Geotechnical News • June 2018
7
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
Message from the President
It is my pleasure to convey this mes-
sage as we look forward to another
wonderful summer season around the
corner. As President of the Cana-
dian Geotechnical Society (CGS), I
have the opportunity to observe and
appreciate the numerous geotechnical
initiatives, activities, and engagements
undertaken by our members. With
twenty local Sections, from urban to
remote geographic regions across six
time zones, the membership numbers
vary significantly - ranging from
several hundred to those with rela-
tively low membership counts. The
financial status of the larger Sections
is generally strong, whereas some
of our smaller Sections experience
budgetary challenges from time to
time. The Society is mindful of this
reality and has been promoting ways
to support the members in our smaller
sections and provide opportunities for
access to and involvement in, CGS
activities. Supporting expenses for
guest speakers to travel to these areas
is one of the examples that come to
my mind in this regard. Currently,
these types of provisions are funded
from the annual CGS budget, typically
on a case-by-case basis as an ad hoc
expenditure. Knowing well the impor-
tance of providing our members with
opportunities to engage at different
geographic locations, I feel that it is
relevant to look towards developing a
more formal and streamlined approach
to address this consideration. In the
first quarter of this year, after consul-
tations with various CGS members,
the CGS Executive Committee (EC)
established objectives and criteria for
the funding of new initiatives – i.e., to
help the CGS Sections, Divisions and
Committees, organize new activities.
Another step may be to establish a
dedicated fund so that the Society can
provide a well-identified line item
in the annual budget to support and
encourage activities from the smaller-
membership Sections. These are some
of my initial thoughts on a topic, I
believe, is of relevance country-wide.
Dharma Wijewickreme, President of
Canadian Geotechnical Society
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