NORTHERN COLLEGE’S WELDING INDUSTRY VISIONING FORUM

The Welding Industry Visioning Forum was held on December 12, 2003, in Whitby, Ontario. The Forum was intended to provide a “vision” for the future of welding in Canada and welding’s role in helping to improve the competitiveness and productivity of Canada’s manufacturing sector.

The participants in the Forum established a task force to drive the process further. The task force met in February to organize itself and establish its direction. The complete notes on that meeting, the flyer (A Vision for the Canadian Welding Industry) generated from the December forum, Northern College’s Applied Welding Centre proposed products and services, and general information on technology roadmaps have been posted.

The forum should lead to at least two major outcomes:

• A technology roadmap that will help to define the future of welding in Canada over the next ten years. This roadmap will be produced in a cooperative effort from industry, education and government.
   
• Support from stakeholders in the welding industry for Northern College’s Applied Welding Centre.

CWA WESTERN BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

CWA’s Western Board of Directors meeting will be held in Vancouver, BC, on Saturday, May 1, 2004. It will be held at the Richmond Inn just south of the Vancouver International Airport.

CANADIAN WELDING ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

The Winter 2004 issue of the Canadian Welding Association Journal has been mailed to you. You should have it by now.

For future issues, should you wish to submit an article or recommend a topic, theme or author, please contact the national office. Themes of future issues, guidelines for authors or past issues can be found on our website.

PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION AND ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS ACT

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) came into effect on January 1, 2004. It is intended to ensure that businesses and associations protect the personal information they collect. The national office has had queries about PIPEDA.

CWA’s bylaws state that “The records of the association, including the complete membership list, shall be considered confidential and shall not be made available except with authorization of the Board of Directors.”

The use by CWA and its chapters of members’ address information for communicating association information and news is perfectly acceptable. The distribution of members’ personal addresses is not acceptable either under CWA bylaws or PIPEDA.

Business addresses are not considered to be “personal information” under the act, but are considered to be confidential under CWA bylaws. At a CWA chapter seminar, when the presenter wants a listing of those present, chapter chairs are advised to ask permission of members before giving out such a list. Perhaps this may be best handled either by asking chapter members for permission on an annual basis or by permission requested on an event-by-event basis.

HELP WANTED

CWA would like to engage one or more commissioned sales persons to sell corporate memberships on a non-exclusive, full- or part-time basis. This would be an opportunity for a motivated individual familiar with the welding industry. Contact the national office for details.