About
Our mission
To make vacation programs accessible to the general public, with priority given to young people and families from all social backgrounds, including outdoor, sporting and socio-cultural activities that promote social and personal development from an ecological and holistic perspective.
Our history
Base de plein air Jean-Jeune: born from a dream
Base de Plein Air Jean-Jeune was born out of the fishing trips that Mgr Forget, Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Jean, used to take with his friend, Abbé Lapointe!
Lapointe and his family had long been vacationing on the shores of Cameron Lake. From time to time, the two men would visit a nearby lake owned by a farmer from the village of Vendée, Mr. Côté.
It was to this lake, surrounded by a young forest of aspen and birch, that Mgr Forget dreamed of bringing the youth of his diocese, the children of workers more familiar with the smoke and noise of factories than the sound of wind in the leaves and birdsong.
The first years at Camp Jean-Jeune
He bought the entire lake from Mr. Côté, which was in any case uncultivable due to the steep terrain.
In the early years, it was mainly the Scouts who were able to take advantage of this wonderful site.
There were no buildings, just tents to house them all. But the memories are already beginning to last a lifetime.
It was the mid-1940s. It takes nearly eight hours from Longueuil to reach the camp. The road is paved only as far as Saint-Jovite (now Mont Tremblant). But be careful! We’re not yet talking about the Laurentian highway…
From camp to corporation: the legacy of Base de plein air Jean-Jeune
In the years that followed, the first building was the now-defunct Ancêtre. Next came the chapel, which became the Refuge, then the Accueil, the Escale and the Auberge.
The latest addition, the Relais, was built to replace the Ancêtre.
One winter, a bulldozer pushes the sand, which forms a cliff over the frozen lake to create the beach.
When the ice melted, the whole thing sank to the bottom. In those days, there were no erosion problems.
From camp to outdoor base
For many years, the camp was managed and administered by the Diocese of Saint-Jean (Longueuil). Then, somewhere in the early 1960s, social services from the same region took over. However, the entire camp remained the property of the diocese.
In the mid-1960s, there was a brief interlude: the camp did not operate for one or two seasons, until the Conseil Régional des Loisirs took over.
Finally, in 1976, the corporation took charge, managed itself autonomously and bought back the land and buildings.
Camp Jean-Jeune was dead, long live Base de Plein Air Jean-Jeune!
The evolution of animation: a holistic vision at Jean-Jeune
In 1978, a whole new breed of weirdos started working for us: no more Christiane, Louise, Daniel, Claude… Welcome to the Hirondelle, Étincelle, Girelle and all the rest! Long live natural names!
At the beginning of the 1980s, the holistic approach came to shape our vision of animation: cooperative games, choice of activities by young people, an approach more focused on the emotional needs of young people, ecological ideology, etc.
Throughout our history, one thing remains true: Jean-Jeune is alive!
