The Rotary Club of Prince George is looking for a new location for its annual leadership event after Ness Lake Bible Camp objected to one of its speakers last year.
The camp has a policy for rentals that teaching materials or activities can't conflict with the organization's faith and said a presentation on gender by PG Pride Society president Stacey Hewlett would be grounds to cancel the event.
"We were very apologetic (to Hewlett) because Rotary as an organization is non-denominational, non-discriminatory," said club president Ross Birchall.
"We don't discriminate against race, gender, religion, culture and definitely not sexual orientation.We're looking at our location options because we have a fundamental difference there."
One Hope Canada Ministries, which operates Ness Lake, said by email Friday it welcomes guests of "all races, genders, sexual orientations, and religions."
"Ness Lake Bible Camp facilities are a physical extension of our mission as a religious organization," said the statement.
"As we strive to treat all guests with respect, we in turn ask that guest groups respect the religious nature of the facilities by adhering to various policies, including those concerning alcohol and drug use, protection of the natural environment, and the content of original programming, among other general requests."
Hewlett said she'd been excited to speak at Rotary Youth Leadership Award North and organizers felt awful and gave her the option to speak on something else. But she felt that would be giving in.
At the time, Birchall said organizers tried to argue for a change in policy.
"We said 'We're basically paying you guys to rent your space and we're not running anything illegal, we're not doing anything untoward, this is simply a presentation for young adults," he said.
"They wouldn't budge."
But Birchall said with a recent push by Tourism Prince George to build the city into a northern conference and convention destination, he's hopeful there will be options by the time it runs the youth-focused event again, likely in the spring.
"People come for the weekend so we need to be able to accommodate and feed (them)," he said.
"It's no secret that our options are limited in Prince George right now but I am optimistic that it's changing here."
RYLA North usually attracts about 10 to 20 people between the ages of 19 and 30, and Birchall said Rotary organizations globally are looking to expand and attract more registrants.
"We're working on growing the camp and maybe the timing was right that we needed to also grow out of Ness Lake."
