Scouts Canada & Youth Organizations

Scouts Canada, founded in 1914 as the national branch of the worldwide Scouting movement, quickly grew into one of the country’s largest youth organizations. For much of the 20th century, the organization enjoyed widespread trust, operating programs across Canada that emphasized leadership, outdoor skills, and moral development for boys and young men. However, the structures of authority, close adult–child relationships, and limited oversight created conditions in which sexual abuse could occur.

Allegations of sexual abuse within Scouts Canada began to surface publicly in the late 20th century, though survivors later revealed that incidents had been occurring for decades. Many perpetrators were adult volunteer leaders who exploited their positions of trust. For years, Scouts Canada handled complaints internally, often quietly removing accused leaders without alerting law enforcement or the public, a pattern that echoed other institutional abuse scandals of the era. Survivors have since described how this practice enabled abusers to reoffend in other communities.