Yes, Canterbury Hills Camp is owned and operated by the Anglican Diocese of Niagara. We serve as a community ministry, overseen by the Diocese alongside the Canterbury Hills Camp Board of Directors. While some camper families and staff at Canterbury Hills Camp are members of local Anglican parishes, we are proud to serve the Greater Hamilton community at large, with no religious requirement to attend programs with us. All are welcomed and celebrated.

At Canterbury Hills, our guiding values—inclusion, cooperation, love, service, and stewardship—shape everything we do. We believe that spirituality is nurtured through a caring, supportive community where individuals can grow into the best version of themselves, build meaningful faith connections, and embrace a sense of harmony with the natural world. Our camp experience is values-driven, with themes such as love, trust, friendship, environmental stewardship, gratitude, and community woven throughout activities, skits, and shared moments—like offering graces before meals. At the end of each session, the entire camp gathers for a joyful and inclusive Eucharist service, led by a guest clergy member, to celebrate our time together.

Campers and staff come from a wide range of religious and non-religious backgrounds, and we believe this diversity enriches our community and strengthens our program. At Canterbury Hills, we provide a supportive environment where campers can explore their spirituality, build confidence, ask meaningful questions, and find inspiration in a faith-centered setting.

In addition to embracing religious diversity, we proudly welcome and celebrate individuals of all gender expressions, sexual orientations, racial identities, and cultural backgrounds. We believe that our differences make us stronger and that we are united by shared values and a commitment to kindness, respect, and belonging. As an organization, we are dedicated to ongoing growth and learning, recognizing that summer camp culture must continue evolving toward greater equity and inclusivity.

We are excited to warmly welcome campers of all faiths and religious (or non-religious) backgrounds, and there are no religious requirements for campers or staff to participate in our programs.

Our program fosters a safe and inclusive community, emphasizing the values that bring people together rather than what sets us apart. While our roots in the Anglican faith are an important part of our history and present identity, it is not our goal to impose religious beliefs or opinions, instead we strive to celebrate the unique perspectives that we all bring to an experience living in community together at camp. Our faith-based programming emphasizes values such as love, trust, caring for our earth, community, patience and empathy. Our goal is for everyone to feel included and heard in conversations about these themes, and for campers to feel comfortable expressing themselves while being open to learning from their peers’ perspectives, creating a community of shared morals without specific attachment to any religious labels necessary. Our focus on values allows for conversations to be accessible and appropriate to represent the diversity of our campers.

While Anglican or any religious affiliation is not a requirement, families considering programs at Canterbury Hills should feel comfortable and open to the ways we incorporate spirituality into our camp experience. For more details about our components of faith-based programming, please see below. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how we express faith at Canterbury Hills, we would love to have a conversation with you. Feel free to email us at camp@canterburyhills.ca or call 905-648-2712.

Spirituality is naturally woven into daily camp life through meaningful traditions, shared experiences, and moments of reflection. These practices help foster a sense of gratitude, connection, and belonging, allowing campers to engage with faith and community in an uplifting and inclusive environment.

Lively graces before meals:

• Before each meal, campers join together in energetic, action-filled graces to express gratitude. These fun, interactive songs—such as Jaws, Praise of the Eagles, and Batman—are led by the designated “host” cabin for that meal.These lively graces create a joyful atmosphere while reinforcing the values of gratitude and togetherness.
• A well-loved example is: “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-day, we are grateful for our blessings today. With plenty to drink, to eat and to share, we sit at our table with friends everywhere!”

Reflection, connection and community:

• Throughout the camp experience, staff encourage campers to engage in moments of reflection, helping them transform their daily experiences into opportunities for emotional and spiritual growth.
• One of the most cherished reflection traditions happens at the end of the day, when cabin groups gather for a cabin debrief. This time fosters connection, allowing campers to share highlights of their day. As an example, a camp leader might ask their group to participate in a “stick, rock & leaf” reflection—sharing something that will “stick” with them (a meaningful memory or lesson learned), something that “rocked” (a fun or exciting moment), and something they’d like to “leaf” behind (a challenge or worry they want to let go of).
• By sharing their experiences and truly listening to one another, campers cultivate trust, empathy, and a strong sense of belonging. Reflection activities also help them develop valuable emotional processing skills, empowering them to navigate their feelings with confidence and resilience both at camp and beyond.

Expressions of gratitude, servanthood and environmental stewardship:

• Campers are encouraged to practice gratitude in many forms—whether through words of thanks, acts of kindness, or caring for the world around them.
• One important way campers contribute to the camp community is by signing up to “host” meals. As meal hosts, a cabin takes responsibility for setting the tables, leading the grace, delivering food to tables, and sweeping the dining hall afterward. On the last day of camp, cabins are assigned a designated area to tidy, which could be organizing our camp activity spaces or doing a site-wide litter pick. These practices promote servanthood, responsibility, and teamwork while reinforcing the idea that everyone plays a role in maintaining a caring and respectful community.
• We also emphasize environmental stewardship through teachings like the “leave no trace” principles, ensuring campers develop a deep respect for nature. Spending time outdoors, surrounded by the beauty of creation, helps campers feel grounded, connected, and spiritually refreshed. Our outdoor chapel, nestled among the trees, offers a peaceful, sacred space where campers can reflect or simply take in the wonders of nature.

Daily chapel:

• Each day, a cabin group leads a short chapel session, focused on a specific theme or value. These sessions are interactive and engaging, featuring skits, songs, stories, or group activities that allow campers to explore important life lessons in a meaningful and creative way.
• (See below for more details)

Eucharist celebration:

• At the end of each session, the entire camp community comes together for a joyful Eucharist service, led by a guest clergy member. This special gathering is a time for reflection, gratitude, and shared celebration, reinforcing the values of love, faith, and unity that shape the Canterbury Hills experience.
• (See below for more details)

Chapel is a daily activity for all campers that is guided by themes such as friendship, teamwork, character, encouragement, determination, faith, positive choices, or caring actions.

Chapel occurs after lunch. Each cabin group from Overnight, Day and Bridge camp attends chapel together, gathered in the shade of Chapel Hill. Chapel is hosted each day by one of the cabin groups and typically includes skits, stories, songs, and activities related to the thee the group has selected.

At Adventure Camp, Chapel is primarily led by our Adventure Staff and is designed to suit the age and interests of the group each session.

In the Anglican tradition, the sacrament of holy Eucharist is a remembering and celebration of the last supper of Jesus Christ in which he shared bread and wine with his disciples.

A Eucharist service is included near the end of every camp session. Campers participate through song, skits, dance, readings, etc. and are invited to share in holy Eucharist (bread and wine) as they are guided by an Anglican priest. The service is conducted with awareness that many campers do not come from the Anglican tradition or a background in a faith community. The tone is inclusive, light, simple, interactive and fun as the whole camp celebrates their camp experience and engages with themes such as generosity, peace, joy, kindness, or confidence.