In 2023, the Ontario Camps Association celebrates our 90th year!
The theme of our celebration is 90 Years of Strength and Resilience, highlighted through a series of video vignettes – OCA Minutes and displays that took place at our OCA [Re]Connects 2023 Conference.
The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic presented some extraordinary challenges to society in general, and in particular to the camping industry. This was not the first time the camp industry in Ontario was challenged by external factors, such as the Second World, smallpox, and polio pandemics.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed our industry forever. From social distancing to lockdowns, testing and constantly changing guidances, the camp industry was impacted in every way. OCA and the global camping community have demonstrated once more the strength and resilience of our industry and the professionals who dedicate their lives to ensuring the delivery of safer camping experiences for campers and staff alike.
At the 2023 OCA [Re]Connects Conference, we reflected on the resolve of OCA leaders through its 90 years to meet the challenges of the day. The Hub was a room at the conference designed to encourage OCA Members to explore, share, and connect with the OCA’s rich history and wealth of camp leadership experience.
The Hub included a showcase of OCA Archives, which are normally housed at the Bata Library of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. The displays and donated presentations reconnected and reminded us of the challenges and achievements of the OCA through the 1930’s and 1940’s, right to the present day. Learn more about OCA’s History here! A part of the Hub included the continued collection of OCA’s history, recollecting the recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the camp industry.
Thank you to all members of the OCA Archives Committee and volunteers in the OCA [Re]Connects 2023 Hub for your contributions in preserving and sharing OCA’s history!
Building upon the theme of OCA’s 90 Years of Strength and Resilience, OCA assembled a collection of short videos that identified the various societal challenges and issues of the day over the nine decades of OCA’s history. In each video, OCA demonstrates how we were able to respond and grow from each new challenge. View the OCA’s 90th Anniversary videos here.
Membership in the OCA has been an amazing part of the lives of countless camp industry professionals. The impact of our community on professional development, networking and progression of the industry has lead to lifelong careers and lifelong friendships. Being able to share, to give, to receive is all part of the experience – and OCA Honorary Life Member Jane McCutcheon has embodied that in her 45+ year membership with the OCA!
Jane has been an Honourary Life Member (HLM) for almost 20 years and has fond memories dating back to her first OCA Conference in the 1970s. In celebration of OCA’s 90th Anniversary, Jane generously sponsored a gift – a beautiful mug – so that conference delegates and OCA Members would have a memento of this monumental milestone and the Strength and Resilience that brought us here.
Thank you, Jane, and thank you to all past and present OCA Members for making our Association what it is today!