eagleeyes

I am a Canadian Scouter and would like to speak to this issue.

Scouting in Canada is not dead yet.

I do not take credit for what follows but received it in an email about a week ago from another Scouter

Here is a little bit of what has happened in Scouts Canada since 1968:

(1) The Scouting program, in general has been watered down to a mere shadow of what it once was.

(2) Membership has dropped to less than half of what it was.

(3) Staff and employee expenses at Scouts Canada have ballooned way out of proportion with the membership. So much so that the organization will go bankrupt within 2 to 3 years if something radical is not done. (Request a financial statement from National - see for yourself.)

(4) The camps and other properties that have been granted/bequested/given since 1910, in order to serve as resources to the members of the movement, are being liquidated in order to pay down the national defecit and pay salaries and pensions. (These resources are IRREPLACABLE and we should go

to great lengths to protect them.)

(5) Registration costs have increased over 500%.

(6) Staff interference in Scout life and program has increased to a point where policies and procedures are difficult to keep up with. Program resources are limited. The paperwork load of a Scouter has grown beyond all reason.

(7) The personal training opportunities available to the volunteers are less frequent and less applicable to the execution of good program for the kids.

(8) Your ability to help determine the future of Scouting in Canada beyond your own group has been systematically removed. Democracy and volunteer control of Scouting is a thing of the past. In the last 3 years alone thousands of long time dedicated Scouters have voted with their feet and either left Scouting completely or joined other associations. They are

labelled whiners", "dinosaurs", "old guard" etc. by management and have been painted as "unable to change with the times". What a crock! They just don't want any dissenters who know what Scouting really is and should be.

(9) Goodwill for brother Scouts from different Associations in Canada has been damaged and compromised.

(10) Fundraising has become a National obsession designed to prop up the bureaucracy and not necessarily the betterment of program. That is a small part of the story since the total revamping of Scouting in Canada in 1968.

So....

I am not a happy camper. Quite frankly, my dreams for a better Scouting in the future for all kids in Canada, have all but disappeared. The very people who should be serving us, the volunteers, are the tail wagging the dog. Do I like being a rebel? Not particularly......I don't like politics much. I am normally a patient and extremely tolerant person. I am a middle aged, middle class guy who has already seen his kids pass through and benefit from Scouting, albeit a very different Scouting from what I had as a boy. I don't usually say much. (I am after all, typically Canadian.) But I can't sit quiet any longer.

I am concerned enough about this organization I love, that I feel the need to fight for it so that my grandchildren will benefit from it some day. I want to save Scouting IN Scouts Canada. Along with a few like-minded individuals, I am taking a stand.

I am one of a few "ordinary members", who have taken steps to start an Ad Hoc Committee, the: "Scouts Canada Ordinary-member Unity Taskforce - Association" - or "SCOUT eh!" (Way clever don't you think?).

We propose the following:

As an Association of Ordinary Members of Scouts Canada, our purpose is to try to reform Scouts Canada:

1. So that the Board of Governors of Scouts Canada and the employed staff:

a. Will be accountable to the membership,

b. Will become subject to democratic election.

2. So that Property held in Bare Trusteeship shall be under the authority and control of the groups or councils who are the

beneficial owners.

THIS ISSUE HAS NOW COME TO A HEAD...! SEE BELOW!!!

3. So the continuing membership of Registered members cannot be threatened by well meaning but ill-conceived policies and

programs.

Some recent history. Over the past several years a management takeover of Scouts Canada has been engineered. A system of appointees, driven from the top echelon of Scouts Canada, has deprived the members of the Scout Movement in Canada of any effective say in the governance of the movement. There are

now two types of members; voting members (100 people) and ordinary members (the rest of us). Along with the takeover, the Management of Scouts Canada, (although only bare trustees of property held in the name of Scouts Canada), has attempted to take over from the local groups and councils who are the

actual beneficial owners of the property. It has, in the guise of updating the Boys Scouts of Canada Act, attempted to have legislation passed that would entrench the top down administration and marginalize the membership.

As you know, the traditional structure of District Councils and Provincial Councils have been eliminated by larger and more central councils. New positions have been created, re-thought and changed within the last two years. The number of changes has been mind boggling. The net result has been

poorer communication, distant bureaucracy and no appropriate forums for a say or a vote. At the last Annual General Meeting of Scouts Canada in November 2003 the meeting was abruptly adjourned without any questions being permitted from the floor. Today there is only a small coterie of 100

persons, out of a membership exceeding 100,000, who are entitled to vote.

All of these persons are either appointed or hold ex-officio positions on the Board. No ordinary voice was heard. No concerns from the members were expressed. National is also paranoid about losing our members to other Associations. Used to be; "A Scout is a friend to all and a brother to all

Scouts." Scouts Canada actually threatened legal action against the Baden Powell Service Association because they had the audacity to use the word Scout. Scouts Canada professes to "own" the word and threatened copyright

infringement if BP Scouts used it in their program. This is akin to Ford saying GM can't use the word automobile to describe their product. The BPSA acquiesced, as they did not have the financial resources to mount what would certainly have been a costly and ultimately stupid law suit. Here is an

interesting point. None of the other dozen or so Scout associations in Canada have been threatened in the same manner. Why is that? (BP is spinning in his grave....). Management has created National Fund raisers. They are

sending kids 5 to26 years of age into the street to sell popcorn and hot chocolate. In my view, the kids did not sign up to be uniformed door-to-door salesman. They joined to learn by doing, have fun and become responsible citizens. As a Scouter, I signed on to try to deliver quality program for the kids, not supervise inventory and collection of money while I chauffeur them around the neighbourhood selling what amounts to overpriced goods so that National can take their percentage to pay another salary or deficit. We, a small

group of ordinary members, have now organized this association in order to try to save Scouts Canada from itself and bring back management accountability. Our association wishes to disseminate information to its members in such a way that you can make an informed choice. We will listen, discuss, suggest. We will be constructive. Ultimately, your opinions will be

respected. It has been said that "All it takes for evil to flourish, is for good men to stand by idle." I wish to be idle no longer. How can we hope to take on a huge political machine? I have about 30 Scouters in my personal

e-mail address book. I am sending this e-mail to each of them. I'm asking you to do two things:

(1) Forward this e-mail to every Scouter in your own address book.

(2) Join our Association - Scout eh!. (SEE THE LINK BELOW) Membership is free. You'll meet an awful lot of Scouters and ordinary members who want their Association back. Let's start a groundswell of grass roots members who can large enough that they will have to listen. BP once said, "never let

our movement become a professional organization." BP wasn't a dumb guy. He got it right the first time. He would want us to take a stand.

Take a stand for the ordinary member.

Take a stand for better program.

Take a stand for sound fiscal control.

Take a stand for accountability.

Take a stand to keep the properties and resources that have been granted us

for the use of all our members now and in the future.

Take a stand for a vote.

Most of all, Take a stand for the kids of today and tomorrow.

Please, forward the e-mail RIGHT NOW!! This may not work. But I for one,

won't stand idly by and watch any

longer. I would rather lose in trying than in apathy. If you are with us,

my best wishes and a left hand of welcome to you.

If you are not with us that's OK too. I respect both your opinion and your

wishes and still offer you my best regards and my left hand in the true

Brotherhood of Scouting.

Actually the friendship sticks I am looking for are a plain stick with a leather lace onto which beads of different colors are placed to represent different things. I am looking for the story that tells what order the beads go on and what each color represents.

My group is interested in making friendship sticks so I am looking for the instructions and story that describe what the different beads represent.

Can anyone help me.

My group is interested in making friendship sticks so I am looking for the instructions and story that describe what the different beads represent.

Can anyone help me.(This message has been edited by eagleeyes)

I have 2 sons involved in scouting and it seems that at somepoint during the year they both seem to want to quit. My response always has been you can quit after this year, but you must finish what you started . Amazingly come June they don't want the year to end and are so looking forward to the following year they can't wait for summer to be over.

It's amazing what making them stick to it can accomplish.

I know scouts canada has forms they use for international travel and medical release forms you can check out their sight at www.scouts.ca