Roots & Shoots Festival celebrates milestone for
Jane Goodall Institute of Canada;
Dr Goodall to speak at event

For Immediate Release

(Montreal, QC) On November 5th, 2003, the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada in conjunction with the University of Guelph will host the first annual Canadian Roots and Shoots Festival. Since 1995, The Roots & Shoots program has spread rapidly throughout Canada in its role to educate young people and to engage them in service projects that benefit animals, the environment, and the human community. In response to the overwhelming number of memberships that the program has gained in Southern Ontario, JGI Canada opened its first satellite office last fall in Guelph, Ontario.

The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada opened its first regional Roots & Shoots office at the University of Guelph Arboretum Centre in September 2002. The office offers schools, teachers, youth leaders and youth groups a series of engaging educational presentations addressing local and global biodiversity and social issues, as well as workshops encouraging young people to take action in their community. It also supports new Roots & Shoots groups in Southern Ontario and organizes events throughout the region, providing young people the opportunity to unify their efforts to help their community. The Guelph office organizes six to eight events per year. With extensive experience in the field of environmental education, Regional Coordinator MichÈle Martin has been at the helm of the Guelph office since its inception, managing volunteers and interns to ensure the continued growth and success of the Roots & Shoots office and its program offerings.

Dr. Jane Goodall will be present at the festival to honour the Roots & Shoots members of Southern Ontario. She firmly believes that young people hold the future of our world in their hands. The Roots & Shoots Festival will begin at 9:30AM with a public lecture by Dr. Goodall at the Peter Clark Hall of the Guelph University Centre. Following the lecture will be a wide range of environmental youth workshops lasting throughout the afternoon at the University of Guelph Arboretum. Over 200 Roots & Shoots members will participate in the workshops and have an opportunity to share their projects and ideas with other youth, the public, and of course with Dr. Jane.

About Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE: fascinated with animals since her childhood, Jane Goodall left her home in England at the age of 23 to travel to Africa. At 26, Jane was sent out by famed anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey to conduct a study of chimpanzees in the wild. She obtained her Ph.D. in Ethnology from Cambridge University in 1965 before returning to Africa to pursue her research, now the longest running study of any animal in their natural habitat. Dr. Goodall’s study revolutionized our knowledge of primates, showing the world how strikingly similar to humans they are. In response to global habitat loss and the critically endangered status of many species, including chimpanzees, Dr. Goodall now spends her time lecturing, sharing her message of hope for the future and encouraging young people to make a difference in their world. Among hundreds of awards and honorary degrees, she was named a UN Messenger of Peace by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2002, and was recently honoured with the Dame of the British Empire (DBE) title from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. The University of Guelph awarded Dr Goodall with an Honorary Degree in 1998.

About the Jane Goodall Institute: The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada (JGI) was founded in 1993. JGI’s mission is to advance the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment of all living things. It does so through educational and outreach programs for youth, as well as by providing funding for Dr. Goodall’s ongoing conservation efforts in Africa. The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada has successfully developed the JGI Roots & Shoots program nationally, as well as contributed more than $200 000 to African Chimpanzee orphan sanctuaries. The Canadian head office is located in Montreal, QC.

About Roots & Shoots: The Roots & Shoots program, founded in 1991 by Dr. Jane and sixteen Tanzanian students, is the Jane Goodall Institute’s international environmental and humanitarian program for young people. Its mission is to foster respect and compassion for all living things, to promote understanding of all cultures and beliefs and to inspire each individual to take action to make the world a better place for the environment, animals, and the human community. Through locally based projects, Roots & Shoots focuses on knowledge acquisition and active learning, global networking, and community service. The Guelph office has organized many successful environmentally conscious events, such as cleaning up Silver Creek (Guelph) and the Humber Bay shoreline (Toronto), planting trees in London, teacher workshops, and offering the Yellow Fish RoadTM Program to schools and youth groups in the area.

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