Camp Jackson Dodds was a Scouts Canada camp that opened in 1953 in Rawdon, Quebec. It closed in 2005. While in use, the camp was a gathering place for many visitors from across the Valley. Earlier this summer, Mary-Pauline Vatsis, a former camp employee and current Scouts Canada support centre agent, organized a reunion to bring back some of the magic of being at that camp.
The idea came to Vatsis and Bev Watson when they were at a funeral for someone they used to work with at the camp. “Quite a lot of the past staff members came to give their respects. And then we decided that we should have a reunion before anybody else passed away,” Vatsis says.
There is a long history of people from the Valley attending this camp. The original camp director was Joan Ramsey, who lived in Huntingdon, and the Scout groups from Huntingdon, Howick and Hemmingford visited often. Vatsis says, “I worked there from 1992 until it closed, and was camp director for the last six years it was open. There were about 20 staff members every summer, and roughly 600 Cubs camped there every summer: 100 campers over six weeks.”
The reunion was an all -day event on August 29, and included a campfire, good food, performances and lots of nostalgia. The camp was on Lac Cloutier, and Vatsis says, “There was this fake pirate named Captain Cloutier, and he ‘lived’ on the lake. So, at our reunion we had a pirate flag in the sand bar in the middle of the Trout River. It was like, ‘Captain Cloutier’s boat ran aground.’”
Some of the guests had not seen each other since they left camp 21 years ago and got the chance to meet each other’s families. “It was kind of really cool to see, like, campfire over the generations, all together. We had a lot of our kids there,” she says.
Vatsis believes that Camp Jackson Dodds was truly a special place. “I think [it was] because the geography of the camp was cut off from the rest of where we were. We were on the end of a lake, like it was kind of an escape. So, the kids could basically run free on fifty acres of land, and we knew that they would be safe – they would be absolutely safe and contained. So, it was like its own little slice of the universe,” she explains.
During their time there, the employees and volunteers developed great camaraderie and lots of inside jokes that made it feel extra special.
Though Camp Jackson Dodds is closed, there are still many ways to get involved with Scouts Canada. Vatsis says that these programs are still so important because in a post-pandemic world they highlight “learning outside, not in the school room – and learning by doing, by failing, and making your own decisions and not just being provided with everything. It’s all about building up the person.”
To learn more about Scouts in the area, or to join, email kenwatson68@hotmail.com.