The Newfoundland & Labrador Trapper's Association

Newfoundland and Labrador Trappers Association 39th AGM Highlights

 

On August 15 and 16, 2015, the Newfoundland and Labrador Trappers Association held a successful Annual General Meeting at the Salvage Bay Motel in Eastport, Newfoundland.

 

The meeting boasted thirty-one registered members, despite the absence of several of our regulars. Our Labrador Vice-President Frank Phillips was in Norway attending a caribou/reindeer conference, Secretary Mac Pitcher was home recovering from a recent surgery and Labrador Directors Roy Bowers and Dave Woodworth were also unable to attend. Six new members enrolled in NLTA and participated in our AGM; these being Gerry Bond, Michael Holloway, Glenn Lidstone, Andrew Newhook, Jacob Power and Freddie Spencer. A special thank you is offered to our Treasurer, Hayward Smith, who despite some serious health concerns of his own, again was our Rock of Gibraltar in organizing the meeting.

 

As is customary, the Saturday morning general meeting started with a minute of silence for departed members, and this year acknowledging the contribution of Bert Coish, a founding NLTA member who passed away on March 23 in his 78th year. A generous contribution of $165 was made to our association by Rex and Janice Holloway on behalf of the Holloway family. Rex’s brother Nelson passed away suddenly on his trapline last fall.

 

In the absence of the secretary, President Ken White read the minutes of our previous AGM. Following adoption of the minutes, Treasurer Hayward White spoke on retention of members and acknowledged that the low price of furs was having a negative effect on maintaining and increasing membership. He went on to say that if some of the members now in arrears did not pay up, then cuts in our membership and magazine subscription lists would be inevitable. Hayward then spoke on the financial position of our association, noting that we ran a deficit this past year, the first time such an event had occurred since the account was revived seven years ago. Despite this however, Hayward noted that our association still has a healthy balance.

 

Eugene Tiller, representing Fur Harvesters Auction, presented a cheque to our association. Calvin Cormier reported that he had not received a similar contribution from North American Fur Auctions but would continue his efforts to secure this donation.

 

Ken White next addressed the meeting with a review of resolutions presented to the Wildlife Division subsequent to last year’s AGM. He said that it is his understanding that a number of these resolutions had been addressed at the departmental level, but that Cabinet approval was required before these could be resolved to our satisfaction. Unfortunately there was no Wildlife Division or other government representation at this year’s AGM. We did hear from Fur Biologist Bruce Rodrigues who offered his regrets since he was on the road during our meeting.

 

Following this there was a small ceremony in which one of our founding fathers, Gerald Spencer of Glenwood, had a photo opportunity with our newest member, Jacob Power. On the roster of member’s numbers, Gerald is listed as member #2, while Jacob proudly carries his membership number of 3461. A photo of this ceremony will appear in Canadian Trapper magazine.

 

The afternoon session began with the election of officers, and a full report of these results will appear in the minutes of our meeting as compiled by Ken White and prepared by Mac Pitcher. Following the meeting, our annual auction proceeded with our jovial and very entertaining Derm Eason as auctioneer. A sincere thanks to Derm, along with auction overseers Ruth Bond, Marge Bond and Director Ed Piercey as auction accountant, for a job well done. NLTA also offers a sincere thank you to all those donating auction items this year. An enjoyable time was had by all.

 

Our Saturday evening barbeque was hosted by Director Calvin Cormier, who went to great lengths in preparing and cooking delicious moose sausage. For the children and less adventurous adults, hamburgers and hot dogs were also available. A collection was made by Mary Lane at the barbeque which adequately covered the barbeque food cost.

 

The weekend festivities concluded on Sunday morning with the annual games and competition. The highlights of these games will be detailed in the minutes of our AGM. Many thanks to all attendees and volunteers who made this event the success that it was.

 

Prepared by Mac Pitcher, NLTA Secretary, from notes compiled by Hayward Smith.