The Canadian Welding Association held its Board of Directors meeting, Annual General Meeting and Awards Dinner in Ottawa on October 6. The meeting was hosted by the Ottawa Chapter. CWA extends its appreciation to the Chapter and to Bill Eccles for organizing the event.

Minutes of the Board of Directors meeting and the Annual General Meeting, as well as the committee and chapter reports, have been posted on the website.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

The Directors of CWA met in an all-day session to discuss the past year’s activities and plan for the next year. Some significant progress has been made:

The CWA Chapters present at the meeting reported on their activities. Generally all had hosted monthly events for members and had received good feedback.

The Education Committee has been established and is working towards setting standards for welding education across Canada using the IIW education requirements.

The Supplier Committee continues to monitor the manganese situation in Canada and how the class-action lawsuits in the USA might affect members. The CWA has made contact with the European Welding Association and will explore areas of mutual interest. The Supplier Committee agreed that the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board’s Safety Groups Program will be a significant benefit of membership. The program will begin operation in January 2005.

The inaugural issue of the Canadian Welding Association Journal was published in May 2003. The next issue will be delivered in November 2003, with future issues being published on a quarterly basis. The first issue was well received by CWA members.

Membership remains a critical issue for the CWA. The CWA will have a deficit in its finances without a major increase in membership. The Board recommended hiring a commissioned salesperson to sell memberships.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting followed the Board of Directors meeting, at 4:00 p.m. Committee chairs and Executive Committee members reported to the members as shown in the Board of Directors meeting notes above.

AWARDS DINNER

CWA's Annual Awards Dinner followed the meetings. Several awards were presented:

• The Robert J. Jacobson Memorial Award was presented to Dan Moore of the Hamilton & Region Chapter for his many years of contributing to the success of the Chapter.
    
• The Michael N. Vuchnich Award was presented to Ralph Southward for his leadership of the W59 Committee – Welded Steel Construction (Metal Arc Welding).
   
• The Toronto Chapter presented its annual scholarship of $1,000 to Richard Perry of Northern College, and subsequently announced the awarding of the Mike Cherry Memorial Scholarship of $2,500 to Philip Drader of the University of Waterloo.