Catholic students in the Chatham and Sarnia areas will no longer go to Muskoka for their leadership camps in the Spring.
The St. Clair Catholic District School Board reported on Tuesday that the annual Christmas in Muskoka fundraising event and the Spring time leadership camps at Muskoka Woods will be discontinued and replaced with a new camp somewhere in southwestern Ontario.
Director of Education Scott Johnson said the difficult decision was made for a variety of reasons, including the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic.
"After much consideration and discussion with our Christmas in Muskoka partners and volunteers, the Board has decided to discontinue both the Christmas in Muskoka annual event and the yearly Grade 7 leadership camps at Muskoka Woods in Rosseau, Ontario," said Johnson. "Although the number of [COVID-19] cases continues to decline, there is no way to predict what lies ahead. Overnight camps require close cohabitation, which may or may not be permitted one year from now.”
Local Grade 7 and 8 Catholic students will now be offered an annual one-day leadership day camp at a venue in southwestern Ontario to be announced later.
"The Board believes this will be a very valuable leadership building experience, which will be more affordable and more easily addresses health and safety considerations due to the uncertainty of COVID," Johnson said.
The last camps and events were held in December of 2019 and were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID.
According to the board, there will be more details regarding the day camp experience for the 2022-2023 school year in the weeks and months ahead.
Meanwhile, the Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB) said it hopes to resume field trips to Muskoka Woods for students next year even though staff from Muskoka Woods came to several sites across the Lambton Kent District School Board for activities with students during the week of May 16, 2022.
"While the activities looked different this year from the in-person programming at Muskoka Woods, in part due to challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are pleased with the enriching extracurricular opportunities provided to LKDSB students through the onsite programming this year," said the public school board in a statement.
