​Dear Camp Families, Staff and Supporters,
The Camp Tanner Inc. board met last night. Unfortunately, we came to a very difficult decision. Camp Tanner will not be opening for summer 2021 due to COVID-19.
 
A number of factors played a role in making this decision.  We have been working closely with the local health unit to determine the possibilities for us to open in summer 2021. They have indicated that at this time, the current re-opening plan does not include overnight camps. Thus, unless changes are made by the province before summer, overnight camps will again be not allowed to run. With the province currently entering another stay-at-home order, they do not see an announcement of this kind being made in the near future. With this amount of uncertainty and numbers on the rise we feel it is unlikely we will be permitted to run again this summer. As we would need to start preparing for our summer season, we do not feel it is fair to our staff or families to put off the decision any longer. Thus, we have come to the decision to remain closed.
 
Ultimately, we feel that the situation will not be resolved enough to allow for a safe camp environment this summer. We want to ensure that our staff, campers and families are safe, and feel that at this time remaining closed is the best way to do this.
 
We have made this decision at this point to ensure that both staff and parents have enough time to make alternate arrangements for this summer.
 
We want to thank you for your continued support, and hope to be able to open for summer 2022. Until then, keep watching our social media for some fun posts and activities over the summer.
Keep safe, and continue to keep the camp spirit alive,
Grrrruff & The Camp Tanner Board

​Hi Camp Families,
 
We are currently still waiting to open our registration for summer 2021. The health unit currently is still awaiting a decision as to if overnight summer camps will be allowed in summer 2021. As for now we continue to patiently wait along with you. We have decided that we will update with the health unit in early April and will be making our final decision about summer 2021 on April 8 following our April board meeting. We hope to have good news as of April 8 and will be able to open registration. Stay tuned for more updates then!
 
As for staff, we are currently still taking staff applications. Our application deadline for staffing is March 21, 2021. We would like to collect all applications for interested applicants so that we can begin interviews in April if (and hopefully when) we get the green light to open. Applicants who have applied before March 21 will have first consideration so apply now!
 
Thanks for your patience in this challenging time,
Grrrruff & The Camp Tanner Inc. Board

​Dear Camp Families,
 
This month’s post is coming a little later into the month as our guiding information has changed a lot this month. Back in January the health unit was advising us that they were hopeful to allow overnight camps to open in summer of 2021. With that knowledge we had set dates for our 2021 camps. These summer dates are:
Intermediate Co-Ed #1: July 11-16, 10-13 yrs.
Junior Co-Ed #1: July 18-23, 7-10 yrs.
Intermediate Co-Ed #2: July 25-30, 10-13 yrs.
Junior Co-Ed #2: August 1-6, 7-10 yrs.
Senior Co-Ed: August 8-13, 12-15 yrs.
Junior Co-Ed #3: August 15-20, 7-10 yrs.
Note: that May weekend is not included as we had already decided to cancel our May camp this year.
 
We currently are releasing these dates as our hopeful summer 2021 camp dates. We had planned to open registration as of March 1, 2021. However, this week we have received new guidance from the health unit. They were previously moving forward with approving overnight camps, but have taken them back off the table for the time being. With the increase of variants being seen right now they are currently reconsidering overnight camps. For now, they are continuing to say that we cannot open for summer 2021, but that they will be reassessing this further into the spring. Thus, we return to waiting on decisions from higher up. We are ready and prepared to open registrations if/when the government makes a decision on overnight camps. For now, we are waiting for further decisions to be made. This will depend on how the pandemic situation unfolds into the spring of 2021.
 
A decision that the Camp Tanner Inc. board did reach this month is that we will continue to run only as an overnight camp. In January we had parents complete a interest survey. In this survey we asked parents if they would be interested in sending their kids to camp if Camp Tanner were to run as a day camp. Most parents said no to this, and we feel there is not enough interest in a day camp experience at Camp Tanner. Thus, we have decided that we will not run day camps. If Camp Tanner operates in summer of 2021 it will be as an overnight camp or not at all.
 
As of now we have begun staffing. We are starting to collect staff applications and will begin to review these and interview if we get word that we will be able to open for summer 2021. Interested candidates should still send in their applications so that we can hire in a timely manner if/when we do get approval to open.
 
We wish we had more positive news for you, but for now we continue to wait,
Grrrruff & The Camp Tanner Board

​Dear Families,
Here is our first 2021 update. Here is hoping you all had an enjoyable, yet different than ever, holiday season. As we begin into 2021, we are presented with our first glimmer of hope that 2021 summer will be different than 2020. We have been in discussions with our local health unit (Southwestern Public Health). For the first time in our planning with them, they are finally suggesting there is a possibility of overnight summer camps being given permission to open.  However, there are still a lot of unknowns to that happening and they are still working on approving rules and guidelines for overnight camps. That being said, we are starting to investigate if we can meet the guidelines that we are starting to receive in order to create a safe environment for all. It may still be a bit before overnight camps get full approval to run, and changing numbers of cases leading in to the summer may still change our plans, but for now we are hopeful to at least run at some capacity.
 
What we do know for sure as of now, is that our camper and staff numbers will likely be significantly reduced. In order to best serve you our families and know more about our potential camper populations, we are going to be creating a family survey. We want to know who is interested in returning to camp and camper ages. This will help us do our best to make sure we can accommodate as many campers as possible with our limited capacity. It’s very important to us that returning campers, who love Camp Tanner, don’t get left without a spot. The survey will be coming out around Jan. 15, please check your e-mail and/or our social media accounts for the link. Please consider completing the survey so that your opinions and interest is accounted for in our planning.
 
Registration is still on hold until we decide on dates. We will be picking camp dates at our next board meeting (the first week of February). We want to wait until then as we want to see camper interest from our family survey before we set dates. We are going to do our best to adjust age groups to best accommodate the ages of our interested campers. So Please complete the survey so your camper is not missed! Dates for camps will likely come out in early February with registrations beginning in mid-to-late February.
 
With the hope of camp running, we are also in the early stages of staffing. Our camper numbers will obviously impact our staff needs, but we would like to start getting an idea of how many staff may be interested in returning to work with us this summer. We will also be putting out a staff survey to determine staff interest. Staff can look for this coming to them near Jan. 15 as well. This is not a commitment to work but just an indication of interest to apply. We hope our staff will complete this to help us know where our staffing gaps may lie.
 
Thanks to all our families for being patient with us as we navigate these uncertain times,
Grrrruff and the Camp Tanner Board 

Dear Families,
We continue to plan for the 2021 season. We are currently seeking contact with the local health units to determine safe ways to operate and get a better understanding of the capacity our camp may be allowed to have for a safe 2021 season. Our capacity and camper numbers will affect our registrations so we are still waiting to open registration and release camp dates for 2021. We are considering a few possibilities for changes to camp dates for 2021, but hope to have these posted by early 2021. Our goal is to open registration in February 2021, with an opportunity for returning families to have a first chance to register. More details on this will come to you by email in late January.
 
We have made a decision regarding our May weekend camp that we typically run on the Victoria Day weekend. This camp will not run for 2021. We feel staff will need additional time to be trained, and the camp will need additional time to be cleaned and prepared for the changes that will take place in our 2021 season to keep all campers safe.  Thus, we feel May weekend camp would not be in the best interest of safety for all. We typically run our CIT training at this camp. If you would have been a CIT last year, or will be a CIT this year, we still plan to do some of this training. It will just happen at a different time and in a different format. Likely we will have a CIT/ new counsellor training closer to the start of summer.
 
Hope you all are staying safe,
Grrrruff and the Camp Tanner Board