By Owen Charters, President & CEO, BGC Canada

March 22, 2023

One morning I was eating breakfast in a hotel dining room in Ottawa and chatting with a colleague from another youth organization.  A woman at the table next to me turned around and said: “Did you say you work at BGC? That organization saved my cousin’s life.”

Surprised, I asked her for more details. That led to an email exchange, which culminated in her cousin sharing her story with me directly. With her permission, I am sharing it with you here. 

“I would love to share my story of how the Club impacted my life. I am a survivor of mental, emotional, and physical abuse by a parent, and growing up, the Club was a safe haven for me. I was able to escape my troubles for a couple of hours and be a child. 

Being a part of the Club has given me the opportunity to experience and see so many things, things that I would have never been able to experience if I didn’t attend the Club. I made so many friends and the Club really helped me in learning English, as French was my first language. It is thanks to the Club that I speak English today. I also learned how to swim! 

I went to the BGC Club in the west of Ottawa, 2528 Dumaurier Avenue. I used to live in a neighbourhood right near it. I remember just waiting for 3:30pm to arrive so that I could run up the hill and go sign in. This Club has done so much good for our community, from barbecues, basketball tournaments (competitions between different neighbourhoods where the Club would fill with over 300 people—it was really crazy how many people would show up! Even people who were too old to join the Club came to watch!), talent shows, and outings to farm camps and Mont Cascades—it was all a blessing to us. 

If we ever needed something, we knew we could always go talk to Tim, Theresa or Kim and they would help us whichever way they could. If we needed shoes for basketball or soccer, they had the right pair for us. They always adjusted themselves and the Club to our needs. I remember when Tim and Theresa realized that a lot of the kids were talented with music and were into rapping, so they decided to add a recording studio in the music room.  

We had a garden behind the Club and I remember being so excited because I love planting. And we would use the vegetables in cooking class every Tuesday at 5pm. My mother started calling Theresa “Mother Theresa” because of how kind she was and how much good it did for my mom knowing that we had a safe place to have fun and be ourselves. Every year, she would go and sign the admissions forms for me and my brother with no questions asked. 

So many precious memories. I will forever be grateful for the love, safety, joy, comfort, and opportunities this place has given to me, my brother, and all the other children I grew up with. I know people who are in their 30s today who still speak about how funny Tim was and how good the Club was to them growing up. That is how impactful that place has been to many of us. 

I’m also thankful and grateful for the people who have donated throughout the years (we had a gala every April where different people would come and donate to the Club) and made it possible for the Club to give us the things that we needed. 

I think it’s very important that people know how life changing and impactful a place like BGC is in the lives of children who come from neighborhoods like the one I grew up in. People may forget what you did or said to them, but they will never forget how you made them feel.  

The Club made me feel important. It made me feel worthy. It made me feel very good. And I want every child to experience the same joy I felt being a part of the Club.”

Read more:

• Lifting up all children and families
• A Club is a Club is a Club? 
• Letting go: Giving kids the space to explore, grow and discover

By Owen Charters

The news has been heartbreaking.

First, the revelation of an unmarked gravesite at the Kamloops Residential School, situated on the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, containing the remains of 215 children—a stark and difficult reminder of the trauma and horrors perpetuated on Indigenous people across this country.

Then, the terrible news of a cowardly, racist act—a man intentionally driving his vehicle into a family out for a Sunday evening walk, targeting and killing them because they were Muslim. Four died. And a nine-year old boy is left injured and trying to make sense of a world that ripped his entire family away in one fell swoop.

There are not enough arms to provide condolence. Not enough words to express the incomprehensible. Not enough air to vent the anger.

Speaking to the Clubs where these dreadful events happened, I heard how their communities are staggering under the weight of these tragedies. And I know they are not alone. Our Clubs across Canada are full of Indigenous youth, staff, and volunteers who bear the intergenerational trauma of residential schools and ongoing discrimination. Our Clubs are full of Muslim youth, staff, and volunteers who face racism and Islamophobia daily, not feeling safe on the streets or online.

And we have seen other horrifying stories over the past couple weeks—a man leaving a beach in Toronto beaten because he was gay, a conviction in a Thunder Bay case of a man who threw a trailer hitch out his truck window that struck and killed an Indigenous woman.

These incidents come on the heels of a tumultuous year that saw global movements challenge racism and oppression, that saw communities across the world rise up to confront systemic inequities. And these incidents happened during Pride Month, as we celebrate inclusion and acceptance.

It is a sobering reality. Racism. Xenophobia. Discrimination. Oppression. We have seen it over and over. It exists in London. It exists in Toronto, in Ottawa, in Vancouver, Halifax, and St. John’s. It exists in Williams Lake, in Battlefords, in Pembroke, in Summerside—and all the places in-between. It is hatred and we must continue to confront it, redoubling our efforts to eradicate the root causes. These are pervasive, systemic ills in our society. We cannot blindly say “not in Canada”—we need to do better.

At BGC Clubs, the fight against racism and xenophobia is central to our work. It is central not just because we have the privilege to work with youth, and therefore have a duty to teach openness and acceptance, to celebrate difference and change the pattern, but because those who come through our doors are often the victims of systemic inequity—they are hurting because of it, they are denied opportunities because of it.

We must call out hate. And we must each do more—acknowledge historic injustices, be aware of and actively work against systemic racism and inequity, actively strive for a just society.

We take solace in the work we are doing—and it strengthens and inspires us to do more. Acceptance comes from understanding. Spending the time to understand others, their background, their culture, their motivations. ‘Respectful curiosity’ is likely one of the most useful tools we have as humans. We must instill curiosity in ourselves and others—even if that makes us uncomfortable. Learning about each other is how we come together, as people, as communities, as a country.

Together, we grieve with a family and a community in London, Ontario, where violence has shattered any illusion our society is one of peace and tolerance. And it will remain this way until we confront hate and root it out. Until we can say with conviction that we can all do better on behalf of the 215 lost children, on behalf of the Afzaal family, and on behalf of the many others who have been the victims of violence perpetrated by hate.

The latest message from Owen Charters, President & CEO, BGC Canada (May 1). Full transcript below.

It’s the first day of May. Better weather is predicted in much of the country. It’s now been over 50 days since we entered this state of physical distancing and isolation to combat the coronavirus.

We are now hearing from several provinces about plans to reopen businesses and start re-emerging into society.

These are preliminary, go-slow plans, and it seems there is some cause for cautious optimism. We can start to hope that some of our routines, some of the life we had before the pandemic is going to come back. For some—like me—that might mean a haircut.  For many, it means we can dream about getting back to the work we need to do, being present for the children, youth, and families that depend on us.

But it won’t be the same normal. We need to prepare for a new normal—like an elastic band that’s been stretched for months, we won’t be going back to the same shape. There will need to be new ways to do things. New precautions. Ways to stay healthy and protected. There will be some continued forms of social distancing.

The coronavirus remains a danger, and while the curve may be flattening, the statistics behind it remain the stories of real people and families who are suffering, and the deaths of loved ones. We must continue to protect from the spread of this insidious sickness and take the measures needed to keep people safe and healthy.

May means spring, and it means the return of leaves, of green grass, of flowers. But it also means the return of rain and snow melt. Flooding is a reality at this time of year. Boys & Girls Clubs of Fort McMurray in Alberta is now underwater as the city wrestles with a major flood in the centre of the community. As a Club that was providing childcare to essential workers, we are reaching out to assist them in any way possible at this critical time.

We continue to hear stories like this—of the compounding challenges of managing in a pandemic. It is not easy. We are all going through emotional turmoil. We are all experiencing some of the most difficult situations we’ve faced as organizations. We’ve been faced with difficult, excruciating choices.

With all that said, though, I have seen the resilient spirit of Clubs come through. It is time to start planning for re-opening. Not back to normal, but for a new normal. One where we can welcome kids back. One where we can stay healthy, and follow new protocols that keep us safe.

We’re not ready yet, but it’s time to start planning for a different tomorrow.