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Revised Vision and Mission Statements

Subsequent to the feedback we received regarding the interim statements, the Board made a major revision of the Vision Statement, and a minor one to the Mission Statement as follows

The Vision of the Outdoor Council of Canada is that:
Every Canadian will have access to outdoor education and recreation.

The Mission of the Outdoor Council of Canada is:
To promote and enable accessible education and recreation in the outdoor environment.

Interim Vision and Mission Statements

The interim Vision and Mission statements were drafted at the Board Meeting of December 15th. They are:

The Vision of the Outdoor Council of Canada is that outdoor physical activity will become a major force for the improvement of health, recreation and education in Canada.

The Mission of the Outdoor Council of Canada is to promote and enable safe and accessible education and recreation in the outdoor environment.

Additionally, the 'Purposes' of the Outdoor Council of Canada that were submitted with the application for incorporation under the Canada Corporations Act were:

1. To represent persons who lead group activities in outdoor education and recreation.


2. To support and promote safe education and recreation in the outdoor environment.
   


3. To develop a national system of outdoor training and certification for those leading group activities in outdoor environments.


4. To develop and maintain a registry of those who hold certification recognized by the Council.


5. To provide risk management support for organizations that sponsor outdoor education or recreation.


6. To promote research into any aspect of outdoor education or recreation that enriches our understanding and management of the benefits, costs and risks associated with such activities.
   

Contact Information

KNA-101
University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW.
Calgary, AB.
T2N 1N4

Phone: 403-220-8638
Fax: 403-220-0472
Email: ed@outdoorcouncil.ca

Comments on this blog or any aspect of the Council are welcomed.

Outcomes of November 22nd Meeting

The major decisions made by the meeting on Nov 22^nd were:

1. An organization called the ‘Outdoor Council of Canada’ (in English) and ‘Le Conseil Canadien de Plein-Aire’ (in French) be incorporated nationally


2. The voting members of the Council would be ‘practitioner members’. A ‘Practitioner Member’ is defined as ‘any person who has either passed an Outdoor Council of Canada certification course from a provider approved for that purpose by the Outdoor Council of Canada, or any person who’s existing qualifications have been approved by the Outdoor Council of Canada as being at least equivalent to an Outdoor Council of Canada certification.’


3. Organizations would be eligible to become ‘Associate Members’


4. An interim board volunteered to serve until the 1^st Annual General Meeting of the Council be held in late April or early May, 2009.


5. The Board (to be elected in 2009) would comprise of these positions:


• 3 Executive members, (President, Vice President and Secretary Treasurer)


• 1 associate representative (elected by Associate members)


• 1 non-member (public representative)


• 6 regional representatives (BC, Prairie Provinces, Ontario, Quebec, Maritime Provinces, Canada North)


• 1 Aboriginal representative (elected by aboriginal practitioner members)


6. The Board’s immediate tasks are to:
   
   
   
   • Construct mission and vision statements, and ‘statement of purposes’.
   
   
   • To lead a vigorous communication with individuals and organizations across the country so as to engage community support and participation
   
   
   • To organize the 1^st annual general meeting
   
   
   • To seek funding to accomplish these intermediate goals


7. The Interim Board is:
   
   
   
   • President: Doug Saul
   
   
   • Vice president: Mark Miller
   
   
   • Secretary Treasurer: Keri Erickson
   
   
   • Non-Member: John Elton
   
   
   • Members at large: Jeff Stork, Bernie Woods, Mike Mappin, Bruce Hendricks, Dave Watt, Bert East.


8. The Executive Director is Albi Sole

The process adopted

The ideal way to launch a national organization like the Outdoor Council of Canada would be to have a very public, inclusive and national discussion first. We will try to explain why we chose not to go that route.

One thread of this story begins at the University of Calgary’s ‘Kananaskis Field Station’. Mike Mappin who had run experiential programs for Calgary school children for many years was concerned about their viability after his retirement in light of the challenges. With the help of the David Elton Fund organized 2 conferences to look for solutions. In the third year Mike and the Fund agreed that funding should be targeted at building a national initiative.

In the Fall of 2008 the Director of the Outdoor Centre at the University of Calgary, Kurt Kinear, agreed to let Albi Sole to spend a considerable portion of his salaried hours moving forward the idea for a national organization. A condition was that significant progress be made (including funding secured) by March 31^st 2009.

Albi had worked on a similar project that came out of a stakeholders meeting in Kamloops in the Summer of 2002. That meeting had been in response to the disaster the previous winter in Rogers Pass when 7 young people on a school trip died in an avalanche. That meeting concluded that the world for custodial leaders was about to change and that the sector was profoundly ill prepared to respond the regulatory changes that were likely to come their way. A working group composed of land regulators, public educators and guides was formed. The expectation was that this group would initiate a process that would start to fill in the obvious lack of training and certification that land managers would soon demand.

The 2002 attempt failed because it lacked the financial resources and manpower required to launch an organization that would take the lead. The message received was that a similar attempt would also fail unless it quickly moved beyond talk into concrete action that would make available significant financial and human resources.

Albi began the process by consulting widely within the local area and with national stakeholders concerning their experiences and concerns. Consistent themes were seen in those discussions. Specifically:

• There was significant appetite for the creation of a national certification process that would fit below the guiding certification scheme
• Certification is not the whole answer. While certification is important, it needs to be integrated into other initiatives that support and empower organizations that provide educational and recreational activities in the outdoors.
• People had individually had similar discussions in many places at many times, but wanted to see progress.
• The time was now

Despite the obvious risks associated with trying to launch a national organization from a regional base, the logic of the situation suggested that any other strategy would likely fail. Those who attended the meeting on Nov 22^nd recognized the risks, but agreed that if the founding group moved quickly to include similar people from across Canada these risks could be negated and Outdoor Activity would have a badly needed ally and champion.

Background on how, why and who

Most organizations that offer educational or recreational opportunities in an outdoor environment report that they are facing increasing difficulties as a result of increasing risk management standards, access to crown lands, shortage of trained staff, negative public perceptions concerning the risks of outdoor activities, etc. These issues are particularly acute for organizations who offer programs for minors.

We have found that operators are frequently banding together in both formal and informal groups to try to address these issues, but are hampered by lack of resources and the size and complexity of the obstacles. Some of these issues have been talked about for at least 60 years, and these discussions have become urgent as the noose tightens. Our discussions suggest that there is considerable appetite to create an organization to represent our industry and that will serve to pool our joint resources so as to provide real solutions to the issues and provide much need support for outdoor activity based organizations and individuals.

On November 22^nd, twenty one leaders came together in Calgary and agreed to form an organization that is provisionally called ‘the Outdoor Council of Canada’. Collectively, these people represented many of the key stakeholders in the outdoor activity world. Five of these stakeholders are National organizations. They were:

• K-12 public education (Bev Robinson, Bert East, and Paul Kelba (the Calgary Board of Education))
• K-12 private education (Bruce Hendricks (Strathcona Tweedmuir School))
• Post-secondary Education (Albi Sole, Kurt Kinear, Mike Mappin (University of Calgary))
• Camp sector (Doug Saul (YMCA) and Jeff Stork (Tim Horton’ Children’s Camps))
• Providers of diverse experiences (Julian Norris (Outward Bound), Bernie Woods and Keri Erickson (Company of Adventurers)
• Certification bodies (Mark Piche, Peter Tucker (ACMG) and Dave Watt (Rocky Mountain Adventure Medicine))
• Outdoor activity as therapy (Tom Mountain (Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission))
• Land managers (Grant Statham (Parks Canada), George Field, Vicky Perkins (Alberta Provincial Parks)
• Public Supporters (John Elton (David Elton Outdoor Fund) and Mark Miller)