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)