Scouts Canada
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Template:Portalpar Image:Scouts col-1-.gif Scouts Canada is a Scout association and member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, in affiliation with the French-language Association des Scouts du Canada. Scouts Canada runs programs for young people, male and female, ages 5–26.
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Program
Scouts Canada has five program sections:
- Beavers, ages 5–7
- Wolf Cubs, ages 8–10
- Scouts (also Sea Scouts), ages 11–14 (optional to 16)
- Venturers (also Sea Venturers), ages 14–17
- Rovers (also Sea Rovers), ages 18–26
Programs are open to males and females.
Camps
Scouts Canada runs the Canadian Scout Jamboree (also known as "CJ"). The next one will be CJ'07.
Scouts Canada operates about 200 Scout camps across Canada [1]. Well-known camps include Impeesa Extreme, Haliburton Scout Reserve and Tamaracouta Scout Reserve. The Tamaracouta Scout Reserve is the oldest continually operating scout camp in the world.
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 Silver Walnut Award was created by youth in 2005 to recognize outstanding youth leadership outside their own section. The first silver walnuts will be presented in April 2006 in British Columbia. This award is being tested in BC and has been approved by the National body to be rolled out nationally in 2007.
Badge Program
See:
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 [2].
Organization
Scouts Canada is divided into twenty Councils, each representing a whole province or large part thereof. Each Council is header by a Council Commissioner appointed by the Chief Executive Officer (the top staff member). Councils are divided into Areas, each headed by an Area Commissioner appointed by the Council Commissioner [3].
Scouts Canada has two affiliated Scout associations:
Canada is the only country that has more then one WOSM member association without a national federation. Scouts Canada and 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.
Every Governor General since Earl Grey, has been either the Chief Scout for Canada (prior to 1946) or Chief Scout of Canada (after 1946).
Issues
Since the late 1960s, Scouts Canada has suffered from ongoing membership decline in all sections and among adults, especially in the transition between Cubs and Scouts. During this transition, Scouting's market share drops from between ten and fifteen percent of young people to less than two percent.
Scouts Canada's 2005 Annual Report, published in November, 2005, reported an unfunded pension liability of over $5 million, other liabilities totalling over $5 million (including bank indebtedness of $1.9 million), and an annual operating deficit of over $1 million [4]. This financial situation has led to some people having serious concern about the ongoing financial viability of Scouts Canada [5].
Scouts Canada conducted a property review in Ontario which concluded that dozens of camps should be sold. This has resulted in legal action between the Scouts Canada Ontario Incorporated Body and local Scouters. Action was underway in Novmeber 2005 [6] and is ongoing.
Members of Scouts Canada are upset with the national organization's governance structure which no longer includes locally-elected councils [7]. In response, Scouter Mike Reid from Montreal, Quebec founded in August, 2004 an organization called SCOUT eh! which is a group of "registered Scouts Canada members from across Canada dedicated to transforming Scouts Canada into a democratic association".
In 1998, the Baden-Powell Scouts (BPSA) were established in Canada, rejecting the modernization of the Scout method by WOSM and Scouts Canada. Scouts Canada threatened the association and successfully prevented them from using the word "Scout" in any name for a national organization, claiming trademark ownership. The BPSA in Canada is now organized provincially.