Complete at last... Here we are!

With the election of our National Camp Coordinator we now have a full executive that needs an introduction. So, here's a quick word from all of them and their contact emails.

Part of the JB National Executive is of course the NJRs. You probably know enough about Kalenne and Rémi by now, for fun facts just scroll down the blog and we're sure you'll find some gems of information.


NCC (Nat Camp Coordinator)
Nom/Name: James Young
Chapitre/Chapter: St. Grégoire
Email: jyoung1991@msn.com

Bonjour à toute la branche juniore canadienne,
Je tennais à vous remercier pour m’avoir donné la chance d’être le NCC. Merci beaucoup!!! Je ferrai tout ce qui est en mon possible pour que ce soit merveilleux. Donc si quelqu’un a des questions, commentaires, suggestions, ou si vous voulez savoir quoique ce soit à propos du national camp ou bien a propos de moi, vous pouvez me contacter par email.
Hey JB Canada, Just a couple of words to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to be NCC. Thank you!!! I’ll do my best to make it wonderful. So if you guys have any question, comments, suggestions or anything else about the National Camp or me, you can reach me by email.

JBDCC (Junior Branch Development Committee Chair)
Nom/Name: Brittany Bernard
Chapitre/Chapter: Victoria
Email: brittanyj@hotmail.com

Hey Canada! I have been involved in CISV for almost 8 years. One of my favorite CISV memories would have to be playing Murder Mysteries in the very early hours of the morning with the rest of Victoria's JB Board at minicamp. I am really excited about this year and to be more involved with CISV at a national level! My thumbs up in the photo is to yummy Swedish grilled cheese and to a super fun upcoming year! Lots of love.
Bonjour Canada!
J'était une membre de CISV pour presque 8 année maintenant. Une des souvenirs favories de CISV était lorsque j'ai joué Murder Mysteries avec les autres membres du JB Board de Victoria a minicamp. Je hâte de commencer travailler cette année et d'être plus liée avec CISV a une étage national! Mes 'thumbs up' dans le photo est pour le fromage de la Suède et pour une année super animer! Beaucoup d'amour.

ICC (Internal Communications Chair)
Nom/Name: Julia Sheldon
Chapitre/Chapter: Ottawa
Email: cisvbum@hotmail.com

I am studying geography and religious studies at the University of Ottawa. I am in my 3rd year, and loving every minute of it. I LOVE shepherd's pie, sleeping in late, board game nights, and spending time with a boy I am crazy in love with. December 28 - January 3 is Ottawa's annual winter camp, and I can't wait!! It will be my 6th winter camp, and it is personally my favourite program in CISV.

As Internal Communications Chair, it's my job to keep everyone in touch. So answer my emails and Facebook messages, please!! So far everyone has been really good about it :)

Much love from O-Town, j.shelds

Je suis dans ma troisième année d'école à l'Université d'Ottawa dans la programme de géographie et les études réligieuses, et je l'adore!! J'ADORE "shepherd's pie", dormir tard, des nuits de jeux avec mes amis (comme Sorry et Scrabble), et passant du temps avec un garçon que je suis fou dans amour avec. Le 28 décembre - 3 janvier est le Winter Camp annuel de JB Ottawa, and je ne veux pas attendre! Ce sera mon 6e camp d'hiver et c'est mon programme favori de CISV. Comme Internal Communications Chair, c'est à moi d'assurer que vous êtes tous en contacte, donc répond aux emails et messages de Facebook, s'il vous plaît!

Tant de bisoux du capitale, j.shelds

ECC (External Communications Chair)
Nom/Name: Caitlyn Wood
Chapitre/Chapter: Calgary
Email: caitlynw1@gmail.com

Salut! Moi et Julia planifions d'avoir une année très productive pour CISV Canada. Nous allons faire quelques nouveaux changements et quelques vieilles traditions vont rester dans CISV Canada. Je suis super énervée d'être dans le conseil exécutif national (National Board) cette année et j'espère rendre les JBers (brancheux!) canadiens aussi enthousiaste que moi! Je suis une personne très occupée mais j'aime avoir des choses à faire! Quelques unes des choses que j'aime faire quand j'ai le temps sont : yoga, dance, magasiner, aller voir des films, bénévolat et voyager! On se voit dans la prochaine année!
Hey! Julia and I are planning on having a very productive year with CISV Canada and we hope to make some new changes as well as keep some old traditions within CISV Canada. I am super excited to be able to be on the National Board this year, and I am hoping to make Canadian JB'ers just as excited as I am! I'm a pretty busy person but I enjoy having things to do! Some things I like to do when I have the time is yoga, dance, shop, go to the movies, volunteer and travel! See you in the New Year!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Big happy hello under the snow "Québécoise" (neige est un mot féminin)!

After a lot of waiting, some e-mail reading, a phone call or two, a good counting session... K 'n R came out with one name as the new National Camp Coordinator! Yes, you understood just as us that the three candidates were awsomely good ones and that the decision was quite difficult to make. But, the choice has been finally made...

I'm stressed to write it down and I know I should do it short and sweet but I first want to thank the 10 chapters that have voted in such a short delay. You guys helped us to be effective! What happened with Toronto and Victoria??? Well... The majority of voters decided that this year, they wanted their NC to be hosted by James Young. He will be working hardly from now on to plan a fantastic National Camp next August with a team of staff he will build. You will for sure hear from him in the next few weeks so he can get his planning starting!

So we now have our EXEC full-filled. YAY! This is a great year starting on a good note for JB Canada. Let's try to keep it as good as it started!

Rémi for the two NJRs !

Coming back from Calgary!!!

Wow ! After such a weekend, it's difficult not to be crying to be back home with a lot of school, work, family stuff, dishes to clean and brooming to do...

The time as come for JB Canada to start the year with whole bunch of fun!!!

One of the really fun things that the NJRs have done at National Board Meeting was... CHANGING... yes, you read well, Kathy and Kalenne are now replaced by...

Kalenne and Rémi!

Of course, one of the two current NJRs as the same name as one of the two past NJRs. The thing is that each NJR are voted for two years and they will start as Junior NJR and then the year after they become Senior NJR. Concretely, Kalenne Thors is now Senior NJR and Rémi Francoeur the Junior NJR.

"But, are they alone?" (I can hear you asking in front of your computer!)
NO! They are not! They have all of you Juniors from all across our beautiful country. But as well, they have a wonderfull team with them on the EXECUTIVE of JB Canada. This team is including
Julia Sheldon as the Internal Communication Chair,
Caitlyn Wood as the External Communication Chair,
Brittany Bernard as the Junior Branch Development Committee Chair
and James Young as National Camp Coordinator.

Those people will be the people you guys can refer to at any time during the next 11 months in case of needs, questions or just for having a nice talk!

If you want to contact your NJRs, you guys just have to write a comment on this blog or you can send an e-mail to njr@ca.cisv.org

With love and respect,

...your most bearded NJR...

NJR candidates 2008!

Hello juniors of Canada!

as some of you may know, the time has come to elect a new njr. The election will take place AT nbm 2008 this weekend in Calgary, so let your chapter representative know who you think should be leading junior branch canada for the next two year. So without furthur ado, let's meet our candidates!
Looking good guys.

Rémi Francoeur

Hey hey! You people reading this text about who are the NJR candidates on the NJR blog less than 4 days before NBM starts... yeah, you! You might be really intense in CISV!!!
But well if you don't know (or if you want to know more about) me, her is a little intro to my person. I'm never brief, neither in French or in English and my Spanish is good but not yet enought to make clear and simple sentences. So I guess I will write my 200 words without saying much about my self but eh! that's not to bad.
When people ask me what I like to do in life, I usually answer "Make people smile!" . In general, it works and the person I told it to smiles. This is one of the thousand examples of how good I am to achieve what I want to do. But it's mainly a good way to explain you how important a smile is for me. In fact I think that smiling is a cure to a lot of diseases and problems. I once studied clown. One day, I would love to work as Doctor Clown (hope you heard about it). As well, a smile is way better than some make-up to "pimp-up" your face. If you want to be pretty, the cool stuff to do is not to wear a super-dress, have a newh air cut or use the extra-lip-gloss-dupper-cool, the cool stuff is to put a smile in your face. I believe.

What? Else than smiles? What do I like as well in life? Here is a quick improvised list : monkeys, chocolate, shaking hands, latin languages, philosophy, strawberry soymilk, hugs, theater, airports, looking to the toilets(bathrooms) in fancy restaurants or hotels, palmtree, juggling, dressing up, biking, people playing acoustic guitar, cats, potato chips, fresh carrots, lezards, Facebook and all its possibilities, folk music, seeing the raise and the set of the Sun in the same day, beaches, climbing(in trees, on buildings, in CISV hierarchy), sudoku, french fries, cutting my friends hair, have a beard so I can shave with weird shapes, taking pictures, singing, jumping, when the sound of the fridge stops suddenly and I realize it was annoying me since a while, skipping, throwing rocks on the water and count the bounces, bread, futuristic movies, making analogies on the spot when I talk about something, improvised theater, circus, dancing, beeing told by people I like that I did somehting good, my mom, my sisters, sleeping, complimenting someone if I really think it, my backpack, my other one as well, wearing hats, collecting hats, trading clothes, my friends (including a lot of great human beings), trying to guess what language people are speaking on the street, history, mini-anything (everything really small is really cute; deodorant, trucks, animals, music instruments...), someone looking directly in the eyes, human touch, clapping my hands together, hammocks, hiking, maple trees, salt, talking, did I say talking?, oh and finally, i really appreciate to talk (I can almost say I'm talkative)...

I'm Rémi Francoeur, 21 years old, male, from St-Grégoire Chapter, french speaker, live in a city called Trois-Rivières, work in entertainment, tourism, arts and restaurantion, involved in CISV since 1999, candidate for Canadian NJR this week-end at NBM in Calgary. I can't wait to let you all people know more about me... Take care of yourselves!

Love, Remi.


Julia Sheldon

hey hey hey,
Julia Sheldon here. I've decided to give you some stats a.k.a. statistics about myself to start things off.

Hometown: Waterloo, Ontario
Current town: Ottawa, Ontario
Birthday: Oct 6 (I expect presents :P)
Years in CISV: 9 (officially), 16 unofficially
Hobbies: reading, traveling, tree climbing, drinking tea, good conversation, having my mind blown
Languages: English, French, German (barely)
Education: 3rd year University of Ottawa - major in Geography, minor in Religious Studies
Countries visited: Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, England, United States, Nicaragua, Canada DESPERATELY HOPING FOR MORE!
Favourite food: chocolate, hands down.
Favourite colour: green, hands down.
Favourite energizer: "Who Gives the Best Hugs" from USA NBM 2007
Favourite CISV activities ever played: Hopes and Fears, Ottawa Winter Camp 2005; Communication, Holland Seminar Camp 2007; Cross The Line, every time!
Pet Peeves: incorrect spelling, improper grammar, people who talk during exams or lectures, being late, when things/people are late, the feeling of unbrushed teeth ... you know, when it feels like there's a layer of fuzz on your teeth EW.
Recent exciting journey: went to Berlin for an interchange (junior leader), got home, slept for 2 days, then drove across Canada (from Kamloops, BC to Ottawa, ON) in 4.5 days!

More about me? Staples is my favourite store. I love school supplies. And being organized. Ridiculous? What are you gonna do about it?!... That's what I thought.
I love learning. SO much. Also, I have realized that in certain circumstances, I tend to turn into a southern ghetto-fab grandmother. It's slightly ridiculous.

I think being NJR would be a HUGE change for me, and something that I am very excited about. That being said, Remi is a great guy, and would do a wonderful job. I wouldn't want to have to choose between the two of us. So good luck!!!

MUCH LOVE
j.shelds



Well, that's it for now friends! Stay tuned for much more nbm news!


love!
your friendly njr's, Kathy and Kalenne

NBM's a comin' Yeehaa.

That right folks, NBM is almost here. In just two short weeks the Juniors of Canada will be meeting out west for the first time in many a year in the lovely city of Calgary. Some things to look forward to include: JB Goals fun times, Adult- Junior hang out action, and a lot of bad cowboy jokes. We'll also be passing motions, doing elections and thinking up big ideas.

For all our eager NBM attendees, don't forget to do some homework before you come and get ready to bring things back to your chapter. NBM is a busy time so the more you've done before hand the better off you'll be. All the motions, reports and documents will be posted in the members' only section of the CISV Canada website soon- look them over, print them off and get familiar with the plan for the weekend. Also, take some time to think about what you want to get out of NBM and what you want your chapter to get out of it. How can you achieve these goals? Lastly, get ready for a party- NBM is always a great time!

To everyone who's coming we can't wait to see you and to everyone who's not, don't worry, your chapter chairs will be bringing back lots of great ideas, energy and tools- make sure you ask them all about it.

T minus 14 days. -kathy and kalenne

We leave you with a few shots from our fabulous National Camp. Once again a ginormous success. National Camp- it just proves how much our Juniors rock. And how many bugs there are in Saskatoon. Wow.

Next stop: Saskatchewan

A Quick Update. Kathy and Kalenne have both departed from lovely Florence and are now back on their respective oceans, at least for a few days.

This is another hilarious sign from the AIM site. Although not as funny as the 'No Tourists' sign it might say more than originally intentioned.

National Camp is just a few days away so the NJRs are already getting ready to set off to Saskatoon to set up and get ready to welcome all the participants.

We're really excited for camp and that excitement only gets stronger as:a) camp gets closer and b) we get more sleep.

This year's theme is 'One Beat' and is meant to capture a sense of unity while celebrating our differences. The Plains Cree of Saskatchewan used drums in many of their ceremonies as well as during gatherings with other tribes.

Although they had different songs and equipment they came together to create their own beat as a group. This is what we hope to do with National Camp- bring people together from coast to coast with different ways of thinking and living, and have them contribute that experience to create their own unique beat.

Watch for our prairie update, coming after camp. Peace out home slices. K and K

Discuter!!! Discuss!!!

CISV ONLY, NO TOURISTS

Salut a tous les membres de la Branche Junior du Canada! Kathy et Kalenne sont encore à Firenze, peut être la ville la plus chaude du monde- oui, on sait que c'est probablement (sûrement) incorrect mais la chaleur nous fait confuses.

Hello to everyone from JB Canada! Kathy and Kalenne are still in Firenze, maybe the hottest city in the world- yes, we know this is probably (definitely) wrong but the heat's confusing us.

Premièrement, on a une grande nouvelle de te raconter. Maru Ayam de l’Argentine était choisi comme la prochaine IJR (International Junior Rep).* Elle travaillera avec notre amie Kelly Bowden pour l’année qui vienne.
*Attends, c’est quoi un IJR? – C’est un peu comme un NJR, mais pour le monde. Oui, c’est un travail énorme.

Firstly, we have big news. Maru Ayam from Argentina has been chosen as the next IJR (International Junior Rep).* She will work with our friend Kelly Bowden for the coming year.
*Wait, what's IJR?- It's a bit like NJR, but for the world. Yes, it's a huge job.

Et maintenant, on veut vraiment entendre qu’est-ce que tu penses de quelque motions qui sont sur l’agenda des adultes.

And now, we really want to hear what you think of a few motions that are on the adult agenda.

Premièrement: Les programmes avec les jeunes (Village, Summer Camp etc) devraient éliminer l’alcool complètement, sauf pour ‘Leaders’ Weekend’ et ‘Leaders’ Night Out’. C’est une bonne idée?

First: Programmes where youth are present (Village, Summer Camp etc) should eliminate alcohol from the camp completely, except for 'Leaders' Weekend' and 'Leaders' Night Out'. Is is a good idea?

Deuxièmement: Summer Camp devrait changer à une programme offrit seulement pour les jeunes de 14 ou 15 ans. Les camps de 13 ans seraient discontinus parce qu’ils ne remplient pas les buts éducatifs au mêmes niveaux que les autres ages.

Secondly: Summer Camp should change to a programme offered only to youth aged 14 or 15. 13 year old camps would be discontinued as they aren't fullfilling the educational goals to the same level as the other ages.

Alors, dans le section ‘Comments’ donne nous vos opinions sur ses sujets, peut être, ça commencera une discussion.

So, in the 'Comments' section give us your opinions on these subjects, maybe, it'll turn into a discussion.

Avec amour d’Italie. Love from Italy. K and K

**UPDATE**
The Summer Camp motion was passed. We will now be focusing on developing the 14 and 15 year old camps.

The alcohol motion was tabled until next year (read: no decision was reached). As an interesting note however, from my perspective had it gone to a vote it wouldn't have passed. A lot of people feel casual drinking is part of their culture and we should be able to trust leaders to drink responsibly. I guess we'll have to wait until next AIM to see what happens....

What do you actually DO at IJBC?

So with IJBC drawing to a close the question remains, what exactly have Kathy and Kalenne been doing anyway?

To be honest, it's hard to say. You know when you come back from a Mini Camp and your friends want to know what you were doing all weekend and you have a really hard time explaining and before you know it you're throwing around words that on their own make almost no sense at all? Ya, it's like that. Except less awkward because we know you understand. Kalenne and her IJBC/AIM tag

But in the spirit of blogging we'll try anyway.

Our sessions have been divided into 4 topics:

- Junior Branch: As you can guess these are sessions about, surprise surprise, JB. They are aimed at aiding in the development of our JBs, locally, nationally and internationally. For example, we might do a session on the JB Goals, so we can use them more effectively when we get back to our chapters.

- Global movement: These are sessions to get us thinking about taking what we've learned in CISV outside to create movement. We as a JB are a global movement, cool right? These sessions aimed to get us thinking about how we as JBers can have more of an impact as a worldwide movement and also how we can become more engaged in other already existing global movements, for example, Peace One Day.

-Open Space: This is time for participants to develop ideas they think are important and are
interested in. They are like working groups at NBM. We brainstorm discussion or project topics and then split off to develop them. They can range from things like planning regional workshops to putting together a magazine or discussing how CISV can be more green.

-Parallel Experiences: This is a time when we break off into different groups to enjoy a session that interests us. It's the same as tripod time at NMB. This allows participants to use their time how they feel would be best for them and their JB. Yay

Kathy on the bus to ARMM.
The sessions were way more exciting.
We promise.

Whew, that's a lot of stuff. Along with formal sessions we're always story sharing and discussing challenges and successes of our JBs. As you can imagine a lot of the time these are really similar between different National Associations (NAs).

Well, that was a long one, but stay tuned for shorter posts with lots of funny pictures (we already have a few planned). If you're reading this please leave a comment, Kalenne needs constant validation. Love the NJRs

The view from our Tuscan Villa aka the ARMM site

NJR italy blog one

The NJRs are in Italy! Check out our first video blog....

All Our Bags are Packed...

In just a matter of hours Kathy and Kalenne will be jetting off to Italy for the biggest CISV meetings around. In fact we'll be going to three: ARMM, IJBC and AIM. What do all these acronyms stand for? Here's the rundown.

ARMM: The America's Regional Members' Meeting. This is the first place we'll be heading off to. It's a meeting/ training/ CISV good time for everyone from the America's Region, which includes North, Central and South America. Even though it's a meeting focused on the America's Region, it's so darn convenient there's sure to be some guests from other regions (like Europe and Asia Pacific). It's facilitated by the ARM team, which is sort of like JB Canada's executive and some Home Staff.

IJBC: The International Junior Branch Conference. This is a conference/ training/ CISV mutual learning experience for all Juniors from around the world. Wow. It's facilitated by the IJRs (sort of like the NJRs, but for the world) and previously nominated IJR candidates as well as some lovely Home Staff. This year's theme is 'Reflect and Act'.

AIM: This is the Annual International Meeting. This is the 'adult' meeting. It's a time for reports, motion voting and hopefully lots of funny antics. It's for CISVers from all over the world so this= lots of CISV in one place. Nice. This year's theme is 'Peace Education in a Multicultural City'.

As your NJRs Kathy and Kalenne will be representing Canada at the ARMM and IJBC and taking a bit more of an observer role at AIM, where CISV Canada's trusty trustee Rick Uy will be taking over as the front man. We know what you're thinking and don't worry, we're keeping our eyes on Rick and making sure he stays in line.

As NJRs we'll be soaking up anything we can to bring back to JB Canada, evaluating the past year as well as doing some strategic planning for next year and lots of other good stuff. If you want us to talk about something, ask around about how other countries are doing things or help you out with anything drop us an email at njr@ca.cisv.org or leave a note on this blog. Check back often for updates, as you can imagine these meetings are pretty busy places and cool stuff happens fast.

Ciao for now. Kathy and Kalenne

SBTF 08 status: great sucess!

SBTF 2008: Riding the LeaderSHIP!

Well friends, or should we say "arug mateys!", another spring board training forum has come an gone. The participants have returned to their chapter, their heads and binders filled with jb love, inspiration, and knowledge. And excessive amounts of pirate lingo.

This year's forum was a huge success. Sure it rained a lot of the time, but from May 16 to the 19th, 23 individuals gathered in downtown toronto to be engaged, challenged, and generally shook-up, pirate leadership-style.

We spent a lot of time in one very colourful room, looking at what makes a good leader. We discussed challenges and brainstormed ways to solve them together. We were lucky to have both developing chapters, Halifax and Montreal represented.

By dissecting the elements that make up a junior branch, we improved our own leadership skills, but also learned how to pass this knowledge onto others. A tour around the university of toronto campus took us to different stations where we shared stories about communication, adult liaisons, activities, promotion, recruitment, and so much more.

We were introduced to lots of the different functions of jb canada, and jb international. The junior branch development committee presented us with brand-new junior-branch co-chair manuals, and we saw presentations from the international junior branch committee.

As we became friends, and realized our similarities and differences, we were able to connect and form a community that will last despite the geographical monstrosity that is Canada. The leaders of JB Canada parted ways on the 19th of May 2008, with a few tears, but with renewed energy to continue fueling the great machine that is jb canada.

As NJR's, Kathy and Kalenne were very tired by the end of the weekend, but so filled with love from all of the brilliant leaders who attended the training. A huge thank you to the participants for making SBTF as incredible as it was!

so much love,

Kathy | Kalenne

Hello again!

Lovely to see you all. Kalenne and Kathy here in Toronto, enjoying the whimsical banter of cisv canada's adult board and executive.

Every year, the adult executive (of which Kalenne and Kathy are a part) and the chapter chairs from all over Canada gather for the
spring board meeting. This is a weekend full of motions, reports, and networking. Sort of like a mini-nbm that works as a mid-year
check in.

Kalenne and Kathy also present a mid-year report and a fancy powerpoint presentation, which we would love to send to you if you are interested in reviewing it. They will also both be avaliable on cisv canada's website (cisv.ca) in the member's only section. This report was well received, and all the adults were very impressed at our supreme level of awesome-ness.

Because Kathy and Kalenne live on opposite ends of the country, we are extending our stay in toronto until tuesday to give us time to
have a mid-way meeting for ourselves.

Here are some things we hope to accomplish:

review and planning of the junior branch budget!
planning of this year's spring board training forum
preparations for this year's armm, ijbc, and aim
brainstorming new ways to connect to and help out all of you lovely folk!

So please, if you have anything you would like to share with us, or you would like us to discuss while we are meeting, please let us know!
Have something you think the participants of the spring board training forum should be trained on? Have an idea for nbm next year?
Have an idea for a national project? Funny joke? Let us know at njr@ca.cisv.org!

looking forward to hearing from you!

kathy | kalenne

Sail away on the Leadership

It's almost that time again... Time for incoming chairs and interested Junior Board members from across Canada to come together for a long weekend of fun, excitement and leadership training.

JB Canada's own Spring Board Training Forum (SBTF) is still being held the May long weekend but this year it will be moving from Ottawa to Toronto. Our theme is Riding the Leadership (get it? here at NJR headquarters we thought it was pretty clever) so get ready for a weekend of bad theme pirate jokes but really good training for everything you need to set your JB up for smooth sailing. We looking to have representation from right across Canada from all our lovely chapters so get ready, we can't wait to see you all! This year we also have the pleasure of welcoming the lovely and talented Keenan Dixon to the training team as home staff. She's been working hard to sort out a lot of the logistical stuff and we are super appreciative.

For more information email the NJRs at njr@ca.cisv.org We can set you up with forms and answer any questions you have. If you're coming this year and you have a specific topic you'd like covered in Training let us know and we'll try to set up a session.

Also huge thanks to everyone who took time to check in with us during the NJR online time. The flow of communication both ways is so important and it really helps us give direction to JB Canada when we know how you're all feeling. Remember, we always love to chat and hear what's happening in your chapters, good and bad, so don't be shy, drop us a line. If you send us an email and we can set up a time to talk or you can find us anytime on MSN and Skype.

Big love from ocean to ocean. Kathy and Kalenne