Scouts Canada
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Scouts Canada is a World Organization of the Scout Movement member. 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 for Canada in 1910 to ask him to organize Scouting in Canada. Scouting was carried on as part of the Scout 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. 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.
Scouts Canada's program is co-educational and has five sections:
- Beavers, ages 5-7
- Wolf Cubs, ages 8-10
- Scouts, ages 11-14 (optional to 16)
- Venturers, ages 14-17
- Rovers, ages 18-26
There are also Sea Scouts within the Scouts Canada program.
There are two affilliated organizations: The Salvation Army Scout Association and L'Association des Scouts du Canada.
Every four years between 1977 and 2001 a Canadian Jamboree (aka CJ) was held. The event is aimed mainly at the Scout section with troops from all over Canadian gathering at either a national or provincial park. It is well known on the international Scouting scene, and will usually have several groups from other countries attending, most notible from the US. 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.
Chief 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).
Issues
Since the late 1960s, Scouts Canada has suffered from ongoing membership decline. The rate has accelerated in recent years.
Many members of Scouts Canada are upset with the national organization's governance structure and with ongoing restructuring that has abolished local elected councils. 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".
External links
- Scouts Canada (http://www.scouts.ca/)
- SCOUT eh! (http://scouteh.ca/)