Girl Guides of Canada : The Girl Guide movement has its origins in the 1909 Boy Scout rally held at the Crystal Palace in London, England. A group of girls appeared uninvited at this rally, dressed as and calling themselves Girl Scouts. Although meeting initial reluctance from the Chief Scout, Robert Baden-Powell, the nascent Girl Scout movement soon received his official approval. The name Girl Guides was adopted, and Agnes Baden-Powell was placed in charge.
Guiding had spread to Canada by 1910, when the first company of guides was organized in St. Catharines, Ontario. Attempts at national organization began the following year, and in 1912, a Canadian Council was formed with Lady Mary Pellatt of Toronto as the first Chief Commissioner. The Canadian Council of the Girl Guide Association was federally incorporated in 1917. Within Canada, provincial associations and where necessary divisions, districts and local associations were established to implement the Girl Guide programme. In 1961, the Canadian Council changed its name to the Girl Guides of Canada/Guides du Canada.
The philosophy underlying the Girl Guide movement is reflected in the promise required of all guides since 1909, to do their duty to God and to the King or Queen, to help other people at all times, and to obey the code of conduct known as the Guide Law. The Girl Guide movement was at first aimed at girls in the approximate range of 11 to 16 years. Soon included, however, were groups for girls aged 8 to 11 years, known originally as Rosebuds and then as Brownies, and for older girls, 15 to 19, known as Rangers. The Lone and Extension programmes were created to allow isolated girls to participate in guiding. Another group for girls aged 16 and 17, the Cadets, was later introduced.
Outdoor activities such as camping have been a major activity of Girl Guides, and the national organization has involved itself in the development and direction of this aspect of guiding through its camping committee. Other functions of the national organization have included the training of guiders, the publication of periodicals, and establishing standards and rules through the publication of Policy Organization and Rules. The Canadian organization has since its founding been part of a world movement, and in 1928, the Canadian Council was a charter member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
Other groups with an interest in girls' activities have co-operated with the Girl Guides, by sponsoring their own companies of guides sanctioned by the Canadian organization. Among such "Kindred Societies" have been: the Imperial Order, Daughters of the Empire; the Catholic Women's League of Canada; the Girls' Friendly Society; the Salvation Army; the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada; and the Fédération des femmes canadiennes-françaises. In 1962, an agreement was reached, whereby Les Guides catholiques du Canada (secteur français) affiliated with the Girl Guides of Canada and became responsible for guiding among francophone Roman Catholics. This had hitherto been the work of the Fédération des guides catholiques de la province de Québec, an affiliate of the Girl Guides since 1939.
