I am currently working on the recruitment for my Scout unit and as part of the exercise, I have been putting some thoughts into the value that the movement brings to kids and adults who participate. As someone who is also involved in the community through my role in the Convent Glen Orléans Wood Community Association, I couldn’t help but realize that the values and skills that we promote are essential to thrive in the city outlined in the Official Plan.

The official plan has two major strategic directions: a focus on densification vs sprawl and a bigger focus on public and active transportation. In order to thrive in this new environment, you need to be able to live with more people around you, and you need to be able to spend more time outside and navigate a more complex transportation system.

Learning to Live Together

The pedagogical approach of the program is centered around giving agency to those who participate in the program who choose the activities that they want to do as a group with the Scouters (adult volunteers) being there to help make the activities happen. To achieve this, Scouts have to get to know the members of their unit, negotiate with them to establish what kind of experience they will get within their unit, and develop the leadership skills to make it happen. These skills are essential when you live in a denser area.

Ideally, when you increase density in an area, you replace private space with public space. Otherwise, you are likely to create a place that is more miserable than the current sprawl. Instead of having a backyard, you get a park and community gardens. Instead of a man cave, you get a local bar. This requires neighbours working together to create the public spaces that will compensate for the loss of private space and this is what Scouts excel at doing.

Scouts are used to negotiating with people with different backgrounds, interests and points of view to establish common goals. Once those goals have been established, Scouts are good at putting their egos aside and working together towards a common goal. Scouts give people the skills to work with their community to create the public spaces needed to compensate for a reduction in private space that comes with intensification. This can be seen in the data from a study done by the Association des Scouts du Canada that shows that Scouts are more likely than the general population to be involved in “helping professions” or in a professional role. Scouts also cited their experience in the movement in driving values that favour working with and helping others.

Scouting will help participants not only thrive in more dense urban areas but help make those areas better for everyone.

Navigating a Less Car-Dependent City

Scouting also involves a lot of technical skills that will greatly benefit future citizens of Ottawa. When you drive, you only have to worry about the distance to get to and from your car. Given the general ample parking everywhere in the city, this currently means very little time outside. In a car, you have access to a navigation system that tells you exactly where to go (there’s usually one obvious route) and the rules of the road dictates what you should do. Things are not so easy with public and active transportation. With public transportation, you have to get yourself to a bus or LRT station and then wait for your ride to arrive. This can mean a lot more time spent outside and more complex navigation. Active transportation is always outside with even more navigational decisions.

If you want to be comfortable outside, you need to know how to dress for the weather. In Ottawa, this means a temperature range of -40oC to +40oC with rain, freezing rain, and snow. Scouts are taught the theory of how to dress and be ready for any weather. Of course, this is generally done for more time outside than would be reasonable for transportation purposes (several hours to several days). However, the principles are the same and become second nature.

Navigation for active transportation is more complex than it is for driving or public transportation. You can optimize your route for a lot of variables including time, distance, terrain, safety and comfort, exercise, or even weather. Scouts are exposed to maps very early and by the time they get through the program, are expected to be very comfortable reading and understanding a variety of maps. Orienteering is also a key component of the technical program. It is an essential component of many games in the early years and an important part of getting where you need to go when doing more advanced outings. Scouts can look at a city map, know how to plan a route based on their needs, and then have the navigation skills to follow the route. 

The City of Ottawa of tomorrow, should it be implemented, looks very different from the city of today. The city of tomorrow looks more like the city as it was in the 1920s. Due to decades of car dependence, many residents of our city have lost the social and technical skills required to thrive in an environment where there are more people and where transportation options are more varied. Those changes need to happen because the city of today is not financially and environmentally sustainable with symptoms such as lack of housing, degrading infrastructure, and climate change being symptoms of that unsustainability. We will need people who can not only survive in this new environment, but thrive and help others thrive. Scouting provides a good foundation to create those people.

If you or your children are interested in getting involved with the Scouts, there are two national organizations, Scouts Canada and les Scouts du Canada. Scouts Canada offers programming in English and occasionally in French. Les Scouts du Canada offers programming in French. Both organizations have similar programs and philosophies.