Sent to all active Scouters in Nova Scotia Council
Our Commitment to Communications
Welcome back to our second issue of the relaunched Nova Scouter Newsletter! Over the past 6 weeks I have had the chance to hear from many Scouters through our surveys as well as through our communications engagement session regarding how they think we can improve council communications. I want to thank everyone who has engaged with us through this process and provided valuable insights to the direction forward regarding communications. Moving forward you can expect:
  • This newsletter to be published on a monthly basis
  • Increased Facebook posts
  • As well as the relaunch of our Instagram page
We will also be introducing ways for Scouters to more easily engage with our communications team and submit content to be included in our Newsletter or posted to our social media accounts. It will be very important for us to have content to share so please see the two links below to share what your group has been up to!

Justin Chenier
NS Communications Lead
JOIN OUR TEAM!!
We are recruiting for the positions of Social Media Coordinator and Social Media Moderator. These will be fairly low commitment positions but will also offer an opportunity to drastically improve the level of communications here in Nova Scotia
Who's Who? Meet the Council Team
We are very fortunate to have a great team of scouters who support Scouting here in Nova Scotia. Leading the Council is the Council Key 3. Working with the Council Key 3 is the Group Support Team who support all of the Group Commissioners across the Council, as well as a group of Volunteers who look after recognition, communications and fundraising. In addition to these teams there are also a number of extremely dedicated staff members who enable scouting to thrive in Nova Scotia.
2020 & 2021 Top Section Awards Procedure
As many of you are aware, the Top Section Award Ceremony traditionally held by Nova Scotia Council did not occur last year due to Covid-19. All our award recipients from last year are well deserving of their awards and we would like to make sure that they are recognized. On behalf of Council, I would like to extend our sincerest congratulations. At this point in time, we are unable to hold a large ceremony; however, that does not mean our youth cannot be recognized for their incredible achievements at the group level. Group Commissioners, with the help of Section Scouters and the Section Leadership Teams, are encouraged to present Top Section Awards for any level. Usually, we would advise groups to present the certificate and crest for junior sections and just the crest for senior sections, but we will be encouraging all sections to present both the certificate and crest at this time. The certificates can be found at the following links for Beavers and Cubs, while for the senior sections, we will mail the certificates out. Please fill out the below form to receive certificates for youth in the senior sections. We are hopeful that this summer we may be able to hold a ceremony or multiple smaller ceremonies to recognize the accomplishments of our youth from both this year and last year, but in the meantime, we wish each and every award recipient the best. Congratulations! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].
An Update on Properties
CAMP HARRIS
As everyone is aware, Camp Harris had to shut down last year like all other Scouting camps in the province due to COVID-19.  The Camp Harris Camp Committee continues to work to meet the administrative, health, insurance, and regulatory requirements to receive approval of Scouts Canada National Property Management to allow the camp to open as soon as possible. The goal is to be open some time in April.

When the camp opens, it will initially be on a limited basis.  There will be restrictions on the number of campers and usable areas of the camp.  The camp booking procedure will also be different as we are moving to the national DoubleKnot system.

We continue to work on the COVID-19 camp protocols.  Groups using the camp will need to follow these protocols carefully.  They will be released as soon as approved.
We will keep you updated on our progress and the opening date.
CAMP NEDOOAE
Following the fire that took place at the camp on December we are aware that a number of scouters are wondering the current status of the property. However, at this time there are no major updates on Nedooae. We continue to work with insurance and police on their assessments.
HAROLD T. BARRETT FUN FOREST CAMP
2nd Beaver Bank’s Harold T. Barrett Fun Forest Camp is currently open and available for evening and full day rentals. The camp is located on Beaver Bank Lake and there are 4 canoes with a supply of PFDs available. In addition to lake front access on Beaver Bank Lake, the property has a hiking trail through the woods and the surrounding Crown Land has a very large network of woods roads available to hike or bike. 

There are two zones available to rent, each equipped with a fire pit and a supply of free wood for campfires. The front area next to the lodge has an open field and lakefront access. The wooded area behind the camp is equipped with a dining shelter. 

The camp is a great spot to practice your Scout Craft skills with a supply of pioneering poles and 45 gallon drums which are great for making towers and rafts. Your group can also practice your axe, saw and shelter building skills as we have a number of trees that you are permitted to cut.
To help maintain a safe environment we have detailed COVID 19 safety and disinfection procedures in place. 

All bookings for the camp are now done online through Scouts Canada’s Doubleknot system. To learn more about the camp feel free to email us at [email protected] or visit us online at HERE
1st Armdale's Colony: A Model of Adaptability
1st Armdale Beavers have been an active colony since returning to Scouting in October 2020 after breaking at the start of the pandemic. By following the ever-evolving restrictions in the Province and with Scouts Canada our colony has focused on a few guiding principles to ensure safe and active adventures. Some of the best practices we’ve adopted are:
 
  • Following Scouts Canada and our groups’ focus on outdoor time, we've kept almost everything outside and as new kits joined, we’ve made sure safety is our first priority as most of our meetings have been at night and in the dark.
  • Maintain high energy activities such as hikes, scavenger hunts and sledding.
  • We’ve had great attendance due in part to many other activities not being available during lock downs.
  • For Nova Scotia we've had a great amount of snow this winter which has allowed us to do lots of winter themed meetings. We've made a lean-to, a quinzee, sledded and went on several winter hikes.
  • When restrictions tightened up, we went virtual. We held meetings on celebrating our emergency workers, reviewed personal first aid kits, held virtual scavenger hunts and talked about technology in our homes.
 
As the weather warms up, we have a lot of fun things planned for the spring. We are choosing to keep everything outside as it allows us to easily incorporate the 5 SPICES at our meetings. 
 
Some of the spring activities planned include making a bee hotel with old milk cartons and twigs, leaves and branches we will collect, bird feeders, a park clean up, planting seeds and a review of animals and baby animals as they come out of hibernation including a discussion on some of the safety precautions while hiking in the woods when baby animals are out for the first time.
 
We look forward to when we can meet with other groups again and get out camping!

-Scouters Krishna Bakthavathsalu and Mary Pam Vincer
The Fun Doesn't Stop with Virtual Scouting
Nova Scotia Council Commissioners Award
Introducing Nova Scotia Council's newest award for youth and scouters! Nova Scotia Council Commissioner’s Award recognizes adult and youth members of Nova Scotia Council who demonstrate significant commitment to scouting in Nova Scotia and follow the elements of the Canadian Path. This can be identified through the commendation process in the Scouts Canada recognition program, or a letter of nomination from scouting members in the Nova Scotia Council.
National Volunteer Opportunities
Seven of the National Functional Teams are holding a volunteer fair on Monday March 15th at 8pm as well as Thursday March 18th at 10pm. This will provide an opportunity to learn about various national teams and explore exciting volunteer opportunities across Canada.

Tentatively the Teams that will be attending the Virtual Volunteer Recruitment Fair are:
Program Support, Duke of Edinburgh, Safe Scouting, Communications, Properties, Revenue Development and World Jamboree

Registration links for each of the two times are below:

(After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.)