This report has sought to expand upon only selected issues dealt with by the CGC in 1994 and to set these against a background of the forces, internal and external, that presently are determining the future of the geosciences in Canada.

Many other issues have received attention in the course of the year. For example, the Standing Committee on Professional Registration (Gordon Williams, Chair) has continued its efforts to promote accreditation of university geoscience programs by circulating a draft version of a proposed National Geology Syllabus. This, however, has caused grave concern to the Council of Chairs of Canadian Earth Science Departments, whose members find its content too traditional and insensitive to changes that have been made by many departments to recognize the reality of environmental and interdisciplinary studies in the geosciences. The concern is but one illustration of the difficulties faced by the committee in attempting to pave the for way for professional registration of geoscientists across the country, and clearly extensive further negotiation will be required to achieve this end. The committee's difficulties were exacerbated in October, 1994, when David W. Deveney, President of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta, published an editorial in the Association's newsletter advocating an umbrella organization, like the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers, to establish national standards for education, membership qualifications, and discipline for geoscientists. The article was sharply critical of CGC's leadership in this respect, but it also displayed an enormous lack of understanding of the Council's organization and structure and made no mention of the work of its Professional Registration Committee. In other respects, the article verged on being polemic. CGC past- President, Brian Norford, offered to respond on Council's behalf. His carefully constructed and measured rejoinder, endorsed by all Directors, was published in the Alberta Association's newsletter.

In other matters, Vice-President Hugh Morris and Past-President John Gartner have been involved in determining the most desirable role for Council in the current assessment of Nuclear Waste Disposal in Canada, and Director Olav Slaymaker has been Council's immediate representative in the continuing effort, so capably sustained by Council's Past-Presidents Don Mustard and Ian Thomson, to secure funding for the Canada Prize in Earth and Environmental Science.

These few examples may suffice to emphasize why this report should not be read in isolation. Directors, Committee Chairs, Members, and Associate Members now amplify commentary on certain of the issues that have been touched upon and address many other matters that have been the concern of the Council and integral to the state of The Geosciences in Canada, 1994.

Finally, I have the sad duty to report the loss of one of our Associate Members late in 1994, when Professor Hugh E. Hendry, Head of the Department of Geological Sciences in the University of Saskatchewan and Chair of the Council of Chairs of Canadian Earth Science Departments, succumbed following a three-month fight against cancer. Apart from his wise counsel, Hugh's main contribution to CGC lay in maintaining, and preparing for annual publication, statistics on the training of geoscientists in our universities and in interfacing with the Canadian Geoscience Education Board and the Standing Committee on Professional Registration. I have prepared a short tribute to Hugh Hendry to be incorporated into the Minutes of the January, 1995 Council meeting. The sympathy of the Council has been extended to Mrs. Margaret Hendry and the family.

I extend my sincere appreciation to Vice-President Hugh Morris and to all Directors (Executive Committee) of the Council for discharging their assigned duties so independently and responsibly throughout the year. Apart from those already mentioned in preceding parts of this report, I acknowledge the substantial contribution of the Treasurer, John Hamilton, who having secured extension of the Council's sustaining grant from the Geological Survey of Canada, then disbursed these funds with rigorous propriety, and of the Council's new Executive Director and Secretary, Mario Coniglio, for his foresight in planning the Council's meetings and ensuring that the President did not make too many mistakes. Furthermore, I offer my thanks to all member and associate-member societies and agencies and to all committees for their dedication to our cause and for their staunch support. Robert Greggs, retiring Chairman of the EdGEO program, deserves special thanks for promoting the considerable growth of the program through nearly four years.

Glen Caldwell

The 1994 Executive of CGC

The 1994 Executive of the Canadian Geoscience Council

From left to right: Mario Coniglio (Executive Director); Colin Stearn (Foreign Secretary); Hugh Morris (Vice President); Fran Haidl (Executive Member); John Hamilton (Treasurer); - Missing; Glen Caldwell (Presiden t), and Olav Slaymaker (Executive Member).