Scouts Canada

Scouts Canada
The Scout fleur-de-lis and the maple leaf of the flag of Canada with two sticks to create a stylized tent or campfire in a stylized badge
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario
Country	Canada
Founded	1914, incorporated 12 June 1914
Founder	The Boy Scouts Association (United Kingdom)
Membership	61,438 youth 20,756 volunteers 216 employees
Chief Scout	Terry Grant
Patron Scout	David Lloyd Johnston
National Commissioner	John A. Estrella
National Youth Commissioner	Caitlyn Piton
Executive Commissioner and CEO	Andrew Price
Affiliation	World Organization of the Scout Movement
Website Scouts Canada

Scouts Canada is a Canadian Scouting association providing programs for young people, male and female, aged 5 to 26, with the stated aim "to help develop well rounded youth, better prepared for success in the world.". Scouts Canada, in affiliation with the French-language Association des Scouts du Canada, is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). 2015-16 youth membership stands at 61,438, a 5% decline from 64,693 in 2014-15. Over the same period, volunteer numbers stabilized with 20,717 in 2015 and 20,756 in 2016. This is a significant decline from its 1965 peak of 288,084 youth and 33,524 volunteers.

Scouts Canada's programs are based on three principles:

Scouts Canada's programs are co-educational and it states it is committed to diversity. Scouts Canada has a policy not to discriminate for reasons of gender, culture, religious belief or sexual orientation. Although Scouts Canada's principles requires a basic spiritual belief, it states that members are not required to subscribe to a religion or belief in God.

For the history of the Scouting Movement in Canada outside of Scouts Canada, see Scouting and Guiding in Canada#History of Scouting in Canada.

Scouts Canada states "There is evidence that a few Scouting groups started up in Canada in 1907".

In his 1981 book, 75 Years of Scouting in Canada Robert Milks, the late Scouts Canada archivist, indicated that the first Scout groups in Canada were founded in 1908. St. Catharines and Merrickville are mentioned as among the locations of the first troops. Boy Scouts and the Scout Movement were well established in Canada before Scouts Canada or its parent organization, The Boy Scouts Association of the United Kingdom were formed.

The Boy Scouts Association was formed in the United Kingdom in 1910 and incorporated in 1912. It has been claimed that its founder, Baden-Powell, wrote to Earl Grey, the Governor General of Canada in 1910 and asked him to organize Scouting in Canada. A branch of The Boy Scouts Association was established in Canada under The Boy Scouts Association's Overseas Department. The Canadian General Council of The Boy Scouts Association was incorporated by an Act of the Canadian Parliament on June 12, 1914. The Canadian General Council continued to be represented internationally by The Boy Scouts Association of the United Kingdom until 30 October 1946, when the Canadian General Council became a direct member of the Boy Scout World Conference, now the World Organization of the Scout Movement. The organization continued to be a branch of The Scout Association of the United Kingdom until 2007. The Canadian General Council of The Boy Scouts Association changed its name to Boy Scouts of Canada by an amendment to its incorporating Act of Parliament. In 1976 the Scouts Canada logo was introduced and the organization, by its By-laws, adopted the name Scouts Canada. In 2007, The Boy Scouts of Canada changed its name to Scouts Canada.