I won’t tell—Scout’s honour

Should we take a deeper look into the organizations that our families are involved in?

By Crystal Cline

“I promise to share and be a friend.”

Does that motto ring a bell? Remember the days of Brownies and Sparks? The cute little pink or brown outfits you’d wear to your meetings, the rhymes you’d learn, clever outdoor tricks you’d master with your leaders, and the friends you met that seemed to last your lifetime?

Well, those memories are now met with deep concern for some parents as the Girl Guide counterpart, Scouts Canada, has recently been splashed on newspapers and television screens across the country. CBC’s investigative journalists uncovered 13 scout leaders who have been charged with lewd conduct towards children.

According to the CBC, Scouts Canada knew of a known sex offender in their organization and the Scouts of America organization. This character jumped from what seemed like group to group, and molested many young boys.

As of the mid-1990s, Scouts Canada began to require adult volunteers and staff to go through a screening process consisting of police record checks and reference checks. CBC reported that, since 1995, over 24 lawsuits have been filed with Scouts Canada. I guess it was about time they started some kind of screening process for their volunteers.

Scouts Canada is in the public eye. I don’t understand why the cover-up. From any communication standpoint, trust is usually restored when the company is open with the public.

In the 1970s, Ford covered up a scandal—the infamous Ford Pinto caused a stir. When the vehicle was rear ended, the gas tank would ignite, and this flaw resulted in numerous deaths around the United States. Ford paid the victims’ families secretly and nothing was really made public about the tragic events until a lawsuit was filed by a grieving family member regarding a recent loss due to a Ford Pinto-related accident.

American college sports have also seen its share of scandals this month. On the football scene, Pennsylvania State University was levelled by a multitude of people accusing former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky of molesting them when they were young boys. Sandusky operated a training camp for young boys in the offseason when he was an assistant coach with Penn State.

It came out that long-time head coach, Joe Paterno, had known of these assaults for a number of years and had not acted upon them. When this was revealed in the media, Penn State had its hand forced and the long-time coach was unceremoniously fired by the school before the end of its season.

In college basketball, Syracuse Orange assistant coach Bernie Fine has been accused of similar missteps. So far, he has had three different accusers come forward, and audio tapes have revealed that his wife knew of these offences as far back as 2002.

In both of these accusations, as well as with the recent Scout scandal, it seems there has been a tendency to withhold information. Omission is the same as lying to the public. Parents trust these organizations with their children, thinking that they will be free from danger and that they will enjoy their weekend, their meeting, or whatever, and not be traumatized for life.

This all sounds like a horrible made-for-TV movie. Yet, this is reality. Trust has been shattered, and it makes me wonder: Will my future children, or my friends’ children, ever really be safe?

Should we take a deeper look into the roots of the organizations that our families utilize? Should we always keep one eye open before saying goodbye to the children we care for as they walk out the door to the next Scouts meeting? I guess Scout’s honour will never have the same meaning.

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