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Camp Canyon is back! See our mini-camps for 2025. Full camps will return in 2026!
Since 1944
Camp Canyon has a long legacy in Southern Alberta.
Read more below!
The present site of Canyon Church Camp in Paahtómahksikimi (the Blackfoot name for Waterton Lakes National Park) was chosen in 1940 by a group of boys called the Trail Blazers, led by two United Church Ministers from New Dayton, Alberta. They returned every summer until 1944, when Lethbridge Presbytery of the United Church of Canada formally applied to Parks Canada for a permanent facility. That summer, a dining hall, kitchen, one sleeping cabin, and an outhouse were built, mainly by volunteers.
In 1945, an editorial in the Lethbridge Herald drew attention to the benefits of youth camps by noting that the camp provided recreation “that cannot be overrated in its value to boys and girls. The more facilities of this nature for present day youth, the better the citizenship of the future.”
The facilities grew gradually over the years, and religious services were a regular part of the camp activities, offered in an outdoorsy chapel with hand-hewn benches. Camp activities included swimming, hiking, crafts, campfires, dining room duties, and singing.
Kate Parry in front of the Lodge in 1963.
Kate Parry's Legacy
If an army runs on its stomach, so too does a youth camp.
Kate Parry of Taber, a mother of 5 who was widowed in 1940, spent 20 summers cooking for the campers, watching those who returned each year grow up. She was a cherished regular among the camp counsellors.
In honour of her long service, the main lodge was named for Parry in 1963.
The Kate Parry Lodge in 2024
Generations of Memories
1991
2000
1993
Camp Canyon in the 21st Century
After the Kenow Wildfires destroyed most of our camp in 2017, we have gradually been rebuilding and returning to our site in Waterton Lakes National Park. We are immensely happy that Canyon Church Camp will continue to operate at the Camp Canyon Centre for Stewardship as part of the United Church of Canada’s camping ministry!
Camp Canyon, Canyon Church Camp, Camp Canyon Centre for Stewardship... I'm a bit lost!!
We appreciate that members of our CCC community might have questions about the camp facility rebrand. "Canyon Church Camp" is still the specific name of the youth camp operating as part of the United Church of Canada’s camping ministry in Waterton Park. By using the shorthand “Camp Canyon,” we additionally refer to the Camp Canyon Centre for Stewardship, which is the new name for the physical camp site and structures. This new name reflects our goal of welcoming diverse members of our Southern Alberta community, including school groups and organizations that run programming with a strict environmental education focus.
We look forward to welcoming new generations of diverse campers to experience Community, Connection, and Creation at CCC!
Camp craft made in 1947 by Gretta Carlson Jensen Jefferson
Canyon Church Camp's legacy lives on!
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