As the Newmarket Scouting Group bid farewell to the central symbol of their club of nearly 50 years, a stuffed wolf named Akela, they did one last pack call.
“Akela, we’ll do our best!” the members shouted, welcoming their ceremonial figure to its new home at the Vivian Outdoor Education Centre in Whitchurch-Stouffville Nov. 24.
The scouts donated the wolf for the York Region District School Board’s educational facility. After losing a hall to call their own in 2017, the scouts no longer had the space for it and found a permanent home for the regular fixture.
Group commissioner Bob Pearson said he was glad to have found a home for the wolf.
“He will be more useful in a larger context, so I’m very happy to have found a good home for him because we just couldn’t do it. We don’t have any space,” Pearson said.
The space was lost when a 10-year municipal lease for their Pine Street scout hall expired. Pearson said the scouts did not feel they had the capacity or finances to make the hall worth repairing as it degraded, and so they left it.
The Akela symbol was originally donated by the Newmarket Optimist Club in 1977, through a connection with the Ministry of Natural Resources. Akela, named for a character in The Jungle Book, is a figure often used throughout Scouts Canada. While most cubs and scouts will use heads to represent the wolf, perhaps made of wood or other materials, the Newmarket groups had a whole wolf body to use for ceremonies.
The stuffed wolf presided over the scout hall but was moved to the Newmarket Optimist Club when the hall was abandoned. With the scouts now using various community facilities and schools to run events, Pearson said they sought a permanent home for it.
It was the Vivian Outdoor Education Centre that said yes. Home to other stuffed animals, outdoor and environmental education teacher Paul Cooney said they saw a good teaching opportunity with it.
“That top predator has such a bad reputation as the big bad wolf,” he said. “Do some education about an animal like that and lower the fear.”
Principal of curriculum and instructional services for outdoor education Ken Pettigrew said about 5,000 students visit the centre in a typical year, so Akela will get plenty of exposure.
“Many of our students are living in communities that are where nature is hard to find,” he said. “This is a way of helping bring nature alive for them.”
But there were some sad feelings from the scouts saying farewell to their longtime companion. Treasurer Dan Perron said there are many memories associated with the wolf, but he was glad it was going to the centre.
“That’s the redeeming factor about it. It’s not going to be locked up and put away somewhere. It’s going to be seen,” he said.
Pearson said they will use a new totem representing Akela, a styrofoam wolf head. He said the club has faced facility challenges in the pandemic, but is carrying on, seeking more volunteers to get more members in.
“Looking forward to moving forward and getting back to normal after COVID,” he said.
But wherever the Newmarket scouts call, it will still be for Akela, keeping a promise to do their best.
