Some say that rural or small town Canada is often a cultural wasteland. That’s probably partly true because they are usually ethnically homogeneous areas with minimal cultural diversity.
We’ve been fortunate to host (several times a year) various groups of high school students from West Ferris High School in North Bay, Ontario. For whatever reason, of all the hostels in Toronto, they choose to stay at ours and we’re glad to have them.
North Bay, as it name would imply, is situated in a northern bay of the beautiful Lake Nipissing in an area first explored by Samuel De Champlain almost four centuries ago. The picturesque little town is located about four hours drive due north of Toronto.
The area’s growth began in 1882 with the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the town of a little over 50,000 souls is located close to where the first spike of the Trans Canada Railway link was driven.
The trips to Toronto are organized by a remarkable pedagogue by the name of John Hetherington. Each trip has a cultural link such as visits to a Mosque, Temple or Synagogue, or visits to ethnic shopping areas, like Chinatown, Little India or Greektown. The aim is to give students exposure to various cultures, their customs and different religious beliefs.
The theory is that if the students can’t be exposed to other cultures and ethnicities at home; then bring them to Toronto which is arguably the most culturally diverse city on the planet! John has been leading these excursions for the past nine years.
The student groups brought to Toronto by John are also remarkably well behaved and one gets the impression that they leave the city a little richer than they were when they arrived.
And that’s pretty much the aim of education; is it not? It’s also a program that other rural/small town schools would do well to emulate.
John Hetherington reclining outside of our front door in front of a group of his students here on a cultural outing here in Toronto,