Episode 10: Mothers and Mentors

This week, in celebration of Mother's Day, we talk about the women who have inspired us. Some are real, while others are fictional. Some of them we know quite well, and others are people we admire from afar. We also talk about how mentorship helps everyone get ahead and learn new things, and how Guiding is a great place for just that.

This episode also celebrates Michaëlle Jean, the Former Governor General of Canada, and Secretary-General of La Francophonie. She is a resilient, smart, and dedicated woman. The campfire song is a little controversial, but still important to talk about so everyone knows the story of why Princess Pat isn't sung as much anymore.

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Women Who Inspire Us

When asked to think about women who inspired us, we came up with an endless list of strong, smart, and fierce females. From start athletes like Christine Sinclair and Hayley Wickenheiser; to former Girl Guide leaders and women of change. They each have so many admirable qualities and achievements, we could have gone on forever! Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to include all of them in our discussion.

So, instead we decided to share our list here for those of you who were curious. Besides the women who are personal connections, we recommend that you look up some of these names because they each have so much more to their name than just fame!

• Our former Pathfinder leaders (Tina and L.A.)

• Our mothers

• Our friends

• Lady Baden-Powell

• Agnes Baden-Powell

• Women of the Royal Family

• Christine Sinclair

• Haley Wickenheiser

• Malala Yousafzai

• Greta Thunberg

• Women of Harry Potter

• Anne of Green Gables

• Capt. Kathryn Janeway

• Kim Campbell - 1st Canadian Female Prime Minister

• Jane Philpott

• Dr. Theresa Tam - Chief Medical Officer of Canada

• Hilary Clinton

• Michelle Obama

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg

• Jacinda Ardern - NZ prime minister

Mentorship

Mentorship is the foundation of Girl Guides, and it can look different depending on the people involved.

In general, mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger than the person being mentored, but he or she must have a certain area of expertise (see full definition).

According to She The People, an Indian digital news website that focuses on women, female mentors can make a world of difference for young girls. They say that mentors can instill belief, prevent you from making avoidable mistakes, provide you with ideas to grow and present you with the opportunity to become more skilled.

Michelle Wright is a volunteer with NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) and she says that being a mentor means playing multiple roles in order to help your mentee achieve their objectives. She says there are three main roles, known as The Three C's of Mentorship. They include consultant, counsellor, and cheerleader. In a consultant role, the mentor gives insight and knowledge into an area that the mentee knows little (or less) about. The role of counsellor means that the mentor listens and guides, but doesn't give all the answers away. They will let the mentee make, and then learn, from their own mistakes rather than pointing them out. In addition to those two roles, a mentor is also a cheerleader. They provide support and enthusiasm, and celebrates a mentee's successes - no matter if they're big or small.

Taryn and I agree that they match up very nicely to the roles that Guiders play in a girl's life. Although these are the basics of mentorship, we think it's a good place to start.

Michaëlle Jean (The Right Honourable)

A well-known name in Canada, the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean was Canada's 27th Governor General and former Canadian Girl Guide.

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haïti, Michaëlle and her family emigrated to Canada when she was eleven yers old after her father was imprisoned and tortured under the regime of Francois Duvalier. In Canada, the family found refuge and Michaëlle proved to be a brilliant student and later studied languages and literature at the University of Montreal.

Her early career found Michaëlle in journalism, broadcasting, and film. Through both her work and volunteer efforts, she focused on helping Canadian immigrants and the people of Haiti. As an official representative of Canada, she traveled across Canada and internationally meeting with Canadian solider, Afghan women, humanitarian workers, and diplomats.

After completing her term as Governor General, Michaëlle continued working to help people at home and abroad. The Michaëlle Jean Foundation focuses on promoting education, culture, and creativity among youth from rural, northern, and/or poor communities in Canada. She also continued to help Haitians in her role as Secretary-General with La Francophonie, fighting poverty and the improvement of education.

If you wish to learn even more about her, check out her biography on Britannica or her website.

Campfire: The Princess Pat

Do you know the long history behind The Princess Pat and why it's no longer a song that we should be singing? Well, we discuss it all on this episode.

It all started in 1914 with the Princess Pat Canadian Light Infantry, a regiment that was formed to fight in WWI (and are still active to this day). The regiment has a song that is very dear to their hearts and, is in fact, essential in keeping spirits up in horrible situations. It regales the exploits of the Regiment since its inception and heavily references the regiment's colours, which were handmade by the Princess Patricia.

Many, many years later this song was then adopted by other groups outside of the regiment. The problem was when the lyrics were modified; just enough to make the words more generic, but still referenced the regiment and their exploits. This version sounded more like a parody of the original song, making inaccurate statements and corrupting the reason for its existence. The regimental colours, "Ric-A-Dam-Doo", changed to "Ric-A-Bam-Boo" and the original colours were changed from red, gold, and navy blue to red, gold, and purple. One Girl Guide resource, Sleep Deprived Dragon, equates it to changing another country's national anthem to the point that it sounds like you're making fun of them. So, as you can understand, the regiment wasn't thrilled when they heard that we were using this version of the song at our campfires.

We hope that shed some light on a controversial topic, and that you can share the truth behind why The Princess Pat has been retired from guiding campfires.

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Listen to Episode 10 now to hear all of this and more! You can also catch up on all of our previous episodes, either right here on our website or on your favourite podcast app (Spotify, Apple, Google, Anchor, etc.).

Follow us @guidesown on Twitter and Instagram for podcast news, discussions, and snippets from behind-the-scenes. If you'd like to contribute to an episode of Guides' Own, send us your ideas for topics, program, campfire songs, etc. via our Contact page.

Happy Mother's Day!

Marissa & Taryn