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Message from the President

Rob Kenyon, President of the Canadian Geotechnical Society

Winter 2024

 

I prepare this, my final message as President, a few short weeks after the hugely successful 77th annual Canadian Geotechnical Conference, held this year in Montréal. The conference was attended by over 1,100 delegates, representing approximately three-quarters of our membership. The conference was a collaboration between the CGS and the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH). Our many thanks to the Local Organizing Committee of GeoMontréal 2024, co-chaired by François Duhaime and Daniel Verret with conference management by Lisa Reny, Bill Reny, Emily Fournier, and Lesia Beznaczuk of Karma Link Management Services, and with the background support and coordination by Michel Aubertin, the CGS Executive Director. Everything about the conference ran as smoothly as the proverbial “Swiss watch”, and the City of Montréal is such a beautiful backdrop for the event. Did you know that the Canadian Geotechnical Conference is the longest running annual geotechnical conference on this planet?   

 

Details of the conference program can still be found on the conference website:  www.geomontreal2024.ca/program. The highlights were many but started with the RM Hardy Keynote Address by Pierre Vannobel on 35 Years of Applied Geotechnical Design for Dams and Dikes. Pierre so clearly outlined his professional experience in design and construction of large  dams at Hydro-Quebec. Other CGS keynote and plenary presentations included Ryley Beddoe giving the CGS Colloquium, Meeting the Challenge of Geotechnical Transportation on Degrading Permafrost, and Patrice Rivard, Are We Adequately Training our Geotechnical Engineers and Researchers to Meet the Challenges of Practice? This year’s RF Legget Medal Award winner is Ian Moore, who was ably introduced by Kerry Rowe.  Ian will also serve as the next Executive Director of CGS, following the retirement of Michel Aubertin at the end of 2024. Michel has announced his retirement as your Executive Director after ten years, guiding five different CGS Executive Committees. I know members will join me in thanking him and wishing him well as he moves on. Honorary Life Member Awards were presented to Michel Aubertin and Dennis Becker, each of them for their lifetime of engineering achievements serving Canada and the Canadian Geotechnical Society. Details of all award winners are summarized in the Special Section on GeoMontréal 2024 in this edition of Canadian Geotechnique, and posted on the CGS website cgs.ca.  

 

This year CGS was also fortunate to have Marc Ballouz, President of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), attend and give a condensed version of his Buchanan Lecture, Geotechnical Marriage between Theory and Practice. Marc also travelled to Calgary before the conference to present the ISSMGE International Lifetime Achievement Medal (ILAM) to Norbert Morgenstern, and he followed the conference by presenting a second ILAM award to another well-known CGS member Suzanne Lacasse in Norway. This year, these two Canadians were the recipients of the highest international geotechnical award. Marc also addressed the delegates at large, congratulating the CGS for holding more activities per member than any other Society within the ISSMGE. That was quite a statement, but it has always amazed me to see so many volunteers serving our Society in so many ways.  

 

As I reflect upon the two-year mandate of this Executive and Board, we started with an agenda based upon four pillars: 

 

  • Develop and Implement Measures on Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)  

  • Strengthen Membership Benefits and Communications 

  • Continue to Engage Students and Young Professionals 

  • Finish and Deliver the CFEM, 5th Edition, and Develop a Mechanism to Maintain the Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual 

 

Two years later, the members of the CGS Executive Committee delivered on each of those initiatives.  Eliane Cabot, VP Communications and Member Services initiated a Taskforce on EDI, so ably chaired by Sumi Siddiqua. This Taskforce is nearing completion of its mandate to provide recommendations to address the operations of CGS with respect to EDI principles. Eliane also initiated a Taskforce on Website Upgrading, with the support of the Membership Committee. CGS members should anticipate seeing changes and improvements beginning at the end of 2025.  

 

The Young Professionals Committee of CGS, chaired by Kshama Roy, and represented by Leanne McLaren and Silvia Nobre on the CGS Executive Committee, has been exceptionally active this past two years, including implementing a mentorship program, initiating Student Competitions at our national conference, and hosting both technical and social webinar series on career development. They are also supporting the organization of  the 2025 Young Professionals Conference in Manitoba. 

 

As you know by now, the CFEM 5th Edition (2023), was released at GeoSaskatoon 2023, with sales  exceeding expectations. Our francophone colleagues are now very busy, under the leadership of Mario Ruel and Vincent Castonguay, with translation to produce the French edition. Expected release of that version will be at the 2026 Canadian Geotechnical Conference in Québec City. Meanwhile, your VP Technical, Craig Lake, has been collecting Errata, and has formed an ad hoc group of CGS members to review and oversee revisions to the Manual. As was discussed during a special Session at GeoMontréal 2023, CGS members can expect further developments in that regard in 2025.  

 

Craig Lake reported that all technical activities have returned to pre-Covid levels of participation. Those activities include the annual and specialty conferences, the CCLT, the excellent ongoing performance of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Canadian Geotechnique – the CGS Magazine, and numerous  webinars. The CGS finances have been ably managed by Pooneh Maghoul, VP Finance, with the support of Bill Reny, leading to another excellent audited report in 2023 and an encouraging outcome projected for 2024. Pooneh has engaged a Taskforce of two previous VPs Finance, Harry Oussoren and Kent Bannister, along with incoming VP Finance, Daniel Bertrand to examine our current asset management and to provide recommendations moving forward. We look forward to their final report by the end of 2024 Divisions and Committees, represented by Jennifer Day on the CGS Executive Committee, remain very active across Canada, as do the local Sections, represented these past two years by Wes Saunders and Lilianne Landry-Paré.  

 

New members of the CGS Executive Committee for 2025 and 2026 were approved at the 2024 Board of Directors  meeting and will consist of Craig Lake as President, Jean Hutchinson as VP Technical, Daniel Bertrand as VP Finance, and Marie-Lin Bréard-Lanoix as VP Communications and Member Services. CGS will be well-served by the next EC, which will also include Jennifer Day and Lilianne Landry-Paré, all of whom will work with the next Executive Director, Ian Moore.   

 

On a personal front, it has been an honour and pleasure to represent our Society as President and Volunteer in Chief these past two years. It has been my particular privilege to work with a most excellent Executive Committee of Craig Lake, Pooneh Maghoul, Eliane Cabot, Jennifer Day, Wes Saunders, Lilianne Landry-Paré, Leanne McLaren, and Silvia Nobre, with superb administration support from Lisa Reny, Emily Fournier, and Bill Reny of Karma Link, and the sage advice of Executive Director, Michel Aubertin. What a team you have been.  

 

Thanks everyone for this honour and privilege,  

 

Rob Kenyon, President 





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