News
Green Jobs Initiative call for applications opens!
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- Category: News
The program will provide direct financial support (via 50% wage subsidies) to local governments (municipalities, Indigenous communities, etc.) and other sector organizations, to support nearly 140 jobs that focus on green career-related activities. By empowering youth with job opportunities and fostering environmental stewardship, we contribute to their personal growth, the advancement of community priorities, and creating a sustainable future for our communities and our planet.
Important Dates
February 16, 2024: 2024 funding applications due by 5:00 p.m. EST
March 15, 2024: Applicant notification
April 1, 2024: Earliest start date for all approved positions
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2024 Community Infrastructure & Access-Ability Grants
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- Category: News
The Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism, and Heritage (CCTH) has opened its Community Infrastructure and Access-ability grants for the fiscal year 2024-25.
Available Grant Programs:
- Community ACCESS-Ability Program Supports renovations and improvements to make community buildings more accessible.
- Community Facility Improvement Program aids in repairs and upgrades to community facilities open for public use, such as community halls.
- Legion Capital Assistance Program assists Royal Canadian Legions with capital upgrades.
- Recreation Facility Development / Rink Revitalization Fund supports repairs and upgrades to community recreation facilities and rinks.
Eligible Applicants:
- Registered non-profit societies
- Mi’kmaw Band Councils
- Municipalities and villages
- Schools and post-secondary institutions with facilities available for community recreational use
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS FEBRUARY 14, 2024
There are 3 community online information sessions, where you can learn more about our programs and ask questions. If you would like to attend one of these sessions, please email
Online Information Session Dates:
Monday, December 18, 6:30-8:00 pm
Monday, January 8, 2:00-3:30 pm
Monday January 8, 6:30-8:00 pm
In addition to the online public information sessions, potential applicants are encouraged to discuss their projects with a CCTH regional manager or program officer before submitting an application. This will ensure that you are well-informed and best positioned to succeed in securing the support you need.
Contacts for Program Inquiries:
- Community ACCESS-Ability:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Community Facility Improvement & Legion Capital Assistance:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Recreation Facility Development and Rink Revitalization (Contact your local Regional Manager):
- Cape Breton: Larry Maxwell
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Central (Halifax Regional Municipality): Andrea Redmond
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Fundy (Cumberland, Colchester, East Hants): Courtney Nicholson-Patriquin
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Highland (Guysborough, Pictou, Antigonish): Rae Gunn
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - South Shore (Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens, Lunenburg): Anna Haanstra
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Valley (Annapolis, Kings, Digby, West Hants, Clare): Anna Sherwood
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Friday Forums with CPRA
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- Category: News
Through CPRA’s Gender Equity in Recreation and Sports Community of Practice, they hope to provide opportunities for leaders to learn about, share, and implement best practices, lessons learned, and new ideas, resulting in their ability to be meaningfully engaged in gender equity efforts in their communities.
Join them for the FRIDAY FORUMS! Open Forum Fridays are for people interested in, or who are currently working on, gender equity in sport, physical activity and recreation (SPAR) to come together to share successes and challenges, learn from one another and experts in the field, and discuss ideas
Dates:
- November 3, 2023
- November 17, 2023
- January 19, 2024
- February 16, 2024
- March 15, 2024
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
For more information about the FRIDAY FORUMS, contact Christa Costas-Bradstreet at
Welcome to the 2023/2024 RNS Board of Directors!
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Recreation Nova Scotia (RNS) would like to introduce our new Board of Directors for 2023-2024. We want to take a moment to welcome our new Board Members, Ruth-Ellen as Director at Large (1 year) and Brendon Smithson as President-Elect, as well as all returning Board Members.
Ruth-Ellen Jackson's passion for physical activity, recreation, and leisure has been life-long. As a fine arts graduate of the University of North Carolina's School of the Arts, Ruth-Ellen established an international career as a professional dancer with New York City's prestigious Parsons Dance Company and the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble. Upon returning home to Halifax, Ruth-Ellen continued her professional dance career with Mocean Dance and received the 2016 Nova Scotia Masterworks Award. She has served on the Boards of Dance Nova Scotia and Kinetic Studio and is a certified Pilates teacher. Following her graduation from NSCC's Therapeutic Recreation Program, Ruth-Ellen joined Northwood, where she is currently the Volunteer Coordinator and Community Recreation and Wellness Lead. In addition to her interest in recreation in community settings, Ruth-Ellen enjoys engaging people of all ages in dance, performance, Pilates, and the arts.
Brendon is the current Director of Regional Recreation Services for the city of Halifax and the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the 2023 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) Host Society in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), where the team delivered a safe and supportive environment to over 5,000 Indigenous youth from across Turtle Island. Additionally, he is a Board Member of the Aboriginal Sport Circle.
Brendon was formerly with the province of Nova Scotia as a Sport and Recreation Consultant supporting the growth of sport, recreation, and physical activity within the Mi'kmaw communities. Before his time with the province, Brendon worked in Municipal Recreation for ten years as a director, focusing on creating inclusive environments for all participants.
In Brendon's free time, you can find him in and around the lacrosse community in Nova Scotia, where he is a player, coach, board member and official. When not on the lacrosse floor, he enjoys all that Nova Scotia has to offer, especially its great outdoors and is a passionate football fan.
Meet the rest of the Board Members here.
RNS inspires and supports a diverse and comprehensive network of partners committed to addressing the recreation needs of all Nova Scotians through the provision of leadership and a strong provincial voice. Under the guidance and counsel from the Board, RNS can continue to champion, promote, and advocate for recreation as an essential element in building healthy, caring, and vibrant communities; facilitate the education and development of recreation professionals and volunteers; and promote connectivity between recreation sector professionals, influencers, and beneficiaries.
The Board of Directors will direct, control, and inspire Recreation Nova Scotia through the established written policies that reflect the values and perspectives of the Board, aiding in what is to be achieved and the means to be avoided. Cultivating a sense of group responsibility, we look forward to each Board Member bringing their individual expertise to enhance the Board as a whole and, therefore, the operations of RNS.
We look forward to working with you all over the next year!
RNS Partners With Root in Nature
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RNS is proud to announce a partnership with Root In Nature to offer their virtual, self-paced course with industry experts providing an overview of principles and practices of horticultural therapy, including the physical, social, and psychological benefits of working with plants.
Root In Nature is excited to offer a 10% discount for RNS members - use code REC-NS!
Find out more about the course here.
Workshop with Lisa Tink & Blanket Exercise with the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre
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- Category: News
Join us November 15, 2023 from 10:00am to 3:00pm for a morning workshop with Lisa Tink, researcher and consultant, followed by a Blanket Exercise led by he Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre.
Lunch will be provided.
Info about the morning workshop
In recent years recreation scholars and professionals began calling for a return to municipal recreation's historical roots as a "public good." Blaming ongoing funding cuts (at all levels of government) for the current pay-per-use model, these calls for a more inclusive recreation system have suggested the sector's "business-like" practices should be of concern because they are in direct opposition to the field's historic mandate of "equal opportunity."
A central assumption underlying these calls for the recreation profession to return to its "historical roots" is that municipal recreation services, until the late 1980s and early 1990s, were available to all members of society. This narrative is, however, a romanticized account of recreation's history.
Through a historical re-reading of 'public' recreation, this workshop challenges the often-repeated narrative of a more inclusive era in recreation's past. Tracing some of the conditions that have given rise to our current recreation systems, Dr. Tink will demonstrates how recreation has by design, always been an exclusive environment targeting white, able-bodied settlers. Afterwards, she will guide participants through a critical dialogue intended to explore what is inherently problematic, difficult and dangerous in the discourses, practices, and policies that guide their day- to-day work as recreation programmers and policy-makers.
Blanket Exercise Info
The blanket exercise is an interactive educational program that teaches the history of indigenous peoples in Canada. The program was created in response to the 1996 report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and is used as a teaching tool across Canada.
The Blanket exercise was first developed in 1996 around the time the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was presented to Parliament.Kairos worked with Elders across Canada, AFN and others to devise it as an interactive education tool to help people understand the history and legacy of relationship between First Nations and European settlers. It is a living document and continues to be revised in conjunction with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdiIHoRzR7D2UKWe0rdVzEdv0E8Y9BHTbagE3HPYHOkUfQEcA/viewform