EAC: National e-news update, June 23, 2010

News, events, tips and updates for members of the Editors’ Association of Canada

In this issue:

1. REMINDER: New membership fees and HST in effect July 1, 2010
2. CONFERENCE 2010: Reflecting on another stellar EAC conference
3. 2010 AGM: EAC members vote to add a Francophone Affairs Director to the national executive council
4. ELECTIONS: New national executive council and national committees
5. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
6. GET INVOLVED: Proofreaders wanted
7. SHOP EAC: New products


1. REMINDER: New membership fees and HST in effect July 1, 2010

As passed by a vote of the membership at the 2009 AGM, on July 1, 2010, EAC’s membership fee will increase to $250 plus HST for voting and qualifying members and $125 plus HST for student and emeritus members.

The Province of Ontario has agreed to implement the HST, which will replace the existing provincial sales tax and federal goods and services tax in Ontario beginning July 1, 2010. The Canada Revenue Agency will administer the combined tax. Legislation to enact the HST has been passed into law by the Governments of Canada and Ontario.

Because the national office is based in Ontario, EAC must charge 13% HST on services that are delivered by the national association, regardless of which province you reside in. 

EAC fee schedule as of July 1, 2010

Annual servicePriceTax leviedTotal
Qualifying membership$25013% HST$282.50
Voting membership$25013% HST$282.50
Student membership$12513% HST$141.25
Emeritus membership$12513% HST$141.25
Online Directory of Editors profile$7513% HST$84.75
@editors.ca or @reviseurs.ca email address$3513% HST$39.55

For more information about HST, visit the Canada Revenue Agency online at www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/gst-tps/menu-eng.html.


2. CONFERENCE 2010: Reflecting on another stellar EAC conference

Conference 2010 is down in history! Close to 200 editors joined us in Montreal for Reflections: Editing Content and Culture, nearly doubling the conference committee’s expectations!

From May 28 to 30, editors from across the country gathered at the Grande Bibliothèque for a weekend of professional development, networking opportunities and (most importantly) fun!

Conference 2010 had something for everyone. 

  • Conference 2010 opened on a succulent note with a sampling of Quebec cheeses and other regional delicacies at the 5 à 7 welcome reception.
  • The Editors’ Choice for Montreal’s best bagel went to Fairmount Bagel. (Fairmount Bagel trounced St-Viateur Bagel by a score of 62 to 39.) 
  • Michael Redhill kept the audience laughing (and the interpreters jumping) during his clever keynote address.
  • The terrific sessions ranged from preventing factual errors and getting work to alternate formats for the blind, networking and yoga.
  • We congratulated the newest Certified Professional Editors and certified editors.
  • Helen Clay accepted the first ever Claudette Upton Scholarship.
  • Michelle Boulton introduced the President’s Awards for Volunteer Service and the Lee d’Anjou Volunteer of the Year Award.
  • Mary Lou Roy accepted the 2009 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence.
  • Mark Abley took banquet attendees on an entertaining and informative exploration of language (and ensured we’d never forget the word “glossop”).
  • James Harbeck and Louis Majeau presented the best of the bad as we recognized the winners of this year’s Oops Awards.
  • We discussed Editing EAC and the future of the association at the closing plenary.

Thanks to all of the volunteers, presenters and attendees who helped to make the conference a huge success. We hope to see you in Vancouver for Conference 2011—Editing in the Age of E-everything.

Conference 2010 in photos

5 à 7 welcome reception
Mary Reeve and Carolyn Pisani at the 2010 conference
Helena Aalto and Carol Tulpar take part in the Great Montreal Bagel Debate
Photo credit: Michelle Ou
Michelle Boulton and Greg Ioannou at the Editors Canada conference
Julie Cochrane and Rita Vanden Heuvel at the 2010 conference
Photo credit: Michelle Ou
Elizabeth Macfie, Debra Roppolo and Anna Olivier at the conference
Photo credit: Michelle Ou
Conference
A packed auditorium for Michael Redhill's keynote address
Craig Silverman's session is delivered in to a full audience
Larissa Klymkiw discusses vision health and accessibility at the 2013 conference
Jonathan Paterson shares his wisdom during the speed mentoring session
Discussing great Canadian editors at the senior editors' roundtable
Christa Bedwin keeps us limber during her yoga for editors session
Gilles Vilasco and Carolyne Roy take a quick break from their conference volunteering duties
Awards
2009 Tom Fairley Award finalists Donald Ward, Mary Lou Roy and Mary Reeve
Moira White presents the 2009 Tom Fairley Award to Mary Lou Roy
Lee d'Anjou presents the Lee d'Anjou Volunteer of the Year Award to Cy Strom
Martin Keeley introduces Helen Clay, winner of the Claudette Upton Scholarship
Theresa Best and Helen Clay share a laugh at the awards banquet

Photos courtesy of Adrienne Montgomerie (except where noted above). More of Adrienne’s terrific conference photos can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/mont705/EAC2010Conference.


3. 2010 AGM: EAC members vote to add a Francophone Affairs Director to the national executive council

EAC members voted on a number of substantive motions at the annual general meeting (AGM) in Montreal on May 29. The motion to add a Francophone Affairs Director to the national executive council was carried with a round of applause.

Members also voted to appoint co-editors, one representing each of Canada’s official national languages, for the association’s national newsletter, Active Voice.

Finally, members also voted to strike a committee to study the feasibility of developing a pan-Canadian francophone “trunk” in EAC.

Weren’t able to make it to the AGM? You can read the agenda and supporting documentation on the 2010 AGM page. EAC members can expect to see draft minutes of the meeting on the website this summer.


4. ELECTIONS: New national executive council and national committees

The 2010–11 national executive council took office on May 30. Here’s who EAC members elected at the 2010 AGM.

President: Michelle Boulton, SK (returning for a second term)
Vice-president: Greg Ioannou, TO (returning for a second term)
Secretary: Sheila Mahoney, TO (formerly interim secretary)
Treasurer: Sheila Mahoney, TO (returning for a second term)
Member-at-large: Jacqueline Dinsmore, QAC (new to the position)
Member-at-large: Debra Roppolo, TO (returning for a second term)
Francophone affairs director: Carolyne Roy, QAC (new position)

The executive council also includes the following members who are not elected at the AGM:

Past president: Moira White, NCR (returning for a second term)
BC branch representative: Theresa Best (returning for a second term)
PP branch representative: Arden Ogg (returning for a second term)
SK branch representative: Ursula Acton (returning for a second term)
TO branch representative: Rachel Stuckey (new to the position)
NCR branch representative: Christine LeBlanc (new to the position)
QAC branch representative: Nancy Holland (returning for a second term)

Most of the association’s project and development work is done by national committees of members. The following members were elected to committee positions at the AGM:

Francophone Affairs Committee chair: Anna Olivier, QAC (returning to the position after a year away)
List Monitor: Julia Cochrane, QAC (returning for a second term)
Marketing and Public Relations Committee chair: Anita Jenkins, PP (returning for a second term)
Membership Committee chair: No nominations received
Member Communication Committee chair: Faith Gildenhuys, BC (returning for a third term)
Newsletter Committee co-chairs: Alethea Spiridon, TO (new to the position) and Gilles Vilasco, QAC (new to the position)
Online Job Tools Committee chair: No nominations received
Publications Committee chair: Melva McLean, BC (returning for a second term)
Training and Development Committee chair: No nominations received

The following committee chairs were announced at the AGM and appointed at the subsequent meeting of the national executive council on May 31, 2010:

Certification Steering Committee chair (interim): Krysia P. Lear, TO (new to the position)
Conference Committee chair: Theresa Best, BC (new to the position)
Contract Collective chair: Alethea Spiridon, TO (new position)
Forum Monitor: Joanne Haskins, TO (returning for a third term)
Mediator: Michael Benedict, TO (returning for a second term)
Professional Standards Committee chair: Jan Walter, TO (returning for a second term)
Website Committee chair: Ken Weinberg, TO (returning for a fourth term)
External Liaison Committee chair: Carolyn L Burke, EAC executive director (returning for a third term)
Human Resources Committee chair: Michelle Boulton, EAC president (returning for a second term)
Nominating Committee chair: Moira White, EAC past president (returning for a second term)

The national executive council also appointed the following representatives to external organizations:

EAC’s director and delegate to the Book and Periodical Council: Stephanie Fysh, TO (returning for an eighth term)
EAC’s delegate to the Book and Periodical Council: Carolyn L Burke (returning for a third term)
EAC’s delegate to Cultural Human Resources Council: Karen Virag, PP (returning for a fourth term)
EAC’s delegate on behalf of CHRC to The Alliance of Sector Council’s Working Group on Standards, Certification and Accreditation: Carolyn L Burke (returning for a second term)
EAC’s chair and delegate to the Freedom of Expression Committee: Marg Anne Morrison, TO (returning for a seventh term)

Volunteering is a benefit of membership and it’s the backbone of the association. Consider enriching your EAC experience by joining one of the association’s national committees today. Contact a member of the national executive council or a committee chair today.


5. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!

The Editors’ Association of Canada was well represented at the Alberta Book Awards gala held in Edmonton on May 14, 2010. A dozen or so Prairie Provinces branch members cheered as their colleague Joan Dixon received the James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction for her piece entitled “The Perils of War and Mother-Son Relationships.” Also shortlisted for this award was Marguerite Watson for her piece entitled “What Grows in the Soil.” Joan Dixon was also shortlisted for the Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Prize for her essay, “Embedded on the Home Front,” which was published by Chatelaine.

Congratulations to QAC branch member Sandy Newton, co-author of Birds of Newfoundland: Field Guide. The guide was awarded the 2009 Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association’s award for Best Atlantic Published Book. Sandy notes that she “wore many editorial hats in the preparation of this book, including researcher, writer, editor and ‘novice birder’ test audience.”

Member news is a new component of the EAC website and is designed to not only applaud EAC members’ successes but also let visitors to the website know that EAC members win awards, publish books and make their mark on the communications world in other important ways.

If you have member news to share, contact member news coordinator, Marguerite Watson.


6. GET INVOLVED: Proofreaders wanted

The national office is looking for member volunteers to proofread national communications. If you have a gift for gaffe-spotting, contact EAC communications manager Michelle Ou for more information.


7. SHOP EAC: New products

Are you a message therapist? Spruce up your desk with a new mousepad and keep your mouse tracking properly through all those edits.

You’ll find the message therapist slogan and other fun designs at EAC’s CafePress shop. These items are available for sale only until July 31, so be sure to make your secure online purchase today.


The EAC national e-news update is produced on behalf of the national executive council by the national office.

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