Building the Future Home of Rainbow Camp
A permanent, intergenerational home where 2SLGBTQI+ youth and older adults come together to build community, share stories, and ensure no one feels alone.
Rainbow Camp is currently without a permanent site. We are actively working to secure a new home.
A Place to Belong — At Every Age
Rainbow Camp is building a permanent, year-round home where 2SLGBTQI+ youth and older adults can connect, learn from one another, and build chosen family across generations.
This is more than a camp. It is a response to isolation, a space for healing, and a model for how community can thrive in Northern and rural Canada.
This is what belonging looks like.
Youth
Belonging, identity, leadership, and life-changing connection.
Intergenerational Community
Shared stories, mentorship, and chosen family across generations.
Aging with Pride
A future where 2SLGBTQI+ seniors can connect, contribute, and feel safe being themselves.
Why This Matters
Across Canada, 2SLGBTQI+ youth and older adults continue to face isolation, exclusion, and a shortage of safe, affirming spaces. In rural and Northern communities, those gaps are often even greater.
- 2SLGBTQI+ youth face higher rates of isolation and mental health challenges
- Older adults may experience social isolation and fewer inclusive support options
- Rural and Northern communities often lack affirming spaces and services
- Intergenerational connection can be life-giving, but is often missing
The Model
Our future home is built around four connected ideas: youth programming, intergenerational connection, aging with pride, and a year-round community hub.
Residential camp experiences, leadership development, identity affirmation, creativity, outdoor activity, and the chance for youth to belong in a space built for them.
Structured opportunities for youth and older adults to connect through storytelling, mentorship, shared activities, and the building of chosen family.
Retreats, gatherings, and future programming designed specifically for 2SLGBTQI+ older adults who are often underserved, isolated, or excluded from traditional spaces.
A base for workshops, events, partnerships, outreach, online connection, and ongoing community-building beyond the summer season.
Aging with Pride
Our vision includes dedicated space for 2SLGBTQI+ older adults to gather, connect, reflect, and help shape the future alongside younger generations.
Connection
Creating affirming space for friendship, conversation, and community among 2SLGBTQI+ older adults.
Belonging
A future where seniors can age with dignity, pride, and the freedom to be fully themselves.
What the Campus Could Include
Our vision is practical as well as hopeful. We are looking toward a site that can grow with the needs of the community.
Cabins & Accommodations
Safe, welcoming places for campers, guests, volunteers, mentors, and future retreat participants.
Dining Hall & Kitchen
A central gathering place for meals, connection, celebration, storytelling, and care.
Community Lodge
Flexible indoor space for workshops, meetings, rainy-day programming, elder circles, and shared time together.
Accessible Design
Barrier-aware pathways, washrooms, sleeping spaces, and gathering areas that welcome more people of all ages and abilities.
Outdoor Space
Nature-based activities, waterfront or recreation areas, campfires, gardens, reflection spaces, and room to simply be.
Room to Grow
A site that can support future expansion as programs, partnerships, and community needs evolve over time.
The Impact
A permanent home would create long-term impact not only for youth, but for the broader 2SLGBTQI+ community.
For Youth
Greater belonging, stronger confidence, deeper leadership development, and life-changing connection.
For Older Adults
Reduced isolation, renewed purpose, and the opportunity to share lived experience, build community, and age with dignity and pride.
For Communities
A stronger model of inclusion for Northern and rural Ontario and, over time, a model that could inform intergenerational 2SLGBTQI+ community-building across Canada.
Help Us Build a Place Where No One Feels Alone
This is an opportunity to build something that does not yet exist at scale in Canada: a permanent, intergenerational 2SLGBTQI+ community in nature.