Scouting and Guiding in Alberta has a long history, from the 1900s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
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Alberta Scouting is administered by two Councils within Scouts Canada: Northern Lights Council in the north (also responsible for the Northwest Territories), and Chinook Council in the south. In general, each council's territory is divided into Areas, and each Area contains sponsored Scouting Groups.
Francophone Scouting groups exist in Calgary and in Edmonton. They are part of the Association des Scouts du Canada.
In 1983, the 15th World Scout Jamboree was held at Kananaskis Country, an area of Provincial Park 4,000 feet in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, 80 miles west of Calgary, Alberta. The Spirit Lives On was the theme of the World Jamboree, with a total attendance of over 15,000 Scouts from nearly 100 countries. In 2010 Northern Lights Council introduced a centennial badge commemorating 100 years of scouting in the area.
Scouting Groups are usually community-based, but may be based on something else they have in common, such as an LDS Group. Each Group has a cardinal or ordinal number attached to its name. For example, "Dalhousie 141", "1st Yellowknife". In the past, this number would be assigned by the local council and was generally incremented each time a new group formed in the council. Now however, whenever a new group is created, that group has the choice of selecting their own ordinal number provided it isn't already in use within the council. Previously used ordinal numbers, from now defunct groups, can be re-used. Each Group comprises one or more Sections (Beaver section, Cub section, Scout section, Venturer section, and/or Rover section), all managed by a Group Committee.
Among Alberta's varied Scouting groups and sections are Adventure Scouting Groups, Ismaili Scouts, and Rover Crews with romantic names like Knights of Dionysus and Knights of the Crimson Cross. In 2009 a Special Needs group, the 88th Polaris, was formed in the Northern Lights Council serving youth with neurological impairments.
In 1981, the 5th Canadian Scout Jamboree was held at Kananaskis, Alberta, with 19,000 in attendance.
In 1993, the 8th Canadian Scout Jamboree was held at Kananaskis, Alberta, with 12,000 in attendance.
In 2005, Northern Lights Council hosted a jamboree at Camp Woods. Chinook Council hosted a joint Alberta-Saskatchewan Brotherhood Jamboree at Camp Impeesa, celebrating the common centennial of the two provinces.
On June 19, 2010 it was announced at the Northern Lights Council annual Honours and Awards ceremonies, that Camp Woods, near Sylan Lake, Alberta, would be the location for the 12th Canadian Scout Jamboree to be held in the summer of 2013. Plans currently call for an attendance of 6,000.
Impeesa Extreme is a high adventure camping program run by the Chinook Council of Scouts Canada operated at Camp Impeesa in Alberta's Crowsnest Pass. The program was founded in 2003 in response to a need to keep older youth in Scouting.
The program consists of adventures like caving, mountain biking, trekking high mountain ranges, rappelling down cliffs and fly fishing crystal clear streams. The program sends one of their expert Trail Scouters with each group to help them learn about the local ecology and the techniques for their adventures while promoting learning by doing.
Camp Impeesa was first founded during the late 1960s with the idea of having a base camp from Scouts to take backpacking trips in the southern Canadian rockies. This idea was abandoned by the camp committee during the 1970s and the camp became a residential program for Cubs and Scouts.[1]
In 2001, Mike Bingley and other interested Scouters began the process of developing a high adventure camping program at Camp Impeesa. With the help of a dedicated team from around the world, this program became Impeesa Extreme. The program was launched in 2003 with six patrols from as far away as New York City and Chicago. The first summer included the additional challenges of forest fires, including the Okanagan Mountain Fire and Lost Creek Fire which forced the program to move five times.
2004 saw the program triple in size, partially due to word of mouth advertising and the cancellation of the 2004 Saskatchewan Jamboree. 2004 was the last year that Mike Bingley was involved with the program.
The program has not run since 2005.
Alberta Provincial Council - Guides of Canada is the provincal council of Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada, which is geographically made up of the Canadian provinces and territories of Alberta, Northwest Territories and Yukon.[2] The provincial council's headquarters is located in Edmonton, AB[3]
Alberta Council is divided into the following twelve areas:
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