A shadow over the holiday camps

Vanessa Giguère does not take off. She had to pick up her two children on Monday morning from the summer camp where they were supposed to spend the week. “We have been living with COVID-19 for two and a half years. I can’t believe they hadn’t developed a contingency plan to avoid a full shutdown in the event of an outbreak. »

Elise Fiola
The Press

This mother is not the only parent to be in this situation. In a single week, three camps were forced to send their young people home as a preventive measure, confirmed the Association des camps du Québec (ACQ).

Faced with an increase in cases of COVID-19, the La Grande Aventure en Anglais camp was forced to suspend its activities.

“My children had been waiting to go there for several months,” says Vanessa Giguère. We are extremely disappointed. When the kids were brought in, they checked everyone’s hair for five minutes to make sure none of them had lice. I think they could have taken the time to give everyone a quick test, and another 48 hours later, to be sure that no one was carrying the virus. »

Patricia Dumont and Hélène Dufour, two mothers who also traveled to Saint-Donat to pick up their children, were disappointed. However, they were in agreement with the measures that had been taken by the company, which notably asked parents to provide campers with masks.

“Considering the kind of measures that there are currently in society, I did not see any failure there,” comments Hélène Dufour.

Variable prevention measures

Since May 3, holiday camps are no longer subject to obligations related to health measures. They are called upon to follow the recommendations issued by the ACQ in agreement with Public Health, while taking into consideration their environment, their activities and their clientele, explains Valérie Desrosiers, communications coordinator for the Association des camps du Québec.

“We are noticing a rise in cases of COVID-19 in the camps, but we are experiencing the same situation in the general population,” she said in an interview with The Press.

“I don’t think The Great Adventure in English, or any other camp that was forced to close, didn’t take care of the situation at particular risk,” she said.

The management of the English learning camp did not want to answer our questions.

According to other member camps of the ACQ, the number of cases of infection would be higher among monitors than among campers. But in a context of labor shortage, it becomes difficult for the camps to provide the service, notes Valérie Desrosiers.

“For the moment, we only have isolated cases, so we are relatively spared,” says Thomas Lepage-Gouin, general manager of Le Manoir camp and chairman of the ACQ board of directors. “The possibility of a closure is a risk that we have to deal with. We are not immune to anything, but we are putting all the chances on our side so that it works and so that we can be able to offer our services throughout the summer. »

The impact on children

Since the start of the summer, numerous cases of COVID-19 have upset the plans not only of campers, but also of staff, reports Camps Odyssée general manager Gabriel Bigaouette. “It’s starting to get pretty worrying. »

Mr. Bigaouette recalls the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of young people and the importance of camps in their development. For him, returning a young person home, losing a monitor, canceling activities or completely closing the camp is “heartbreaking”.

“We just have the feeling that children are still paying the price, much more than the rest of society,” he says.

The mother of young Alexis, Patricia Dumont, was not particularly surprised by the announcement of the camp La Grande Aventure en Anglais: “It’s like a habit. Disappointments like this have happened to us on a daily basis since the start of COVID-19. »

Her 9-year-old son nevertheless has fond memories of his only week spent at the camp. “Although it’s disappointing to lose my friends so early, I really had a great experience there,” said the boy.