Frequently Asked Questions

• Who can join Scouting?
• What is Scouts Canada's Mission Statement, the principles of Scouting and what Methods and Practices does Scouting use?
• Tell us some of the background of Scouting.
• Give us an idea about what our children/youth will be doing.
• What regular events and activities for youth make up the Scouting 'year'?
• What are the direct costs in time, and monetary expense?
• What are the fees?
• What are the weekly dues?
• What is the cost for a youth uniform?
• What do you do at a meeting?
• Is there a health form to fill out? Once only, or for every event?
• Are forms available on-line?
• What forms must leaders fill out for activities?
• What leader-youth ratios are observed?
• What kind of screening and training is available for leaders?
• What kinds of controls will ensure that activities will be safe?
• But they still won't be completely safe. There are still risks!

Give us some idea as to who can join scouting.

All youth (male or female), ages 5-7 BEAVERS, 8-10 CUBS, 11-14 SCOUTS, 15-17 VENTURERS, and adults 18-26 ROVERS, and 18+ SECTION LEADERS, are welcome to join the Scouting Movement.

What is Scouts Canada's Mission Statement, the principles of Scouting and what Methods and Practices does Scouting use?

All of these questions are best answered on the Scouts Canada website.

Some of us know nothing about Scouting. Tell us some of the background.

Scouting all started with Lord Robert Baden-Powell, a British Army Officer who served in South Africa during the Boer War. During the war he had discovered that boys could be relied upon for things like delivering messages, and "scouting" around making detailed observations to see what the enemy was up to. A training manual he had used with his soldiers he later adapted for use with boys. After this "Scouting for Boys" was published, and the first camp was held in 1907, the Scouting movement soon began to spread across the world, taking on a life of its own without much direct effort from the Founder. On this website, you can see more details in the glossary. One more site about Baden-Powell that should not be overlooked is http://pinetreeweb.com/B-P.htm. Scouting is as much about character and personal development as it is about learning scoutcraft and outdoor skills. Since November 1998 it has been completely co-educational, offering the same opportunities to female and male members, at all levels from Beavers (5 to 7 years of age) to Rovers (18 to 26). The necessary privacy and sensitivity required to accommodate both genders has not proved difficult to achieve; public schools have been at it for years.

Give us an idea about what our children/youth will be doing.

Scout sections hold a weekly meeting, lasting from one to two hours depending on the age group, as well as outdoor activities whenever possible. These can include field trips, tours, camping, and hiking. Even Beavers can expect to have at least one adventuresome outing during the year.

What are the direct costs in time, and monetary expense?

Direct costs include annual registration (which provides insurance coverage), uniform, occasional fees for special activities to cover expenses, and some personal camping equipment like a sleeping bag and a backpack.

What are the fees?

Registration fees are subject to annual increases. For the up-to-date information, contact the provincial Scout Office, the Group Committee, or any leader.

What are the weekly dues?

These vary widely, so you must ask the leaders. Many sections offer the option for parents to pay for several months or a year at a time. Dues are used to pay for program materials and activities.

What is the cost for a youth uniform?

The uniform for Beavers consists of the vest, woggle and hat. For other sections, the minimum includes a shirt and (for youth) a sash, woggle and epaulets. In any case, the total should not exceed about $30 to $35. For actual prices per item, please contact one of the Scouts Shops mentioned on this page. As well please consult the Scout Shop Catalogue.

At 1^st Port Moody, one neckerchief is provided without charge to each member, and replacements are provided at cost.

What do you do at a meeting?

A regular meeting in the regular meeting room will usually include a beginning routine or ceremony, and a variety of activities that include learning new skills, crafts, and games.

Is there a health form to fill out? Once only, or for every event?

Parents are required to ensure that the leader has an up-to-date Physical Fitness Certificate for each youth. This usually means filling one out each September, and then updating it whenever needed.

Are forms available on-line?

Some forms are available on-line, as you can see by visiting the link on the Scouts Canada website or a quick links can be found on our site. On-line registration is not yet available, although discussions are underway to make it a reality someday.

What forms must leaders fill out for activities?

For a nice table indicating the correct forms to be filled out for any particular type of activity click here.

Otherwise in general:

• For camps, hikes, canoe trips, and other sports activities: Complete both the Camping and Outdoor Activity Application Form and the Appendix I — Emergency Plan/Action Plan. Submit these to Group Chair before the event, and wait for approval.
• For these events, collect a signed Parent/Guardian Consent Form for each youth. These need to be filled in before any of the youth may attend the event. And will need to be submitted to the group committee ASAP after the event.
• For tours, visits, fundraisers and field trips, submit a single page Parent/Guardian Consent Form for Tours, Visits and Fundraisers and submit it ASAP after the event.

What leader-youth ratios are observed?

For meetings, the ratio is 1:5 for Beavers, and 1:6 for sections above Beavers. For camping events, the ratio is higher.

What kind of screening and training is available for leaders?

Before an adult can register to be a leader (a program leader or a Group Committee member) the individual must obtain a Police Record Check (PRC), be interviewed by a pair of interviewers, and then begin to serve a three-month probation. The Scouts Canada website contains details of this process.

Following the initial interview, the new Scouter can take training, beginning with the Basic, nodule. The Fraser Valley website maintains a calendar of training events available to leaders in the Fraser Valley Council.

What kinds of controls are there in place to ensure that all activities will be completely safe for the youth, some of whom are merely children?

The next time you read in the paper about someone who got lost in the woods, or went out boating in bad weather and had a near tragedy, you are witnessing what happens when people don’t know how to evaluate the risks, and probably didn’t have proper training to begin with. What we in Scouting do is to separate the risk and danger inherent in an activity from the excitement and enjoyment it is supposed to provide. We achieve this, first of all, by doing an adequate amount of training before the activity, and then provide supervision during the activity, so that eventually what we end up with are experienced youth and young adults, who know what the dangers are and won't take unnecessary risks.

Finally, we have a set of guidelines that specifies what kind of supervision is needed for the many acceptable and popular Scouting activities. The booklet also contains a list of risky activities that are not appropriate for Scouting. Our procedures are ultimately dictated by the realities of the insurance industry and by legal ramifications in our increasingly litigious society. See risk management in the glossary.

But they still won't be completely safe. There are still risks!

Now that we are living in the twenty-first century, the dangers the world poses for us have not disappeared; they have merely moved from where the early settler, the Prairie farmer and the deep-sea fisherman encountered them to where we now find them - in our cities, on our highways, and on our commercial airlines. That’s why we continue to street-proof our children, and lock our cars and our houses at night. The only thing that will ultimately defeat us is an unrealistic belief that we can ever be totally free from danger and risk. We won’t be free of danger any more than we can ensure our continued good health simply by having eradicated many of the bad diseases of the world.

What Scouting attempts to do is to ensure a link from our children/youth to the outdoors, and to society, while providing challenging supervised activities that teach skills, mold character, and produce citizens.