Courses
Cost $40.00 including HST, each course
Our instructors are energetic, professional and committed to teaching the area children about all safety topics! Register individual children for a course, book our classroom for your own group or have us visit your class, school, group or team for a personalized instruction.
Contact the Public Safety Education Outreach Coordinator at 613-238-1513 or info@ottawasafetycouncil.ca to find out when our next in-class session is happening or to book your group safety lesson. Click the Group Application link to see the various courses we have to offer your group.
Home Alone
Whether a child is left alone for 5 minutes or a few hours, safety skills will help them feel more secure when home alone. This workshop will help children develop important techniques when handling potentially dangerous situations. Topics include: Who's at the door; Answering the phone; Feeling scared; Establishing a routine; What is an emergency; Calling 911. Group activities and role-playing are key components to this workshop. Handouts and a certificate of participation presented to each participant. Workshop is for ages 9 to 13.
For more information call us at 613-238-1513 or email us at info@ottawasafetycouncil.ca.
Street Proofing
The purpose of this workshop is to help children recognize potentially dangerous situations and develop street-smart personal safety tools. The following topics will be covered: Identifying dangerous situations; Trusting your instinct; Making safe choices; Keeping a safe distance; Saying NO; Attracting attention; Identifying common lures. Through discussions, role-playing and other interactive teaching methods children will learn vital skills. Each participant will receive a certificate of participation and a child identification kit.
NOTE: Workshop is divided into two age categories: ages six to eight and nine to twelve. This allows for age appropriate examples and scenarios.
Lost in the Woods
This workshop is based on the RCMP "Hug-A-Tree and Survive" search and rescue program. Teaching material and handouts published by the RCMP. This workshop is designed to help children learn how to prevent getting lost in the woods; what to do should they become lost; how to keep themselves warm and dry and help searchers find them. Following the presentation and activities the RCMP "Hug-A-Tree and Survive" video will be shown. Each participant will receive handouts and a certificate of participation.
Fire Safety
Developed in partnership with Ottawa Fire Departments. Children aged 4 to 8 learn common sense fire safety in the home and the benefits of having a Family-Home Escape Plan.
Other Courses Offered
- Bike Rodeo’s and Bike Safety Lessons
- Babysitter’s Course
- Preventing Bullying
- Internet Safety
- Pedestrian Safety
History
The Ottawa Safety Council was established in 1957. At that time there was a great deal of focus on traffic related issues. The main course was Defensive Driving, the precursor to the courses that exist today. Between 1957 to 1966, 11,486 teenagers and adults participated in Defensive Driving Courses and Driver Education in the schools. During the early sixties the Safety Council started to get involved in areas that concerned small children going to and from school. Their interest was in School Bus Safety, the School Patroller Program and in Pedestrian Crossing Areas (or crosswalks at that time).
In the 1970's the Ottawa Safety Council, the Kiwanis Club, and the Ottawa Police came together to develop a plan to erect Canada's first Children's Safety Village. With the help of the City of Ottawa, the Region and other community sponsors the safety village dream became reality. Once the village was constructed it was staffed by two Ottawa Police Officers and they ran it on a continual basis reaching approximately 20,000 students per year. The safety instruction provided was a recognized component of the Ottawa separate and public school boards’ curriculum at the grade two and grade five levels.
By 1992 the school boards dropped the grade five requirement citing that it was repetitive. The Ottawa Police scaled things down as well. There would be one officer at the village and it would only run in the spring and fall. This lead to a sharp decrease in numbers and in late 1995, the police services board voted to close the village citing fiscal responsibility and budget short-comings.
The Ottawa Safety Council took over operations of the Safety Village from the Ottawa Police in March 1996. We delivered our first pilot programs in late July that year thus realising the village's enormous potential. We worked on the refinement of the programs and started to bring back the schools in the fall with the main focus having been on 4 to 8 years olds. Since 1996 the council has seen approximately 8,000 children attend the delivery of one or more of the programs that we offer. We feel, that the programs we deliver provide the necessary skills a child needs to survive.
In 2006 the village suffered a flood and was closed. Since then we have run our summer camps at local schools. We continue to present our safety education courses through groups such as the Brownies, Cubs, and other children’s groups. We aren’t able to offer birthday parties at this time.
We are working to rebuild the Children’s Safety Village. If you would like to join our efforts to bring this important and fun service back for the children of Ottawa and Eastern Ontario please give us a call at (613) 238-1513 or email us at info@ottawasafetycouncil.ca.
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