Voyageur Council Venturer Advisor’s Forum

Meeting Minutes for February 5, 2008

Scout’s Headquarters - National Boardroom

FINAL

Name	Group	Name	Group
Alan Griffin	112^th Nepean	Jim Smith	27^th Nepean
Alex Aronec	SSYC / Carleton Area Rovers	John Dougherty	Odawa Area
Bill Bowman	1^st Nepean	John Stalker	Valley Highlands / CP
Bruce Morton	14^th Gloucester	Malcolm Volmer	27^th Nepean
Catherine Snedden	Carleton Area Rovers	Matthew Janssen	Carleton Area Rovers
Christiaan Burchell	1^st Nepean	Mike Desjardins	Carleton Area Rovers
Cyndy Courtland	Carleton Place	Mike Jowett	Nepean Area
Daniel Schaffler	1^st Vars - Navan	Perry Schippers	2^nd Gatineau and LCS
Doug MacKinnon	112^th Nepean	Ray Renton	1^st Dunrobin
Doug Proud	1^st Greenwood	Sharon Ley	7^th Kanata
Eric Hansen	CCRRT	Stephen Smye	1^st Wakefield
Gilbert Lepine	4^th Orleans	Stewart Ross	DCC Sr Section (Nepean)
Greg McGinnis	2^nd Russell	Tim Harbinson	137^th Ottawa
Jan Stodola	7^th Kanata	Thérèse Desjardins	137^th Ottawa
Jim McQuaid	112^th Nepean	Wally Gale	14^th Gloucester

Opening Remarks:

Wally has been sending some emails on events or items of interest to the VAF members, for example the email on the Y Canoe seminar. Wally asked if there was any thoughts on whether you think these are appropriate to share with VAF members, please share your feedback with him.

Wally also noted that the little GPS receiver that was on the news that focuses on emergency response had somebody from MEC showing it off, so if your group is interested, MEC has it.

Past Events:

No notes for January

Upcoming Activities:

1. Winter Adventure weekends of February 8-10, and 22-24

Christiaan noted that everybody is all ready to go this weekend. If there are any further questions, contact Christiaan Burchell: cjburchill@yahoo.com #613-274-3900

Doug Proud also confirmed the alternate weekend he is organizing is also a go and the participants are ready.

2. Gatineau Loppet (formerly Keskinada) February 15-17

Wally noted they have enough youth now for the 3 stations (19 youth and 6 adults). However there is a 4^th station on Saturday morning called Penguin, located at the P5 parking lot, close to Chelsea. Wally asked if there are any volunteers (about 6 or so) to help out here. There are already adults to do the set up, they just need to help to run the station from around 8 am until 12:30pm on Saturday morning. Frank Ellis is running this station. Also if there are about 4 or so still interested, there is still a little room up at Huron but Wally would need to know in the next couple of days.

Also it looks like Scouts Canada is getting named as a sponsor for this which is good.

3. OPE Work Weekend April 25 – 27, 2008

Wally noted that Tim sent out the notice for this year’s spring work weekend. Note that this year there is a $10 charge per head as per the suggestion from VAF last year. Information is on the website. There is no registration form per se but contact Tim to get our numbers in as he is collecting attendees now. Contact Tim Taylor by email (quappelle264@gmail.com) or by phone (819-561-1613). The key thing now is your best estimate of participant numbers. Information on where your group would like to stay (cabin, tent, etc.) can follow later.

4. RSVP May 2 to May 4 2008 at OPE.

Francesca spoke that the Nepean Rovers are running this event now for the 5^th time. The cost is $20 per person, and this is a great linking camp as it is from senior scouts up to Rovers. Event include archery, high ropes, a canoe challenge, and on Saturday night, a dance and fondue. Registration for this event has opened up today (as of the VAF meeting) and the information will be going up on the council website. The organizers are also looking for offers of service to help out or if have you have life guarding qualifications. Joe McWilliams is taking registration, deadline for registration is not yet set.

5. White Water Level 1 and Level 3 on May 23-25 on the Petawawa River

Level 2 on May 30-June 1, 2008 on the Madawaska River

Jim noted there are lots of handouts at the back and the descriptions are the same as they have been for a few years now. He noted that White Water level 1 is an ideal linking activity and encouraged companies to bring out their senior scouts. He also noted that it was confirmed that they have support of the community action program in the amount of $10 per person. Therefore he should have all the applications written up and out for the next VAF meeting in March.

A question was raised on whether there was a youngest age limit. Jim noted there was not hard age limit per se as yet but really the program is aimed at those who are 14 and above or about to turn 14. There was also interest in a solo program for WW Level 2 but at this time Jim noted there was none. If there are some that want to bring solo boats up to paddle, then by all means but no formal program.

Stephen Smye noted that Jim has covered it all for his part (Level 3) so stay tuned and more info to follow.

Reports:

Joint Council Activities: JC Winter Camp, Friday, February 8-Sunday, February 10

Jamie and Natalie reported that Winter Camp starts Friday night and ends on Sunday and is at Camp Woolsey (the Guiding camp on the Ottawa River at the end of Dunrobin Road). The Cost is $45 and they wanted to point out that if you have not paid and not brought your money to the camp, you will be sent home. There was a reminder to dress appropriately.

Lost Children – Winterlude: Perry noted that volunteer activity for Winterlude is scheduled for this weekend. The LCS is still looking for volunteers for this weekend and Saturday for next weekend. To volunteer, send an email to vrsc.lcs@gmail.com or contact Jessica Lough at jessicalough@rogers.com 613-321-1842.

Senior Section Youth Committee (SSYC): Alex had several announcements:

1. The RoVent Community has been formed to be lead by William McQuaid. He also announced this at the JC meeting for any youth interested in joining.
2. SSYC is looking for input on youth awards with the contact being Neil Rice. Training said there were not enough volunteer recognition awards so now they are going out to look for them or create them.
3. The Couch Rally committee will be formed after the RoVent committee is up and running. Next year they will likely consider a 2 tier challenge, e.g. the normal downtown points of interest and a more difficult one where seasoned teams are dropped off at the beginning of the canal and have to make their way downtown.
4. SSYC is looking for ideas on activities to hold a fitness challenge. The Quebec council came up with the idea for a fitness challenge activity after a leader had a heart attack at a camp. This would include senior youth and advisors, and be like a track and field event but in scouting, e.g. 100 meter dash, long jump, etc. National now wants to bring it around Canada.
5. The regular SSYC meetings will be the second Thursday of every month and will now be booked for the rest of the year (not including July and August).

.

CCRRT: Allan and Eric attended the last meeting and were privy to the bad feelings as a result of council’s decision not to extend the Central Rover Round Table charter. The Rovers felt this was done with no notification or consultation. Allan will go to National to pass on this message so that hopefully they can be supported to organize along the lines of the SSYC we have in our council. At this time the Rover Round table groups (formerly CRRRT and VRRRT) are considered to be social groups but not officially supported by national.

Training and Development:

Training and Development: Stewart addressed some questions that came up about Canoe and Boat rescue sessions. He has talked to AC training for Nepean and Rideau. Traditionally they are held the 2^nd weekend in June for Basic Canoe and the last weekend (and second last weekend in August) for the Boat Rescue.

Woodbadge Part 1: Perry asked if any one was interested in another session for Woodbadge 1 for Company targeted for advisors (e.g. if you can’t make the session at RoVent but want to take the course). If so contact him as he has about 5 interested people now but needs another 2 or 3 people. No dates, just interest asked for at this time. If enough sign up he will entertain having the session. His contact is p.shippers@gmail.com.

Wilderness First Aid: Doug Proud reported the sessions were held as expected and are now complete. There was 25 put through on both weekends for standard first aid and advanced first aid. There has been some interest to continue above that to certify for the 1^st responder.

There was also some interest in scenario based activities, for example if there is an emergency situation in the bush, this would cover how to handle it with some real type examples. He will consider organizing such a session and adding it to the VAF curriculum if there is enough interest, although he will be also looking for help to put it on. It would be open to all ventures of venture age and advisors. They would seek the involvement of MedVent and maybe turn it into a RoVent type of weekend.

Stephen noted that we are still considering the annual three cycle sessions, (1) River rescue, (2) A wilderness type first aid, and (3) a vertical high ropes rescue for the end of August as discussed previously.

Outdoor Skills Awareness Weekend: Alex announced the Outdoor skills awareness weekend to be given by members of the Carleton Area Rover Crew. This would include general canoe knowledge, trip planning sessions e.g. equipment needs for weathering a storm, dietary registrations, and a session on general equipment repair if there is a breakdown in the bush. Total participant count can be up to 37 with 4 spots open for advisors. The cost is $45 for food and lodging at OPE so just bring clothes and a sleeping bag. The target audience is for early Venturers and senior scouts. Alex will put this on the website, i.e. send Bill an electronic copy of the form.

Other Business for the evening:

Rock Climbing Equipment: Climbing equipment: Wally and Christiaan have a list of acceptable gear and are now looking at a group equipment purchase, aimed at something that could be borrowed by companies but that would be safely stored and looked after by Christiaan (and monitor the log and use and store safely). This gear would be for Venclimb events and for Venclimb 2 in April. Items would be such things as harnesses, carabiners, slings, and ropes for a total of $622 dollars. Wally proposed to use about 2/3 of the surplus from Venclimb and the rest from the council fund. This would still leave a $200 float for Venclimb. It was agreed around the table to proceed with this purchase and funding split.

OPE Flags: Marilyn would like to ask all participants who were at OPE after RoVent to let her know if they have any idea what happened to the two flags that normally hang outside the dining hall. They were donated by a supporter of OPE, and kept on the piano in the dining hall when not on the flag poles. When camps close on Sundays, the warden puts them on the piano and then will raise them again on the flag polls the following Friday for the next event. They are a Canadian flag and scouts flag (the green one) – both very large. They were last seen at the RoVent weekend.

Mountain Bikers Association: Jim has heard back from Kevin at the Ottawa Mountain Bikers Association and they are hoping to do a workshop for VAF if we should like one. He would talk about equipment, trail etiquette, trail safety, etc. They are willing to do it at the next meeting on March 4^th. They will also do sessions for individual companies or troops if anyone is interested. The vote then was yes, to have them as our feature speaker for next month. Jim will contact them and let them know we are interested in a 7 pm start with about 80 people (1/2 youth) to hear a presentation by the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association. The normal VAF and JC business meetings would follow. Jim will confirm with Kevin and Wally will let us know.

Woodbadge Level 2: Stewart wanted to test the waters for a Level 2 course this year. The recommendations is to save Part I sessions for RoVent weekends but for Part 2, those weekend tend to lose too much time to properly cover all Part 2 topics. Stewart is looking for interest to hold a split session with the first on in middle of November and the second one on the first full weekend in January. The action for VAF is to talk to your groups and area training representatives get the word out and get a crucial mass going. Stewart also asked us to consider who we would like as a course leader and as trainers, and to let him know.

Next Meeting: Tuesday March 4, 2008 at an early start time of 7 pm (assuming guest speaker)

The Chair for the Venturer Advisor Forum is Wally Gale at vafchair@rogers.com. Please contact Wally for any notices to distribute or ideas on future topics.

If there are any omissions or corrections in the minutes, please contact Catherine Snedden at csnedden@forethoughtsystems.com

Also view current and previous copies of the minutes and other VAF notices at http://web.ncf.ca/ad554/ or contact Bill Bowman at wbowman@ncf.ca to get information posted to this website.