SCOUT eh!

{{main|Scouts Canada}}

SCOUT eh! was formed in response to a restructuring within Scouts Canada leading to what its members considered to be a non democratic management structure.

In the late 1990s, Scouts Canada embarked on a restructuring process aimed at addressing the ongoing problem of membership decline. A team wrote what was officially known as the Millennium Report. The report described a dramatically more centralized and staff-directed structure for the association. The report was extremely unpopular with some portions of Scouts Canada's membership, especially those at the District level. Scouts Canada formally set aside the report, but continued work on restructuring.{{cite web |author=The Staffing Task Group |date=October 1998|url=http://www.scoutscan.com/resources/scouts%20canada%20the%20millennium%20structure%20draft.htm |title=Scouts Canada: The Millennium Structure |format=PDF |publisher=Scouts Canada |accessdate=March 3, 2012}}{{cite web |author= |date=September 2002|url=http://www.scoutscan.com/issues/restructuring.html |title=Regional Restructuring in Ontario |format=PDF |publisher=Scouts Canada |accessdate=March 3, 2012}}{{cite web |author=Liam Morland |date=May 2002|url=http://scoutdocs.ca/Documents/Upside-Down_Scouting.php |title=Upside-Down Scouting |format=web |publisher=Scoutdocs (self-published source) |accessdate=March 3, 2012}}

In 2000, Scouts Canada replaced its General By-Law with By-Law No. 1. The amendments replaced the 52-member National Council with a 23-member Board of Governors and divided the membership into Ordinary Members, who have no voting rights; and Voting Members, a group of 100 or fewer people who elect the Board and vote on matters presented to the national Annual General Meeting.

2002 saw the implementation of restructuring. Scouts Canada passed By-Law No. 2 which replaced the Provincial, Regional, and District Councils with 20 new councils, comprising an entire province or a large part of a province.{{cite web |author=Rob Stewart |date=May 31, 2003 |url=http://sunshine.scouts.ca/bpp/BYLAW2.pdf |title=By-law No.2 |publisher=Boy Scouts of Canada |access-date=July 31, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717220559/http://sunshine.scouts.ca/bpp/BYLAW2.pdf |archive-date=2006-07-17 |url-status=dead |df= }} Councils are led by a Council Commissioner, appointed by Scouts Canada's volunteer Chief Commissioner. The Districts were transformed into Areas overseen by an Area Commissioner appointed by and accountable to the Council Commissioner. Scouts Canada's Ontario Incorporated Body, which is the trustee for most of the Scout camps in Ontario, began a property review process.

By 2004, dissatisfaction existed among some of Scouts Canada's membership. While some of the national leadership and staff considered the restructuring to be a success, some others at the local level objected to the changes and found the new system to be ineffective at helping Scouters deliver the program.

{{cite web |author=SCOUT eh! |date=11 November 2004|url=http://scouteh.ca/resources/ScoutEh-BPonOrgs.php |title=Scout Movement or Just an Organization? |format=web |publisher=SCOUT eh! |accessdate=March 3, 2012}}{{cite web |author=SCOUT eh! |date=16 November 2004|url=http://scouteh.ca/resources/ScoutEh-business.php |title=Scouting is not a Business |format=web |publisher=SCOUT eh! |accessdate=March 3, 2012}}

The first SCOUT eh! gathering, referred to as CAMP eh! was held September 24–26, 2004 at Camp Timken near Iona in Ontario. Two-dozen Scouters including Scouters from Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland gathered to learn about the issues, discuss strategy, and draft a constitution for the association.{{cite web |author=Times Colonist (Victoria) |date=October 22, 2004|url=http://scouteh.ca/constitution.php |title=Constitution of the Scouts Canada Ordinary-member Unity Taskforce Association}}

The property review had become public knowledge and Scouters were worried about losing local camps.{{cite book |author=Astrid Taim |date=January 2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZS3ueITHuTEC&q=2004+canada+scouts+sell+camps&pg=PA132 |title=Almaguin Chronicles Memories of the Past |format=PDF |publisher=McNally Robinson |isbn=9781550027600|accessdate=March 3, 2012}}{{cite web |author=The London Free Press |date=2004-08-09|url=http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/08/09/574360.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729181114/http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/08/09/574360.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 29, 2012 |title=20 Scout camps on the block |format=PDF |publisher=Sun Media Corporation |accessdate=March 3, 2012}} An information session at an April, 2004 Scouts Canada conference near Toronto did not reassure all the membership. In the middle of that summer, Scouts Canada produced a list of Scout camps they wanted to close.{{cite web |date=2004-08-09|url=http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/08/09/574360.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729181114/http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/08/09/574360.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 29, 2012 |title=20 Scout camps on the block |work=Canoe Network |publisher=The London Free Press |accessdate=July 31, 2006}} During this time some volunteers spearheaded the creation of a committee aimed at giving the disenfranchised membership direct management of the management and direction of Scouts Canada.{{cite journal |last= Barrera |first=Jorge |title=Scouting rebels, upset with changes to the national organization, are looking to take over |journal=Ottawa Sun |date=August 27, 2006}}

SCOUT eh! has been a watchdog for Scouts Canada's finances. In 2006 it published that due to a claimed fall in members, financial issues and "top-heavy management", Scouts Canada may not have been able to last much past the summer 2007 centennial celebrations.{{cite journal |title=Scouting facing major crisis: Watchdog |journal=Hudson/St. Lazare Gazette |date=August 30, 2006}} In 2007 it expressed concerns that Scouts Canada faced potential bankruptcy due to a $6-million unfunded pension liability. Scouts Canada denied the claims.{{cite news | url=http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=96ce1dca-9fa8-4868-82b5-4ee7fbb946ca | title=Scouts Canada's financial health under microscope | newspaper=The Vancouver Province | date=November 21, 2007 | access-date=March 7, 2012 | author=The Vancouver Province | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925093525/http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=96ce1dca-9fa8-4868-82b5-4ee7fbb946ca | archive-date=2014-09-25 | url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url=http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=390420d3-0e90-47ba-b049-050a9d974c74 | author=Times Colonist | title=Scouts Canada in financial trouble | publisher=Times Colonist (Victoria) | date=November 20, 2007 | access-date=March 7, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925072435/http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=390420d3-0e90-47ba-b049-050a9d974c74 | archive-date=2014-09-25 | url-status=dead | df= }}

In September 2006, SCOUT eh! announced it had surpassed 700 members nationally.[https://archive.today/20120717014929/http://scouteh.ca/news/2006-09-01_700-members.php SCOUT eh! Rallies; Membership Passes 700] During 2006 SCOUT eh! campaigned against Bill S-1001, The Scouts Canada Act.{{cite web |author=Ottawa Sun |date=August 31, 2006|url=http://www.ottawasun.com//News/National/2006/08/31/1789121-sun.html |title=Senator won't ditch Scout bill}}{{dead link|date=March 2012}} On Monday, December 4, 2006 SCOUT eh! made their case to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.{{cite web |author=Parliament of Canada |date=December 4, 2006|url=https://sencanada.ca/en/Content/Sen/committee/391/lega/18eva-e |title=Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs |format=web |publisher=Parliament of Canada |accessdate=March 3, 2012}} In 2007 SCOUT eh! petitioned the government, arguing that;

• The membership of Scouts Canada had not been consulted on the Bill,
• Information about the Bill had not made available to the membership,
• That "the Bill will make fundamental that are changes contrary to the underlying principles governing Scouting and will adversely affect the rights heretofore enjoyed by members of the Boy Scouts of Canada and will be to the detriment of the membership".{{cite web | url=http://scouteh.ca/2007/01-23_SCA_petition.php | title=Scouts Canada Act — Petition in opposition to Bill S-1001 | publisher=SCOUT eh! | date=January 23, 2007 | accessdate=March 7, 2012}}

In 2007, Scouts Canada announced Policy 1014{{cite web | url=http://www.scoutscan.com/national/1014FINAL.pdf | title=POLICY 1014: Governing Policy Pertaining to the Election of Voting Members | publisher=Scouting in Canada | date=April 21, 2007 | accessdate=March 7, 2012 | author=Scouts Canada National Board of Governors}} which requires that each council's Voting Members be elected by representatives of the council, and its areas and groups. While it acknowledged that the system is an improvement, SCOUT eh! criticized the policy because:

• Most members of voting age are still not allowed to vote
• Votes are distributed in an unequal manner which favors councils, areas, and small groups
• Ordinary Members remain many levels removed from the decision-making process of the Board of Governors, resulting in mis-communication{{cite web | url=http://scouteh.ca/2008/01-13_mission-accomplished.php | title=Mission Accomplished? | publisher= SCOUT eh! | accessdate=March 7, 2012}}

In 2009 a campaign was launched against the sale of part of the Haliburton Scout Reserve, a 20 square kilometre (5000 acre) Scout camp located east of Haliburton, Ontario described as Canada's largest Scout Camp. The organisation formed an online campaign against the sale of a 100-acre parcel of land for $1.3 million.{{cite web|author=Watt, Jenn|date=January 18, 2009|publisher=The Echo, Haliburton County|url=http://www.haliburtonecho.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1405370&archive=true|title=Scouts launch online protest of land sale|access-date=March 7, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827062619/http://www.haliburtonecho.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1405370&archive=true|archive-date=2011-08-27|url-status=dead|df=}}

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