Scouts Canada

Scouts Canada
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario
Country	Canada
Founded	October 30, 1946
Membership	77,469 youth 23,280 volunteers 300 staff
Patron Scout	David Lloyd Johnston
Chief Commissioner	Steve Kent
National Youth Commissioner	Dylan Reinhart
Website Scouts Canada

Scouts Canada is a Canadian Scouting association that, in affiliation with the French-language Association des Scouts du Canada, is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). Scouts Canada provides programmes for young people, male and female, ages 5 to 26.

Program

Canoeing, Scouts Canada, Toronto Troop, 1st Yorkminster, Toronto Ontario, 1978. Photo by Wayne Ray.

Program sections

Scouts Canada has five program sections:

• Beaver Scouts, ages 5 to 7
• Cub Scouts, ages 8 to 10
• Scouts (also Sea Scouts), ages 11 to 14 (optional to 16)
• Venturer Scouts (also Sea Venturers, Medical Venturers (Medvents) and Policevents/Frievents), ages 14 to 17
• Rover Scouts (also Sea Rovers, Medical Rovers (Medrovers) and Policerovers/Firerovers), ages 18 to 26

Programs are open to males and females.

Special programs

• MedVents (Medical Venturers) is a new program that consists of Venturers and Rovers that learn and provide first-aid.

Firevents (fire venturers) learn basic fire fighting skills while working with fire departments Policevents (police venturers) learn fire arm safety, crowd control, and similar skills while working with police departments

Short-term programs

• SCOUTSabout

The SCOUTSabout program aims to fulfill Scouting's mission with those children who are not members of a Scouting organization. SCOUTSabout is implemented in 3-month long modules, often after school, to appeal to those families who do not want or can not commit to year-round activities. Theme based, the focus is on structured play and learning by doing without uniforms, badge programs and ceremonies. SCOUTSabout is for children between 5 and 10 years old.

• Extreme Adventure

Extreme Adventure offers the opportunity for young people aged from 14 to 17, to plan and participate in a variety of short-term adventure-based activities. Example activities are: hiking, long-term camping and travelling abroad to participate in humanitarian projects. The program seeks to realise Scouting's mission with non-members. There is no uniform and are no ceremonies associated with this program. It is designed to include development of leadership skills and self-esteem and the particiaption in community projects that is also offered through the ordinary programs. Extreme Adventure is based on the Venturer Amory Adventure Award concept.

Major awards

Scouts Canada has several major awards:

• The Chief Scout's Award was established in 1973 as the top award in the Scout section.
• The Queen's Venturer Award is the top award in the Venturer section. In 1968, the normal upper age for members of the Scout section was reduced from 17 to 14 and the Venturer section was created for ages 14–17. As part of these changes, Queen's Scout rank was replaced with the Queen's Venturer Award.
• The Amory Adventure Award is awarded to the Venturer company that exhibits the most initiative in conceiving, planning, and executing an outdoor adventure.
• The Medal of the Maple was created in 2007 and is awarded for distinguished youth service and excellence within the Scouting Movement.

Badge program

The Scout emblem incorporates the fleur de lis and maple leaf of the flag of Canada with two sticks to create a stylized campfire.

Camps

Scouts Canada operates about 200 Scout camps across Canada. Well-known camps include Impeesa Extreme, Haliburton Scout Reserve, Camp Byng and Tamaracouta Scout Reserve. The Tamaracouta Scout Reserve is the oldest continually operating Scout camp in the world.

History

In the spring of 1908, just months after the book Scouting for Boys was published in England, Scouting came to Canada. Robert Baden-Powell wrote to Earl Grey, then Governor General of Canada, in 1910 to ask him to organize Scouting in Canada. Scouting was carried on as part of The Boy Scouts Association Overseas Department until The Canadian General Council of the Boy Scout Association was incorporated by an Act of the Canadian Parliament on June 12, 1914. The Canadian General Council continued to be a branch of the Boy Scout Association until October 30, 1946, when it became an independent member of the Boy Scout World Conference, now the World Organization of the Scout Movement. A subsequent amendment to the Act of Parliament changed the name to Boy Scouts of Canada. In 1976 the Scouts Canada logo was introduced and the organization, by its By-laws, adopted the name Scouts Canada. In 2007 The Boy Scouts of Canada legally changed its name to Scouts Canada.

In 1972, Scouts Canada began accepting female members as part of its Rover Section. This was expanded in 1984 to include the Venturer Section. In 1992, co-ed Scouting was an option for all program sections and became policy for all sections in 1998.

Organization

A Scouts Canada Council Service Team member.

Scouts Canada is divided into twenty Councils, formerly called Regions, each representing a whole province or large part thereof. Each Council is headed by a Council Commissioner appointed by the Executive Commissioner (the top staff member reporting to the Board of Governors), and a Council Youth Commissioner appointed by the National Youth Commissioner. Councils are divided into Areas, formerly called Districts, each headed by an Area Commissioner appointed by the Council Commissioner, and an Area Youth Commissioner appointed by the Council Youth Commissioner.

Scouts Canada has two affiliated Scout associations:

• Association des Scouts du Canada
• Salvation Army Scout Association

Canada is the only country with more than one Scouting association separately recognized by WOSM. Scouts Canada and L'Association des Scouts du Canada are divided by language. A number of other countries also have more than one Scouting association that may form a national federation to receive joint WOSM membership. Scouts Canada and L'Association des Scouts du Canada send a joint delegation to meetings of the World Organization of the Scout Movement; this is coordinated through the Committee on Cooperation.

Prior to the installation of David Johnston (who has been given the title of Patron Scout), every Governor General since Earl Grey has been either the Chief Scout for Canada (prior to 1946) or Chief Scout of Canada (after 1946).

Jamborees

Canadian Scout Jamboree

A Venturer receives an award at the 4th Pentathlon Jamboree Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1976.

The Canadian Scout Jamboree or CJ is a jamboree run by Scouts Canada for members of the Scout and Venturer sections. The Jamboree is well known on the international Scouting scene, and will usually have several groups from other countries attending, most notable from the United States. The CJ that would normally have been held in 2005 was cancelled shortly after CJ'01 due to concerns about volunteer burnout. In 2004, CJ'07 was announced. CJ'07 was the first CJ held at a Scout camp.

List of Jamborees

• 1949: 1st Canadian Scout Jamboree, Connaught Ranges, Ottawa, Ontario. 2,579 attend.
• 1953: 2nd Canadian Scout Jamboree, Connaught Ranges, Ottawa, Ontario. 1,196 attend.
• 1961: 3rd Canadian Scout Jamboree, Connaught Ranges, Ottawa, Ontario. 2,095 attend.
• 1977: 4th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Cabot Beach Provincial Park, Prince Edward Island. 16,000 attend.
• 1981: 5th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Kananaskis, Alberta. 19,000 attend.
• 1985: 6th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Guelph Lake Conservation Area, Guelph, Ontario. 12,000 attend.
• 1989: 7th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst, Prince Edward Island. 10,000 attend.
• 1993: 8th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Kananaskis, Alberta. 12,000 attend.
• 1997: 9th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Boulevard Lake Park, Thunder Bay, Ontario. 13,879 attend.
• 2001: 10th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Cabot Beach Provincial Park, Prince Edward Island. 14,000 attend.
• 2007: 11th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Tamaracouta Scout Reserve, Quebec. 7,000 attend.
• 2013: 12th Canadian Scout Jamboree, Camp Woods, Alberta.

World Jamborees held in Canada

• 8th World Scout Jamboree, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
• 15th World Scout Jamboree, Kananaskis, Alberta

New initiatives

Scouts Canada has begun a process of continuing to grow with the goal of doubling its membership by 2014. This process includes more direct program support to front line leaders building on such things as a partnership with Robert Bateman's Get to Know Program, a program help line, an award-winning Climate Change program and a variety of camping programs across the country.

This also includes new programs, such as Schools and Scouting - a program that uses Scouting's methods in a school setting.

During Scouts Canada's Leadership Summit in October 2009, it was announced that a million dollars will be focused at supporting membership growth.

Issues

In 1998, the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association of Canada (BPSAC) was established in Canada, rejecting the modernization of the Scout method by WOSM and Scouts Canada in 1968. Scouts Canada challenged the association and successfully argued that the word "Scout", in the context of a youth organization, is a trademark held by Scouts Canada. Following this decision the B-PSAC reformed as the Baden-Powell Service Association Federation of Canada. The B-PSA Federation of Canada, a member of the World Federation of Independent Scouts, now has Councils in British Columbia, Ontario and New Brunswick.

See also

• Scouting in Canada
• Girl Guides of Canada
• John Neysmith

External links

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• Scouts Canada
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