Delta Regina Hotel, Regina, Saskatchewan
October 23, 1999

Prepared by John F. Gartner, Business Manager

Attendance:

      Mary-Claire Ward, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada
      Ron McMillan, Financial Director, CGC
      Peter Bobrowsky, International Director, CGC
      Jim Nicholls, Mineralogical Association of Canada
      Philip L. Reeves, Canadian Council of Professional Geoscientists
      Bob McNutt, Past President, CGC
      Richard Grieve, Earth Science Sector, Natural Resources Canada
      Réjean Couture, Canadian Geotechnical Society
      Dave Sauchyn, CANQUA
      Janis Dale, Canadian Association of Geographers
      Ron Hopkinson, CMOS
      Jeremy Hall, Issues Director, CGC
      Paul T. Robinson, CGEN and Education Director, CGC
      Fran Haidl, EdGeo
      Dirk Tempelman-Kluit, President, CGC
      John Gartner, Business Manager, CGC


Representing, Regrets and Absent:

Action Items:

  1. Call Gord Peeling of Mining Association of Canada and Norm McIntyre of CAPP to inquire about who are the recipients of industry funding.
    John Gartner

  2. Inquire from Andy Fyon (Head of National Geological Survey Group), if he or designate, in conjunction with mining, hydrocarbon, CCCESD and environmental/geotechnical representatives, would prepare a report on geoscience data bases so that the CGC could prepare a position and approach decision makers on this issue.
    Dirk Tempelman-Kluit

  3. Maintain watching-brief on discussions regarding recommendations made to NSERC on the Ocean Drilling Program issue and Marine Geosciences.
    Jeremy Hall

  4. Chris Heath of University of British Columbia to be asked to make presentation on "skills needs" at January meeting of Council.
    Jeremy Hall

  5. The CGS and CANQUA to cooperate and form a task force (TF) to continue to articulate the important role of the geosciences in Global Change and to emphasize the need to include both government and industry in this discussion. The TF to present a further brief at some future date to Council.
    Dave Sauchyn (CANQUA)

  6. John Gartner to be advised if the IGWIG presentation to the Mines Ministers can be put onto the CGC web page. (Gartner has a digital copy of the presentation).
    Mary-Claire Ward

  7. If permission is granted on 6. Above, then advise all members that the presentation is on the web.
    John Gartner

  8. Link CGC web site to university web sites across Canada. Obtain information from Jeff Fawcett regarding whom to contact at the various universities to achieve this.
    John Gartner

  9. Ask CCPG if CGC can play any role in the issue of continuing education for professional geoscientists, being cognizant of potential liabilities, as profiled in current litigation against the BC Association whereby they issued continuing competence credits for a professional allegedly responsible for an engineering failure.
    Phil Reeves

  10. Provide information on accreditation of geological engineering programs with CCEP. Ask Jeff Fawcett for details.
    John Gartner

  11. Provide more information on Continuing Education Units (CEU) program of Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) by contacting John Plant of EIC and see if it has any applications at CCPG through Hugh Miller of CCPG.
    John Gartner

  12. Provide scoping paper on Earth Sciences in Society before January 2000 CGC meeting.
    Paul Robinson

  13. EdGeo to proceed with fund raising initiative from past donors.
    Fran Haidl

  14. Prepare a scoping paper on groundwater issues by involving IAH and the Canadian Geotechnical Society.
    John Gartner/Réjean Couture

  15. Check proposed census questionnaire with ethics committee and report to John Gartner.
    Janis Dale

  16. Critically review census questionnaire and get comments back to John Gartner (Before end of November).
    All Members/Associates

  17. Edit 3-year financial plan and add "do-it-yourself" column to allow members to add their figures to the proposed budget, including options for IUGS, IGCP, etc., and send to all members/associates (by mid November)
    John Gartner/Ron McMillan

  18. Review 3-year plan and fill in "do-it-yourself" column, suggesting your budget priorities and forward to John Gartner (by mid December).
    All Members/Associates

  19. Contact CNC-IAH for status of IAH in CGC.
    John Gartner

  20. Rewrite job description for permanent Executive Director and distribute to Council.
    John Gartner

  21. Send Jeremy Hall copy of document on ESS Strategic Plan that was discussed at MNABES meeting.
    Dirk Tempelman-Kluit

  22. Write Richard Grieve and offer to continue help on ESS Strategic Plan.
    Dirk Tempelman-Kluit

  23. Write letter of support for signature by President Tempelman-Kluit regarding allocation of beamline for X-RAY Microprobe in Canadian Light Source Facility.
    Jim Nicholls


Agenda Items:

    1. Welcome/Agenda Additions/Approval: The agenda was approved and an item entitled "Canadian Light Source Facility" was added under Other Business.

    2. 100th Council Meeting Minutes and Action Items: Mary-Claire Ward moved approval of the minutes and this was seconded by Peter Bobrowsky and the eventual vote was unanimous. Review of action items follows (refer to 100th Council minutes)

      • Members were to provide list of new Executives to JFG, and some did and others still have to. Please forward to John Gartner
      • Budget to GSC for Mineral review done
      • Regarding NSERC Reallocation, all action items are done or ongoing
      • Regarding funding of research by industry, these action items were not completed and John Gartner to contact Gord Peeling of MAC and Norm McIntyre of CAPP for information regarding funding of research (Action Item (AI#1, see above).
      • Regarding ODP, the action items were completed regarding the mailing of letters to the government. However, the Issues Director was disappointed by the lack of response from the ,membership in writing letters. Letters to the Minister were provided by CSEG, CGS, MAC, CGC, PetroCanada and Mobil Oil through Jeremy Hall. Otherwise there was no response, even though the CGC had set up a mechanism to solicit many letters to the Minister in support of ODP, even to the extent of providing the template letter for member societies to just copy, sign and send. There was a general discussion concerning this lack of response on behalf of ODP. Some comments were that some members feared that ODP funding might take funds away from other geoscience programs, and that ODP must begin a marketing campaign to make others aware of the positive results of the ODP program. It is noted that ODP is not perceived as being significant to the grass roots of geoscience and looked upon as being too academic. A very important point was made, as follows: The geoscience community in Canada must learn to pull together and work as a cohesive group. As an example, those not involved in ODP must show support, while those involved in ODP must show support for other issues, such as "geological mapping". United we stand-divided we fall (editorial comment by JFG). ODP must get more people involved and should review their policies, funding, etc. Dirk Tempelman-Kluit thanked all those who did write on behalf of ODP.
      • The letter thanking GAC for their position paper was not written, and should be written, and Bob McNutt is to talk to Dirk Tempelman-Kluit.
      • All action items related to the Mines and Energy Ministers meeting were done. The PDAC thanked the CGC for supporting the PDAC position at the Mines Ministers meeting in Charlottetown. It was noted that the Energy day was not as conducive for comment from the floor as the Mines day. Fran Haidl thanked Jeremy Hall for the paper on Global Change and suggested that the paper should get wide distribution, and the addition of reference list would be helpful.

        All other action items from the 100th Council meeting were either completed or will be dealt with in this meeting.

    3. Nominating Committee Report: Bob McNutt reported that he has received 6 names of potential candidates for the position of President-Elect. He will confirm the acceptance of the candidates to allow their names to stand, and then submit their bios on the web prior to an election call (Note: This AI covered in Board minutes). The vote will take place via email in late November. The President-Elect would take over as President at the May meeting of Council. A call for Issues Director and Financial Director will be made in January 2000.

    4. Earth Science Week: Paul Robinson related that 5000 posters had been distributed through the efforts of Alan Morgan, but further information on the week was not available.

    5. Geoscience Data Base Issue: Jeremy Hall gave some introductory remarks about the "issues loop" and how the CGC wants to identify issues of concern for the geoscience community, debate these issues in Council and then determine an action plan to take our position to the appropriate decision-makers, be they in government, academia or industry.

      A one page scoping paper, "Developing NGSC Canadian Geoscience Knowledge Network to Improve Access to Canadian Geoscience Data", was submitted by the Canadian Geoscience Knowledge Network Implementation Committee.

      A number of points were raised during the discussion, some of them as follows:
      • Richard Grieve indicated that the whole question of data bases is a difficult issue for the GSC. The future lies in data bases, but it is estimated that it will take $2M/year for the next 5 years to move the data from the filing cabinets to a digital format. "How much old data should be digitized" is one of the questions. With GSC's severely restricted budget, such an allocation is almost impossible.
      • It was pointed out that much of the user community wants maps, not just data, and does the community want old data digitized. Some of the users don't want research papers, but rather want basic mapping with data interpreted for the user community
      • Obviously a choice will have to be made on how much of the limited resources are spent on the data base issue. Input is required from the National Geological Surveys Committee (NGSC). What will a budget of $2M / year produce and at what costs to other GSC programs?
      • It is most important for the nation and the Earth science community to have the data base digitizied, and we must catch up and then keep up. At the present maps are going out of date faster than they can be replaced. In the view of many politicians, the mining industry is a sunset industry, and we must strive to be more relevant.
      • Does the data base include data from the environment, climate, etc?
      • Today about $500K per year is being spent on the update, but this is woefully inadequate. GSC has a date base model in an advanced state of progress and the major issue is whether there is support in the geoscience community to continue to accelerate this program?
      • We must know more of what is being done in detail before the CGC can take this issue before political decision-makers.
      • A program of Geomatics Canada called "Geoconnections Canada" has recently obtained $30M funding, showing that the Geomatic community in Canada is much better organized when it comes to supporting programs than the geoscience community.
      • In order for the CGC to be in a position to approach the political decision-makers on this issue, CGC needs to know more about the issue. With this is mind, Dirk Tempelman-Kluit is to ask the NGSC if they along with members of the mining, hydrocarbons and geotechnical/environmental industries can put together a position paper that CGC can use as a basis of discussion before initiating action (AI#2). The paper should focus on the economic contributions to Canada.

    6. Marine Geoscience Scoping Paper: This scoping paper refers to the final report of the NSERC sponsored workshop on Marine Geoscience held in St. John's in 1997. This report resulted in four recommendations as follows:
      #1 Maintaining the Profile,
      #2 Fostering Partnerships,
      #3 Strengthening Direct and Remote Access to the Oceans and
      #4 Promoting Marine Science to NSERC.

      NSERC has placed recommendations #2 and #4 before a committee on research grants and GSC is to convene a meeting to discuss #4.

      Jeremy Hall is to maintain a watching brief on discussions and report back to Council in January for further discussions (AI#3).

    7. Capacity Gaps: No scoping paper was received on this issue. However, Chris Heath of UBC has been in touch with some of the Board members. Chris is doing active research on skills needs in the mining industry, and Jeremy Hall should invite him to the January meeting in Vancouver and ask him to present his findings (AI#4).

    8. Climate Change: The scoping paper spearheaded by the CGS was presented and discussed. It was pointed out that CGC does not want to duplicate the work of the NRCan committee on this subject, and Grieve said that there was really no duplication. It was decided that CANQUA and the CGS would cooperate to form a task force to continue to articulate the role of the geosciences in climate change and report back to Council at some future date (AI#5).

    9. Geological Mapping: The basis of this paper was the presentation made to the Mines Ministers in Charlottetown in September regarding the state of geological mapping in Canada. It was pointed out that there probably would not be an opportunity to get back to the Mines Ministers on this topic, and maybe CGC can keep up the presence on this important topic. Mapping does include the subsurface, so this should also be of interest to the energy sector.

      It was decided that Mary-Claire Ward would see if the PowerPoint presentation could be released to the CGC web site, and if so, John Gartner would assure that the membership knew of its placement. Also, it was suggested that an article might be written on the subject for Geoscience Canada. Finally, it was asked that the CGC web page be linked to the university web sites, and Jeff Fawcett may be able to advise John Gartner on people to contact at the various universities to make this happen (AI#6, #7, #8).

      At this point in our agenda, members of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), who were meeting across the hall, dropped in to introduce themselves and to briefly describe their organization and accomplishments. This gave both organizations an opportunity to be aware of the other, since both organizations play similar roles for the engineers on one hand and the geoscientists on the other.

    10. Professional Registration: A scoping paper was received on this subject. Phil Reeves indicated that the Standards Board was meeting today. He gave a brief description on what CCPG is about, and highlighted issues of continuing competence and standards. A brief discussion ensued regarding the mobility of geoscientists between provincial jurisdictions and if CGC can help in this in any way. It was noted that the B.C. Association of Engineers and Geoscientists has recently been involved in a potential issue, whereby they issued "continuing competence" credits to an engineer (or firm?) that was involved in the collapse of a building. The point was made that there may be an inherent liability in supporting continuing competence.

      There seems to have been an improvement in relations between the universities and the CCPG, which is positive.

      Janis Dale noted that environmental geosciences was now included, which was good.

      Phil Reeves is to ask CCPG if CGC can play any role in continuing education (AI#9). Issues related to accreditation of geological engineering programs should be investigated by John Gartner asking for guidance from Jeff Fawcett (AI#10). Finally, John Gartner should talk to John Plant of the EIC regarding their CEU program (AI#11).

    11. Earth Science in Society Scoping Paper: This paper was not written, and Paul Robinson will provide such a paper for the January 2000 meeting (AI#12). Also, Fran Haidl will proceed with fund raising from past donors (AI#13).

    12. New Issue - Water: It was noted that water, and particularly groundwater, is now on the political agenda in Canada, and decsions are being made by decision-makers without a good grasp of the subject. This is especially true when the issue is linked to global change. John Gartner and Réjean Couture to spearhead a scoping paper on water issues (AI#14).

    13. Census Initiative: John Gartner distributed a brochure and a draft of the census questionnaire to attendees. It is planned to have the final census questionnaire approved by Council in Vancouver in January 2000, and distributed to the Member Societies and Associates in the year 2000. It is proposed to have a copy included with dues notices, to have an interactive questionnaire on the web and to get as much exposure as possible. It is also planned to have the brochure inserted with the registration packages of upcoming conferences. (Editor note: arrangements have been made to have the brochure placed in the registration packages of the Yukon and NWT Geoscience forums).

      Janis Dale will submit the questionnaire informally to an Ethics Committee at her university to see if there are any legal or ethical problems with any of the questions (AI#15).

      It was agreed that All of the Members and Associates would critically review the questionnaire and get comments back to John gartner ASAP (Before end of November) (AI#16).

    14. Financial Plan: A copy of the draft financial plan had been emailed to all members/associates in mid October, and additional copies were distributed at the meeting. Basically, the plan shows a fee increase from an average of about $0.60/society member to $5.00/society member over a three year period. It also shows revenues will be required from universities, provincial governments and Supporting members. Costs associated with a full time secretariat will also rise during the next three years.

      Here are some of the points raised during discussions:
    1. Business Manager/Office Location: John Gartner's contract expires at the end of March 2000, and the search will start for a full-time (as opposed to a part-time) Executive Director. A discussion centred around the future office location, where to advertise, etc. John Gartner will rewrite the job description and distribute it to Council (AI#20).

    2. ESS of NRCan Strategic Plan: It is generally thought that this issue may not be raised at Council again. However, Dirk Tempelman-Kluit should send Jeremy Hall a copy of the ESS Strategic Plan that was discussed at the MNABES (AI#21). Also, Dirk Tempelman-Kluit should write Richard Grieve and offer to continue help if required (AI#22).

    3. Research Funding for Mega Projects: The articles in Geoscience Canada authored by Jeremy Hall and others, explain the process that will be initiated to get the geoscience community to respond to ideas for new mega projects in Canada. Jeremy Hall was praised for his excellent work.

    4. Canadian Light Source Facility: Jim Nicholls described the proposed light source facility and how it was at least partly funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The facility will be located at Saskatoon, and will be a first class facility. Basically the facility spins electrons at the speed of light and gives off radiation that then is used to analyse matter. The MAC is interested in this since it can analyse mineral structures.

      Jim Nicholls is to write a letter for Dirk tempelman-Kluit's signature, supporting the allocation of a beamline for X-RAY Microprobe (AI#23). The letter should be for a broader support than just MAC. This action was moved by Mary-Claire ward and seconded by Paul Robinson.

    5. Next Meeting: The next Council meeting will be in Vancouver, in connection with the Cordilleran Roundup. The meeting will be two days, January 28th and 29th 2000. The Board meeting will be on January 27th.

      The meeting in the fall of 2000 is planned for Ottawa.

      The Council meeting finished about 5:00p.m.