APPROVED
Minutes of the 58th meeting of the Canadian National Committee of URSI
----------------------------------------------------------------------
held on 16 August 1999
at the Univ. of Toronto's Galbraith Bldg rm 173, 35 St. George St., Toronto.
Present:
Yahia Antar (RMC/Kingston, comm. B)
Gilles Delisle (UL/SteFoy, CNC Chair)
Gordon James (CRC/Ottawa, comm G+H)
Edward Jull (UBC/Vancouver, guest)
Shantnu Mishra (CSA/Ottawa, comm. A)
Rod Olsen (CRC/Ottawa, comm. F)
Amy Pinchuk (InField/PteClaire, comm. E)
Frank Prato (UWO/London, comm. K)
Elvino Sousa (UofT/Toronto, comm. C)
Maria Stuchly (UVic/Victoria, comm. K)
Jacques Vallee (NRC-HIA/Victoria, member and Secr.)
Paul Wittke (Queens/Kingston, past CNC Chair)
Temporary presence:
Jens Bornemann (U.Victoria, 2001 URSI Comm B meeting Chair)
Absents:
Jamal Deen (SFU/Burnaby, comm. D)
Jean-Jacques Laurin (EP/Montreal, comm. B)
David Routledge (UAlb/Edmonton, comm. J)
Gordon Staples (Radarsat/Richmond, comm. F)
Jean-Pierre St-Maurice (UWO/London, comm. G+H)
Ken Tapping (NRC-HIA/Penticton, comm. J)
Tentative Agenda for the 58th meeting of CNC URSI:
1. Welcome and Introductory Remarks (Delisle)
2. Approval of the Agenda
3. Approval of Minutes of 57th Meeting
4. Nominations to CNC for Comm. C (Sousa) and E (Pinchuk)
5. Welcome to new members to CNC and Explanation of duties
6. CNC Trust Account (Vallee)
7. Victoria 2001 - Comm. B meeting (Bornemann)
8. Other business
.CNC web page (Vallee)
.Meeting of CNC Chairs with the HIA Director General
.Calgary 2005 URSI/IEEE-APS meeting
9. Thanks to departing members
10. Date and place of next CNC meeting (Spring 2000)
The CNC meeting started around noon.
1. Welcome and Introductory Remarks
===================================
Dr. Delisle, CNC Chair, welcomed all participants to this meeting,
and thanked the Univ. of Toronto for the logistical details of the meeting.
Everyone present introduced him/herself.
2. Approval of the Agenda
=========================
The Chair asked for any modifications of the proposed agenda. Items will be
moved up or down the Agenda depending on the arrival/departure of key people.
A motion to accept the agenda was moved by Amy Pinchuk, and seconded by
Maria Stuchly. Accepted.
3. Approval of Minutes of 57th Meeting
======================================
No change requested.
A motion to approve the minutes as they were written was proposed by
Maria Stuchly and seconded by Gilles Delisle. Accepted.
4. Nominations to CNC for Comm. C (Sousa) and E (Pinchuk)
=========================================================
The term of the representative for Commission E comes to an end
before the next annual meeting of the CNC. Also, the representative
for Commission C submitted his resignation. It is customary at the CNC
meeting to discuss suggestions for replacements and to rank them.
As per the Memo of 1998Mar16 by Andree Bichon (NRC-CorpServ/Ottawa),
appointments of CNC/URSI members are the responsibility of HIA further to
the recommendations of CNC/URSI members.
Vallee mentioned that NRC is committed to a fair geographical, linguistic,
and gender representation for the memberships of its committees, whenever
possible. In a Memo from NRC's Secretary General (Ms. Lucie Lapointe) of
25 August 1998 to the HIA DG (Dr. Don Morton), it is stated that: “It is
expected that the membership of the CNC/URSI be distributed with regards
to geography, linguistics and, whenever possible, gender.”
For Comm. C, the CNC ranked its suggestions thus: (1) Witek Krzymien
(U. Alberta); (2) John Lodge (CRC Ottawa); (3) Paul Fortier (Laval, Que).
[Note: HIA letter sent 990820 to Dr. Krzymien. Dr. Krzymien accepted 990831.]
For Comm. E, the CNC agreed to rank thus: (1) Chris Trueman (Concordia,
Que); (2) Emilie van Deventer (Toronto).
[Note: HIA letter sent 990820 to Dr. Trueman. Dr. Trueman accepted 990920.]
5. Welcome to new CNC members, and Explanation of duties
========================================================
A warm welcome and applauds were extended to incoming CNC members:
Gordon James (G+H), Jean-Jacques Laurin (B), Frank Prato (K),
David Routledge (J), Gordon Staples (F).
Ed Jull emphasized the main duties of CNC members, notably to keep in
touch with colleagues in your field, to be a source of inspiration to
colleagues, to get international meetings to be held in Canada.
Congratulations to Yahia Antar on becoming the new CNC Chair;
Gilles Delisle becomes the Past CNC Chair.
6. CNC Trust Account (Vallee)
=============================
Vallee explained entries and exits for 1999. On 1999 Aug16, the
current CNC Trust account balance stood at Cdn$12 407.
Approved financial obligations for 2000 and 2001 will result in new
outcomes of Cdn$10,740 to the 2001-Victoria Conference Center.
Vallee reviewed the CNC policy for reimbursements of members for
the URSI GA held in Toronto Aug.'99, as detailed in the CNC Minutes of
the 57th meeting. Each CNC member was handed out NRC Expense Claim Form(s),
as required. These represent extra outcomes from the CNC Trust Account,
potentially around Cdn$6000.
Vallee noted that, unless new moneys were found, there would not be any
money left in the CNC Trust Account to reimburse CNC members and pay all
approved financial obligations to the 2001-Victoria Conference Center.
Delisle noted that a surplus is expected from the URSI GA held in Toronto
Aug.'99, part of which would go back to the CNC as per agreement.
7. Victoria 2001 - Comm. B meeting (Bornemann)
==============================================
Jens Bornemann made a presentation on this topic, on behalf of the Local
Organization Committee. The Victoria 2001 meeting is slated for May 13-17.
Bornemann's committee is considering 3 bids from conference management
firms (UVic Conf., B.Smith & Assoc., NRC Conf. Serv.). It will make a
decision in the near future.
[Note: The NRC Conference Services Office has been chosen in Jan.2000.]
[Note: Following CNC advice, NRC HIA Victoria signed an agreement
with NRC Conf. Serv. Ottawa in Feb. 2000]
About 400 delegates are expected, and an overall budget near Cdn$160 000
is proposed. The net profit expected would not be large.
8. Other business
=================
(A) CNC web page (Vallee)
Jacques Vallee announced that he had created a web page for the CNC at
http://www.hia.nrc.ca/dgo/reports/ursi/
Vallee inserted several icons, one for the current CNC membership, another
one for the CNC annual reports, one for the CNC history, one for the recent
and the upcoming CNC sponsored conferences in Canada, another one for
the HeadQuarters of URSI in Belgium, etc.
A preliminary copy was shown around. Members of CNC were invited to
look it up and to forward suggestions to the CNC Secretary.
[Note: Suggestions from the CNC Chair were received and inserted by
Vallee on 990819.]
(B) Meeting of CNC Chairs with the HIA Director General
It was announced that there will be a lunch meeting on Wed. 18 Aug. 99
between the HIA Director General (Dr. Don Morton) and the incoming CNC Chair
(Dr. Yahia Antar) and the outgoing CNC Chair (Dr. Gilles Delisle).
(C) Calgary 2005 URSI/IEEE-APS meeting
This meeting is still in the planning stage, and the date has slipped
by one year. An effort will be made in the coming months.
9. Thanks to departing members
==============================
CNC Chair Gilles Delisle thanked all those present and departing members
for coming to this meeting.
A formal Letter of thanks will be sent by HIA to each departing member.
[Note: HIA sent letters of thanks on 990820 to Dr. Olsen, Pinchuk, Sousa,
St.Maurice, Stuchly, Tapping, and Wittke.]
CNC Secretary Jacques Vallee also thanked all members present on behalf
of NRC-HIA for helping Radio Science in Canada. He reminded them to fill the
NRC Expense Claim Forms and to send them to him at NRC-HIA in Victoria.
10. Date and place of next CNC meeting (Spring 2000)
====================================================
The next CNC meeting will be held on a Monday in May, tentatively
on Monday 1 May 2000, starting at 10h am, in Ottawa.
The CNC meeting ended at 14h 15m.
Jacques P. Vallée
jacques.vallee @nrc-cnrc.gc.ca