ACC AGM & National Board Meeting

May 15/16, 2004

The spring Board of Director’s meeting of the ACC was held in Canmore on Saturday and Sunday, May 15^th, and 16^th, 2004.

The past few meetings have been difficult, to say the least. There have been numerous challenges that the Board has had to deal with, and this meeting was no exception. Unpopular decisions had to be made, but the Directors felt that there were really no other options.

Membership Fees:

All members should be advised that membership fees will be going up $6 effective July 1^st, 2004. This is entirely to address liability insurance costs. In addition, each section will be paying a prorated fee of about 71% of whatever deficit exists at the end of this fiscal period, October 31^st, 2004. For the SK Section, this could amount to approximately $700, depending on the final figures next fall.

I want to point out that the fee increase was part of a motion from one of the Sections and did not come from National Office. The 71% of the remaining deficit is a reduction from the percentage proposed by National Office.

This isn’t good news, but members need to be aware of the reasons, so please read the following report.

Liability Insurance:

Every ACC member is covered by liability insurance while participating on any Section trip. This means that trip leaders and all participants are protected from liability should they be found all or partly liable for injuries caused to other persons or property.

This liability insurance used to cost $6000 or so, only a few years ago. In recent years, the cost has been going up rapidly. An increase for 2004 was budgeted for last fall, but within days, the ACC was hit with a significant increase in premiums, amounting to an increase of over 400%. The annual premium started out at $94,000 at the beginning of this fiscal year (last November 1, 2003).

This alone resulted in a large budget deficit, not to mention a number of other world events that affected the ACC’s finances (SARS, BSE, Iraq, etc). The Executive took immediate action, reducing coverage from $2 million to $1 million, which reduced the premiums by $24,000, still leaving a large deficit. At this time, the deficit is approximately $34,000, despite serious efforts to cut costs wherever possible. On a positive note, revenue from facilities is ahead of projections so far this year so the deficit may not be as high as currently feared.

Future Action:

Obviously, this can’t go on. The Board approved the following actions:

First, the Legal Committee will begin immediately to restructure the ACC to place all physical assets (buildings, huts, etc) outside the part of the organization that runs trips. Once this is done, ALL TRIPS, including National AND Section trips, will be done under the umbrella of The Alpine Club of Canada Centre for Mountaineering, which will be incorporated federally and registered in every province but will hold no assets, reducing the chance of ever having to face a liability lawsuit. The effect of this action will be to separate the "risk" operations from the "asset" operations.

Secondly, the ACC plans to join with other outdoor organizations to find and negotiate with an insurance company that understands the nature of our organizations. This may take some time and may not reduce rates much, but a group of organizations will have much more power in negotiations than any one will have on its own.

Minors on Section Trips:

As a result of a few very tragic accidents over the recent year or two (not, I hasten to add, accidents suffered by the ACC, but by other groups), the issue of minors taking part in Section or National activities has been clarified and will follow a new National Parks Policy on this, mostly because Parks Policy will be used to set the standard by which other organizations will be judged, should they get into trouble. So, the policy will be:

participants between the ages of 16 and 18 years MUST have their waiver form signed by their parent or legal guardian.
Participants under the age of 16 years MUST be accompanied by their parent(s). The only exception to this is if the trip is being led by an ACMG member (ie: a mountain guide). Groups involving minors under 16 years are called "custodial groups" and must have either parents present or a guide in charge.
If the activity is in avalanche terrain, minors up to the age of 18 years will be considered to be part of a custodial group (see previous point).
The signatures of minors on waivers aren’t considered binding because they are too young to sign legal, binding contracts. This is why parents must sign.

A document outlining all of this will appear soon on the ACC’s website.

ACC Volunteer Recognition Awards:

Each year, a number of awards are given to members who have contributed in significant ways to the ACC at the National and/or Section level. A list of this year’s awards will appear on the ACCs website and the Gazette.

All Sections are reminded that there are 2 "new" awards, created in the past couple of years, the ACC Service Award and the ACC Leader Award. Their use is encouraged to recognize members who have made important contributions but perhaps haven’t been involved for many years. Full descriptions are on the ACC’s website.

Mountain Guides’ Ball:

This event will be held on October 30^th, 2004, at a location to be announced. It is expected that it will not be at the Chateau Lake Louise because of rising costs associated with that venue.

Park Entry and User Fees:

ACC members are advised that National Park entry fees will be increasing fairly significantly each year over the next few years and that backcountry passes will also be increasing in cost. I don’t have the exact amounts at this time, but will post it once I know for sure. It is the feeling of the ACC that these fee increases are excessive and it has sent a letter to Parks expressing our concern.

Kananaskis Country will apparently also start charging a park entry fee, likely starting this season.

The next Board of Directors’ Meeting will be held October 30/31, 2004.