106th Canadian Geoscience Council Meeting Minutes
St. John’s, NF
May 31, June 1, 2001
Attendance:
Jeremy Hall President
Peter Bobrowsky International Director
Gilles Arseneau Financial Director
Anotoni Lewkowicz Committees Director
Alan Morgan Administrative Director
Shannon Bott Secretary
Jim Franklin SEG
Tony King CGS (Thursday only)
Christy Vodden CGEN (Thursday only)
Rex Gibbons CIM (Thursday only)
Robert Mummery CSEG
Brian Fryer MAC
Norman Halden MAC (Thursday only)
Dennis Blinn NSERC (Thursday only)
Don Lawton CCCESD
Michael Enachescu CSPG (Thursday only)
Ron Clowes LITHOPROBE
David Liverman CANQUA
John Jacobs CAG
Richard Grieve GSC (Thursday only)
Mary-Claire Ward PDAC
Jean-Francois Couture GAC
Tom Lane NUNA (Thursday only)
John Gartner (Friday only)
Scott Swinden GAC (Friday only)
Bryan Schreiner CGC (Friday only)
1. Welcome and Introductions: Meeting called to order at 9:10am.
2. Approval of agenda:
§ Items #8 & 9 re NSERC, etc., would be taken during a teleconference call with NSERC staff at 3pm.
§ Item #17 on CGEN and public awareness would be brought forward to the current day.
Motion to approve the agenda as per proposed rearrangements: Proposed: A. Morgan, Seconded: P. Bobrowsky. Carried.
3. Approval of Minutes of the 105th Council Meeting: (previously circulated; and available at www.geoscience.ca/minutes/105minvan.html)
Motion to approve minutes as amended: Proposed: J.F. Couture,
Seconded: B. Fryer.
4. Action items from 105th Council Meeting: (not otherwise covered by items of agenda.)
q Executive to follow-up with L. Davidson about his report on groundwater issues.
ü L. Davidson is working on this with S. Holysh and will report back when it is complete.
q J. Hall to obtain one or two pages from M. Salisbury on IODP for the Newsletter.
ü Completed.
q Members should send to CGC National Office any success stories they have for CGC to put on our website.
ü Have received one from CGS (Prof. Morgenstern receiving the order of Canada). It was suggested that we might add similar stories re Steve Blasco and Glen Caldwell
q R. Grieve to write five or six bullets on ICDP to then give to J. Hall. R. Grieve also to organize a presentation from ICDP at next council meeting in May.
ü Completed. R. Grieve will present on ICDP later at this meeting.
q O. Slaymaker to write a couple of pages on what money from the CFI does not do for CGC. He will then circulate to the membership for comment. O. Slaymakev will first consult with Jim and D. St. Onge.
ü In light of the decision on international funding, O. Slaymaker declined to write anything.
q CGEN representative to create some specific requests for CGC with regard to CGEN and EdGeo to bring to council.
ü There has been exchange with CGEN chair Clague and further discussions will ensue.
q Each member of CGC should appoint a public awareness coordinator and make them a member of CGEN.
ü There were 24 people at the CGEN meeting, which is good – not known how many society reps. Appointed.
q Lewkowicz to draft a letter concerning support for the NSERC/SSHRC Task Force report to be sent by President CGC to Presidents of NSERC and SSHRC and appropriate federal ministers.
ü Completed. There have been letters of acknowledgment from the ministers.
q J. Hall will provide a report for sustainable development with the assistance of S. Morison.
ü Completed. Will be discussed in item #14.
q Find out what relevant standing committees are being formed in the new government and obtain information on membership and contacts.
ü Role for the new Executive Officer.
q Executive to come up with a proposal and an outline for a paid geoscientist. Included will be what their role and responsibilities will be for CGC, how much CGC will pay the person and how we see the person advancing the cause of CGC.
ü Will be tabled in item #16.
5. Reports from the Board of Directors:
(a) President– deliberately detailed this year because of the direction and changes to the CGC over the course of the year
(b) Finance Director - budget tabled by G. Arseneau. Audited Financial Statements also tabled from KPMG May 11, 2001 – for year ending March 31, 2001. Exec travel increases because CGC will have a full board. $0 for CGEN in the budget but there is a contingency of $10,000.00 specifically for this purpose. Would like this listed so CGEN will give proposals for funds when they are required. “Earth Science Awareness Programs” should replace the phrase “contingency”. Business Manager amount includes operating expenses. Keeping a large reserve fund is a good idea because of uncertainties regarding future income. There was some discussion about reduction of budget item for meetings, by reducing the number of meetings from 3 to 2 per year, with resultant reduction in executive travel. However with a new Board and important issues arising, a reduction in number of meetings should be considered a little later. Perhaps meeting associated with the annual GAC-MAC is not convenient. This will be discussed further.
Motion to approve the budget for 2001/2002 with the change of CGEN item to
Earth Science Awareness Programs. Proposed: D. Liverman. Seconded: A. Morgan
In favor - 21, Opposed – 0, Abstentions -0 . Motion Carried.
(c) Education– not present.
(d) International – each CNC committee held one meeting in 2000. A report by C. Gower is available. The 32nd IGC meeting had been held in Rio, with a delegation from Canada (briefing Note distributed for January meeting). Two short articles published in GEO log on what IGCP is and what IUGS is. New International Director will be Réne Barendregt.
(e) Committees - A. Lewkowicz has set up the listserv. He is hoping to continue to produce a bulletin every month, perhaps every two months over the summer. This raises the overall profile of CGC. Would be good to have some MP’s on the list and bring info to more people outside CGC.
(f) Administration
Motion that CGC council commend A. Morgan for extraordinary services throughout the course of his long lengthy commitments to CGC. Proposed: J. Hall,
Seconded: G. Arseneau.
6. Proposed changes to By-law: (previously circulated)
Changes have been proposed to reflect the change of membership, voting and fee structures, and changes in the lengths of terms for the directors. There were several minor amendments to the by-laws such as the removal of the word Canadian in item 3.1.
Motion to approve the proposed by-law changes as per the discussed amendments:
Proposed: A. Morgan. Seconded: B. Mummery. In Favor – 21, Objections - 0,
Abstentions -0. Motion Carried.
7. Nominations for Board of Directors:
An election will be held to complete slate for presentation at Annual Business Meeting (see Report of Nominations Committee, attached) *D. Tempelman-Kluit apologizes for not being able to make the meeting.
Motion that the elections for the positions of Communications and Issues Directors be conducted by secret ballot. Proposed: P. Bobrowsky. Seconded: A. Morgan.
The voting will be deferred to the AGM.
8. Review of marine geosciences in Canada:
(teleconference call with Elizabeth Boston of NSERC; 3pm– 3:30pm)
Item raised to discuss progress with implementation of recommendations of the report of the NSERC-sponsored workshop on marine sciences in Canada, held in St. John’s, 1997 (See http://www.geoscience.ca/scopingpaper.html#Anchor3)
(a) Infrastructure system –building a virtual pool of marine scientific equipment in Canada would be a useful start in building infrastructure. NSERC/GSC/CGC proposal on this had resulted in Dick Pickerill (GSC) providing an initial list of GSC equipment. Dave Mosher (GSC) will expand it, and J. Hall will then send it around to geoscience community, for additions. Mosher and Hall will distribute the end product. This would be a “pilot project”, with a loose commitment to complete it in next 6 months.
(b) Recommendation for a national marine science council – significant concern was expressed that current discussions on this between NSERC and DFO doesn’t involve NRCan or other important groups. CGC want all relevant groups Advice from NSERC staff is to continue to build with DFO, then broaden – be patient! It will take six to eight months to progress with DFO. There was a recognition that if the multi-department SEAMAP project is funded, it will be easier to progress on these matters. CGC could play a leadership role in advancing the cause of multi-institutional research programs (as it is doing with IODP and Neptune), but for now allow current developments between NSERC and DFO to proceed.
ACTION: J. Hall to contact/write letter to the academic members of the DFO/NSERC working group on CGC’s interest in the area.
9. NSERC matters: (reallocation exercise, etc.)
Reallocation. Half of NSERC’s research funding goes to research grants distributed to individuals (or small teams) by over 20 disciplinary subcommittees. Every four years SERC taxes each discipline 10%, and redistributes this in a reallocation competition. Earth sciences have not done well in the preceding two exercises. The Reallocation committee needs information on the exciting new things that are going on in Earth sciences. The Earth sciences case is being written now for submission at year’s end. Advice should be proffered via to realloc@geop.ubc.ca; further information is available by ftp from site ftp://ftp.geop.ubc.ca/pub/realloc/
Northern R&D. Final report of NSERC/SSHRC task force report came out last September. The task force asked for much greater funding for Northern S & T. $24 thousand is available in programming funding, to be spent on 12 postgraduate scholarships, and some post-doctoral support.
NEPTUNE - NSERC is part of the interdepartmental discussions on the topic.
10. Future of mineral deposits research in Canada: report of NUNA conference, held in
Kingston, March 2001. Tom Lane. The conference purpose was to develop an integrated national strategy for minerals research in Canada. The conference drew 71 participants. A CD-Rom of conference presentations and workshop results will be released through GAC and webpage. The consensus pointed towards a sustainable mineral resource development research strategy that would incorporate the various sectors of minerals environmental and societal sciences through a National Centre of Excellence. The way forward - a national committee of university, industry and government representatives will be established to solicit ideas and concepts for a formal network in minerals research. In early 2002 a second conference will be held to begin a scientific proposal for a research network. This will position the community for the 2004 NCE competitions.
Break for AGM
11. Geological Survey of Canada:
(a) GSC Project Overview (note: previously circulated)
The new portfolio approach to GSC programs is maturing through greater focus. Now moving towards full-cost accounting in project budgets. Any data gathered through this funding then must be published in 2 years. All info will be put on the website and people should have instant access to all projects.
(b) International Continental Drilling Program (note circulated)
ICDP – GSC spending 200 thousand USD for one year subscription. NSERC is thinking of moving ODP and ICDP together and having one program. Canadian involvement is for support of the Mallik Gas Hydrate Project. This would drill well in MacKenzie Delta to look at gas hydrates.
12. Strategic planning for Geoscience in Canada
CGC had previously determined to develop a strategic plan around various components - Climate change; Groundwater; Sustainable resource development; Northern science; Marine science; Hazards. Council now needed to establish how to move forward.
Need suggestions from council as to whether they are the accurate topics or not and what to do with them now. The mechanism for funding is moving into a sub-group area therefore much more difficult for us to look at on a holistic approach. Fed government looks at things in a mini group way. May get funding on certain aspects because of what they are. Public plan and a longer term plan and should delegate some of these things to logical groups within CGC and not have the directors to do things all the time. After substantial discussion, it was decided that CGC needed, first, an umbrella statement that would justify a general approach to geoscience that would provide the rationalizations for both the exciting ‘breakthrough’ science that would appeal to research agencies, and for the multi-parameter mapping of Canadian territory that would provide context for resource development and land use issues. A core theme around which this could be built would be “Observing The Earth for Canadians” or “Earth Observation Systems for Canadians”.
ACTION: the Board will prepare a 1-2 page draft on “Earth Observation Systems
for Canadians”.
13. Review of position papers, backgrounders:
Groundwater
Geoscience mapping
Geological hazards
Disposal of high level radioactive waste
Climate change
Sequestration of carbon dioxide
Subaqueous tailings waste disposal
Northern Geoscience
Marine Geoscience
University curricula and requirements for professional registration
Capacity gaps and skills needs for the next decade
Positions or backgrounders on the above topics were in various stages of preparation.
ACTION: By this time next year the Board shall bring forth a set of the existing position papers in a common format that can be distributed to decision makers.
14. Sustainable development: the need for a CGC watchdog?
Paper distributed. Discussion held over.
15. Census of geoscientists in Canada: report of responses
A detailed account of the results was given. A report will be distributed to the membership and will go on the CGC website. It will also be published in different newsletters in addition to Geoscience Canada.
ACTION: Census report to be distributed to members and published in Geoscience Canada
16. CGC management: Executive Officer
Paper tabled for discussion. First priority for this person would be to assist with geo activities related to “Connecting people with the Earth”. Interviewed 4 people; 3 male and 1 female. One candidate recommended for appointment. Terms of reference approved. Board should offer monthly retainer (requiring monthly reporting and invoicing), with expectation of average 1-2 days per week of effort. Priority on public awareness issues in Ottawa, and also to begin to build relationship with media.
Motion to accept new position for an Executive Officer, and the candidate proposed. Proposed: M.-C. Ward. Seconded: B. Mummery. In favor - 21, Opposed - 0, Abstentions - 0. Motion Carried.
- CGEN and CGC's support of public awareness among school-age children and teachers:
Since November, CGEN has had two meetings. Attendance at meeting May 30 was 24.
CGEN is actively supporting three programs in geoscience education; Ed Geo – education to teachers, Earth Net – web based resource center and GeoScape- regionally based posters and educational products. By-law updates and future directions for CGEN will be coming up.
CGC had extensive discussions in Ottawa in Fall 2000 about grassroots workshops so that practitioners of PA of geoscience in schools could get together and learn from each other. Council invited CGEN to take it on. C. Vodden will take back to meeting in the summer to have serious discussion about this. CGC will assist in the implementation of this workshop.
Perhaps this could be part of the GeoSciEd conference CGEN is organizing in Calgary in 2003. J.F. Couture reminded Council that it had also discussed a multi-stakeholder workshop with a somewhat broader remit, and audience, than the school system meeting just discussed.
18. Any other business:
CGC Conference. The idea was tabled for consideration that CGC hold a short high-profile conference each year on a geo-socio-political theme, with a geo-socio-political audience. This would have a quite different focus than member societies’ meetings and so would not be competing with them. For economy’s sake this might be timed to be a short add-on to an existing meeting (e.g., Mines Ministers meeting), at the same venue.
In the same vein, CGC might give consideration to a part-time communications advisor.
19. Dates of next meetings:
Council will meet in Ottawa in the fall, sometime in late October. The weekend of the 12th, GAC and MAC are busy. CGC will also meet in January sometime around the 25th, in Vancouver, at the end of Cordilleran Round-up week
20. Motion to adjourn: M.C. Ward.
ACTION ITEMS
J. Hall to contact/write letter to the academic members of the DFO/NSERC working group on CGC’s interest in the area.
The Board will prepare a 1-2 page draft on “Earth Observation Systems for Canadians”.
By this time next year the Board shall bring forth a set of the existing position papers in a common format that can be distributed to decision makers.
Census report to be distributed to members and published in Geoscience Canada
MOTIONS
Motion to approve the budget for 2001/2002 with the change to CGEN (Earth Science Awareness Programs. Proposed: D. Liverman. Seconded: A. Morgan
In favor - 21, Opposed – 0, Abstentions -0 . Motion Carried.
Motion that CGC council commend A. Morgan for extraordinary services throughout the course of his CGC career. Proposed: J. Hall, Seconded: G. Arseneau.
Motion to approve the proposed by-law changes as per the discussed amendments:
Proposed: A. Morgan. Seconded: B. Mummery. In Favor – 21, Objections - 0, Abstentions -0. Motion Carried.
Motion that the elections for the positions of Communications and Issues Directors be done by secret ballot. Proposed: P. Bobrowsky. Seconded: A. Morgan.
Motion to accept the candidate and new position for an Executive Officer. Proposed: M.C. Ward. Seconded: B. Mummery. In favor - 21, Opposed - 0, Abstentions - 0. Motion Carried.