The National Council of Scouts Canada met November 18-21, 1999. Quebec’s delegates were Charles Johnston, provincial president and Marilyn Pollock, provincial commissioner. Jeff Smith and Richard Tracy also participated in the meetings. The following is a summary of the major decisions / actions that you might be interested in:
The budget for the next Canadian Jamboree, to be held from July 6 – 14, 2001 in Prince Edward Island, was approved, setting a participant fee of $450.00. The Quebec Council will be looking into contingent travel arrangements in the next few months (likely via bus) and will keep you informed. Information packages will be available in January 2000.
Tyler Arrell was appointed Assistant National Commissioner during the meetings. Tyler is from the Quebec Provincial Council and was previously our provincial delegate to the National Youth Committee.
In an effort to coordinate and consolidate financial information and enable performance comparisons, a common year-end for all councils (District through National) was adopted. All Councils will have a fiscal year end of August 31 effective the end of 2001. Districts and the Provincial are to change their year-end as part of their next annual budgeting process.
After much discussion concerning the notice of motion that the national fee be raised by up to $5.00, the motion was amended and it was agreed to raise the national fee by $1.50 for the 2000-2001 Scouting year. Further, notice of motion was given that the national fee be raised by an additional $2.00 for the 2001-2002 Scouting year, subject to an acceptable business plan. This latter notice of motion will be voted upon at the May meeting of the National Council.
A revised by-law for the National Council, establishing a governance board with nation-wide representation was endorsed and recommended to a Special General Meeting which will be held on or before May 7, 2000. Our provincial president will be a member of the first, interim board. The restructuring which results from this by-law approval will not directly affect provincial, regional or district structures.
Several new program initiatives are underway. A CD-ROM program planning tool is being developed and is expected to be available next summer. A “self-assessment” tool is being designed, to enable section leadership teams to identify how they are doing against standard benchmarks. Two new programs, “Extreme Scouts” and “Scouts About,” are currently being field tested in several parts of the country, and are expected to be “rolled out” sometime in the next year.
The Guide to Camping and Outdoor Activities which was recently published and distributed to all Group Chairs is going to be reprinted (with some minor enhancements), and distributed early in the new year to the nominal head section leader of each section in all groups. It is also available for downloading from the Scouts Canada web site at www.scouts.ca.
A letter from the National office concerning Scouts Canada’s position on the signing of waivers was distributed, and we will distribute it throughout our network. A copy will be available from any APC or Field Executive soon. As well, the important need to file an incident report ‘the next business day’ for any incident which may lead to a claim was emphasized. Forms for this purpose are found in the Guide to Camping and Outdoor Activities and are available on Scouts Canada’s web site.
We were advised that while the National Council will continue to make youth section program material, and primary adult leader support material available in both English and French, it is expected that the French language version will follow as closely as resources permit, after the publication of the English language version rather than be published simultaneously. While the Quebec Provincial Council does not support this position, we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure the best possible service to all of our members, regardless of language.
A national training event for senior training and servicing people will be held in August, 2000 in Moncton, NB.
Clarification was given confirming that Cubs are not permitted to participate in any activity involving guns, including air guns.
Scouts Canada, Quebec Provincial Council, 2001 Trans Canada Hwy, Dorval, QC H9P 1J1