9.00am May 29th, 2003 at the Sheraton Wall Centre, 1088 Burrard Street, Vancouver

Attendance:

Doug Stead	President
Jeremy Hall	Past President
Micki Allen	Administrative Director,KEGS (Morning)
Bryan Schreiner	Issues Director
Donald James	Financial Director
Rene Barendregt	International Director
Bob Mummery	Executive Officer
Richard Grieve	NRCan ESS
Susan Eaton	CSEG
Jim Franklin	SEG
Mark Fenton	AGSCPG
Norman Marcotte	NSERC
Teresa Jurewicz	NSERC
Howerd Stockford	CIM
Mati Raudsepp	MAC
John Hogg	CSPG
Harvey Thorleifson	GAC
Richard Moore	PDAC
Joe White	CCCESD
George Cavey	CCPG (Morning)
Tracy Brennand	CANQUA
Ron Clowes	Lithoprobe
Apologies
Alan Morgan	CGC Education Director

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Approval of Agenda
3. Approval of Minutes of the 109th Council Meeting (previously circulated and available at http://www.geoscience.ca/minutes/109minottawa.html)
4. Action items from 109th Council Meeting not otherwise covered by item of agenda.
a. Climate Change (see 11c)
Draft position paper had been produced. Need for standing committee
b. CGS Survey of Member Societies (see 7c.)
Action item completed. Worthwhile exercise
c. Restructuring of CGC Board (see 8)
In progress. Need council participation to be successful

5. Reports from the Board of Directors (tabled or verbal)

a. Presidents Report
The Presidents Report on CGC activities for 2002-3 was tabled. A PowerPoint presentation was given entitled “CGC: A Time for ChangeCGC: A Time for Change”. The President emphasized the issues facing CGC and Canadian geoscience:
• real need for improvements in communication and public perception of geoscience
• Must showcase Canadian geoscience innovation both existing and the future potential
• Must have a broader participation in CGC - industry, government, academia, and consultants
• Innovation was important if we are to attract young scientists and engineers in to geoscience professions
• CGC must to be relevant to a changing society.
• CGC should be structured to react more effectively to geoscience issues
• CGC must explore alternate sources of funding & cost sharing
• CGC is changing its operational structure towards a smaller board and to elicit more direct involvement of Council members. Encourage bottom-up initiatives – not totally Board driven.
• All major groups MUST be represented in CGC (industry, academia, regional and federal government)
• A regular “Council of Presidents Meeting ” should be established (by teleconference if necessary) at least once a year, CGC will setup the logistics for this initiative.
• A volunteer Board cannot alone respond to Issues –it requires commitment from all levels in CGC.
• Continue support of Standing Committees must be maintained. New Standing Committee are seen as a key role for CGC in promoting communication within Canadian geoscience and also the government, media and public. Examples include:-
o Innovations in Geoscience.
o Groundwater
o Climate Change
o Landslides (Natural Hazards)
o Energy

b. Finance Director

The budget and audit were distributed by Don James.

Moved by Jim Franklin and seconded by Mati Raudsepp to accept budget proposal from Don James
No discussion, motion passed

c. International
Brief verbal report tabled by Rene Barendregt.
d. Issues Director
Brief verbal report tabled by Bryan Schreiner.

• Difficult for Board to respond to Issues, need more participation from Members, Standing Committee or Workshops
• Climate Change response from members highlighted our difficulty in responding to Issues. This was discussed at length and the need for panels of experts/standing committees to respond to issues suggested.

6. Executive Officer’s Report.
Bob Mummery tabled a written report. Discussion was then undertaken on the following issues:
a. The Geoscience Summit Meeting, Calgary August 24/25 2002.
b. The CGC Survey of Member Societies.
c. MetaSoft, Big Online, Charitable Status

7. Status of “Geoscience Vision” Document.
Jeremy Hall (Past President) tabled a written document and a verbal presentation. CGC had undertaken to prepare 3 papers for geoscience vision process to be published in Geoscience Canada.
a. State of Geoscience in Canada. Published this spring.
b. Needs document, better quantification of contributions, characterization of topics. Not ready yet
c. Case study of change Not completed yet.

• It was suggested there was a need to reach a broader audience.

• Emphasized that the NSERC re-allocation issues could be addressed by a strategy developed by a new CGC Standing Committee on Innovation GeoCanada 2000 model for “super” conference
• GeoCanada 2010 next, need to establish more partnerships

Jim Franklin moved to create a CGC Standing Committee on Innovation in Geoscience (Seconded by Richard Grieve)

Motion carried.

8. CGC Standing Committees

a. International Continental Drilling Program.
A written report was tabled by Jeremy Hall (Past President and Chair ICDP).
b. Sustainable Mineral Resource Development
A written report was tabled by Jeremy Richards and presented by Jeremy Hall. The CGC President thanked Jeremy Richards in his absence for his efforts while chairing this Standing Committee.
c. Future Initiatives
New Standing Committees for Natural Hazards, Groundwater Issues, Climate Change.
------------------------LUNCH Break---------------------------------------------

9. Discussion of feedback and future possible initiatives.
a. Presidents Meeting
This should involve Presidents, (or in their absence President Elects/Past Presidents of Member societies, in addition to Industry and Government geoscience leaders.

Moved by Jim Franklin seconded by Mati Raudsepp that CGC establish a regular meeting of Geoscience society presidents (president-elect, president, past president)
Motion carried

b. Restructuring of CGC

• Must move toward a reduced Board Membership (president, president-elect, international, finance & education),
• Need Long Range Business Plan (LRP),
• Need nomination for President Elect.
• Need to have different people at the table: high level industry representation essential.

Considerable discussion was undertaken as to the role of CGC with a realization that this was dependent on the suggested changes and the development of a clear Long range business plan.

As a short term measure it was suggested that one important initiative might be to develop an efficient communication vehicle for the benefit of the Canadian geoscience community. It was stressed that this was merely a small step in the right direction which must be followed by more far –reaching changes proposed.

Motion by Jeremy Hall and seconded by Mati Raudsepp that “CGC invite sponsoring members to support the creation of a communication vehicle for the benefit of the Geoscience community across Canada.”
Motion passed

c. Future CGC Funding Strategy
• Agreed to put on hold until CGCdevelops a LRP
• Need funds for newsletter
• Need to gather info on charitable status

d. Suspension of all but essential operations for 2003-4 and consideration of dissolution of CGC at 2004 AGM if no progress in Council participation/nominations forthcoming

Not discussed with option to table at next meeting if no progress made on initiatives presented.

10. Any other business
Doug Stead officially thanked Jeremy Hall for his dedicated efforts within the CGC over the past seven years. Council showed its appreciation.

11. Provisional date and location of next meeting
i. November in Ottawa