I heard there were some issues when MyScouts transitioned from renewals to open registration on June 1. What happened?  

On May 31 (approx. 10 PM ET) we started the planned transition from our membership renewal phase to open registration. MyScouts was unavailable for renewals during this time period, impacting some families who expected to be able to renew until June 1.  

Additionally, as part of this transition, there was a capacity adjustment in MyScouts to ensure that existing members who are registered until the end of December but have not renewed, had their spot reserved.  

For the majority of Sections this calculation worked perfectly, however there were approximately 250 Sections who were already over their set capacity, resulting in the system increasing their capacity higher than it should have been.   
 

How can I explain this to my volunteers and families?  

While communications have been sent, we’ve drafted a Conversation Guide with messaging that you can use while having discussions about the issues, or how to find a solution.  
 

Why did my Section capacity change on June1? Why was it different than expected? 

When we adjusted capacities on May 31, there was a gap in the formula that didn’t fully account for situations where renewals were higher than current-year membership (often because youth are moving between Sections). 
 
In some cases, that resulted in: 

  • Sections appearing to have more available space than they actually do 
  • Waitlists temporarily clearing and invitations being sent to register into sections that are full 
  • Capacity numbers changing unexpectedly overnight  

Has the capacity calculation issue been resolved? 

Yes! The capacity calculation was corrected in the afternoon of June 1. 

A targeted update was applied to Sections where renewals exceeded current membership, as these were the cases where the original formula created extra (incorrect) space. 

Sections that did not meet this condition were not part of the automated update. In some cases, that means there may still be Sections where capacity does not yet reflect the intended value. 
 

How can we accurately update Section’s capacity? 

If your Section’s capacity looks incorrect, you can safely update it. 

Max Participants (Current Scouting Year) = how many youth your section can accommodate between now and August 31, 2026 

Max Participants (Next Scouting Year) = how many total youth you expect in the section during 2026-27 Scouting Year (both returning + new) 

In simple terms: 

Set your Next Year Capacity to the total number of youth your Section can accommodate during 2026-27 Scouting Year (Sept 1, 2026 to Aug 31, 2027), regardless of whether they are not renewing, renewing, or new. 

If your Section is already full, no changes are needed. 

If you want to accept more members, increase your capacity accordingly. 

Families on my waitlist received registration invitations when we didn’t have space. What happened there? 

In some cases, Sections appeared to have available space when they were actually full. 

This triggered the system to send automatic invitations to families on the waitlist. 

If this occurred in your section, those invites may not reflect true availability. 

I had the opposite problem – it seemed like the waitlist stopped sending out invites on June 1. What happened? 

During the changeover, waitlist processing was impacted while we corrected how capacity was being calculated. 

As a result, some Groups may have seen: 

• Waitlist invitations going out of order, or not reflecting the correct priority
• Invitations being sent to families when Sections were already full
• Waitlists temporarily clearing or not updating as expected 

If I noticed the waitlist still isn’t working, what should I do now? 

Things should now be functioning normally. We are continuing to monitor for any abnormal cases, but if your waitlist continues to not work correctly, please submit a Request outlining the issue.  

How do we know if our Group was impacted? Will we be contacted? 

Affected Groups are being notified by e-mail. The e-mail is being distributed to Group Commissioners, Administrators, and Registrars.  If you did not get an email by 11 PM EDT on June 5, your Group was not impacted.  

• If you think your Group was impacted but you have not been contacted: 

• Review your Section capacity and any registration notifications to confirm they’re valid 

• No action is required unless something looks incorrect 

• Please submit a Request if you need help reviewing your Section 

What are the next steps if we hear our Group was affected? 

• Check your Section capacities to ensure they are correct 

• We have communicated with families whose waitlist links have been sent in error and subsequently cancelled. If a family contacts the Group directly and your Group CANNOT accommodate them, you can use the draft communication template in the Conversation Guide to help with the messaging to the family.   

If families invited to register, were able to complete their registration and your Group CANNOT accommodate them: 

• Work with the impacted family and other local Groups who may have capacity to take on an additional youth.  Transfers can be made by submitting a Participant Group Transfer Request to the Support Centre. To ensure faster processing, receiving Group should initiate transfer request.  If you require Group contact information, please contact your CK3. 

• Consider having a conversation with the parents of the new youth to see if they have any interest in volunteering.   

• The Section should review if they are able to safely increase the capacity to accommodate the youth, while staying within Scouts Canada’s required volunteer to youth ratio (8 to 1).   

• At this point if we cannot find a spot for a youth, you may advise the parent to Request a Refund via the Support Centre. You can use the draft communication template in the Conversation Guide to help with the messaging to the family.   

• Continue managing your Section based on what you can realistically support.

Scouts Canada recognizes that local circumstances vary from Group to Group. Based on feedback from volunteers, decisions regarding accommodation of youth who registered as a result of the capacity issue are being made locally by Groups. The Conversation Guide and communication templates were developed in response to volunteer feedback and requests for support in navigating these discussions with families. By providing these resources, Scouts Canada aims to empower Groups to determine the most appropriate solution for their Groups while ensuring consistent and transparent communication. We appreciate the collaborative, solution-focused approach Groups and volunteers have taken, working in partnership with Scouts Canada to support families and ensure that, wherever possible, youth have the opportunity to take part in safe and fun adventures through Scouting.