Green Teams of Canada (GTC) began its journey in 2011, with an idea, a laptop and passion for community organizing and the environment. It was created to address a decline in health and well-being and the environment. By giving people the opportunity to engage in hands-on environmental educational outdoor activities they develop a sense of belonging to community and place, connect to nature, cultivate leadership skills, and learn about environmentally responsible actions.
The Lower Mainland Green Team was created in 2011 on social media (meetup.com). It brought a large numbers of community members together to restore habitat in local parks. To our surprise, those who joined us had never participated in these type of activities before and came from all walks of life. It quickly became clear that there was a need for people, particularly young people, to connect with one another and make a tangible impact on the environment, they just didn’t know where to begin. We knew we were doing something right by reaching this new demographics, and so our innovative community engagement model was born.
In 2013, the charity Green Teams of Canada was founded with the Lower Mainland Green Team becoming its first program shortly after.
In 2014, its second program, the Greater Victoria Green Team, was created and our dream of Green Teams across Canada started to become a reality.
We’ve witnessed the transformative power of people working together. Using community engagement in environmental activities, we are promoting health and well-being, fostering a sense of belonging and pride, increasing resiliency, inspiring environmental stewardship and more.
The heart of Green Teams of Canada lies in the people we touch and impact. We invite you to be part of our story and help us create healthy communities across Canada engaged in environmental stewardship!