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Minutes: 54th Meeting of the CFBS Board of Directors
Sunday, June 6th, 1999, 10:30 am - 12:30 p.m.
S211, Medical Services Level, Brodie Center,
University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB

AGENDA

1. Call to Order

2. Approval of Agenda

3. Election of Officers

3.1 President-elect
3.2 Member at Large

4. Standing Committees

4.1 Science Policy
4.2 Exhibitor Liaison Committee
4.3 Program Committee

5. Report of Board Representatives

6. Reports

6.1 Report of the LOC for the Winnipeg Meeting – Judy Anderson

7. Board Discussion of Future Directions for CFBS

7.1 The position of CSBMCB re CFBS membership – Peter Lewis

8. Other Business

9. Adjournment

Attendees:

P. Dolphin, Past President, J. Anderson, Out going Past President, A. Hilliker, CFBS Treasurer, L. McCargar, Program Chair, P. Lewis, CSBMCB Past president, R. Peace, CSNS Treasurer, K. Cockell, Ottawa Loc. Comm. Treasurer, R. Devon, CAANCB Secretary, M. Morrow, BSC President, B. Sells, CFBS Executive Director, W. Antonious, CFBS Office Manager.

Call to Order

Dr. Dolphin called the meeting to order.

Approval of Agenda

Dr. Dolphin called for approval of Agenda. Agenda approved.

Election of Officers

President –Elect

Dr. McCargar nominated Dr. Harvey Anderson for the position of President Elect. Dr. Lewis seconded.
Action: Dr. Dolphin to contact Dr. Harvey Anderson re. accepting President-elect position.

Members at Large

Dr. Heather Durham resigned her position as Member at Large, to become Vice President for the STC. Dr. Judy Anderson stated that it was the Executive Director’s job to lobby the members for Members at Large positions.

Standing Committee Reports:

Science Policy, presented by Dr. Sells, attached

Exhibitor Liaison Committee, discussed previously at the Program Committee Meeting.

Program Committee – Winnipeg meeting and plans for Ottawa in 2000, discussed at the Program Committee Meeting, just held prior to that meeting.

Report of Board Representatives

Dr. Morrow would be asking his society for suggestions about steps that could be taken to make things better. The problem with BSC is that they are disparate in location and interests.

Dr. Dolphin stated the importance of communication, and that CFBS had to be informed if there was a society that was not happy with the statues-quo, then CFBS could try to accommodate the society’s demands as much as possible and act on their suggestions and feed back.

Dr. Hilliker stated that the Quebec membership was now narrow and whom were we representing.

Dr. Anderson said that the more people we represent the better it was, even if they were not members. Dr. Sells agreed.

Report of the Local Committee for the Winnipeg Meeting

Report was presented at the Program Committee Meeting just held prior to that meeting.

The Future Direction of the CFBS

7.1 The position of the CSBMCB re.CFBS’ membership

Dr. Lewis mentioned that CSBMCB had to change their membership strategy and started to charge students and Post doc to pay the CFBS levy, as the society was paying it on their behalf before and could no longer afford that. Last year they changed the regulations. The students whose supervisor was in good standing as a member, do not have to pay the CFBS levy, the society would pay it on their behalf. Those students whose supervisors are not members had to pay the CFBS levy themselves. All post-doc. had to pay the CFBS levy. As a result of this change their membership went down.

Dr. Hilliker mentioned that the CSBMCB had the right to hold their own independent meeting as the GSC, but unfortunately, CFBS could not afford CSBMCB members not attending the CFBS meeting, due to their large participation over the years and the revenue they would bring.

Dr. Hilliker suggested that there were several options that could be studied and visited:

Eliminate student membership fees, that student join the Federation for free.

Eliminate the post-doc. Fees.

Raise the levy for the rest to make up for the lost revenue resulting from eliminating membership fees from students and post-doc.

Dr. Hilliker mentioned that he would contact by email the societies’ Secretaries and Treasurers to get the exact numbers of students and post doc. of each society, then CFBS could look at the figures, do some calculations and then decide on what to do regarding this issue.

Dr. Lewis moved this motion and Dr. Hilliker seconded it. Dr. Hilliker stated that the deadline for the societies to reply would be July 30, and CFBS would make its finding available by the end of August. If all in favour of holding a vote, and if the vote came as a Yes to eliminating the fees, then it would be effective year 2000.

Other Business

Dr. Dolphin mentioned that CFBS needed to establish a very secure investment to avoid getting into a bad financial situation again. We need to maintain a buffer in the bank account.

Dr. Hilliker, commented that we had to define the cash surplus, and look into tax implication. He also inquired if there would be a Board mid year meeting, and that we had to budget for it.

Dr. Dolphin proposed that Dr. Hilliker, investigate the feasibility of establishing a fund to be built, but still fluid to resolve and provide backup.

Dr. Sells said that he had talked with Alan Shaver and Pat Guida about a Newsletter to be sent by email, to get some feedback from them.

Dr. Dolphin mentioned that we did request an observer status at the Canadian Council of Animal Care, Dr. Sells had talked with Clement Gauthier, and they would have a Board meeting to decide on that issue, then would advise us.

Dr. Judy Anderson said that AG and Vet. Deans would like to join CFBS in a manner similar to the CCUBC situation, we might be informed by the summer as of the status of their interest.

Dr. Dolphin asked that the office send him a copy of the previous year’s MRC grant application.

Dr. Sells had approached the Microbiology Society about rejoining the Federation.

Dr. Sells suggested to change the name of the Federation and Dr. Dolphin replied that people get mixed up when you change the name, and that our structure represented what currently existed in the USA.

Dr. Sells would investigate and invest his efforts into bringing other societies in.

Dr. Dolphin summarized the actions that had to be taken: