Present: Drs. Khan (Acting Chair in the absence of Dr. Podesta), McLaughlin, Shostak, Goater, Marcogliese (Chair, Parasite Module Steering Committee), Members and Guests of the Parasitology Section.
Dr. Khan called the meeting to order and asked for approval of the Agenda.
Moved: Shostak/Burt Carried
Dr. Khan welcomed guests. He congratulated Dr. Murray Lankester as recipient of the Wardle Award, and gave special recognition to Dr. Annie Prestwood, who had travelled from Georgia to introduce Dr. Lankester. Dr. Khan also welcomed the symposium participants, Drs. Granath, Loker and Bayne. The new and incoming Council were introduced.
Dr. Shostak moved to approve the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting, which had been posted on the web site and for which notice of hard copy availability had been mailed to all members, and for which copies were also available at all tables in the meeting room.
Moved: Shostak/Webster Carried
Dr. Khan thanked Dr. Shostak for organizing this year's symposium and expressed thanks to the Canadian Society of Zoologists (CSZ) and the American Society of Parasitologists for financial support.
Dr. Shostak reported that during the last year Dr. Belosevic had attempted to recruit new members to the Section by telephoning groups not traditionally represented in the Section, such as those in medical schools. None of about 15 persons he called expressed any interest. Dr. Burt asked whether the Section had written a letter of thanks to the CSZ for its funding of the Directory of Parasitologists. Dr. Shostak responded that he had reminded Dr. Podesta to do so, but was unaware of the actions taken. Dr. Burt suggested that this be pursued and that letters go to the CSZ as a whole as well as to the CSZ Treasurer specifically.
Dr. Shostak reported that Drs. Cone and Graham were nominated for Vice-Chair and that Dr. Cone was elected; that Drs. Barta and Riga were nominated for Councillor and that Dr. Barta was elected, and that Dr. McLaughlin was elected Secretary-Treasurer by acclamation. He expressed thanks to all candidates who were willing to stand and asked that other members give serious consideration to providing service to the Section. Dr. Shostak noted that a copy of the Section's finances was available at all tables and moved for its acceptance.
Moved: Shostak/McLaughlin Carried
Dr. Shostak noted that his term as Secretary-Treasurer was about to conclude and expressed his enjoyment with the previous five years as well as the fact that the duties would now be turned over to Dr. McLaughlin. Dr. Khan asked the Members to express their appreciation for Dr. Shostak's service (applause).
Dr. Shostak reported that the Committee had comprised Dr. Belosevic (Chair) and Dr. Holmes. Dr. Shostak informed the members that for the coming year nominees were needed for the positions of Vice-Chair and Councillor, and that Dr. Podesta would be chairing the committee with Drs. Arai and Graham as the other members.
Dr. Khan reported that the Committee comprised Drs. Arai and Woo, and Befus and that Dr. Lankester had been selected as the 1998 recipient of the Wardle Award. He reported that Dr. Cone would Chair the next Committee and that the members would be Drs. Woo, Befus and Lankester.
Dr. Goater reported that judges for the student paper competitions had been Drs. Bill Granath and Sam Loker. He noted that the caliber of all presentations was high and that the judges had a very difficult time. He called for aknowledgement of all students' efforts (applause). He announced that Mr. Ramon Carreno (University of Guelph; Supervisor: Dr. Barta) was recipient of the Murray Fallis Prize (applause). Then Dr. Goater presented Ms. Diane Bienek (University of Alberta; Supervisor: Dr. Belosevic) with the ASP Prize (applause). Dr. Goater also announced that the judges wished to make honorable mention of the poster presentation by Mr. Sho Shirakashi, an undergraduate student at the University of Lethbridge.
Dr. Marcogliese presented the annual report of the Parasite Module Steering Committee, noting that some copies were available on the tables and that the report would be posted on the web site. He called members' attention to development of parasite examination protocols for the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network, availability of some funding from the Canadian Museum of Nature for projects that would assist in reducing the backlog of uncatalogued materials, and a partnership initiative that would top up NSERC funding for some graduate students in systematics.
Ms. Judith Price introduced herself as representing the Museum with regards to the curation of the parasite collection. She noted that the Museum had completed its move into new facilities, and that the parasite collection was properly housed and available for use by visitors. She stressed the importance that the collection be used, and also noted that assistance with the taxonomy of material is needed.
Dr. Khan informed the members that the CSZ had just launched a new web site. Dr. Lankester offered a brief description of the development of the web site and the CSZ committee overseeing its early operations.
Dr. Khan announced that the 1999 Section symposium would be "Host-parasite relationships in a changing climate," and that he and Dr. Goater would be organizing it. He asked that any speaker suggestions be forwarded to one of them.
Dr. Khan reported that Dr. Adamson had approached the Section to endorse a bid to hold ICOPA X in 2002 in Vancouver, and that the Council had agreed to. Dr. Khan noted that he would represent Canada at ICOPA IX in japan this summer. Dr. Burt noted that a bid to host an ICOPA needed to be a complete package, including notice that accommodations had been booked, a welcoming letter form the mayor, and a letter from the Government of Canada guaranteeing free admittance to delegates from all countries. He suggested that Dr. Adamson be notified of this if he was not already aware.
Dr. Shostak reported that a request had been received to buy the e-mail list from the Directory of Parasitologistsand that Council had discussed a policy on this matter. He informed members that the view of Council was that this type of information should not be made available for commercial purposes, but that the web site would include a section for free announcements of new publications or products that might be of interest to our members, so that interested members could check it out if they wished, and not otherwise receive "e-junk-mail." Ms. Price asked why no charge was being made for this. Dr. Shostak noted that as yet we had only one request, that any charges to be levied should probably go to CSZ Council first for approval, and that if a significant number of requests were received then the policy should be re-evaluated.
Dr. Burt announced that the 2000 CSZ meting would take place in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and asked members to consider ideas with a parasitological slant for the local committee's symposium. In response to a query from Dr. Lankester, Dr. Shostak reported that the Section had about 55 members renewed for 1998 and another 25 that had not yet renewed, but that some renewals and new memberships were expected as a result of the Kelowna meeting.
Motion: Webster/Burt Carried
The meeting adjourned at 12:50 hrs