06.09.10 -CCA Board Meeting Highlights

The Canadian Cycling Association’s Board of Directors held its semi-annual meeting in Toronto, ON on May 1 & 2, 2010.

With the AGM scheduled more than a month earlier this year – September 6 & 7, 2010 in Quebec City – this semi-annual Board meeting was also moved up to deal with a range of matters that fall to the Board and its governance and oversight role.

Highlights included:

- The Board of Directors, after many months of consultation and legal counsel – have determined that the results of Genevieve Jeanson in CCA sanctioned events in Canada will have an asterisk placed beside them. The asterisk will note that the result has been called into question due to Ms. Jeanson’s admitted use of performance enhancing substances to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport in 2008.
- The Board approved a revision to the Policy on Organizational Structure that would see the Athletes’ Council restructured to include a male and female athlete representative from each of the five Olympic and Paralympic sports. The Council will be responsible for electing their own Chair and the Athletes’ Council Chair will sit on the CCA Board of Directors.

- The Race Clean – Own Your Victory anti-doping promotion program was given further support by the Board and there will be Race Clean identification added to the National Team jerseys, specific socks and wristbands will be made available to National Team members and, in the near future the public through the CCA website. Other identification of Race Clean will be included on the CCA event tents and backdrops at National Championships. The Board also agreed to take the required steps to have the Canadian Cycling Association complete the True Sport declaration and become a True Sport organization.

- The Board reviewed a presentation from Peter Cosentino of DECSport who is now under contract to the CCA to oversee business development. The plan is to build the media interest in the performances of the Canadian cycling stars and to provide the media with the context for each of the cycling sports and the events that National Team members compete in during the season. While the association is still very much focused on high performance in its day to day work the reality is that the CCA will need to diversify its funding base over the longer term and the need to create the basis for corporate partnerships is clear. CCA is looking at opportunities to leverage the MTB worlds and UCI Pro Tour events to engage potential sponsors/supporters through a VIP program

- The CEO led the Board through the risk registry that was developed as a result of a two day Risk Management workshop attended by six representatives of cycling in early March in Ottawa. The attendees were CCA President John Tolkamp, CCA staff Greg Mathieu, Brett Stewart and Mathieu Boucher and the Interprovincial Council Co-chairs Ron Brown (MB) and Jim Crosscombe (ON). The workshop was facilitated by Rachel Corbett and Dina Bell-Laroche of the Centre for Sport & Law. The risk registry represents the concerns that the participants had with respect to areas of risk exposure or opportunities that should not be missed. There will be a further synthesis of the risk registry which will then be shared with the Provincial and Territorial affiliates prior to the Annual Meeting.

- CAN-BIKE and its loose affiliation to the CCA was brought to the Board for a full discussion. Given the rash of bicycle related accidents and the obvious need for a national program that deals with bicycle safety the Board agreed that the CCA would review its role in CAN-BIKE with the Interprovincial Council (IPC) in early June of this year. The goal is to determine a go forward position relative to the necessary revision of the curriculum, the certification and re-certification of examiners and instructors and the potential to aid the delivery of this program at the local level.

- The Board directed staff to review possible options to provide for an Anti-doping support fund that would assist event organizers which don’t receive Sport Canada sport hosting funds but are required by the UCI to do doping control tests at their events. Since the selection of events by the UCI is often random and the number of tests not standardized Canadian event organizers often face significant operating increases year over year. The CCA would like to find a way to cushion the effect on the event organizers.

- The Director of Finance & Administration, Brett Stewart, reported on the 2009-2010 fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. He noted that the books were not yet closed on the year but the target for adding to the continuity reserve of the association would be reached.

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