Historical background

February 1985: Creation of Karaté Cama
Mid 1980s: Germain passes his 3^rd dan exam
1987: Germain learns traditional Chito-Ryu Karate 
1989: Karaté Cama joins the Canadian Chito-Ryu Association
1990: Meeting with Soke sensei Chitose
October 1995: Karaté Cama conducts classes in Masson, Angers, Buckingham and Papineauville
2000: Karaté Cama celebrates its 15^th anniversary
2002: Karaté Cama offers a sports program at the École Secondaire Hormidas-Gamelin
2005: Karaté Cama celebrates its 20^th anniversary
The present

Karaté Cama was founded by Germain Bisson and Martine Bélanger in February 1985. Lessons were conducted at the Notre-Dame-Auxiliatrice school in Masson. The school started with twenty-some students.

Germain with Gilbert Kingsbury sensei,
Martine Bélanger and Richard Charron

Several karatekas from the group that signed up the first year went on to become yudanshas. They include Jean Quevillon, Nicole Poirier, Jean-François Charron, Roch Laflamme, Anick Charette, Nadine Lalande, Stéphane Dubuc, Lyne Laroche, Marcel Guitard, Roger Dubuc and André Charron.

Karaté Cama taught Chito-Ryu karate and was a member of Gilbert Kingsbury sensei’s organization. Following the success of the children’s classes, Karaté Cama opened a dojo at the Sacré-Cœur school in Angers.

This is how C.A.M.A., acronym for Club Associé Masson-Angers, was established.

In the mid 1980s, Karaté Cama was part of Luc Maisonneuve sensei’s organization and Richard Kim sensei’s Butokukai Association. Germain passed the 3^rd dan exam under Kim sensei.

The number of karatekas kept growing and Germain could count on the support of qualified assistants, including Jean Quevillon, Nicole Poirier, Roch Laflamme, Jean-François Charron and Danyel Dubuc.

Germain’s first meeting
with Higashi sensei

In 1987 while attending a summer training camp at Harvey Brown sensei’s Chito-Kai dojo in Ottawa, Germain met Higashi sensei and was introduced to traditional Chito-Ryu karate-do. He also got reacquainted with his good friend Rock Defayette, with whom he had practiced at Luc Maisonneuve sensei’s dojo.
Higashi sensei was the national technical director of the Canadian Association of Chito-Ryu and the official representative of Soke sensei Chitose in Canada.

Germain liked Higashi sensei’s personality and thought a lot about joining his organization. Unfortunately, he had to leave the organization of his friend Luc Maisonneuve sensei, to whom he owed a lot, especially with regards to kumite.

During the same period, Germain had the opportunity to meet well-known international instructors, among them O’sensei Richard Kim, 9^th dan, O’sensei Mochizuki, the founder of the Yoseikan Budo and Patrick Auger sensei, 6^th dan, who was also the representative of Yoseikan Budo in North America.

He thereupon discovered the priceless wealth of traditional Japanese martial arts.

In 1989, Germain took a great leap and joined the Canadian Association of Chito-Ryu, which was led by Higashi sensei in Canada and Blanchette sensei, 5^th dan, in Québec.

The decision marked a major turning point for Karaté Cama students and together with Germain, they had to relearn the traditional Japanese Chito-Ryu style.

After many training sessions with Blanchette sensei, a great technician of Chito-Ryu karate, Germain passed his probationary 1^st dan grade in 1990.

The same year, Karaté Cama was honoured to have its first meeting with Soke Sensei Chitose during his visit to Canada.

Karaté Cama students at the first meeting with Soke sensei

The students were greatly impressed by the presence, performance and great technical skills displayed by the son of the Chito-Ryu founder, O’sensei Chitose.

Thereafter, the Cama dojo hosted many Chito-Ryu karate instructors like Higashi sensei, Aktugawa sensei, Sakamoto sensei and Michael Delaney sensei.

Since 1988, Germain has relied on the support of his wife and partner Lyne Laroche, who is also dedicated to the success of Karaté Cama.

Germain and Lyne acquired the former Kingsbury sensei’s karate school, at the time headed by Michel Royer sensei. The acquisition allowed Germain to expand his territory and to offer services to a larger group of people.

In October 1995, Germain had the opportunity to go on a three-week training at the Hombu dojo where he trained with Soke sensei, Sakamoto sensei and Tanaka sensei.

The Cama dojo continued to grow from strength to strength and had over 250 students training regularly.

Karaté Cama taught classes in Angers, Buckingham and Papineauville in addition to its own premises on the 2^nd floor at the Centre commercial du Marché Larose in Masson.

Germain and Lyne could rely on Steeven Cryans, Chad Durocher, Marcel Guitard, Sylvain Chartrand, Jean Quevillon and Guy Chartrand to offer quality instruction to all members of Karaté Cama.

1^st meeting with Seba sensei

Karaté Cama has hosted several instructors to help propel the school to new heights. They include:

- Oshiro sensei, 7^th dan, Goju-Ryu 
- Frenette sensei, 7^th dan, Goju-Ryu
- Tarana sensei, 6^th dan, Goju-Ryu
- Moledski sensei, 6^th dan, Shito-Ryu
- Pronovost sensei, 6^th dan, Shito-Ryu
- Déziel sensei, 6^th dan, Shito-Ryu
- Inoue sensei, kobudo

Cama also hosted guest instructors, including:

- Jean-François Tisseyre sensei
- Mantilla sensei, a world famous kata instructor
- Antonio Oliva Seba sensei, international instructor and expert in combat strategy and tactics
- Dominic Valera sensei
- Jacques Tapol sensei 
- Alain LeHetet, world champion

In 2000, Karaté Cama hosted major celebrations to mark its 15^th anniversary. The event was attended by more than 300 guests.

In addition to hosting successful children’s classes, Karaté Cama also offers classes for adults and senior citizens. Our first karateka practitioners aged 70 and above were Rolande Dufour and Benoît Dufour, who had green belt levels, and André Trempe and Fernand Guindon, who attained brown belt levels. They trained seriously and with a lot of determination under Germain sensei and Guy Chartrand sensei on Wednesday and Friday mornings.

Classes are open to karatekas between the age of 4 and 70. Over 500 members take part in active training in our dojos.

For the past few years, Karaté Cama has offered karate classes in several schools in the region, among them the École du Sacré-Cœur in Angers, the École St-Jean de Brébeuf and the École du Ruisseau in Masson and the École St-Michel and École Mgr. Charbonneau in Buckingham.

Our goal is to introduce people to the benefits of karate.

We teach the concepts of respect, courtesy and discipline and the benefits of a positive outlook on concentration.

Higashi sensei and Soke sensei in 2005

Since 2002, we offer a sports program at the École Secondaire Hormisdas-Gamelin that allows students to study while practicing their favourite sport.

In addition to Higashi sensei and Soke sensei, a number of Chito-Ryu instructors have visited Karaté Cama over the past few years. They include Tanaka sensei, Kugizaki sensei and Imamura sensei, who have conducted clinics on the art of Chito-Ryu.

Karaté Cama celebrated its 20^th anniversary in 2005. The guests included Higashi sensei and Thierry Debeur sensei. The celebration was a huge success and old friends were able to link up and watch great karate demonstrations and other shows.

Higashi sensei and Debeur sensei were highly impressed by demonstrations by our young karate students.

Higashi sensei and Germain 5^th dan, Renshi

Karaté Cama has trained more than 80 black belt karatekas. Jacques Robitaille, Steeven Cryans, Guy Chartrand, Lyne Laroche, Chad Durocher, Marcel Guitard, Sylvain Chartrand and Louis Thibaudeau passed their Jun-Shidoin grade (assistant instructor) under Higashi sensei. Roch Defayette and Jean Quevillon got their 4^th dan grade under Soke sensei.

Marcel Guitard is now a renowned national kata and kumite referee. He has represented Québec and Karaté Cama as a referee at the Canadian Championships.

Germain Bisson sensei is now 5^th dan, Renshi, a member of provincial and national Chito-Ryu technical committees and 5^th dan from Karate Canada, founded by O’sensei Masami Tsuruoka.

Over many years, Karaté Cama has relied on the assistance of a number of instructors, among them Lyne Laroche and Louis-Philippe L’Ecuyer-Lafleur, who taught the development program to kids between the age of 4 and 8.

Karaté Cama’s future is in good hands and the dojo  is bound to grow from strength to strength.

École de Karaté Cama Germain Bisson
110, rue Georges, Gatineau (Québec)

February 04^th 2012
Fundraising event - Spaghetti lunch ...

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