HCEM LAND KNOWLEDGEMENT, VISION, MISSION, STRATEGY AND VALUES (2025.02.10)

LAND ACKNOWLEDGE:

Hike Canada en Marche acknowledges, recognizes, and respects Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of the land we call Canada and their enduring relationship with the land through which hiking trails pass.

VISION:

To promote hiking networks thoughout Canada with emphasis on maintained long-distance trails.

MISSION:

To promote, by working with local groups, the development and use of a Canada-wide network of hiking trails from coast to coast to coast that offer both Canadians and visitors the natural beauty and cultural heritage of Canada’s diverse regions, as well as facilitating a form of exercise that is physically and mentally beneficial.

STRATEGY:

To assist hikers in finding hiking trails and helping plan their hiking activities in all areas of Canada by means of a website and other media. To work with all levels of government and trail organizations to achieve our objectives of active transportation, tourism, healthy exercise, improved mental health, and connection with the natural environment. This includes promotion of hiking networks in all regions of Canada, assisting local trail organizations to raise funds for trail construction and maintenance. To encourage responsible use of hiking trails that are consistent with the values of Hike Canada en Marche.

VALUES:

Environmental Stewardship: Preserving the natural wilderness encompassing wild and rugged beauty, open spaces, magnificent vistas, clean air.

Sustainability: Nurturing community support for ongoing trail maintenance in all parts of Canada by helping local groups achieve funding from government sources and other charitable sources.

Inclusion: Keeping trails open to the public, free of charge whenever possible, promoting hiking trails separate from motorized vehicles whenever possible, and recognizing that hiking in nature should include the young and the old, the rich and the poor, and people of all ethnic backgrounds.

Responsibility: Promote responsible trail use by hikers by leaving the environment, though which they pass, undisturbed and by promoting only those trail structures sufficient to protect the environment from the impacts of trail users.

Safety: To promote best practices of trail maintenance and trail usage through policies, standards, signage, training, and work practices.

Signature Trails: To recognize the value of designated hiking trails within Canada as Signature Trails that offer visitors a unique and memorable experience that reflects their location’s cultural and natural landscape.