Our new home:
Unifor Family Education Centre in Port Elgin, ON.
Mindcamp Canada 2022 will start Monday August 22 and end Thursday August 25, 2022.
Mindcamp 2023 will take place at Unifor Family Education Centre in Port Elgin, Ontario. Check the bottom of this page for a map.
Mindcamp, N219 - 120 Bayview Avenue, Toronto ON M5A 0G4
Click here to add your name to our email contact list, this will produce a half-dozen emailed announcements during the months before Mindcamp.
If you want to be the first to be alerted to new developments, subscribe to our News & Announcements on this site and you’ll get an email when we post something here. You can do this using the form below.
Website Updates
You don't. We hate phone calls.
Because 2022 Mindcamp is so much smaller we will not need dedicated volunteers, however we do ask that everybody try to be helpful to one another 🙂
Registration
Use the registration link that is prominent in the menus of this site.
Well, 2022 is STILL a pandemic year, and all of our lives could change quite a bit between now and Mindcamp. Here’s our cancellation policy right now. It may change, and if it does and you are registered, we will let you know via email (and you’ll be able to see it on this page).
If Mindcamp is cancelled, your fee (including deposit) is 100% refundable.
If you cancel before June 30, your fee is 100% refundable.
If you cancel between June 22 and August 1, we will return your fees, less a $50 administration fee (which goes to the Community Fund).
There is no refund after August 1, however if you have to cancel due to a positive COVID test you can either send someone else in your place OR apply your fees to next year.
Check out this page for some convincing arguments.
Yes, you can. Write contact@mindcamp.org for more information.
Who knows what COVID has in store for us in 2023? We will continue to look to the Public Health Agency of Canada for guidance as the situation develops.
Please do! They are welcome. We will have Youth Programming for kids age 7-17. If your kid is 6 or younger, you'll have to take care of them yourself.
Mindcamp is designed as an immersion experience with a specific community of people who are together for the full retreat. So we’d prefer you didn’t come for only part of the time. We can’t stop you from leaving early or from coming late, but we won’t reduce the fee.
Getting Here / Transportation
Practice! OK, seriously, there’s a whole lot of information about this on this page: Getting Here.
Plan to arrive before 4:30pm on the first day.
If you’re coming from out of town, you might want to stick around in Toronto and see a few sights. Here are a few good hotels you might like to know about. All are centrally located and on the subway line unless otherwise indicated.
- Hotel Intercontinental, very centrally located across from the Royal Ontario Museum
- Pantages, a “boutique hotel”, chic and priced accordingly
- Cosmopolitan Hotel, also chic…
- Metropolitan Hotel or Soho Metropolitan Hotel
- Drake Hotel, ultra funky, not near the subway line (all the others are) but the neighbourhood is extremely interesting
- The Strathcona Hotel, downtown, not as expensive as the others
All the information below is subject to whatever the COVID restrictions are: see this website for up to date information about that.
Normally Americans and most Europeans can enter Canada without a visa, but they do need to get an eTA (Electronic Travel Authorization) if they are flying in. This is fast and cheap but do it. Other countries need a visa. To find out which you need, check here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp
When applying for a travel document or entering the country, they will want to know that address where you will be in Canada. It is: YMCA Cedar Glen Conference Centre, 13300 11th Concession, Schomberg, ON
L0G 1T0
Toronto is a wonderful city where you will have good friends once you attend Mindcamp! You don’t need a car to get around Toronto as public transport, cabs, and bike rentals can do the job for you. Below are a few things to see in Toronto, all within walking/biking/subway distance from downtown. There’s more, but your new friends will fill you in.
- Art Gallery of Ontario, our best “important” art gallery
- Royal Ontario Museum, decent all-round museum including science and humanities sections
- Harbourfront, a waterfront area with lots of stuff to see and do
- Distillery District, more contained but a great afternoon stroll, lots of stores, artist studios, and some good restaurants
- Kensington Market, very funk-tastic neighbourhood with excellent graffiti, interesting shops, lots o’ surprises
Ontario is a marvellous place, filled with wild and beautiful corners that are easy to get to and you have almost to yourself! Unfortunately most of them require you to rent a car, or bring your own. However, here is a short list:
- Chippewas of Rama First Nation’s Powwow is concurrent with Mindcamp but just down the road by car, so a quick trip to enjoy the dancing, music, food, and crafts is definitely do-able
- McMichael Canadian Art Collection, a beautiful gallery set in a forest park that shows off our best Canadian art (day trip from Toronto, there is a bus but easier with a car)
- Niagara Falls, just incredible, even though every tourist in the world goes there, there’s a good reason for that (day trip from Toronto, lots of buses etc. so car optional)
- Prince Edward County, a beautiful cultivated farm area with many places to sample excellent local cheese, wine, meats etc. (possible in a day trip but much better to stay overnight, or even two nights; best with a car)
- Algonquin Provincial Park, no place like it anywhere else on earth, it is heaven and perfectly preserved (stay overnight, camping perfect but there are hotels/motels as well nearby… you will need a car)
- Petroglyphs Provincial Park, with amazing rock-paintings by indigenous people of ancient times (fairly far but quite possible in a day trip, you will need a car)
- Bruce Peninsula, lots of lovely beaches and hikes (fairly far but quite possible in a day trip, you will need a car)
Sessions & Presenters
We are going to go full (almost) Open Space this year, which is why no programs are posted on the site. We will have a few surprise programs, and some of our regular ongoing programs such as yoga and morning free writes, but otherwise no schedule!
What is Open Space? Most conferences are programmed well in advance — sessions are selected and scheduled on the assumption that that’s what people will be interested in. Open Space is different. Aside from a few scheduled sessions, the content of Mindcamp will be yours to decide. So as a Mindcamper, you’re also a possible session leader (if you want to be).
Here’s how it will work: on Monday evening we will start with a kind of open "marketplace" where anyone can volunteer to offer a session on a topic of their choosing over the next several days. If enough people are interested in participating in that topic, we’ll assign a room and time and away we go.
You don’t. Just show up. If the participant max hasn’t been reached, you’re in.
Mindcamp is going to be a little different this year... more like a jam session than a concert. Here’s how it will work: on Monday evening we will start with a kind of open "marketplace" where you and anyone else can volunteer to offer a session on a topic of their choosing over the next several days. If enough people are interested in participating in that topic, we’ll assign a room and time and away we go.
Accommodation & Facilities
There is WiFi access throughout the site. An informal speed test conducted during our first site visit indicated 18mBps speed.
Bedding and towels are provided. However bring a beach towel if you'd like to swim in Lake Huron!
Yes! There are washers and dryers for your use onsite.
You probably won't want to — Unifor accommodations are beautiful. But yes, if you'd prefer to book a hotel nearby, you can. Be sure to have your own transportation to/from Unifor.
No, they do not allow camping onsite. But there are campgrounds nearby, including Macgregor Point Provincial Park just a 5 minute drive away.
Yes. All meeting rooms and common areas are on one level. There are a number of accommodation rooms specifically designed for access with wide doorways and roomy bathrooms. There are paved paths connecting all the buildings and ramps at each entrance.