On December 8, 2011 Scouts Canada’s chief commissioner offered an apology, “to former scouts who were sexually abused by volunteer leaders in the organization.” This apology came two months after an investigation completed by CBC titled, ‘The Fifth Estate’. This investigation revealed that former scout’s leaders abused 340 children from the 1940’s until this present day. More so, Scouts Canada knew about most of these cases and kept a secret list of pedophiles but never did anything about the crimes. The files were kept hidden from the public eye and it was a large scale cover-up.  Steve Kent stated in the apology that the organization, “sincerely and deeply apologizes to any and all former scouts who suffered harm at the hands of leaders.” He also went on to state that all of the former cases and records will be reviewed. As well, an expert panel will be coming together to examine Scout Canada’s current child protection policies.

However, many of the victims of these heinous crimes believe that this apology is not enough because it has come too late and does not heal the hurt and damage they have carried and endured for so many years.  Some also believe that it is a worthless apology because they question why it didn’t come sooner. They want Scout’s Canada to come forth with new and concrete plans to ensure that such things do not happen again.