Scouting and Guiding in Ontario - Scouting Organizations in Ontario

Scouting Organizations in Ontario

There are several Scouting organizations operating in Ontario. The largest of these is Scouts Canada, which had a combined youth and adult membership as of August 2007 of 99,573. While most Scouts Canada groups operate in English, some operate in French, and French language handbooks and resource material are available. Scouting in the French language is also provided under the auspices of L'Association des Scouts du Canada (sometimes referred to as Les Scouts). These groups are situated mostly in the eastern and north eastern parts of the province which have a higher concentration of francophone residents. Together, Scouts Canada and the Association des Scouts du Canada are members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM).

Ontario has several organizations which are not part of WOSM. In some cases, they were created because members felt that Scouts Canada had drifted too far from the program originally developed by scouting's founder, Baden Powell. Some trace their roots to the Baden-Powell Scouts in the United Kingdom such as the PBSA Ontario Provincial Council, which was formed in 1998 as a member of the PBSA Federation of Canada. Some are members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Scouting, which in turn is a member of the World Federation of Independent Scouts. Members of this federation include the Traditional Explorers Association Council of Ontario. The 1st Four Arrows Group in Thornhill, Ontario is part of the Federation of North American Explorers, who in turn are Members of the faith-based Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d'Europe, founded in 1956.

There are at least three ethnic or culturally based scouting associations which operate in Ontario:

• ZHR Polish Scouts of Canada (Związek Harcerstwa Rzeczypospolitej w Kanadzie) was founded in 1996 and has units in the Greater Toronto Area and Peterborough, Ontario and is not affiliated to Związek Harcerstwa Rzeczypospolitej in Poland.
• Polish Scouting Association in Canada Incorporated (Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego Poza Granicami Kraju), a Polish émigré organization, also not connected to Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego in Poland.
• Plast, a Ukrainian émigré organization. Plast is also the name of the National Scout Organization of the Ukraine.