Geotechnical News • December 2015
21
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
of the CGS Heritage Committee,
Dr.
David Cruden, P.Eng
., at
dcruden@
ualberta.ca
History of the Canadian
Foundation for
Geotechnique:
Part 1
The
Canadian Foundation for
Geotechnique
(CFG) is a registered
charitable organization which funds
the awards, prizes and distinguished
lectures of the Canadian Geotechni-
cal Society (CGS), and supports other
activities that recognize geotechnical
excellence.
In this first article, we review the
origins of the CFG and of the many
awards and prizes it supports. We also
attempt to recognize a number of indi-
viduals who have contributed to this
initiative over the years, with apolo-
gies for any errors and omissions.
The focus is on the two predecessor
organizations of the CFG, namely the
Canadian Geotechnical Fund (CGF)
and Geo Contributions (GC). The
period covered spans from 1965 to
2000.
The Canadian Geotechnical
Fund
In the 1960s, the Associate Committee
on Geotechnical Research (ACGR)
of the National Research Council of
Canada (NRCC) acted as the Canadian
National Committee of the Interna-
tional Society for Soil Mechanics and
Foundation Engineering (ISSMFE).
In 1965, Canada hosted the Sixth
International Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineer-
ing in Montreal.
Dr. R.F. Legget
, then
Director of the Division of Building
Research of the NRCC and Chairman
of the ACGR, was the Chair of the
Organizing Committee for the Confer-
ence.
Following this landmark event, the
ACGR recommended that profits from
the conference and sales of the pro-
ceedings be deposited in a special trust
account, and interest income from
those deposits be used to promote
and support geotechnical engineering
and research in Canada. Out of this
recommendation, which was endorsed
by the NRCC and by
Dr. R.B. Peck
,
then President the ISSMFE, the ACGR
established the Canadian Geotechnical
Fund (CGF) in September 1970.
A board of trustees was established to
direct the investments, along with a
subcommittee to advise on the use of
the generated income, composed of
Participants of the Boischatel Cave technical tour.
ACGR Chairmen and Technical Advisors honoured at a special dinner hosted
by Golder Associates Ltd. on August 23, 1991, at the Rideau Club in Ottawa.
From left to right, with years of ACGR involvement for each: Mr. C.B. Craw-
ford (1966-76), Mr. V. Milligan (1983-88), Dr. R.F. Legget (1945-66), Mr. W.J.
Eden (1951-85), Dr. M. Bozozuk (1985-91), Dr. D.H. Shields (1988-91),
and Dr. L.W. Gold (1976-83; 1988).
