Capri & Troy (LJRs), Ottawa

PS - Here’s a little taste of winter camp  http://youtu.be/wGioSREVqkI

CISV Canada Video Contest!

The first submission is in for the CISV Canada Video Contest! It's no other than a Peace Bus Promotional Video! This is a great fundraising idea for your JB. Brainstorm and participate in the contest by creating your own video. All the details and criteria are in the document link below. Submission are due by the 24th of May! 

Need some inspiration? Check out the first submission here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAHmIs73P8Q

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! 

 http://www.ca.cisv.org/members_only/forms/13Nov10_Contest_Entry_and_Video_Release_Form.doc 

You're cordially invited to Saskatoon's Mini Camp!

CISV Saskatoon and Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde would like to invite you to PAC MAN MINI CAMP!

March 7th-9th 2014! 

E-mail us to for a Registration form and Information Package cisvsaskatoon@gmail.com Information can also be found on our website www.cisvsaskatoon.org

  

Our theme:

Pac-Man is often credited with being a landmark in video game history, and is among the most famous arcade games of all time. Pac-Man was designed to have no ending – as long as the player keeps at least one life, he or she should be able to play the game indefinitely. Pac-Man is one of the few games to have been consistently published for over three decades, having been remade on numerous platforms and spawned many sequels. Re-releases include updated versions of the original arcade game. The world around us is re-made and re-released, just like Pac-Man, this minicamp is exploring what inspires changes and evolution in our lives and the world around us and what the benefits and consequences of those changes are.

Hope to see you at camp! 

CISV Saskatoon

JBDC Meeting Take Two!!

On January 9th the second JBDC meeting of the year was held! It was a great success, as we had 9 out of 11 chapters represented! We went over logistics for the JBDC projects this year. Every chapter seemed very excited for the CISV JB Calendar that will be released some time in the next year, as well as the JB Introduction videos. How cool would it be to have a calendar in your room that has the faces of all your favourite people across Canada and even includes Doris Allen’s Birthday? SUPER cool is the answer to that question. We are encouraging every chapter to get involved and make an 8.5x11 size piece of paper for the calendar. It can have pictures, or a collage that accurately represents your chapter. The JB introduction video should be between 2-5 minutes and should be appropriate as it will be posted on the JBDC youtube channel!

In addition to those two projects we are also putting out a call for stories and poems for the Storybook 2.0! If you want to get involved, ask your LDCC (Local Development Committee Coordinator) for more information!

This looks like it’s going to be a wonderful year full of exciting projects!

JBDC-ers… YOU GUYS ROCK!

Much love from Zach and Tarra, your DCCs

What time is it? IJR Nomination Time!

Hey JB Canada, exciting times are ahead! The International Junior Representative Election 2014 is now open! This position will be filled by an individual who will represent none other than all of you. We are interested in hearing what you have to say and who you want to represent you on the international scale! CISV Canada gets to place one IJR Candidate nomination so please email njr@ca.cisv.org if you have any candidate recommendations by March 1st. 

Happy Saturday! 

A midway meeting update from the NJRs!

Hey JB Canada, as you probably know, the NJRs have just finished their midway meeting! Mercedes took the ferry over to Victoria and stayed in Amy’s humble abode. We got tons done this weekend, starting with a trip to the bank as well as some much needed Starbucks to get us going for the weekend. We skyped with Grace Voterro, from the USA who is the Chapter Development specialist on the IJB team who was awesome. She was incredibly helpful, and gave us lots of new strategies to tackle some problems that we’ve heard of in some Canadian JBs and chapters. If you’d like to hear what she had to say, let us know. We’re really excited to be able to put into action her words of wisdom. Next up, we got to check in with the lovely Francois Rivard from Montreal, who is our JB representative on the peace bus program committee. There’s some really exciting stuff going on for the peace bus 2014, so if you’d like to know more, contact Francois!

One thing we worked a lot on this weekend was creating a policy that is similar to the Child Protection Policy we learned a lot about at SBTF and NBM this year. Currently we’re calling it the Youth Protecting Youth Policy, but it’s subject to change. It focuses a lot on how to deal with awkward situations and what boundaries to draw when we’re in positions of authority but also still children (under 18 years). There is also a big chunk about social media, so keep your eyes peeled for the new policy!

After hammering out the policy, we looked through some old CISV documents from as far back as 2000! Did you know that JB started in Canada, all the way back in 1981, with the election of our first NJR Jeffrey Parliament? Pretty cool. Some chapter reports were written by the LJRs back in the day, Aynsley Hague, Alyssa Alidina, Julia Sheldon, Keenan Dixon, Kaleene Thors, and Alex Nueman. Pretty cool that they are all still involved in CISV! If you’d like to look at the reports from your chapter, let us know and we can scan a copy for you!

 We also skyped with the IJRs, Cande and Anjo and learned lots about them, and they learned lots about JB Canada – they seemed pretty impressed! We wrapped the weekend up by working on our bylaws! They’re (almost) completely up to date, and we will distribute the new version as well as a document that tracks the changes made.  We then took hilarious pictures for a possible Christmas/holiday card!

All in all, it was a crazy fun two days, with tons of work jam-packed into it. We got lots done, and are looking forward to implementing the new strategies for the coming year! 

See you all in 2014, JB Canada!

             -Amy & Mercedes

Eh Team Meeting #3!

The Eh Team is currently busy having the 3rd meeting of the year! Any questions for the team? Email jbcommsquad@cisv.ca.org and we will pass them on!

IJB THINKS #22!

Hello, CISV Canada!

IJB Thinks #22 – It takes two!

This issue aims at bridging the gap between CISVers by offering them the space of IJB Thinks to chat and discuss. Anyone can submit a question and anyone can volunteer to answer one. There is only one rule: you can submit any question as long as it explores who the other person is as a CISVer and what her/his impacts as such are.

So, there are two ways in which you can contribute to IJB Thinks #22.

Ask

Ever wonder what other people's motivations are to give so much of their time to CISV? What is the best-kept secret of their local Chapter? Ever ask where other CISVers get their inspiration from? Fancy to know what three things a CISVer has learned from a relative? Want to know what they are most proud of? Maybe in need of a solution for an activity you have to run with parents?

Ask them! This is your opportunity.

➽ Submit your question before December 31st to ijbthinks@ijb.cisv.org.

Answer

Would you like to be one of the many people to answer exciting questions from around the world? 

➽ Read this very brief info and find out how to volunteer to answer a question.

It's as much about the questions as it is about the answers.