Programs

 Saturna Island and Mayne Island programs are open for registration! To register, visit https://app.amilia.com/store/en/gicel/shop/programs

Our fees remain unchanged. SEEP camps cost $250 per week. Seedlings camps cost $150 per week. Financial subsidies are available for SEEP camps. Please contact Karen at mayne@gicel.ca to request a subsidy at least three days before registration.

Registration policies are available here: https://www.gicel.ca/2025-registration-eligibility-window-policies-edited-for-2025/ 

As part of the registration form, you will be asked to confirm that you have read these policies and agree to follow them. 

Registration procedures for using Amilia, an online registration software program, are below, and also available here: https://www.gicel.ca/programs/mayne-island-2025-registration-process/

THE PROCESS:

There are great tutorials on the Amilia website. Here’s what to do:

1. Set up a Personal Account at https://app.amilia.com/en/Signup. A tutorial can be found here: https://help.amilia.com/en/articles/6808974-set-up-your-personal-account. If you have used Amilia with another organization, you’ll already have an account!
2. If you are a parent of a Mayne Island School student or homelearner, please purchase a free Membership for each child in your family: https://app.amilia.com/store/en/gicel/shop/memberships/57017. A tutorial of how to make a purchase can be found here: https://help.amilia.com/en/articles/6839942-how-to-make-a-purchase-from-an-organization

This does not mean you are a member of the nonprofit GICEL with voting rights, etc. It is simply the word the program uses that allows us to open registration on the 14th for you. We will be checking with the Mayne Island School to ensure that students are the ones using this priority window. For home learners, please be expected to request a letter from your enrolling school with proof of residence or something similar.

If you are a parent of a Saturna Island School student or homelearner, please expect an email from me within the next week or so explaining the process for Saturna student registration.

3. Sometime between now and April 14, the store will also show the camps under the “Activities” tab. Once they are available, you can add the selections you would like to your “Wishlist”. This makes the check out a bit faster once registration opens. We expect registration to go very quickly again this year and recommend using the wishlist option to help speed up the process for you. The tutorial for how to set up the wishlist can be found here: https://help.amilia.com/en/articles/6839942-how-to-make-a-purchase-from-an-organization#h_a485b58669
4. Once your registration window begins, you can log in, add your selections to the cart, and begin the process of filling out registration forms and checking out. Once selections are in your cart, your spot is held for 30 minutes. This gives you time to fill out the forms without fear of losing your spot.

Things to have ready for registration:

– Personal Health Card Number

– Parent(s) Home and Cell Phone Numbers

– Emergency Contact Name and Phone Number

– On Island Emergency Contact Name and Phone Number

– Names of others permitted to pick up your child

– Any allergy or medical information we should know

– Youth t-shirt Size

Programs:

Summer Earth Education Program

Grouped in clans such as the Roaring Rockhoppers or the Tree Clan, participants in our Summer Earth Education programs (SEEP) explore together, study together and play together in the forests, freshwater and marine environments of the Gulf Islands. Components of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park as well as regional and community parks found on each of Salt Spring, Pender, Mayne and Saturna islands are the venues for the 2010 programs. The clans create their identity and build forts which are their base of operations for the week-long programs. Using rotations and activity centres, participants have hands-on experience in understanding forest ecosystem dynamics, multi-sensory explorations, bird communities, food chains and food pyramids, animal behaviour, energy flows in ecosystems, journaling and self-reflection. Specifically designed games to re-enforce the concepts and activities have children role-playing as prey, predators, salmon, and orcas, to name a few.

Specific studies are done on forest decomposition and the soil cycle, intertidal zonation and freshwater aquatic organisms’ lifecycles. Each island program includes sessions led by specialists in certain fields including forest bird communities, forage fish ecology, watershed dynamics and salmon survival, as well as First Nations storytelling and use of resources. Participants also spend time collecting, identifying and recording various organisms found within forest, freshwater and marine ecosystems according to their place in the food chain.

Music is an integral part of each day’s opening and closing ceremonies in which the participants learn new songs about the natural world around them. At the end of the week’s program, individualized certificates of achievement are presented to each participant at our closing ceremony.

This PDF file details a typical day with GICEL.

Seedlings Early Years Nature Day Camp

Seedlings Early Years Nature Day Camp, run in partnership with MIECS, is a week-long outdoor, play-based program which offers young children an opportunity to explore, learn, and grow together in nature. This year it will take place at Bennett Bay which provides field, forest, and beach environments for the children’s outdoor adventures.

The emphasis is on social, affectionate, play-based, and creative learning, with a focus on sensory experiences in nature: listening, looking, touching, tasting, singing, laughing, digging, climbing, running, swinging, building, eating, sharing, story-telling, painting, sculpting, and- did we mention? – Playing! We warn everyone beforehand that the children will get Very Dirty! And they do… We all make new friends and greet old ones with joy by playing and exploring our outdoor environment. We read books and tell stories, paint faces (and arms and legs and other bits), build and decorate a woodland fort, eat frequent snacks, explore the great outdoors, play games in the field, and make expeditions into the forest and to the beach.

This PDF file will give you more information about the Seedlings Program.

GICEL Connections

The Gulf Island Center for Ecological Learning (GICEL) is now offering a free online summer mini-camp experience for 2020.  Connect with nature by engaging in fun, ecology-themed activities and connect on-line with friends & leaders with the new GICEL Connections program!

Check out our new GICEL Connections webpage for open content created by GICEL leaders, coordinators and community members.  Ecology themed activities, video explorations & tutorials, and more will be posted weekly – check back regularly to see what has been added! 

Explore the activities on the webpage and post any of your experiences and creations to our Facebook page.

Join the weekly GICEL Connection Sessions via Zoom on Tuesday and Friday at 10:00 am PDT throughout August!  

During the 30 minute session on Tuesday, participants will have a chance to connect with each other & GICEL leaders, enjoy some fun camp experiences, and learn about the week’s themed challenge to get outside and explore your local green spaces.  

On Friday, we will gather again to share what you’ve discovered!

Click photos below to enlarge: