Though Camp Awakening was formally established in the fall of 1982, the idea to create a special program for children with disabilities was actually conceived back in the late 1970's. At that time, Joan (Cameron) Dewart, Lois McLaughlin, Iain MacInnis and I (Harry McMurtry) flirted with the idea of founding an alternative camping program for children with disabilities who were not being challenged by existing camping or recreational programs. We felt that outdoor camping, particularly canoe tripping, was an area that was ripe for cultivation. People with disabilities simply did not have proper access to the natural wonders, which lay beyond the concrete of the city.

A six-page proposal was prepared and presented to John R. Latimer, a highly respected member of the camping community, in October of 1982. Two weeks later, after reviewing the proposal, Mr. Latimer offered his camp (Kilcoo Camp) as a base site for our program. We gladly accepted his surprise offer, though we were disappointed that we had to modify our original goal of catering to both boys and girls. In 1989, Camp Awakening opened a girls' program at Camp Gay Venture under the direction of Marjorie "Skip" Kirkpatrick and Sarah Macrae.

In January of 1983, the Camp was incorporated. We received a charitable registration number from Revenue Canada later that spring. Lois agreed to direct the program, and Joan and I recruited Iain to join the three of us on staff. The first directors of the corporation were John R. Latimer, Rodney Hull, and Mary Louise Dickson, all instrumental figures in the camp's formative years, as was my father, Roy McMurtry.