The Boy Scouts of Canada had been offering their services to the civil and military authorities since the beginning of August, increasingly so after war was declared on 4 August. Although the Dominion Council of the Canadian Boy Scots was unable to advise what exact way the organization should take part in the current crisis, Boy Scouts were reminded by the Canadian Government to help in anyway that they could.
The Boy Scouts of Canada were encouraged to follow the example of their brother scouts in the British Isles. The British Boy Scouts were assisting in the maintenance of the police, the coast guard and the post office services by guarding telegraph lines and serving as messengers for the Red Cross Society. Canada’s Dominion Council encouraged the Canadian Scouts to aid in war preparations in any way that they could.
(“Encourages Boy Scouts,” Berlin Daily-Telegraph, 14 August 1914, “Encourages Boy Scouts,” Waterloo Chronicle Telegraph, 20 August 1914; Photo courtesy of the Canadian War Museum: http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/propaganda/images/photos/pa42857.jpg)
Boy scouts in front of the patriotic Fund’s Ottawa Headquarters in Ottawa in 1914.
