About Us

Scouting began in 1907 when Lt. Gen. Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell took a group of youth to a camp on Brownsea Island.  The Movement was incorporated as "The Boy Scout Association" throughout the Commonwealth by Royal Charter granted by King George V in 1912.

Scouting came to Canada in the spring of 1908 - just months after the book "Scouting for Boys" was published in England.  The Canadian General Council of the Boy Scout Association was incorporated by an act of the Canadian Parliament on June 12, 1914.  The Canadian General Council was a branch of the Boy Scout Association until October 30, 1946, when it became an independent member of the Boy Scout World Conference.  A subsequent amendment changed the name to Boy Scouts of Canada.  In 1976 the Scouts Canada logo was introduced and since then Scouting in Canada has become commonly referred to as Scouts Canada.

Leading models of youth development all share a common key principle: youth development and community development are interdependent. 

B.P. wrote to Earl Grey in 1910 to ask him to organize Scouting in Canada.  Since that time, every Governor General has been either the Chief Scout for Canada (prior to 1946) or Chief Scout of Canada (after 1946). 

The important work of developing and educating young people needs to focus on both encouraging their growth as dynamic, multidimensional individuals AND on enhancing the potential for the community to nurture this personal growth. Scouts Canada incorporates this approach in the delivery of all our programs.  Here's how we do it.

Today, more than 25 million youth and adults, boys and girls, take part in Scouting programs in 216 countries and territories worldwide.