Meeting held at
GAC/MAC Meeting, Université de Québec à Montréal
Monday, May 15, 2006

Present: Sarah Finkelstein (chair), Rob Fensome (recording secretary), Konrad Gajewski, Michelle Garneau, Pierre Richard and Graham Williams. Quorum achieved.

1. Welcome, approval of agenda. Michelle moved to approve the agenda, Rob seconded the motion, all were in favour.

2. Review and acceptance of 2005 AGM minutes. (See below for motion.)

3. President’s Report (C. Yansa) It was noted that when the report was written it was assumed that Sarah (because of settling into a new job) would not be taking over until mid-year 2006. However, for all intents and purposes, Sarah took over at the beginning of 2006. The 2006 President’s Report was amended to incorporate this detail. Pending this small proviso, Rob moved that the President’s report be accepted, Graham seconded the motion, and all were in favour.

4. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report (M. Vetter) There was a discussion about the declining membership. As seen from Mary’s report, numbers of members in good standing have fallen from 55 in 2004 to 20 in 2006. It was agreed that it would help to tactfully indicate members coming up for renewal in the Newsletter. Also, we need to encourage students to become members. Rob noted that a requirement of our registration as a society with the Nova Scotia Joint Stocks Registry is that we submit an annual financial report. Graham asked how much we pay as fees to the International Federation of Palynological Societies. No one present knew the answer to this. (See below for motion.)

5. Auditor’s Report (R. Mathewes) It was noted that it might be helpful if the auditor were geographically close to the Secretary- Treasurer (at present thus in the Regina area) for the convenience of directly examining the "books", etc. Treasurer Mary Vetter however has confirmed that she will continue taking responsibility for the yearly audit, and if necessary, completing it by mail or fax is fine. (See below for motion.)

6. Newsletter Editor’s Report (F. McCarthy) The December Newsletter was delayed to mid-April because of heavy work loads. There was a consideration of reducing the Newsletter to one per year, but, as was pointed out, this would require a change in by-laws ... not to mention the fact that this would be a pity since CAP is essentially a Newsletter organization. Given the challenge of one individual producing two newsletters per year, the Executive has decided to appoint Newsletter co-editors, with Terri Lacourse (UBC) sharing the honours with Francine McCarthy for 2006. In a later discussion, it was considered whether the Newsletter should be put on the web: perhaps we could give members the option. This idea was tabled for future discussion. (See below for motion.)

7. Website Editor’s Report (A. Beaudoin) Alwynne, who is willing to do the job for another year, wishes it to be known that she is looking for new content. (See below for motion.)

8. IFPS Councillor’s Report (J. N. Haas) There is no report from Jean since there has been no activity this year. Michelle moved that all the above reports be accepted, Pierre seconded and all were in favour.

9. Nominating Committee Sarah and Konrad agreed to act as the nominating committee (with Rob providing ex officio help if needed).

10. Location for 2007 AGM It was agreed that Sarah will discuss this with the Executive. The best candidate would appear to be CANQUA, in Ottawa, though this might rule out "paleopalynologists". In 2007, the GAC meeting will be held in Yellowknife and the AASP meeting in Panama, both of which present logistical challenges to attendance for CAP members. Ottawa is an important centre for palynological research of all types in Canada so it was decided that CANQUA would provide the best forum to attract CAP members for the AGM in 2007.

11. Priorities and Goals for 2006-2007 Graham had two suggestions: a palynology focussed session at GAC/MAC 2008 in Quebec City, and the development of a Geoscape- style poster for palynology (Canadaoriented of course). Rob noted that Art Sweet had the idea of a "pollen [palynomorph] of the month" mini-poster. This could be put on the web if enough people would contribute.

12. Other Business There was no other business that could not be accommodated under the above topics.

13. Rob moved that the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Michelle, and all approved.

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CAP President's Report, 2006

I welcome Sarah Finkelstein as our new President as of early 2006. CAP has maintained a presence in the palynological com munity over the last few years. Our declining membership is a serious challenge facing our group, however. To address this issue, Francine McCarthy and Mary Vetter sent the December 2005 newsletter issue to all lapsed members. I have followed up by sending letters to these former members to encourage them to rejoin CAP. I anticipate that under Sarah’s leadership this organization will grow in membership and build upon its scholarly reputation at both the national and international levels.

In 2005, CAP members participated in two conferences. Francine McCarthy and a few other CAP members gave presentations at the "Geological Problem Solving with Microfossils" meeting, which was held last spring at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Vaughn Bryant and I organized a CAP/ AASP-sponsored session that was held at the AASP’s 38th Annual Meeting in St Louis, Missouri this past September. This session, entitled "What happens to pollen: The trip from anther to microscope slide", was well attended. We thank Jock McAndrews and others for their participation in our session.

I want to thank the CAP Executive for their support over these past years. In particular, I acknowledge the advice and support of Alwynne Beaudoin and Mary Vetter. I appreciate the efforts of Rolf Mathewes and Francine McCarthy, especially for running the 2004 AGM in my absence. I thank Thomas Demchuk for hosting the 2005 AGM in his hotel suite. I enjoyed working with you all and plan to continue my involvement in CAP as a regular member. CAP provides the palynological community with a venue for communication and interactions, and hence is of much value to us all.

Respectfully submitted,
Catherine H. Yansa
CAP President 2004-2005

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CAP Secretary-Treasurer’s Report, 2006

1. Membership Report
As of May 8, 2006, CAP has 20 members who have paid dues for 2006. It should be noted that previous to 2004, CAP generally retained about 55 members in good standing. That number has been declining since 2004, and this is most likely because membership renewal reminders have not been regularly sent out or included in the newsletter since 2004. All members with dues owing have been sent a reminder letter, and it is hoped that the membership numbers will recover as a result.

2. Financial Report
For the period ending May 8, 2006, the balance in the CAP account is $3,825.92. IFPS dues for 2006 have yet to be paid. [NOTE: For 2003, IFPS dues were $1.50 US per member in good standing.] The balance has remained healthy over the past several years in large part because newsletter production and mailing costs have been borne by the institutions of those producing, photocopying, and mailing the newsletter.

CAP Annual Financial Statement
8 September 2005 - 8 May 2006
Opening Balance		$3,723.67
Revenue	membership dues	$130.00
	interest earned	$1.25
Expenses	bank fees	-$4.00
	corporation renewal	-$25.00
Closing Balance		$3,825.92

The closing balance includes 20 prepaid annual memberships in the amount of $200.00 for the years 2007-2009. This will affect the income from this source for the years indicated. IFPS dues for 2006 have not yet been paid.

Respectfully submitted,
Mary A. 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 above.

Rolf Mathewes
Auditor for CAP

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CAP Newsletter Editor’s Report, 2006

The December newsletter finally went out in mid-April this year to 82 members and 8 associations/ institutions with whom we exchange newsletters. The extraordinarily late delivery was the result of largely unforeseen delays and abnormally high workloads borne by the CAP Executive. The December issue is particularly difficult for those of us in Academia to produce, with exams to mark and grades to submit and new courses to prepare for, all around the holiday season. The Executive deliberated whether to reduce our output to 1 issue per year, but decided against this for a number of reasons. Instead, we will have co-editors who will share the burden of producing and mailing the newsletter twice a year. The Executive welcomes Terri Lacourse, currently at UBC, as CAP Newsletter Co-Editor for 2006. She and I are currently accepting material for the newsletter which we plan to mail at the end of May.

Respectfully,
Francine McCarthy
CAP Newsletter Editor

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CAP Website Editor’s Report, 2006

I have continued to act 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 continued to increase steadily and in March 2006 topped 1200 for the month. The presentation provides various resources and information about CAP to the palynological community. It now comprises 190 pages of information, totalling 4.34 MB. I trust that CAP members find the material in the presentation useful. I welcome contributions to the website and suggestions for new components to broaden its appeal.

I will be happy to continue as CAP’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(1):3-6, 2007.