The Happy Camper: Good Luck Trying to Volunteer for Outdoor Youth Programs Now
The officer-in-charge declared that I had the worst luck, ever. While taking my fingerprints at the back of the local police station, she informed me that every time I wanted to volunteer to take youth out in the outdoors, I would have to come in to get fingerprinted again and again and again, simply because some pedophile has the same birth date as mine.
It all started back in July when I applied for a police check so I could be the keynote speaker at some big Scouts Canada gathering at the end of September. Over 1,500 youth and leaders, half Canadian from southeastern Ontario (South Frontenac Group) and half American from upper New York, camped out in some giant field along the St. Lawerence River. It’s a yearly event called the World Brotherhood Camporee where youth and adults pitch their tents side by side, eat s’mores, trade Scout crests and patches and generally enjoy time in nature together.
For me to be part of the event, I had to follow protocol by signing a Code of Conduct, take a safety training course, be buddied up with a registered Scout leader throughout the event and obtain a Police Record Check (with VSS).
I’m not new to police checks, and I’m not against them either. I worked teaching youth in the outdoors for over three decades, and getting a police check—and safety certifications—was always the norm; and it still should be. What concerns me, though, is how difficult it is getting one now. A new online system was created in 2025. You could no longer go to your local police station in person. It seemed like an easier option at first—but it definitely is NOT!
The new system quickly became backlogged and caused havoc. Not only did volunteers have to wait over three months to get approved rather than the normal three days, employees such as daycare workers or social workers were out of work while waiting for their police checks.
I received my notice from the Ontario Provincial Police five months after I had applied. That’s insane!
I was able to still be the keynote speaker at the scouting event by following all the other protocols and not staying overnight throughout the event. Each night, I would drive home and then return in the morning. It was a reasonable action to take, but I certainly missed out truly connecting with the other participants. Showing 1,500 Scouts how to camp—but not camp with them—just didn’t seem right.
I finally got notice of my police check by email on November 13th, 47 days after the event had happened, and I had applied more than a couple of months prior to the event. More defeating is that it came with a note attached that informed me that my fingerprints must be taken for comparison and elimination purposes. Without the submission of fingerprints, my police check could not be completed.
I called the local police to ask why I had to be fingerprinted. It seemed odd to me. I had no criminal record; heck, I had only gotten two speeding tickets in my entire life, and they were for driving just 10 kilometres over the speed limit. I had also worked with youth in the outdoors for countless years and applied for countless police checks prior, with no issues. Their reply to me was that I was chosen randomly—this happens if your name, birth date and gender (or just your birth date and gender) resulted in a possible match to a record held in CPIC and a pardon/record suspension file. That means that every single time I want to volunteer to be in the woods with youth, I have to return to the police station to be fingerprinted until the pedophile with the same gender and birth date as me is deceased. Adding to that, if it’s for a volunteer position, then it is free, but if it’s for employment, it’s $41 for the check and a $90 fee each time I get fingerprinted. If I’m not volunteering, then I work for myself to take youth out. School boards hire me to teach species identification, kid camps employ me to teach backcountry camping workshops, youth groups pay me to motivate the new generation of campers. The hourly rate for that is less than the fingerprinting ordeal. Sad to say but then, why bother?
I certainly let the constable know how silly this all seems. But I also shared my concerns on making this system so frustrating that many people will simply stop volunteering. If you put that into the same equation with tougher regulations placed on educators to take youth outdoors and more school administrators eliminating outdoor programs all together to protect their careers, we will have less youth connected to nature and a mass epidemic in mental health. Scouts Canada itself just announced a few months back that due to declining membership and rising costs, Scouts Canada cut 30 percent of staff. In 2025, there’s a total of 45,000 young people nationally signed up for Scouts Canada, a far cry from the organization’s peak in the mid-1960’s, which is estimated to have been closer to 300,000.
The constable responded with a blank stare, and a quick comment about how crime is everywhere. My reply to that was questioning the officer on how many pedophiles were caught and arrested due to the new system. How many were being arrested by me coming in to get my fingerprints taken each time I volunteer? Again, just a blank stare and a quick comment on how the administration couldn’t tell me the answer to my questions.
I left the police station so disheartened about the future of outdoor education for the younger generation. Again, I am not against police checks, especially when it comes to spending time with youth. I agree, crime is everywhere. I have no issues proving to the leaders and parents that the kids are safe being with me. But I guarantee there is going to be an incredible amount of good-natured and law-abiding citizens that can’t be bothered volunteering if they’re treated like a common criminal.
The new screening process seems to screen volunteers out rather than in. I think Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Scouts, would be abashed.
