Nearly 15 years ago, Banff’s Colin Harris dipped his toe into the Atlantic Ocean and started running west, bound for a finish line in Victoria, B.C. The nine-month run would take the outdoor education advocate across the country from school to school, showing students and teachers that learning doesn’t only have to happen in the four walls of a classroom. “[I] went into about 80 schools along the way and chatted with 20,000 students about some of these issues around spending just a little bit less time in front of screens and a little bit more time outside,” said Harris, founder and executive director of Banff non-profit Take Me Outside. The 7,600-kilometre challenge would be the launchpad for Harris’ work with Take Me Outside, which comes alongside the education system to help facilitate outdoor learning for youth. “The research shows that spending more time outside can lead to better academic achievement, it can lead to better self-confidence, better wellbeing,” said Harris who writes about the challenge, which was also inspired by Terry Fox and the 1988 Winter Olympics torch relay, in his book Take Me Outside. The outdoor learning movement has caught the eye of the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF), earning Harris the non-profit’s 2026 True North Wildlife Conservation nature-based education champion award. “It has my name attached to it, but really the work that’s happening is more organizational,” Harris said. “I’m grateful to CWF for the award and being recognized and just feel very fortunate to work with a great team at Take Me Outside, and beyond that team, work with so many dedicated educators who are doing this work day in and day out.” Starting a career in outdoor education more than a decade ago, it was during Harris’ time working with youth in Toronto and the North West Territories where he started to feel the limits of teaching inside a classroom. “A lot of people think about outdoor education as these field trips or adventure-based trips or excursions,” he said. “But outdoor learning is really trying to say, ‘Hey, we can sort of take our math lessons, we can take our English lessons, we can take our science lessons and we can do those lessons outside.’” As digital technology continues to enter the classroom, Harris says connecting kids to nature and their community is only becoming more crucial. “We’re on the cusp of AI really being a part of education and learning and there’s a balance,” he said. “There are opportunities for AI and other sorts of digital technologies to contribute to good learning, but I think we need to ask what are kids potentially losing if they’re only learning in that way?” What Harris kickstarted in 2011 has continued to grow nationally through Take Me Outside Day, celebrated every Oct. 21 – the final day of Harris’ cross-country run. “The last few years, Take Me Outside Day has had 15,000 to 20,000 educators participating and around half a million students participating,” he said. “That’s what I’ve seen over the past 10 years especially, is just a commitment to seeing that learning doesn’t have to happen with kids sitting at a desk. It can happen outside.” “Sometimes that is more difficult but I think the positive impacts make it worthwhile.” The True North Wildlife Conservation Awards are a new initiative created by the CWF aimed at recognizing leadership and innovation in “solution-based approaches” to environmental issues. “The recipients of the True North Wildlife Conservation Awards demonstrate the dedicated efforts of a wide variety of approaches to connecting Canadians to nature and conserving species and habitats across the country,” said Amanda Reed, interim CEO of CWF. “They give us hope and inspiration to continue to advocate for wildlife.” The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.
