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.