CASC Conference 2009 Update!

CASC’s annual conference will take place at Carleton University in Ottawa from May 27th to May 29th.  To register, go to the Congress web site at  www.fedcan.ca/congress2009. From there, select ‘registration’ and you will find instructions on how to register either by mail, fax, or on-line.  Note that you have to complete the ‘congress registration fees’ section and the ‘association meeting fees’ section.  The deadline to register at a reduced rate is March 31, 2009.

One of the highlights of this year’s conference will be our wine and cheese which will be held on the evening of May 27th.  We will formally recognize CASC’s 25th anniversary at this time, will honour this year’s recipient of the CASC award of merit, and will receive a keynote address by George Melnyk. The topic of the keynote is “The Search for Community” and how this search produces reciprocal demands from individuals and communities that are not easy to fulfill.

Some of the other highlights of the conference will include a panel of Ottawa-based co-operatives discussing innovation and continuity in the co-operative sector; a plenary presentation by Ian MacPherson on the history of the Cooperative Union and the Canadian Co-operative Association; joint sessions and a joint banquet with our colleagues at ANSER; and a workshop led by the Co-operatives Secretariat on charting a course for future co-operative research in Canada.

We have limited funding available to help cover the cost of travel to the conference. We are continuing our tradition of providing some financial support to students, although the amount available to students this year will be fairly modest. If you are a student presenting at our conference and require financial assistance, please email casc_pres@coopresearch.coop so that we can further discuss the level of support we may be able to provide.