For Parents

One ER nurse or a doctor lives on-site 24/7 each session to provide medical care and administer medications. The Smiths Falls and Perth Hospitals are within a twenty-minute drive if emergency services are required. Ambulance service is local and serviced by Paramedics.

All of our counselling staff have Emergency or Standard First Aid and the Red Cross Bronze Cross award. Staff also receive intensive on-site safety training. All buildings are equipped with smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are located nearby. Buildings and fire protection services at camp are inspected annually by the local Fire Department.

Our cooks prepare popular, well-balanced meals that appeal to the hearty appetites of our campers. We offer a vegetarian choice at each meal. Fresh fruit and salad are served daily.

You can download our Health and Safety Committee Policy here. Our Tick Protocol and Daily Health Check Policy can be found here.

Camp Otterdale follows strict safety protocols to deal with Ticks, as well as daily health checks for each of our campers and staff. You can read about the Camp Otterdale Tick Protocol and Daily Health Check Policy here.

When you drop your child off on the first day of overnight camp, you will be directed to the parking area where you will be met by your child’s Camp Counsellor. They will assist you with the luggage and will show you to the cabin your child will be residing in. Please join us on the last day of our two-week sessions for our Closing Ceremonies! It's an informal celebration of camp life and community that will provide you with a glimpse of the camaraderie and accomplishments that develops when a whole group of campers live and grow together. We believe its quite magical!

Camp Otterdale is a peanut and nut free zone. We also can provide special diets for our campers and staff who have specific allergies or restrictions based on religious or philosophical beliefs. Every meal has at least two options, unless there are other needs; Meat and Vegetarian. Our Kitchen Staff are very receptive to providing a special diet for your child and will work with Captain and Muskie to ensure the safety of preparation and cooking, as well as the ordering and planning of specific meals. If your child requires a special diet, please indicate this on the Child information section when you are registering them.

Due to ongoing issues with respect to laundry services, we only offer laundry service for campers who are staying for a month or for emergencies. Please pack enough clothes for your child to cover a two week session.

A clothing and essentials list is here! We recommend old clothes that are suitable to the camp environment. Please note that Campers should not bring electrical equipment such as hair dryers or radios, since power is not available for their use in the cabins. We strongly discourage electronics such as game boys, CD/DVD players and will take and hold cell phones in the office until the end of the session should they be brought to camp.

Please have a look at our Camp Otterdale Item Checklist to help you pack.

At camp, we deliberately restrict communication via text and phone to engage campers with their camp community. We understand that this may be difficult but we ask campers and parents not to pack cell phones or other data devices. Please feel free to contact us through email or phone if you want to check in and see how they are doing!

During the camp session, we encourage you to utilize the camper email service (Bunk 1) to send mail to your child during their stay. We also welcome your call or email to the office if you want to check in and find out how they are doing. If we can’t tell you right away, we will talk with their counsellors and get right back to you.

We encourage campers to send mail home and recommend that campers arrive with stamped, addressed envelopes. Mail is collected and distributed daily.

Bunk1 is a one-way email service set up to allow you to send messages to your child when they are at camp. Assorted options are available. You can arrange for a message to be delivered once a day during your child’s session, or opt to send a one time only email.

Experience has shown that the arrival and departure of visitors can be very disruptive to the camp program. Consequently, we do not have a scheduled Visitor’s Day.

Each two-week session at camp has an associated theme such as Space, Scottish Highland Games or Spies and Private Eyes to create a fun atmosphere. These change each year so that no theme will be repeated unless by popular demand! We ask that each camper try to put together a simple costume related to their session theme(s) and bring it with them to camp.

Camp Otterdale is located 87 km south of Ottawa and 84 km north of Kingston, near the Village of Lombardy, Ontario, Canada. To reach Otterdale, travel on highway 15 from Ottawa or Kingston and look for the large highway sign at Frayn Road, which is 4 km south of Lombardy. Turn onto Frayn Road, travel 0.5 km to the camp entrance located on the left side of the road.

At Camp Otterdale, we live with respect, our philosophy that camp is a place “where everyone belongs,” every single day, in all aspects of living in this community. We strive to eliminate barriers, to promote equity, and to encourage the voices of everyone in our community.

We recognize and highly regard the diversity of people. We are committed to broadening our awareness, to supporting any individual, to advocating on behalf of any individual who may need our unconditional encouragement.  Our Leaders, many of whom have been involved in diversity awareness training and applied workshops to support themselves, their peers and campers, are committed to recognizing the values of diversity and social inclusion as the underpinnings of what we stand for and what we do.  As well, we discuss and challenge any situation that may be considered exclusive, including systemic barriers. 

At Camp Otterdale, we embrace equality and fairness as core values in all that we do. Our commitment to diversity and social inclusion encompasses the accessibility of information and services, and the opportunity to benefit from programs and employment.