2016 CLRA National AGM & Conference Presentations & Proceedings
Ontario Hosts 41st CLRA's National Annual General Meeting and Conference
McIntyre Arena, Timmins, Ontario June 27-30, 2016
The CLRA Ontario Chapter hosted the 41st National Canadian Reclamation Association Annual General Meeting and Conference in Timmins June 27 – 29 at the historic McIntyre Arena. Thank you to Goldcorp, Glencore, Lake Shore Gold, SMC Canada Ltd., Terratec Environmental, and the Ontario Mining Association. The conference included 155 delegates from across the country and covered a wide range of topics ranging from mine closure, soil amendments & technosols, society and mining, aggregates, to mine water and water treatment. The pre-conference field trip gave delegates an opportunity to think about preserving our mining heritage visiting Kirkland Lake and Cobalt. The post-conference trip put the spotlight on two Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Award winning sites in Timmins. ASunrise Ceremony was held by the Anishanaabe People sharing with delegates a celebration of life and all that we share on Mother Earth at the beginning of a new day.
Several awards were presented during the conference. Dr. Peter Beckett, professor at Laurentian University, won the national Dr. Edward M. Watkins award which is presented in recognition of major contributions of the nominee to land reclamation, especially through service to foster advances in regulation, reclamation success or development of personnel or students. The national Linda Jones Memorial Award was presented for the first time to Laval master’s student Marie-Eve Marin. This new award is in honour of the late Linda Jones, former national CLRA secretary treasurer and is presented to students in a reclamation related program at a Canadian institution in recognition of excellence in academic studies which advance the theory, knowledge or practice of land reclamation. Sarah Ficko, Ph. D. student at the University of Alberta won the top prize for a student presentation at the conference with her paper on “Tundra Reclamation: Developing Novel Techniques Using Native Shrub and Lichen Species To Revegetate Disturbed Northern Environments”. The Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Awardwas presented in absentia to Wally Sencza in recognition of “his lifelong, outstanding contribution to closure planning and mine reclamation in Ontario and particularly at the Golden Giant Mine”. This is the first time the award was given to an individual. Renate Vanderhorst, a Laurentian master’s student won the Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Student Award for her thesis research “Technosol evaluation for mine site reclamation on the Boreal Shield”. Vale generously provides support and funding for both the industry and student Tom Peters Memorial Awards.