This past weekend, from October 11 to 13, 2026, Ontario Nature (ON) held its 15th annual Youth Leadership Summit at the supernaturally beautiful Camp Tawingo in Huntsville, Ontario. Originally known as the Summit for the Environment, Ontario Nature’s youth leadership program is now called the Summit for Mother Earth and incorporates a deep respect for indigenous teachings, cultures, and the sovereignty of our First Peoples in North America.
The ages of the attending youth range from 14 to 20, and the program is run “by youth, for youth” … BUT … they welcome Elders into their young circle of passion and enthusiasm with respect. I had been invited as a guest speaker and workshop leader at the first Summit held at Cedar Glen YMCA fifteen years ago. The event disappeared from my radar during Covid when they lost their new site at Geneva Park YMCA on Lake Simcoe.
Then a notice popped up on my email this spring that there was going to be a Summit at Camp Tawingo. They were back! And it turned out, so was I. Under the leadership of Christine Ambre and her Ontario Youth Council leaders, the three days were an inspirational blend of indigenous wisdoms and ceremonies, up close looks at wetlands and insects and herptiles and birds, the macro world of nature photography, the impacts of climate change, and the power of finding and using your voice. “I have seen the truth, I am speaking the truth.”
The youth represented a cross-section of Ontario’s cultural diversity from across the province and it was remarkable to see, once again, how complete strangers could become a community in only three days. Our wise elders, Chris and Jackie. kept us tuned into the rhythm of the land and water, and respect for Mother Earth.
As it did fifteen years ago, when I was honoured to help Sarah Hedges launch the first ON Youth Leadership Summit at Cedar Glen YMCA, this Summit re-inspired all of my ecological engines. The Camp Tawingo staff, in the halo of Jack Pearse, original founder, and his legacy, welcomed everyone with open hearts. This Youth Council is the voice of a healthy future for Ontario ecosystems and communities. They know exactly what the adults voting for their futures are leaving them. They don’t like lies, they don’t like media spin, and they want real change, meaningful positive action.
The goodbye was joyful and tearful as the buses left Camp Tawingo.
In my own notes I wrote, “Who will protect Ontario from our own government. from bills that eliminate environmental protections? We don’t need more jails, the Trump threat is overplayed, and the greed for development is obvious. Our Ontario government is misusing taxpayer dollars to promote an agenda few of us want.”
Our youth want honesty and integrity and genuine caring for their future, not greed for the next developer’s donation. To Paraphrase the Tina Turner song, “They don’t need another hero, they don’t need to know the way home. All they want is life beyond our Thunderdome.” And they want to be the positive agents of change.
As one of the Tawingo staff wrote to me in a book inscription, “We can make a difference, you and I ,,, we can make a difference if we try. Drop a pebble in the water, just a splash, and it’s gone. But there are half a hundred ripples circling on and on and on.”
Making the world a more beautiful place, one pebble at a time, The way I see it.
Skid Crease, Caledon