An unsent letter to the Industry

To my fellow instructors, mentors and the paddling community,


Many of you that know me know I am extremely passionate, driven and highly motivated to create opportunities for paddlers. I teach, I learn, and I push. My goal in this industry has always been to get people on the water, to provide options for paddlers, for women to have a higher level female coach, and for youth to get involved. I didn’t join this industry to be a business person, to make money off people or to get involved with politics. My other goal is to make the industry better, for it to be more inclusive and provide opportunities like never before.

Here I am sitting on the floor of an airport feeling conflicted about the corruption, the politics and the hate that the industry is filled with. 

I have always felt that companies are stronger working together than apart. I believe that industry partnerships are crucial to the development of paddling, to the development of higher standards and to the development of instructors within the industry. It took me one year into my instruction life to realize that is not an opinion shared by many. Furthermore, it took me three years to realize the depths other companies and instructors are willing to go to tear down one another, and the toxicity that this has created not only in our organization but in our passion and many of our careers. The protectionism, the bullying and the pure destruction of people’s livelihoods, all because of recreational paddling. 

I am 27 years old, I have been professionally working in the industry for 9 years now and teaching for 8. I have mentored, trained and inspired many paddlers and instructors, I have created an avenue for women to be taught the entire Paddle Canada program from female coaches, I have helped many people gain the skills recruited to start their own business. I am not afraid to train other business owners in the industry, I am not afraid to mentor individuals who may go on to work for other companies. I am driven by the hope that one day all that passion and love for the sport will lead to a truly inclusive and supportive paddling community.

Yet here I am deciding if I want to be part of an industry that supports negative behaviour, that supports the people that are doing the most damage, the people that have held the doors shut to anyone trying to progress or make a living out of what they love, the same people that were once given that opportunity. It seems like an industry that has become okay with letting the bullies win, that it has become too scared to stand up for what’s right because its’ easier to let them act how they want. 

I have not yet decided I will resign from this passion, I am not someone who gives up but I also won’t be quiet anymore. we as an industry demand more, we cry out for inclusivity for the toxicity to disappear and for a future where we can all work together as a hive mind.

I didn’t ask for this stress or conflict, all I wanted and all I did was paddle and become a highly trained instructor & instructor trainer who loves what they do and the people they get to work with.

What message are we delivering if this is what happens to every paddler that wants to progress and do what they love?



If you are reading this and any of this resonates with you or you simply want to chat about your experience(s) in a constructive conversation that is focused on the greater good of our industry, please don’t hesitate to send me a message.