A cub, then a leader, in the same pack

I am Christian Sabourin. I was a cub in a pack that met in a monastery basement, where our Akela rewarded good behaviour with painted washers we hung from our belts. Thirty years later I went back to lead that same pack, where my Bagheera from back then was still leading. That is where the name comes from.

My twins were cubs in that pack too, and one of them has moved up to Scouts. So I am both the leader who takes attendance and the parent who signs the permission slips. Wampums has to work for both.

A web developer by trade

Building websites is my job, in Gatineau. Wampums is built in the evenings, with the help of artificial intelligence, and I say so openly: every change is tested automatically before it goes online, and my own unit has used the app at every meeting since 2024.

The information of the youth and families never goes through the AI tools I build with. Every test runs on fictional data: an invented pack, with invented children and parents. (The optional writing help inside the app is something else: it receives only the text a leader chooses to submit, as the privacy policy explains.)

I also live with ADHD, which is why the app has to be simple, obvious and forgiving. I told that story here.

An ethics background, in the choices I make

I studied ethics, and it shows in what Wampums does with the information families entrust to it. Each unit’s data stays in Quebec. Each person sees only what their role allows, and nobody can grant a right they do not hold. A family can have a youth’s record erased. Every screen meets the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standard, and automated tests check it with every change. The details are in the privacy policy.

And the props

Scouting is sometimes also an excuse to fire up the 3D printers and the laser cutter and make props that turn a camp into something the cubs remember for years.

What I commit to

  • A single unit uses Wampums free until at least 2028.
  • Your reports export to CSV or print as PDF at any time.
  • Your unit’s data stays in Quebec, and is erased when you ask.
  • When you write to hello@wampums.app, I answer myself.

What comes next

  1. Strengthen the finance module, so treasurers can rely on it from registration to year-end.
  2. Improve equipment management: inventory, reservations and gear going out to camp and coming back.
  3. Extend badges to other kinds of progression, for the programs of other associations and sections.
  4. Have units of different kinds test the app, so it answers needs other than my own pack’s. Want yours to be one of them? Write to me.