Scouting in Ontario
| Scouting and Guiding in Ontario | |||
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| Ontario Council (Girl Guides of Canada) | |||
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Scouting and Guiding in Ontario has a long history. Although there is some dispute about the founding of the first Scouting Group, both 1st Merrickville and 1st St. Catharines Scout Group have a documented existence from 1908. In 1955, the 8th World Scout Jamboree was held at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Scouting continues in Ontario to the present day, serving thousands of youths in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
There are several Scouting organizations operating in Ontario. The largest of these is Scouts Canada, which had a combined youth and adult membership as of August 2007 of 99,573, down from 265,313 in 1990. While most Scouts Canada groups operate in English, some operate in French, and French language handbooks and resource material are available. Scouting in the French language is also provided under the auspices of L'Association des Scouts du Canada (sometimes referred to as Les Scouts). These groups are situated mostly in the eastern and north eastern parts of the province which have a higher concentration of francophone residents. Together, Scouts Canada and the Association des Scouts du Canada are members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM).
Ontario has several organizations which are not part of WOSM. In some cases, they were created because members felt that Scouts Canada had drifted too far from the program originally developed by Scouting's founder, Baden Powell. Some trace their roots to the Baden-Powell Scouts in the United Kingdom such as the PBSA Ontario Provincial Council, which was formed in 1998 as a member of the PBSA Federation of Canada. Some are members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Scouting, which in turn is a member of the World Federation of Independent Scouts. Members of this federation include the Traditional Explorers Association Council of Ontario. The Federation of North-American Explorers (who are members of the faith-based Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d'Europe, founded in 1956), or FNE, have groups in Thornhill, Toronto, and Ottawa.
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