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| Volume 50, Number 1, Winter 2000-2001 |
CANADIAN SCIENCE WRITERS UNITED 30 YEARS AGOby Andy F. Visser-deVries With the recent death of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, television stations across the country aired programs reviewing momentous events that occurred in Canadian history during Mr. Trudeau's tenure.
While James Cross, Pierre Laporte, and the FLQ were quickly becoming household names, a small band of Canadian science writers was quietly working towards establishing an association for Canadian science journalists. On Oct. 15, 1970, squeezed in between the political headlines rocking the nation, science writers found time to draft and approve a constitution establishing the Canadian Science Writers' Association (CSWA). Earlier that morning, a briefing for science writers was held at the Science Council of Canada's Ottawa headquarters. The regular meeting of the Science Council planned for the next day in Montreal was cancelled after the FLQ threatened to kidnap Dr. Roger Laundry, rector of the University of Montreal and vice-president of the Science Council. In the early afternoon, science writers were rushing across town to a press conference called by the Canadian Medical Association at its new million-dollar national office to support Quebec medical specialists on strike against the Quebec health insurance plan. By mid-afternoon, a special session of the National Assembly passed legislation ordering the striking doctors back to work. That issue resolved, the science writers went back, after
hours, to the Science Council of Canada. Once through the tight
security made necessary by the events of the day, they availed
themselves of the board room and within three hours wrote and
approved the draft constitution establishing the CSWA.
While the founding of the Canadian Science Writers' Association could hardly compete with the headlines of the day, the quest of these science writers to improve public awareness of Canadian science actually had begun a decade earlier. Prior to the formation of the CSWA, a handful of Canadian science writers belonged to the National Association of Science Writers. In June 1961, NASW president Victor Cohn announced a new committee to address the needs of the Canadian contingent of science writers. Chaired by Leonard Bertin (The Toronto Star), along with Fred Poland (The Montreal Star), David Spurgeon (The Globe and Mail), and Ben Rose, (The Toronto Star), the National Association of Science Writers - Canadian Committee was formally established in August 1961. In December, NASW extended formal recognition to the Canadian Committee, renaming it the Canadian Section of the NASW, with the power to elect its own officers. In August 1962, during its second annual meeting, the Canadian Committee formally adopted the Canadian Section of the NASW name and Bertin was re-elected chair. Over the next several years, and under the guidance of several different leaders, the Canadian Section of the NASW continued to hold annual meetings in conjunction with the annual conference of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Despite the small number of science writers in Canada at the time, section members increasingly felt the need for a Canadian association independent of the NASW. In January 1970, at the section's 10th annual meeting in Montreal, members adopted a resolution to pursue the formation of a Canadian association. At a subsequent meeting in May, a motion was passed to draw up a draft constitution by August of that year. The deadline was an ambitious one, and it wasn't until that fateful night of October 15 that the draft constitution was approved and the Canadian Science Writers' Association was born. The first meeting of the CSWA followed soon after the constitution was passed and was held in January 1971, in conjunction with the scientific sessions of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Ken Kelly of the Canadian Press was elected president; Jean-Claude Paquet of La Presse, Montreal, vice-president; and Peter Calamai of Southam News Service, Ottawa, secretary-treasurer. Earl Damude and Herb Lampert were elected active directors, and Jean Baroux, and John Hall associate directors. At the same time, Wallace Waterfall, Herb Lampert, Leonard Bertin, and David Spurgeon were all elected life members in recognition of their contribution as section members.
The CSWA held its first annual seminar on science writing in January 1972. The conference was chaired by Dr. Solandt and held at the Bell-Northern Research Laboratories in Ottawa. Archival material indicates delegates paid $2 for luncheons and $4 for dinners. The association booked a block of rooms at the Bruce Macdonald Motor Inn at Bell's Corners near the meeting site. Single room rates were $6 per night! Much has changed in 30 years. While the CSWA has grown from
a small band of science writers into a national organization
with over 350 members, the Science Council of Canada is no more,
the War Measures Act has been replaced, and James Cross has retired
from the British diplomatic corp. Andy F. Visser-deVries joined the CSWA (www.interlog.com/~cswa) as administrative director in October 1991. He can reached at CSWA, PO Box 75 Station A, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1A2, Canada, e-mail cswa@interlog.com. |
Thirty years ago, in October 1970,
Canadians were gripped by media images and reports arising out
of one such event, which came to be called the October Crisis.
On October 5, members of the Front de Liberation du Quebec
(FLQ) kidnapped the British diplomat James Cross and demanded
a $500,000 ransom. Five days later, the FLQ struck again, kidnapping
the Quebec Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte.