History
The SWCC, formerly the Canadian Science Writers Association, began as an idea by a group of science and medical writers in 1970. See below for information on the changes to our constitution in 2017 and the founding of our organization in 1970, and for a full summary of our organization's leadership from 1970 until today.
To see our most recent AGM Minutes, click here.
2017 Vote to Change Constitution
Tim Lougheed
November, 2017
The tabulation of votes on a new constitution is now complete and the result was definitive: of 72 participants, 68 were in favour. These numbers would have impressed the founders of our organization, who never had more than a couple of dozen people available at a membership-wide meeting to vote on such an important matter. With our now routine ability to circulate such a document electronically to the entire membership, we have been able to ensure that one and all could see it for themselves, a mainstay of any democratic practice. I should also add that along the way I received messages of encouragement and gratitude from members who welcome our moves to create a more broadly based, inclusive organization of science communicators, as well as thoughtful critiques from others who want to ensure that this process did not sacrifice any of our longstanding values, such as a commitment to supporting excellence in science journalism.
This vote also confirms the success of our hard-working committee led by Sylviane Duval, which never flagged in its desire to ensure all the I’s were dotted and all the T’s were crossed. I reflected on this dogged determination one chilly morning last fall, as I attended a teleconference in our lawyer’s office in Kingston with the entire committee on the line from all parts of the country. In addition to Sylviane, who lives in rural eastern Ontario, those members are Shelley McIvor in Nanaimo, Jennifer Gagné in Canmore, Pippa Wysong and Ivan Semeniuk in Toronto, and of course, the indefatigable Janice Benthin — den mother to us all — in Montreal. At the risk of sounding like some kind of manic bureaucrat, I shall always cherish this occasion, because it spoke loudly not just to the dedication of the people who make up our organization, but the reach we have been able to achieve within Canada’s widely scattered population.
And now, with the approval of this new constitution, we can move forward in some exciting ways. The most immediate change will be to the next round of elections for seats on our Board of Directors, which will now be open to nominees from the entire membership. Eventually, that will include the president’s chair, but you will have to wait until next year (when I step down once and for all, promise!).
At the same time, we will be launching a new permanent committee that will break new ground as a national watchdog on the calibre of science journalism and science communication generally. This body represents nothing less than a frontier for us, an unprecedented public forum for hashing out a wide range of important topics that are often much talked-about informally, but until now have had few formal venues. If you are interested in taking part, we will be circulating information about this committee in the weeks to come.
And finally, there is the most difficult job of all: getting used to a new name. I first became involved with the Canadian Science Writers’ Association in 1984, thanks to my mentor Mack Laing, who was among its founders in 1971. I am hesitant to reflect on what respective proportions of our membership were born after these dates, but suffice it to say that over the decades the acronym “CSWA” has become second nature for me. It will take some time to get used to SWCC, but that will only come with practice, and there is no time like the present to begin. So let me be the first to say to all of you: welcome to the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada.
CSWA/ACRS celebrates 45th Anniversary
By Andy F. Visser-deVries
October, 2015
Thursday, 15 October 2015 marks the 45th anniversary to the very day of the founding of the Canadian Science Writers’ Association/ Association canadienne des rédacteurs scientifiques.
This year Canadians will be deciding who to vote for in the dying days of the current marathon Canadian federal election, but forty-five years ago Canadians were gripped by television images and newspaper reports during the “October Crisis”, after members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped British diplomat James Cross, and then Quebec Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte.
While James Cross, Pierre Laporte and the FLQ were quickly becoming household names across Canada in the early weeks of October 1970, a small but dedicated band of Canadian science writers was adding the finishing touches towards establishing a Canadian association for science journalists. On Thursday, 15 October 1970, they met late into the evening in Ottawa and revised and approved a draft constitution establishing the Canadian Science Writers’ Association/Association canadienne des rédacteurs scientifiques, known today as the CSWA.
Earlier that Thursday morning, during a briefing held for science writers at the headquarters of the Science Council of Canada in Ottawa, the atmosphere was charged with tension after a regular meeting of the Science Council of Canada planned for the next day in Montreal was abruptly cancelled after the FLQ threatened to kidnap Dr. Roger Gaudry, vice president of the Science Council of Canada, and rector of the University of Montréal. In the early afternoon, the same band of science writers rushed across town to the new multi-million dollar headquarters of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) to attend a press conference called by the CMA in support of Québec doctors who were on-strike against the Québec’s government’s health insurance plan.
By 7:30 pm later that same Thursday evening, the same band of science writers had been checked through tight security guarding the boardroom of the Science Council of Canada for a meeting, where, within three hours, they revised and approved the draft constitution establishing the CSWA.
Hours later, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau addressed the nation, and invoked the War Measures Act, giving the police wide ranging powers to arrest and detain suspected FLQ militants. The next day, on Saturday, 17 October 1970, the body of Pierre Laporte was found stuffed in the trunk of a car and abandoned in the bush, after the FLQ announced that they had executed Laporte.
While the founding of the CSWA could hardly compete with the headline news of the October Crisis in October 1970, the quest to raise public awareness of science in Canada began ten years earlier in 1961. Prior to the establishment of the CSWA, a handful of Canadian science writers belonged to the National Association of Science Writers (NASW), an American organisation established in 1934. In June 1961, then NASW president Victor Cohn created a new committee to address the needs of members of the NASW who lived and worked in Canada. Chaired by Leonard Bertin, and including members Fred Poland, David Spurgeon, and Ben Rose, the NASW – Canadian Committee was formally established at a meeting at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montréal in August 1961. The NASW executive extended formal recognition to the Canadian Committee in December 1961, renaming it the Canadian Section of the NASW, with the power to elect its own officers.
In August 1962, during the second annual meeting, held once again at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montréal, the Canadian Committee formally adopted the name Canadian Section of the NASW, and Leonard Bertin was re-elected as chair. Over the next few years, under the guidance of several different leaders, the Canadian Section of the NASW continued to hold its annual meetings in conjunction with the annual conference of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, usually held in January or February each year.
Despite the handful of science writers in Canada at the time, Section members increasingly felt the need for a Canadian association independent of the NASW. At the Section’s 10th annual meeting held in Montréal on 22 January 1970, Section members adopted a resolution to pursue the formation of a Canadian association of science journalists. At a subsequent meeting on 28 May 1970 held in the former Maclean Hunter boardroom in Toronto, a motion was passed to prepare a draft constitution by August 1970. While the deadline was short and ambitious, these dedicated science journalists were used to tight deadlines for copy, and on the evening of 15 October 1970, the draft constitution was revised and adopted and the Canadian Science Writers’ Association was born.
Tucked away in the boardroom of the Science Council of Canada in Ottawa, under tight security, the meeting was chaired by Earl Damude, editor of The Medical Post in Toronto. Dr. Omond M. Solandt, chair of the Science Council of Canada, had generously offered the use of the board room for the meeting. Present at the founding meeting were Leonard Bertin, University of Toronto science editor; David Spurgeon, science reporter for The Globe and Mail and editor of Science Forum; Fred Poland, The Montreal Star; Peter Calamai, Southam News Service, Ottawa; Jeff Carruthers, The Ottawa Journal; David Smithers, The Ottawa Citizen; Heather Carswell, The Medical Post (Montréal); Ian J.S. Moore, MD of Canada (Montréal); Ken Kelly, Canadian Press science editor (Ottawa); and Mac Laing, University of Waterloo journalism professor.
The first annual meeting of the Canadian Science Writers’ Association was held three months after the founding meeting, on 20 January 1971. CSWA members gathered once again in the board room of the Science Council of Canada in Ottawa, in conjunction with the scientific sessions of the annual meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons being held at the Chateau Laurier. Ken Kelly (Canadian Press), was elected the first CSWA president; Jean-Claude Paquet (La Presse), vice-president; and Peter Calamai (Southam News Service), secretary-treasurer. Earl Damude and Herb Lampert were elected active directors, and Jean Baroux and John Hall associate directors. At the same meeting, Wallace Waterfall, Herb Lampert, Leonard Bertin, and David Spurgeon were elected CSWA Life Members in recognition of their earlier contribution as Section members.
Several news items announced the birth of the CSWA. A short piece went over the Canadian press wire the night of 20 January 1971, and was carried by numerous newspapers. A news article appeared in Content, and another item appeared in Pensées, an internal publication of the Science Council of Canada. A week later, Ken Kelly and Peter Calamai appeared in an interview about the CSWA on Ottawa cablevision. Letters offering best wishes to the CSWA were sent by the Hon. C.M. Drury, President of the Treasury Board; Hon. John C. Munro; Minister of National Health and Welfare; Hon. J.J. Greene, Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources; Dr. Omond M. Solandt, chair of the Science Council of Canada; Dr. W.G. Schneider, president of the National Research Council; John Dauphinee, general manager at Canadian Press; and David Perlman, president of the National Association of Science Writers.
The CSWA held its first annual science writing seminar and conference 12-15 January 1972. The conference was chaired by Dr. Omond M. Solandt from the Science Council of Canada, and held at the Bell-Northern Research Laboratories in Ottawa. Conference delegates paid $2 for luncheons and $4 for dinners during the conference. The CSWA booked a block of rooms at the Bruce Macdonald Motor Inn at Bell’s Corners near the conference site, where single room rates were $6 per night.
Forty-five years later, much has changed. The Science Council of Canada is no longer, replaced by a federal government intent on muzzling scientists. Most FLQ militants returned to Canada from exile in Cuba, and The War Measures Act was been replaced by the Emergencies Act in 1988. James Cross retired from the British diplomatic corps, and is now 94 years old, and the Trudeau most on the minds of Canadians these days is Justin Trudeau, rather than his father Pierre Elliot Trudeau, who passed away in 2000. The CSWA has grown from a small band of science writers into a national organization with more than 350 members and has employed four different Executive Directors since 1989.
Summary of Leadership
CSWA/SWCC Presidents
2021 - Rhonda Moore, Executive Director, Science and Innovation, Institute on Governance, Ottawa
2020 - 2021 Terry Lavender, Manager Communications, Office of the President, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC
2019 Elizabeth Howell
2018 - 2019 Douglas Keddy, Associate Director, Research Communications & Profile, Western University, London
2015 - 2018 Tim Lougheed, freelance journalist, Kingston
2012 - 2015 Stephen Strauss, freelance science writer, Toronto
2011 - 2012 Peter McMahon, freelance science writer, Port Hope
2009 - 2011 Kathryn O’Hara, School of Journalism, Carleton University, Ottawa
2005 - 2009 Tim Lougheed, freelance science writer, Ottawa
2001 - 2005 Véronique Morin, Sociéte Radio-Canada, Montréal
1996 - 2001 Michael Smith, freelance science writer, Toronto
1995 - 1996 Frann Harris, freelance science writer, Regina
1993 - 1995 Mark Lowey, The Calgary Herald
1991 - 1993 Patricia Ohlendorf-Moffat, Pathways Magazine, Toronto
1989 - 1991 Jeffrey Crelinsten, Partner, The Impact Group, Toronto
1987 - 1989 Bud Riley, freelance science writer, Toronto
1985 - 1987 Sandy Stewart, Television Host, Reach for the Top, Toronto
1984 - 1985 Robert Morrow, Communications, Ontario Hydro, Toronto
1983 - 1984 Wallace Immen, The Globe and Mail
1982 - 1983 Marilyn Dunlop, The Toronto Star
1981 - 1982 June Engel, Health News, Toronto
1980 - 1981 Tom Davey, Southam News Service, Ottawa
1979 - 1980 Lydia Dotto, freelance science writer, Toronto
1978 - 1979 Karin Moser, The Ottawa Citizen
1977 - 1978 Neil Morris, The London Free Press
1976 - 1977 Betty Lou Lee, The Hamilton Spectator
1975 - 1976 Joan Hollobon, The Globe and Mail
1974 - 1975 Patrick Finn, The Montreal Star
1973 - 1974 Jean-Claude Paquet, La Presse
1972 - 1973 David Spurgeon, IDRC, Ottawa
1971 - 1972 Ken Kelly, Canadian Press, Ottawa
CSWA/SWCC Executive Directors
2011 - 2018 Janice Benthin, Montréal
2004 - 2011 Kristina Bergen, Port Hope
1991 - 2004 Andy F. Visser-deVries, Toronto and Kingston
1989 - 1991 Catherine Bryant, Toronto
General Managers
2021 - present Katelyn Brown, London
2019 - 2021 Nikki Berreth, Vancouver
Canadian Section of the NASW
1961-1962 Leonard Bertin, The Toronto Star
1963 David Spurgeon, The Globe and Mail
1964-1967 Fred Poland, The Montreal Star
1968 Herb Lampert, The Montreal Gazette
1969-1970 Earl Damude, The Medical Post