Fewer kids off to Manitoba summer camps as staff shortages, COVID worries and travel plans impact signups

After two years of pandemic restrictions, camping directors across Manitoba expected a tsunami of campers to sign up for a quintessential summer activity — overnight camping — but registration is lower than expected, with some camps running under half-capacity. 

Some camps reduced the numbers themselves. A lack of adequate certified staff like lifeguards and health officers reduced the number of available spots for some overnight camps. 

"We were only able to open up as many spots at camp as we have staff available. So we had to first find staff and then make sure that we were able to host the kids over the summer," said Chris Buffington, executive director of Camp Arnes, located in Arnes, Man. 

Buffington, who says campers are now on a wait-list, said the number of campers before the pandemic was four times higher than it is now. The camp is still seeking workers for nine categories of jobs, including lifegaurds, camp nurses and cabin leaders, according to its website.

At least three camps said they had challenges securing the lifeguards and health officers needed to invite more campers. 

"Normally, I have three lifeguards on my beach. Now that they have one, we have a lot of split swims, you know, where we just have 20 kids at a time rather than a large group," said Don Roe, Director of Gimli Bible Camp, just north of Gimli, Man. 

Roe said it takes several years to build the staff for a camp, and the the pandemic dealt a serious blow to camp staffing that will take years to fix. 

Roe said his camp is probably at forty per cent capacity, and they have enough cabin leaders to run, but those staff members are all giving 100% all the time. 

"If this happens all summer long, they're probably going to get tired. But again, the kids are going to have fun, the big thing is how much attention can we give them? How much relationship-building can we do?" said Roe. 

Reduced capacity due to staffing is just one of the reasons fewer kids in Manitoba are in camps this year. In some situations there is space for campers, but directors aren't sure why kids haven't turned up. 

Manitoba Pioneer Camp, held near Kenora, On., is just about half full, though it was expected to be closer to 65 or 70 per cent, said Neil Steward, executive director of the camp.

"June is normally a big bump month where we see a number of campers sign up, and we just haven't really seen that," he said. 

There were two main reasons for reduced registrations from the parents Steward spoke to, he said, and the first was apprehension about COVID-19. 

"Some of them are like, you know, we'd just rather wait a little bit longer before we put our kids in with a whole bunch of people," said Steward.