In most neighbourhoods in Canadian cities and towns there are COMMUNITY CENTERS, whose function is to give recreation, qualification and courses for different kinds of persons of the community. In these centers many courses, sports and activities are developed for persons of all ages.

The courses offered in the COMMUNITY CENTERS vary generally form 8 to 12 weeks, depending on the nature of each one.  Most of the facilities are air-conditioned so the courses are offered even in the winter season.  The following are some of the courses that generally are offered in these centers.

-               Sports in different levels and ages (swimming, hockey, aerobics, judo, tennis, etc.)

-               Computers (Word, Excel, internet, Office, etc)

-               Lenguajes

-               Teaching of musical instrumenta

-               Painting (oil, acrylic, pastel, etc)

-               Arts and crafts

-               Many other more

-               Different health topics

-               Family life

Apart from the different courses offered in the communities, most of them have swimming-pools, gyms, stadiums and other recreation places to use daily by  the residents

i FOR CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS

- SEASON SPORTS

Students’ vacations in primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities are from the last week of June to the first week of September. It is a long season in the hottest part of the year. Canadians are used to take advantage of the good weather doing sports and all kind of open air activities. Camping sites, fishing, sailing and excursions in natural areas are a good choice.

All kind of sports competences are usual in the parks and sport fields of cities and towns in Canada. The most popular open air sports in summer are soccer, baseball, softball, tennis, volleyball and basketball.  In winter skiing and hockey are the most popular ones.

Summer camps for boys scheduled by trained staff, where recreation, sport and educational activities are performed, are very popular in the USA. There are many camping sites with different objectives, duration and price. Most of them are organized by private institutions. However, these camping sites are expensive and out of the family budget of the recently arrived immigrant.

Two good alternatives (and also very cheap) for the boys and girls mainly adolescents, to have healthy entertainment, fun socialization and education, are the followings:

- SCOUTS CANADA

Scouts Canada is one of the biggest youth organizations in the country and abroad. It offers seven interesting programs for boys, girls and youngsters between 5 and 26 years old with 3,600 groups in most of cities and towns in Canada. Around 78,000 youngsters enjoy the programmes (sports, camping and other activities) of Scouts Canada. More than 24,000 volunteers collaborate with these programmes. Scouts Canada national office is in Ottawa and is member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. Scouts Canada is a not-for-profit organization supported by youngsters and parents of the community.

Although the groups start the activities in August and September. You can register your children in Scouts Canada any time of the year. As usual the groups have scheduled interesting recreation activities and campings regularly. The meetings are once a week and last from 2 to 4 hours. Parents are responsible for the purchase of uniforms and the necessary equipment for the activities.

For more information visit SCOUTS CANADA

SCOUTS CANADA

http://www.scouts.ca/default.asp?cmPageID=81

  - CADETS CANADA

Cadets is a program sponsored by the Canadian Federal Government for children and youngsters between 9 and 18 years old. In this program the ones interested participate in interesting recreative and educational activities as well as learning about Canadian Armed Forces.

Cadets promotes and stimulates boys to be responsible and active members of the community. They teach values for life and work, like for example leadership, working in groups and citizenship values. Cadets Program also promotes personal benefits for youngsters like improving their self-esteem and keeping fit while learning how to take the initiative and their own decisions. Cadets makes a permanent valuable contribution to the Canadian society in relation to environment issues, citizenship and community activities.

CADETS ARE NOT PART OF THE ARMED FORCES, and there isn’t any commitment or expectation for the youngsters to join the military life.

The youngsters can join it any time of the year and they can be absent as their convenience. Although they receive uniforms, there isn’t any commitment of their staying in CADETS.

The registration to CADETS is free and uniforms or equipment are not paid. The organization carries out some activities with the cadets and voluntary parents for the fund rising in the community.

CADETS program can be taken in the following branches:

• Royal Canadian Sea Cadets (Marines, which is known as Sea Cadets)
• Royal Canadian Army Cadets (Army, which is known as Army Cadets)
• Royal Canadian Air Cadets (Air Force, which is known as Air Cadets)

CADETS program is divided into three training stages:

• Local training - Cadets meet in order to participate in the program weekly during the school season (September-June), a night per week. Training sessions or other weekend activities are optionally scheduled depending on their own interests.
• Summer training: There are 24 cadet summer training centers (CSTC) located all over Canada. Approximately 21,000 registered youngsters receive training and have more than 2,500 staff cadets (parents and adults of the community) who are employed each summer in the 24 CSTCs. The interchange and going out of the cadets to other cities within Canada and cultural interchange with other countries of the world is very frequent.

To know more of these programs, use the following links:

CADETS – CANADA

http://www.cadets.ca/intro_e.asp