Meeting held at
CANQUA 2007, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario
Monday, June 4, 2006

Present: Sarah Finkelstein (chair), Matthew Peros (recording secretary), Gail Chmura, Michelle Garneau, Martin Head, Elisabeth Levac, Francine McCarthy, Ann Miller, Bob Mott, Florin Pendea, Mike Pisaric, Jeannine St. Jacques. Quorum achieved.

1. Welcome, approval of agenda.
   Gail moved to approve agenda, Sarah seconded motion. All were in favour.

2. Review and acceptance of minutes from the 2006 AGM.
   Gail moved to accept minutes, Sarah seconded motion. All were in favour.

3. President’s Report (S. Finkelstein)
   Sarah reviewed the activities of CAP over the last year and noted how busy its members have been, making specific reference to the CANQUA meeting and the initiation of a digital newsletter, among other activities. (See below for motion).

4. Financial Report (M. Vetter)
   Financial picture is excellent, few expenses, lots of revenue. (See below for motion)

5. Auditor’s Report (R. Mathewes)
   Reports that financial statement by Secretary- Treasurer is a full and fair account of the state of CAP’s financial status. (See below for motion)

6. Newsletter Editor’s Report (T. Lacourse)
   T. Lacourse took over from F. McCarthy. The CAP newsletter also went digital. (See below for motion)

7. Website Editor’s Report (A. Beaudoin)
   Alwynne offered to continue to manage the website for another year. Members of the meeting noted how well organized and insightful the website is. However, Alwynne noted that new additions to the site have been minimal due to a lack of submissions. (See below for motion)

8. IFPS News (J. N. Haas)
   No report was provided this year since there was no activity. An announcement was made about the upcoming International Palynological Congress in Bonn, Germany, August 30 - September 5, 2008. CAP members are encouraged to participate. At this time, however, we have no plans to propose a symposium.

   All members were given a few minutes to review the reports on their own. There was unanimous approval for the acceptance of all reports.

9. Elections for CAP Executive for 2008.
   Ann motioned to close nominations. Gail seconded. Francine motioned to accept the slate of candidates (no position had more than one candidate). Elisabeth seconded. New officers are as follows:
   • President (2008-2010): Elisabeth Levac (elevac@ubishops.ca)
   • President-elect (2008-2010): Matthew Peros (mperos@uottawa.ca)
   • Secretary-Treasurer (2008-2009): Mary Vetter (mary.vetter@uregina.ca)
   • Web site Editor (2008-2009): Alwynne Beaudoin (bluebulrush@gmail.com)
   • Newsletter Editor (2008-2009): Terri Lacourse (tlacours@uvic.ca)
   • IFPS Councillor: Jean Nicolas Haas continues to serve until the IPC in Bonn in 2008. (Jean-Nicolas.Haas@uibk.ac.at)

10. Location for 2008 AGM
    The location of the 2008 AGM will be Québec City at the GAC meeting, May 26-28, 2008. Sarah asked how CAP and its members would like to be involved. Francine suggested a Palynology in Canada poster. Ann suggested a special session be hosted in honour of a famous Canadian palynologist. Does this person need to be retired? Should the session be chaired by former students? Martin asked if this is limited to Canadian-based Palynologists or any palynologist with significant research interests in Canada. Michelle suggested hosting a short-course on a technical matter. After the discussion, all were in favour of organizing our special session at the GAC meeting in honour of Dr Pierre Richard (Université de Montréal), who has made outstanding contributions to Canadian palynology.

11. Use of CAP Funds
    Report by Mary Vetter indicated that there was lots of revenue and limited expenses. We held a discussion on sponsoring a student grant or scholarship, supported by membership dues. Ann asked what level of student would be eligible and should it be specifically for travel to a foreign conference. The IPC meeting was raised as a possible destination, but it found little favour given the overall costs of the trip. Francine suggested the award be decided on the basis of submitted abstracts. Martin suggested the awarding of a CAP medal to raise the profile of the organization. Sarah asked whether the money should be for fieldwork or other research expenses, what deadline should be imposed, and which members should be in charge of this. It was suggested that the President-Elect should lead the student prize committee. Francine noted that it would be good training for the position. Finally, Julie motioned that CAP sponsor a student prize. This was seconded by Ann. Sarah agreed to work with the CAP Executive on details. Those present at the meeting agreed that the student prize would be best organized as an award of $200, which students can apply for on a yearly basis. They will be asked to submit applications detailing use of funds (conferences, field work, anything in support of their research), and will be asked to provide a CV. The criteria for awarding the prize should be the merit of the applicant (their academic record) as well as the merit of the proposed use of funds in terms of furthering palynological research and training of new palynologists. Assuming CAP maintains a membership base of 50 members, our revenues will be $500 per year. By allocating $200 to the student prize, $300 will remain for special initiatives. One such special initiative is the symposium in honour of Pierre Richard. CAP funds could be used to support Pierre’s travel and registration at the meeting. Another initiative that could also benefit from the use of CAP funds was digitizing Pierre Richard’s pollen key (1970: Atlas pollinique des arbres at de quelques arbustes indigènes du Québec. Le Naturaliste canadien 97: 1-34, 97-161, 241-306). This publication, now out of print, contains some excellent pictures and descriptions. Making this available via the CAP website will enhance the content available online. Jeannine agreed to take the lead on this initiative.

12. Priorities & Goals for CAP
    The priorities for CAP in the upcoming year will be introducing a student prize and establishing a precedent for honouring leading palynologists with symposia.

13. Any other business?
    No other business raised.

14. Adjournment.
    Motion for adjournment made by Elisabeth, seconded by Sarah.

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CAP President's Report, 2007

It's been a busy year for CAP. After the May 2006 AGM in Montréal, the Executive placed renewed effort in strengthening the CAP membership numbers. Our numbers are back up after a decline, and we continue to work to expand membership in CAP by encouraging undergraduate, graduate students and post-docs to join our association. I thank all the Executive members for their successful efforts in this area.

CAP has been active in conference presentations this year. We were well represented at the GAC meeting in Montréal in 2006, and we are sponsoring a session at CANQUA 2007 in Ottawa. This session, titled "Quaternary Climate and Environmental Change", has attracted a large number of participants for both talks and posters, including many CAP members. Congratulations to Mike Pisaric and Mike Sawada for convening a successful session. We also increased our visibility at the CANQUA meeting through a CAP-sponsored coffee break. In 2008, CAP will be sponsoring a special session at GAC in Québec City, showcasing current palynological research in Canada. Our proposal was recently accepted by the organizing committee.

CAP also made a major transition this year from a paper to a digital newsletter. We are very pleased with the inaugural issue. CAP remains mostly a newsletter based organization with members widely dispersed throughout Canada and the world. Therefore, an enhanced newsletter offers us more opportunities to communicate, collaborate and share ideas. Francine McCarthy has stepped down after many years of service editing the CAP Newsletter. We thank her for the fantastic job she did during her term, and welcome Terri Lacourse as the new Editor. I have also created a CAP President's binder, containing our by-laws, administrative schedules, and other information, to ensure continuity when new members of the Executive take office. I thank Mary Vetter, Alwynne Beaudoin, Terri Lacourse and Jean Nicolas Haas for volunteering their time and effort during 2007 to run CAP. Thank you also to Konrad Gajewski for serving on our nominating committee and to Rolf Mathewes who has served as Auditor for many years. I also welcome all new CAP members and wish the next President of CAP a great first year, beginning in January 2008. I'm also pleased to report that we have new candidates standing for President and President-Elect and I thank them very much for their desire to become involved with our small but vital organization!

Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Finkelstein
CAP President 2006-2007

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CAP Secretary-Treasurer’s Report, 2007

Membership Report

As of May 1, 2007, CAP has 51 members in good standing who have paid dues for 2007. This is a good recovery from our low point in 2005 when we had just 36 members and is close to maximum number of members we have had in recent years.

Year	Members
2002	53
2003	54
2004	43
2005	36
2006	47
2007	51

Financial Report

For the period ending May 8, 2006, the balance in the CAP account is $4580.03. IFPS dues for 2005, 2006, and 2007 have been paid (some 2007 dues are still owing due to recent memberships received). The bank balance has remained healthy over the years in large part because most of the newsletter production and mailing costs have been borne by the institutions of those producing, photocopying, and mailing the newsletter. Now that CAP has decided to produce the newsletter digitally, the only ongoing costs will be annual IFPS dues ($1.50 USD per member) and the annual corporation renewal fee ($25).

The closing balance includes 43 prepaid annual memberships in the amount of $430.00 for the years 2008-2011. This will affect the income from this source for the years indicated.

Recommendations: CAP may want eventually to consider investing some of the funds and sponsoring a scholarship or regular symposia from the interest earned. Since it is generally assumed that about 5% interest can be earned, CAP may wish to wait until it can invest a larger amount.

Respectfully submitted,
Mary Vetter
CAP Secretary/Treasurer

Statement by Appointed Auditor:

It is my opinion that the above financial statement represents a full and fair account of the financial affairs of the Canadian Association of Palynologists for the period indicated.

Rolf Mathewes
Auditor for CAP
May 18, 2007

CAP Annual Financial Statement
9 May 2006 - 1 May 2007
Opening Balance		$3,830.08
Revenue	membership dues	$1,029.00
	interest earned	$1.95
Expenses	bank fees	$0.00
	corporation renewal	-$25.00
	IFPS dues: 2005: 36 members 2006: 47 members 2007: 47 members   wire transfer fees	-$231.00   -$25.00
Closing Balance		$4,580.03

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CAP Newsletter Editor’s Report, 2007

In 2006, I joined the CAP Executive as Newsletter Co-Editor. Francine McCarthy and I co-edited the May 2006 and December 2006 editions of the Newsletter. We shared the various activities involved in producing the Newsletter: gathering materials, copyediting, formatting, printing, and mailing. The May 2006 Newsletter was a large edition (24 pages) and included, among other items, an essay on Gunnar Erdtman by J. McAndrews and an interview with Carlos Avendaño, a Guatemalan palynologist at the University of Toronto. The December 2006 Newsletter consisted of 17 pages, including an essay on the use of heavy-liquid in pollen preparations from members of the Laboratory for Paleoclimatology and Climatology at the University of Ottawa and a book review of Haida Gwaii, published by UBC Press and edited by Daryl Fedje and Rolf Mathewes. UBC Press requested a copy of this book review for their files. Francine was responsible for finalizing and distributing the December 2006 Newsletter, but ran into a series of problems related to its production. Ultimately, she was forced to print the Newsletter without pagination. Francine stepped down from her position as Newsletter Co-Editor in December 2006.

After spirited debate between members of the Executive and consultation with CAP members, the Executive decided in April 2007 to produce and distribute the Newsletter in a digital format. A digital format allows CAP to save funds on printing, packaging, and mailing and to reduce CAP’s environmental "footprint". It also allows us to include colour images and hyperlinks in the Newsletter.

The May 2007 Newsletter was produced in a digital format and distributed to CAP members on April 18, 2007. Two paper copies were sent to members for whom we did not have email addresses and six paper copies were sent to the various libraries accessioning the Newsletter. The May 2007 Newsletter included an essay on starch by V. Bryant accompanied by two colour photographs as well as many hyperlinks and a form-fillable membership form. So far, the response from CAP members has been very positive.

I am currently accepting material for the December 2007 Newsletter, which I plan to distribute to members by mid-December.

Respectfully submitted,
Terri Lacourse
CAP Newsletter Editor

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CAP Website Editor’s Report, 2007

I have continued as Editor for the CAP website since the last AGM. The presentation is located at http://www.scirpus.ca/cap/cap.shtml, under my own domain (www.scirpus.ca). There are no costs to CAP associated with this hosting. Accesses to the presentation have remained steady, averaging around 800 each month. The presentation provides various resources and information about CAP to the palynological community. I have continued to update time sensitive sections of the presentation, such as the conference listing, although little new material has been added during the past year, largely because there have been no contributions or requests for additions. With the CAP Newsletter now going to an electronic format, I expect to begin archiving back issues on the website, making them available to members over the long-term. I would welcome more CAP-related material to the website and would appreciate suggestions for new components to broaden its appeal.

If CAP members are agreeable, I am prepared to continue as the association’s Website Editor for another year.

Respectfully submitted,
Alwynne B. Beaudoin
CAP Website Editor

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This summary originally appeared in CAP Newsletter 30(2):9-13, 2007.