About Us
Western Canada
Bow River
Bow River Chapter is focused in Calgary and surrounding areas. Centered at the University of Calgary, we are a small chapter that tries to provide continuing education sessions for local technicians to attend during their lunch hours. These sessions include PI and vendor presentations as well as the occasional outside speaker. Our biggest event of the year is always the International Tech Week competition and lunch. For more information please contact our two co-reps for more information.
Manitoba
The Manitoba Chapter encompasses facilities within the city of Winnipeg, which includes 7 main facilities, and several smaller off-shoots of those facilities. The main facilities include the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the University of Winnipeg, St. Boniface Research Centre, the National Research Centre, and the University of Manitoba (Fort Garry Campus and Bannatyne Campus). Our membership comprises of about 60-70 members, with a core group of about 20-25. We meet a minimum of every 2nd month and try to incorporate a speaker into most meetings. Often it is a Chapter member presenting information from any workshops that they have attended, or work they are doing. We have hosted a couple webinars, and attended lectures on animal welfare etc. We typically plan a couple fun events per year, such as behind the scenes tour of the zoo, and potluck lunches. We have made a couple donations to organizations that are near and dear to our hearts, such as our zoo, as well as the Ferret Rescue Organization.
Northern Alberta
Our chapter is located in Northern Alberta. We have approximately 70 members; most of the members are from Edmonton, but we also have some from Alberta Research Council in Vegreville. In Edmonton, we have members from the University of Alberta, Cross Cancer Institute, Provincial Laboratories as well as many technicians that work for private companies or principal investigators. At the moment our executive is quite small with only a president/secretary, treasurer and an RCC representative. We are always looking for volunteers to help out with our chapter. Some of the ways members could be involved are planning seminars and events, becoming part of the executive, helping with the education of our members and writing articles for our national members’ magazine. Our chapter hosts many educational seminars throughout the year, as well as a social event to entice more people to come out. Our social events are usually sponsored so we are able to provide the guests with door prizes and incentives. In the past, we have gone to a few of the local technical colleges to show them what CALAS can do for them. We would like to look into doing this again, but more volunteers are always needed. Our chapter has many members, now we just need to figure out what they would like and how we can accommodate this. Our mission is to promote and educate current and future CALAS members!
Pacific
The Pacific Regional Chapter (PRC) encompasses the province of BC, excluding Vancouver Island which started their own chapter in 2020. The PRC has a membership of over 100 people with nine members on the executive committee. Our aim is to provide educational and networking events to our members in the form of free webinars, presentations, or tours every 1-2 months. We host a summer AGM event and a winter seasonal party. The Pacific Chapter has been organizing an educational event in co-operation with the BC Veterinary Technologists Association (BCVTA) for a number of years where speakers are invited to present on a subject of mutual interest to the research and clinical veterinary communities. We offer comprehensive study sessions to those who are working towards their (A)RLATs, and a regular newsletter. Other activities include outreach programs to graduating AHT (RVT) students such as an annual guest speaker presentation, visual presence at the BCVTA spring conference, and participation at the annual Advisory Committee meeting, all at Thompson Rivers University. In addition, we facilitate in organizing student practicums, and have provided an annual Laboratory Animal Proficiency Award to a deserving TRU student since 1993, and to a Douglas College student since 2011. The PRC newsletter is a good source of information for chapter members, including articles, announcements, local job ads and lots of fun stuff
Saskatoon
Come out and become a member of your local CALAS Saskatoon Chapter. Our members work at the University of Saskatchewan, VIDO (Veterinary Infectious Diseases Organization), CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) and SIAST (Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology). We are a very small chapter with 18 members, but we are highly supportive of each other in our goal of registry certification, continuing education, networking and of course high quality animal care. We celebrate International Laboratory Animal Technician week every year, and organize some CE events throughout the year.
Vancouver Island
The Vancouver Island Regional Chapter is CALAS/ACSAL’s newest chapter located on beautiful Vancouver Island, BC. We are a small chapter currently comprised of 13 members with two members on the executive committee. As a new regional chapter, we hope to grow our chapter by promoting CALAS and educating future RLATs. We are looking forward to networking, supporting each other, and sharing knowledge through CE and social events.