Equity has been a central value of Broad Reach since its inception 27 years ago.
Beside equipping youth with knowledge, workforce and leadership skills, equality has been a key value guiding the work of the organization. By offering free sail training, Broad Reach charted the way for underrepresented youth to access a traditionally exclusive activity, skills development and source of livelihood.
Broad Reach is excited to share another successful year for the organization. Under the captaincy of its skilled and dedicated volunteers, Broad Reach provided sail training on Lake Ontario for 130 young participants this past summer.
Aged between 12 and 30, youth from Indigenous communities, low-income families, language minority groups, BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+ groups, and newcomers participated in the Ships2Shores project, a 3-year Government of Canada through Canada Service Corps funded initiative. Another project activity involved 129 young people who experienced sail training aboard tall ships docking in ports in Tobermory, Sault Ste. Marie, Hamilton, Brockville, Windsor, Ottawa, Lunenburg, Montreal, Quebec, Rimouski, and others, discovering Canada’s nature and acquiring maritime and soft skills. The experiential education during these voyages provided eye-opening experiences and lasting impacts on participants.
During the voyages, youth volunteered doing boat maintenance to ensure the ships and boats are seaworthy to serve as a learning platform for hundreds of other young people. Each participant planned a project to serve their community and address an unmet need. Revolving around the themes of Reconciliation, Inclusion & Leadership, Environmental Stewardship and Youth Resilience, each participant is expected to deliver 120 hours of volunteering hours by the end of February 2026. In total, Canadian communities will benefit from about 27,500 hours of community service.
With funding support from Sail Canada’s Sailing for All Program, Broad Reach were able to hire a full time sailing instructor who inspired the participants throughout the summer and helped improve not only their maritime knowledge and skills, but also his own. The commitment and dedication shown this year so far has been inspiring and Broad Reach is keen to showcase what these young leaders achieve.
The Sailing for All Program is supported by the Government of Canada.
