Our Staff

Owner - Peter Van Wagner

Camp Nominingue was founded in 1925 by Peter's father, F.M. Van Wagner. Although Peter is still active as the current owner, the camp is now run by Grant McKenna, the Director, and Elisa Van Wagner, Peter’s daughter, the Business Manager.

Peter began his career at Nominingue as at the age of seven in 1934; spent 9 years as a camper and 7 years as a counsellor. After 13 years in Banff and Calgary, Alberta, he returned to take over the camp upon the retirement his father, The Great Chief, and has been at the helm since 1965.

Peter is an avid skier, canoeist and photographer and is a constant presence at Nominingue. As Big Chief of the "Great Tribe of Nominingue", he leads our weekly council ring ceremonies and is a friendly and much loved figure to all campers past and present.

Director - Grant McKenna

Grant began working for Camp Nominingue in 1975 as a 16 year-old junior counsellor after attending as a Camper for three years. Over the next thirty-five years, he spent 22 summers at Camp, filling a variety of positions including Trip Director, Section Director, Business Manager and Program Director. From 2001 to 2004, Grant was the Camp’s Executive Director. He knows and understands the Camp’s program and philosophy thoroughly and strives to ensure that each Camper and Staff Member has the opportunity to learn new skills and develop as a person during their stay at camp.

In addition to working at camp, Grant has over 17 years experience teaching at the Elementary and High School levels. He is also fluent in both French and English. Recently, he served three years as the Director of Sirius Wilderness Medicine Inc., which trains outdoor professionals in advanced first aid courses. Grant is energized to be returning to Camp. He brings new skills and experiences learned in his time away from Camp to his role as Director.

Grant will be spending the summer at Camp with his family, who are all excited at the opportunity to return to the beautiful shores of Petit Lac Nominingue.

Business Manager - Elisa Van Wagner

Elisa began working full time as the camp's business manager in the fall of 2002. Having spent almost all of her summers at Nominingue, she knows all about the camp and its day-to-day operations.

With her own son in camp since the age of 7, Elisa knows first hand what it is to be a camper parent. She believes strongly that, while at camp, every camper should have a rich and rewarding vacation and that every parent deserves peace of mind. To help accomplish this she endeavors to have personal contact with and to learn each camper's name during their stay. In doing so, along with meeting so many great children, Elisa has also had the pleasure of helping many parents get over the jitters of being first-time camper parents by taking their calls and offering assurances as to how their son is settling in.

Making sure that campers and parents have the feeling of belonging to the Nominingue family is a very important part of Elisa's role at camp!