N.S. business aims to get more young people of colour outside to enjoy nature

An initiative called Different Rooute is working to get more young people of colour in the Halifax area interested in experiencing nature and the outdoors. 

Its stated aim is to reconnect customers with nature, community and themselves.

According to Fawn Logan-Young, who started the business in 2017, outdoor activities and spaces are not always accessible to youth of colour. 

She told Alex Guye of CBC Radio's Mainstreet NS that not seeing other young people of colour enjoying nature is one barrier to more people becoming involved. 

This is a condensed version of their conversation that has been edited for clarity and length.

What is Different Rooute all about?

I do anything from facilitating outdoor recreation programs to consultations to just trying to get folks in the same room who have similar interests when it comes to the outdoors.  

I feel like often we forget how much our spaces impact ourselves, and without community I think it's also harder for us to know ourselves. So I like keeping those three variables together.

When you're taking youth into the outdoors, what are some of those things that you might be teaching them while you're out there?

I've been doing programs where I connect and collaborate with more local initiatives in trying to get more people of colour and African Nova Scotian communities in Nova Scotia ... to go outside.

Some of the facilitation that I do is anything from mindfulness walks to [a] straight-up introduction to hiking and hiking etiquette.

The list goes on. Whatever ideas come to mind and collaborations work out.

Why is it important to introduce youth of colour to the outdoors?

As cliché as it is, representation does matter.  I feel for people who haven't had to be politicized because of their skin colour, sometimes it's harder to understand what it means for people of colour to see other people of colour in positions of leadership or positions in which we often haven't seen ourselves reflected.

Do you feel like there has been a shift toward a more positive outlook for that?

I started a Different Rooute in 2017 and I remember starting to put out reachers for different groups to collaborate on, specifically BIPOC hiking, and I remember not finding a lot of people who were necessarily interested.

I don't know if it felt too taboo or just didn't see the importance of it yet, but since [then] two factors have happened in the last five years: one being the pandemic and the other being Black Lives Matter.

I think we also saw the pivotal change within corporations, within local organizations, even to government, of people who found it hard to say the word racism.

And now these topics are kind of front and centre more than ever.

What have you heard from the youth that you've worked with about being able to have access to this and that you've also created that opportunity for them?

The response that I've heard back for a lot of folks is that ... it's helped them connect with people that they wouldn't have connected with necessarily.

I think the more beautiful thing for me is when I've taken families. The connectivity that families get together, the fact that they get to do something they haven't done together. 

I've even heard a mom and her daughter say, "Well, we're going to start doing this every year." They were referring to kayaking that we were doing in Kejimkujik [National Park and National Historic Site].

So it's stories like that that make that kind of work really valuable and why I love doing it.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

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