Scouts Canada 'shabbily' sidelined veteran volunteer, judge finds

Wayne Hannan's time as a volunteer Scouts Canada leader spans 66 years, 12 prime ministers, countless sessions on safe seafaring — and a recent court action he took against the organization because it's been an anchor in his life and he'd like it to stay that way. 

"It just makes me happy," the 86-year-old said last week inside his lawyer's office in west Ottawa, a paddle inscribed with his name and other scouting honours laid out on a table. 

The notice of application Hannan filed earlier this year against Scouts Canada turned on whether the organization treated "Scouter Wayne" fairly by denying his yearly bid to renew his status as a supervisor for an Ottawa-area sea scouts troop. 

The Ottawa Superior Court justice who has now ruled Hannan was denied "any semblance of due process" also found he may have grounds for a human rights complaint.

Justice Calum MacLeod noted the case involved suggestions of age discrimination and a defensive legal strategy from Scouts Canada that was "deeply unfair" to an elderly and long-serving volunteer.

"[He] has been treated shabbily," MacLeod wrote. 

A retired federal public servant living in Ottawa, Hannan became a youth sea scout in 1950 and then an adult scouter in 1955, much of that time with the local 115th Troop of Sea Scouts. Troops are made up of youth ages 11 to 14.

Hannan was overseen by a group commissioner responsible for approving the annual renewal of scouters' appointments, according to the decision. 

Last November, his reapplication for the 2023-2024 year was denied due to what Scouts Canada called "safety concerns and resistance to program adaptation." Hannan was surprised by the allegations, felt he had been treated unfairly and filed a notice of application in April. 

The organization's director of finance and business services wrote in an affidavit that Hannan's application was denied partly because he was disrespectful and obstructive toward a new commissioner.

She also claimed Hannan berated youth and that concerns had been raised with him orally. 

But without a "single" shred of documentation from Scouts Canada to back up its claims and the director basing her affidavit on hearsay, MacLeod "could not give it any weight at all."

"It is then particularly shocking [Scouts Canada] attempted to further besmirch the reputation of an individual that has devoted much of his life to scouting by repeating and further exaggerating that claim in the form of inadmissible affidavit evidence," MacLeod wrote.

Scouts Canada declined an interview and did not answer questions about Hannan or the court decision.