2011 Business Meeting Minutes
The meeting minutes have been archived here (PDF) and are available for download.ISA Canada Business Meeting 2008
June 5, 2008
Vancouver, BC
Veuillez prendre note que les procès verbaux sont rédigés en anglais. Pour toute question concernant les procès verbaux nous vous invitons à communiquer avec les membres du comité exécutif.
1. Opening Remarks
- Nelson Michaud welcomed everyone to Vancouver, and the beautiful Stanley Park Pavilion
- the President explained the rationale for holding the ISA Canada meeting in Vancouver
- he further explained that he would like input from the membership on where the next meeting should be held
2. Adoption of the Order of the Day
- the Order of the Day was adopted (moved: Liz Smythe, second: David Black)
3. Adoption of Minutes of Past Meetings
- Nelson Michaud read the minutes from both Chicago and San Francisco
- amendments were proposed:
- Chicago: Heather Smith chaired the ISA Canada Distinguished Scholar committee (moved: Liz Smythe, second: David Black)
- San Francisco: it was noted that the bulk of the work for organizing the CPSA panels was done by Claire Turenne-Sjolander, and that Heather Smith and Kim Nossal took over later (moved: Doug Nord, second: Andy Cooper)
- the minutes of both the Chicago and San Francisco meetings were adopted, with the above amendments
4. President's Report
- Nelson Michaud reported that this was a year of transition and launch, and that ISA took a new step from being an organization meeting only once each year to holding the ISA Canada meeting in Vancouver, and launching the ISA Canada website; he noted that there is a healthy tree growing in the backyard of ISA Canada
- he also reported that Claire Turenne-Sjolander left deep footprints to follow as former President of ISA Canada
- he reported on the success of the Vancouver meetings, noting that these were widely agreed to be the best IR meetings in memory at CPSA. He noted that approximately 216 people had either presented, chaired, or discussed on IR panels put together by ISA Canada. In the workshop on Failed and Fragile States, more than 25 participants participated in all three sessions. He thanked the members of ISA Canada for participating.
- Michaud noted the good health of the organization. He noted that ISA Canada is healthy in terms of both membership and finances, and looks forward to better days.
- He commented on the quality of the Executive Committee team, and noted that four formal meetings had been held, along with many email exchanges. He worked closely with Claire Turenne-Sjolander, David Black, Joanna Quinn, and also Heather Smith in an advisory role.
5. ISA New York 2009
- ISA will be much smaller in New York. Nelson Michaud noted that he has heard that cuts of up to 40% are anticipated, likely due to the cost of holding meetings in New York, so there will be fewer rooms available.
- He noted that ISA Canada used to have one panel, but when Denis Stairs was ISA Canada Distinguished Scholar, the number was increased to two. Then, in San Francisco, there were two panels plus the ISA Canada Distinguished Scholar panel. In New York, there will be three full panels, with care taken to ensure that they do not compete with each other.
- these three panels were submitted to ISA May 15 on behalf of ISA-Canada.
- Nelson Michaud has also proposed three other panelss to be co-sponsored by ISA Canada
- The objective is to continue to build ISA-Canada's presence on the programme of annual ISA Conventions.
- Thus, if any panels were submitted for ISA New York that have any Canadian content or flavour, Michaud requested that the proposers should email David Black, Nelson Michaud and/or Joanna Quinn, and that ISA Canada will happily co-sponsor
- Doug Nord reported that the American Association of Canadian Studies will co-sponsor two panels for ISA that could be co-sponsored by ISA-Canada.
- the possibility of having an information meeting versus an annual general meeting in New York or Ottawa (at ISA Canada 2009) was discussed
- David Black noted that we need to decide because committees need to be struck
- Heather Smith noted that some concerns were expressed by ISA-Canada members concerning the decision to move the AGM from the ISA Conference in San Francisco to Vancouver, and that the decision taken at ISA San Francisco was not meant to be precedent-setting.
- part of the argument for having the AGM in Vancouver was to complement the panels and the logic of having an ISA Canada regional meeting, as well as the opportunity to support graduate students. But discussion and concerns were raised about understanding the constitutionality of moving the meeting, ISA Canada's relationship with ISA, and the question of an ongoing link between the ISA-Canada meeting and the CPSA's annual meeting.
-Claire Turenne-Sjolander commented that in Chicago, she made a commitment to the membership to revisit the issue of the link to the CPSA convention at the 2009 ISA meeting in New York. Claire felt that the membership should have the opportunity to discuss the issue there, even if the next AGM is held in Ottawa.
- David Black noted a strong sense that we should meet in New York, and that we can revisit the Ottawa AGM topic in New York at that meeting.
- the members voted that there will be a formal business meeting in New York, and the members will determine at that time whether it will be a formal business meeting, or an AGM; moved: Heather Smith, second: Mark Neufeld.
6. Financial Statement
- the financial statement was adopted; moved: Liz Smythe, second: Tim Shaw.
7. Election of Officers
- the new President is David Black
- the new Vice President/President-Elect is Liz Smythe
- the new Past-President/President ex-officio is Nelson Michaud
- the new Members-at-Large are (regular) Marie-Ève Desrosiers and (student) Justin Massie
-all were elected by acclamation
8. Other Business
- David Black thanked Nelson Michaud, Joanna Quinn, Claire Turenne-Sjolander, Heather Smith, and Kim Nossal for their efforts
- David Black addressed the need to have a Programme Committee for Ottawa; Mark Neufeld agreed to lead these efforts, and it was decided that he will work with the ISA-Canada executive to put together a programme committee; Laura MacDonald agreed to serve as the local contact.
- a discussion of the relationship between CPSA and ISA Canada ensued.
- Nelson Michaud addressed the ISA Canada website. An email with the URL for the site will be sent to all members.
- Nelson Michaud noted that the site includes a history of ISA Canada, and a Hall of Fame for Distinguished Scholars, as well as information for meetings. The site is bilingual except for links to the ISA site itself, which are only in English.
- the site's content will be managed by a "content manager," who is part of the ISA Canada executive, while the technology will be managed by an IGLOO-provided "technical manager"
- Andy Cooper noted that IGLOO has moved out of CIGI, and that support for IGLOO is now on a for-profit basis. He noted that we will need to sort out future details.
- Nelson Michaud thanked CIGI and IGLOO, as well as Andy Cooper, who was in attendance.
- David Black asked the members for feedback regarding the ISA Canada website, as well as the new format for ISA-Canada meeting in conjunction with CPSA.
- Tim Shaw reported that the next meeting of ACUNS will be held in Trinidad June 4-6, 2009, on the theme "Emerging Middle and Small States." Members of ISA Canada are invited to attend and to submit proposals.
9. Motion to Adjourn
- motion was adopted; moved: Stephen Brown, second: Tim Shaw.
