Hi, I'm Perry Schippers: retired public servant, lifelong Scouter, community volunteer, and builder of practical software.

Where I come from

I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and had a wonderful early childhood there, surrounded by family and friends. My school had its own swimming pool, I wrestled in an Olympic-style wrestling program, and summers meant camping in the Rockies and time at the family cottages, fishing and water-skiing.

My father's career with the Canadian postal service then took us across the country. We lived in Saint John, New Brunswick, and many places after that, and by the time I was grown I had called more than 40 places across Canada home. In the 1970s we settled in Gatineau, where I started Grade 6 partway through the year and went on to play competitive hockey and soccer.

My father believed you should know your own country before visiting anyone else's, so we drove nearly everywhere. Before I finished school I had crossed Canada from coast to coast, swum in both oceans, and stopped at more historic sites and roadside curiosities than I can count. We never did make it to Disneyland.

Why "RANN"?

In Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, Rann is the kite, the far-sighted bird who watches over the jungle from above. Scouting has long borrowed names from Kipling's stories for its leaders, and Rann was my Scouting name when I was a Cub leader with 2nd Gatineau. When I began building software, it felt like the right name to carry forward.

A lifetime in Scouting

Scouting started for me in New Brunswick. I went from Cubs through Scouts and had just started Venturers when we moved to the Ottawa–Gatineau area. Along the way I learned outdoor skills, wilderness survival and forestry, and helped build log cabins for Scouting groups across New Brunswick. Every time we moved, I joined the local group.

In Gatineau our house backed onto miles of forest, and I kept learning on my own. I borrowed every survival and woodcraft book the libraries had, read outdoor magazines cover to cover, and even started writing my own guide to surviving in the Canadian woods, covering edible and medicinal plants, traps, smoking and curing, and shelters for every season. I wanted to become a forest ranger, until I developed allergies to nearly everything in nature. (Allergy shots and time have since taken care of most of them.)

I came back to Scouting as an adult leader in about 1998, and I've been at it ever since. Today I serve as:

• Chair of the Property Committee for Scout Camp Otter Lake QC

• Group Commissioner for the Heritage Area Rover Group

• Venturer and Rover Advisor for the Heritage Area Rover Group's Crew and 2nd Gatineau's Venturer Company and Rover Crew

Camp Otter Lake holds a special place for me. It's a volunteer-run wilderness camp on Lac Hughes that has welcomed young people for more than 50 years. In 2025, when it was slated for divestment, our committee made the case to keep it, and Scouts Canada agreed. I'm proud of the volunteers who keep it running and affordable for youth who want a real outdoor experience.

Working with Venturers and Rovers is the best part of it. Watching young adults plan their own adventures, take on responsibility, and serve their communities is why I keep doing this.

A career in service

I spent just under 30 years with the Department of National Defence. I began as an Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technician designing everything from parachutes to aircraft paint schemes, moved into information management and technology, spent about 13 years with the Canadian Forces Housing Agency, and finished my career as Security Advisor for the modernization of Canada's navy frigates. I retired in 2017.

Read more about my career

Giving back

Outside of work and Scouting, I've tried to be useful wherever I could:

• Education. When our daughters were young, I chaired a school's governing board for several years. I served about 10 years on the school board's Special Education Advisory Committee, eight of them as Chair, and teamed up with a fellow SEAC Chair from Montreal to revive the provincial SEAC committee.

• Representing colleagues. For about 20 years I was a steward with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). I founded the PIPSC DND Consultation Committee, bringing together about 25 stewards from across Canada, and chaired it for about six years. In that role I sat on DND's National Union Consultation Committee and met with the Minister as needed.

• Employee wellbeing. I served three years on the Government of Canada's Employee Assistance Program Committee.

RANN APPs: software that respects you

In retirement, I design and build applications under the RANN name, drawing on a career spent building systems and then securing them. My apps come from real problems I've run into at camp, at home, and in managing projects, and they share a few principles:

• Your data stays yours. My apps run on your own computer. There are no accounts, no tracking, and no cloud you didn't choose.

• Security by design, not by promise. Where an app doesn't need the network, it is built so it can't use it.

• Built for real conditions. The Shelter Heating Risk Calculator works with no signal, because that's where camp decisions get made.

• Bilingual and Canadian. Where it matters, my apps work in English and French and follow Canadian rules.

Current projects include the Shelter Heating Risk Calculator, RANN's Roost (household finances), RANN Ultra Searcher, and App.Tracker. You'll find them all under RANN APPs.

Family, travel, and other interests

I've been married for more than 40 years to my outstanding wife, and we have three wonderful daughters.

The travel bug my father gave me never left. I've been to all ten provinces, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, and every U.S. state except Hawaii. My wife and I have taken several Caribbean cruises, sailed from San Francisco to Miami through the Panama Canal, and crossed the Atlantic from Tampa Bay to Barcelona before spending three weeks travelling around Europe.

I enjoy thinking about how systems could work better, and I post some of those ideas under Thoughts and Interesting Things. I also collect trail and canoe-tripping maps, which I share on the Maps page for anyone planning a trip.

Get in touch

If you have a question about one of my apps, want to share maps or tripping resources, or are interested in volunteering at Camp Otter Lake, I'd be glad to hear from you at info-rann-apps@NorthMail.ca.