General Meeting
May 21, 2009
Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia
MINUTES
Present: Rick Oliver, Cathy van Soest, Liz Hollands-Gamble, Lorna Carlson, Sandy
Prentice, Sally Stacey, Dale Karpluk, Ronda Bell, Dan Walsh, Regis Hill, Martine
Adriaesen, Ann Calverley, Sheila McLeod, Scott Bergstrome, Angela Olson, Michael
Frankowski, Dave Paul, Madelaine Currelly, James Tanchez, Alex Mazzucco, Carmen
Cousineau, Laurie Wood, Jane Errington, Mike Kliman, Gerry Pitman, Dwayne
Zarichny, Janet Small, Mike Dollimore, David Brennick, Karen Stephens, Greg Murphy,
Allan MacDonald, Paul Millman, Smita Sengupta, Gail Belisario, Carol Goerke, Emilie
DeCorby, Dave Scott, Hugh McPherson, Rebecca Jean Bosch, Kim Hoffart, Vic Degutis,
Jay Colpitts, Marlene Robertson, Barb Onstad, Karen Strobel, Brent Poole, Geoff Best,
Rob Porkka, Rod Matheson, David White & Bonnie McKie
Welcome & Introductions:
1. The meeting was opened on Thursday, May 21 by Geoff Best (President), who
welcomed the attendees. The Executive introduced themselves and Geoff introduced
Bonnie McKie as Executive Coordinator
Geoff provided a brief history about the CAPS-I organization, structure and Constitution
Geoff asked if members had any additions to the agenda. Ronda Bell asked that staffing
formulas be added to the agenda for discussion.
David White welcomed the group to Halifax, Nova Scotia and then introduced Carol
Olson, Superintendent of Halifax Regional School Board to share some words of
welcome. Carol spoke about the value of the work that members do.
Previous Meeting Minutes:
2. Copies of the minutes of the previous general meeting on November 21/22 in Montreal
were placed on each table.
Adoption of the minutes
Moved: Ann Calverley
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Seconded: Kim Hoffart
Motion was carried.
Financial Report:
3. David White (Treasurer) clarified that the organization’s year end is June 30th so the
financials provided were as of May 19, 2009.
REVENUES
Government Grants
Membership Fees
Sponsorship of Excursion/Lunch/Dinner
Guests attending May AGM Event(s)
20,000
28,500
12,250
1,150
Total Revenue
61,900
EXPENSES
Services provided for CAPS-I
11,615
Professional Fees -website & domain names 13,998
Insurance
1,355
Meetings
3,757
Sundry
200
Total Expense
30,926
Excess of revenue over expenses
30,974
David shared that members were not charged any fees for attending these 2 days of
meetings or for meals due to great sponsorship support. There were no questions.
Membership Update:
4. Bonnie provided an update regarding membership. Bonnie advised the group that
there were currently 56 paid members with 5 Associate members. New to the
organization as full fee-paying members in the last year are:
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Cowichan Valley
Grand Yellowhead
Gulf Islands
Horizon School Divison
Kootenay Lake
Mountain View
New Westminster
Regina Public Schools
Sea to Sky
Study Manitoba School Divisions
Toronto Catholic
Waterloo Catholic
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Western School Division – Manitoba
New Associate members are:
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Niagara Catholic
Peel District School Board
Burnaby School District
English Montreal School Board
District Scolaire, New Brunswick
Also present is Allan from Christ Redeemer of Okotoks – hopefully will join our group
soon as well.
CEC Update:
5. Ann Calverley provided an update regarding the CEC Committee. Ann shared that at
the CEC Conference last November CAPS-I had a booth and several members
volunteered to help at the booth during break times. It is hoped that CAPS-I will be able
to have a similar presence at the CEC Conference this year in Newfoundland.
Ann indicated that the Committee hadn’t been too active in the last 6 months but had a
teleconference meeting on April 20th. CEC President Joanne Uedye seemed more
confident that DFAIT seemed supportive of working together on a national front.
Membership renewal process not yet complete but currently about 200 members and 30
have withdrawn membership recently.
Next teleconference not yet scheduled but Ann anticipates it would be held in early July.
Emilie DeCorby raised concern about CEC’s membership fee structure – Ann to bring up
this and ask for other feedback prior to next teleconference meeting.
NEMR (National Education Marketing Roundtable) Update:
Geoff talked briefly about NEMR and will post detailed minutes from this meeting. Geoff
re-introduced the ‘Imagine’ Edu-Canada brochure with the new K-12 (CAPS-I) insert
and all members received a copy. Edu-Canada held some signature events in China and
Brazil in the past few months where they revealed the new ‘Imagine’ brand. There is
also now a link from the Edu-Canada website to the CAPS-I website.
Geoff explained that as publicly funded institutions, all members are eligible to use the
brand but must receive permission from their respective provincial Ministries and then
provide that authorization to CMAC. There will also be ‘training’ available re: using the
Imagine brand. Geoff also advised that DFAIT has hired a consulting firm to look at
international students impact on the Canadian economy. They want a more specific
measure of these students economic benefit to further support their efforts to get more
funding. As such Geoff expressed the importance of CAPS-I members providing
accurate #’s regarding student enrolment so our K-12 sector can be accurate represented
and recognized for it’s contribution.
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Hugh McPherson recognized that CAPS-I was not listed in the Imagine Brochure under
‘Useful Resources’ and suggest the organization as for a presence in that section for the
next printing of the brochure.
ACISI (Advisory Committee on International Students & Immigration) Update:
Geoff shared that CIC through ACISI continues to try to identify best practices. CIC is
looking to put everything online for study permit renewals. Paul Millman asked if it
might be possible for CIC to identify where possible, improbable and impossible for K12 students (even by a map of the world) to get study permits so programs could guide
their marketing efforts accordingly. Smita Sengupta shared that CIC does public study
permit rejection rates but unfortunately they are not broken down by sector.
Geoff shared that the Executive thought CAPS-I meetings should alternate between
having DFAIT & CIC representatives attend the general meetings. Geoff asked the
membership if they knew of other organizations that CAPS-I should become involved
with or consult with and no suggestions were provided.
Discussion re: Nomination/Election Process & Adjustments to the Constitution:
6. Rod Matheson gave a brief update about Constitution then Bonnie described the
changes proposed to the Constitution regarding election, nomination processes as well as
the Executive structure.
Hugh moved that the changes to the Constitution be accepted as recommended –
seconded by Ann. Significant discussion occurred with a wide variety of ideas. A vote
resulted in defeating the motion.
It was determined that time/agenda did not provide for resolution to all of these issues
and that the election for the BC region position (the only region in which another
nomination was received) should occur as originally planned and that consultation should
occur and new proposal would be brought back to membership for the November
meeting.
INGLE INSURANCE – Overview of Ingle provided by Robin Ingle prior to the BREAK
they provided sponsorship funding for.
Website Update:
7. This item was referred to Day 2 of the agenda.
Discussion of 2009/10 Budget/Marketing Proposal & Membership Fees:
8. David White presented the proposed 2009/10 balanced budget line by line. David and
Geoff described the intent of the $25,000 allocated for marketing and Geoff explained
that to get new federal government funding something tangible must be accomplished
(e.g. video). The 4 suggestions for marketing included a poster, video on the topic of
homestay, CEC Agent Fair (November 2009) and participating in an overseas event such
as the Korean embassy in the fall either by sponsoring an agent event, workshop, etc..
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Vic Degutis suggested that the organization have a marketing plan to guide promotions
and spending.
Paul Millman suggested having a CAPS-I banner completed with a video on a small TV
in the embassies of our key markets around the work promoting ‘high schools in
Canada.’
Barb Onstad suggested and made a motion that a new line item be added for the CAPS-I
representative to attend NEMR/ACISI meetings in the amount of $3000 – seconded by
Geoff Best.
Motion carried.
Dan Walsh moved to adopt the budget as amended and this was seconded by Lorna
Carlson.
Motion carried.
Barb Onstad offered to provide some leadership for production of the video and Liz
Gamble, Ann Calverley, Gail Belisario and Michael Frankowski offered to assist.
Michael offered to provide some leadership for production of a promotional poster and
Sandy Prentice, Dave Scott, Kim Hoffart, Karen Strobel and Lorna Carlson offered to
assist.
ROBINSON & ROBINSON – Overview of Robinson & Robinson provided by Paul
Robinson prior to the LUNCH they provided sponsorship funding for.
CBIE (Canadian Bureau for International Education)
9. Presentation (copy located in Members Only section of the website) provided by
CAPS-I was advised of the CBIE upcoming conference in Toronto, November 8-11th.
Currently only 10 CBIE members are K-12 institutions. CBIE related websites of
interest:
www.cbie.ca
www.cetaa.ca
www.scholarships.gc.ca
www.destineducation.ca
Ann shared that she had attended conferences in the past and it was light on K-12
content. Sally suggested exploring possibility of K-12 scholarship opportunities.
Another suggestion was made that CAPS-I put together a presentation for the conference
re: K-12 Pathway to Post-Secondary. Vic Degutis, Lorna Carlson & Smita Sengupta
agreed to assist with this project and Geoff will contact Jennifer Humphries to see if there
is still time to do this for the November 2009 Conference.
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Graduation Requirements & Ethical Marketing of Programs
10. Rod Matheson shared with the membership that recently agents of a BC program
(also a CAPS-I member) had been found to be marketing K-12 programs at education
fairs and elsewhere by stating that students would graduate from high school in 7 months.
Rod asked for provinces to share how long it would typically take the average
international student to complete graduation requirements. Consensus seemed to be few
could ever complete requirements in under 1 year but most would take 2-3 years. There
was general discussion about the ethics of such promotions and the possibility of having
to ‘police’ such activity of members in the future should it reoccur.
Next Steps for Use of Results
11. Brent provided some background about the working group results produced in
previous meetings and asked that the members break into various groups to revisit the 4
topic areas and synthesize them into several ‘standards’ that all members could agree to
adhere to. The 4 groups provided their written feedback/results to Brent after 30 minutes.
Presentations on Emerging Markets: Nigeria, Colombia & China
12. CHINA - Rod spoke about the China market – it wasn’t the place to go 4-5 years ago
but now opened up and many are now having great experiences with significant #’s of
students coming out of the China market. Encouraging districts/boards to get into the
market and the BC schools are setting up a ‘Manager’ to help represent them in the
Chinese market. If new to International Education, Rod suggested likelihood of quick
return on investment by marketing in China.
Chinese students are looking at a high school graduation program as pathway to
university (some as young as Grade 9). Two major fairs CIEET (Fall) and China
Education Expo - CEE (Spring/Fall) generate excellent students. Edmonton &
Vancouver (with large #’s of Chinese students) shared that they have implemented
cultural support workers for the Chinese population.
There is a licensing system of agents but some districts (Upper Canada) have formed
relationships with schools instead that send students to Canada. Visa processing times
are 3 months or less currently with some new decentralized processing.
Hugh McPherson asked whether are there were any Catholic boards having success in
China – 3 districts/boards indicated yes, though not necessarily all Catholic students.
NIGERIA – Geoff attended fairs in Abuja & Lago in Nigeria organized by the Canadian
embassy recently. He had received students from Nigerian agents in the past but wanted
to learn more about the market and where the students were coming from. Geoff shared
that they have a rapidly growing economy, students are English speaking (though 250
different ethnic groups and languages), there are an insufficient # of colleges/universities.
Geoff showed pictures of his recent trip – not easy travel, certainly a developing country
and definitely recommends going in groups.
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Fraudulent documents and study permits can be challenging but do have some successful
applications – takes 2-3 months. Janet Small shared that she’s getting interest from
Grade 12 students in Nigeria but they’re only 15 years, which presents a programming
challenge so really about educating the agents about our education system and the parents
about benefits of homestay vs. dormitory.
COLOMBIA – David advises that Colombia is a changed country in terms of safety –
safer than in some parts of Mexico City or Brazil. It’s because the economy is growing
and look to Canada re: safety for education. Canadian embassy puts on education fairs.
Do not be deterred from going there for safety reasons –one of the nicest countries in the
world geographically and easy country to move around in terms of flying – usually don’t
drive through the mountains from city to city though safer now to travel on roads than
was even a few years ago. Dave Scott has also done some work in Colombia.
There are definitely some reputable agents working (StudyNow, Study Union,
Grasshopper, etc) about 6 key agencies in Bogota. BMI also does a tour through
Colombia and Venezuela. There is now a fairly high acceptance rate for study permit
applications from high school students and takes about 8 weeks. Students will often want
short term or 1 semester programs and wanting to extend their stay upon arrival. They
have very strict money laws so receiving the funds can be challenging and they are very
‘price sensitive.’
Geoff also shared that an agent from Colombia recently asked if he offered a ‘course’ for
agents similar to offered in Australia. Geoff explained a bit about the course (covers
visas, ethics, etc…) and testing offered for agents in Australia. Visit
http://www.pieronline.org/default.aspx?id=84 for more info.
Angela Olson also mentioned that the CEC in Vietnam was bringing in local agents for
some training and then providing them with ‘authorized agent’ certificates.
Reminders re: Day 2
13. Members were reminded that from 9-10am on tomorrow’s (Day 2) agenda, Rod
Matheson and David White would be facilitating a discussion of best practices that would
likely be most useful to new/young programs or new staff of existing programs. Craig
Wright from York University would also be facilitating a cultural simulation game in the
next room. The general meeting would begin from 10am.
Distribution of Promotional Banners
14. New CAPS-I promotional banners were distributed one to each board/district member
as the meeting adjourned.
The first day of meetings adjourned at 3:30pm.
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General Meeting
May 22, 2009
Lord Nelson Hotel @ Halifax
MINUTES
Present: Rick Oliver, Cathy van Soest, Liz Hollands-Gamble, Lorna Carlson, Sandy
Prentice, Sally Stacey, Dale Karpluk, Ronda Bell, Dan Walsh, Regis Hill, Heather Foote,
Ann Calverley, Sheila McLeod, Scott Bergstrome, Angela Olson, Michael Frankowski,
Dave Paul, Madelaine Currelly, James Tanchez, Alex Mazzucco, Carmen Cousineau,
Greg Murphy, Laurie Wood, Jane Errington, Mike Kliman, Gerry Pitman, Dwayne
Zarichny, Janet Small, Mike Dollimore, David Brennick, Smita Sengupta, Allan Brennan,
Greg Mackin, Bob Lee, Gail Belisario, Carol Goerke, Emilie DeCorby, Hugh
McPherson, Rebecca Jean Bosch, Kim Hoffart, Vic Degutis, Jay Colpitts, Marlene
Robertson, Karen Strobel, Brent Poole, Geoff Best, Rob Porkka, Rod Matheson, David
White & Bonnie McKie
Welcome & Introductions:
1. The meeting was opened on Friday, May 22nd at 10:00 am by Geoff Best (President)
with a big thank you to Regis for the great dinner and entertainment arranged the
previous evening.
Election of BC Region Executive Position
2. Bonnie McKie facilitated the election of the BC region Executive position. Ballots
were distributed, votes counted and results tabulated. Rod Matheson of West Vancouver
School District was elected to represent the BC region for the next 1 year term. Bonnie
then advised the membership that Rod Porkka (Alberta), Brent Poole (Saskatchewan &
Manitoba), Geoff Best (Ontario & Quebec) and David White (Atlantic) will all remain in
their positions by acclamation for a 2 year term with the exception of David in the
Atlantic region which will be for a 1 year term.
Sandy Prentice moved to have the ballots for the BC region destroyed
Seconded by Mike Kliman.
Motion carried.
Intercultural Communication Presentation by: Craig Wright
3. Geoff introduced Craig. Craig used the ‘iceberg model’ to explain culture.
SURFACE CULTURE: Part of the iceberg above the surface where both those a part of
the culture as well as visitors to the culture would be able to recognize aspects of the
culture that exist (e.g. kilts, food, language, accents)
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TRANSITIONAL ZONE: Part of the iceberg just below the surface where those within
the culture are aware of the nuances that exist but visitors to the culture would have no
idea (e.g. body language, cultural nuances, saving face)
DEEP CULTURE: Part of the iceberg lowest below the surface where neither the people
within the culture or visitors to the culture recognize it (e.g. gender bias/roles, values,
personal space)
Craig then facilitated a cultural simulation game called ‘BARNGA’ with the group
around each of the 8 tables.
Strategies, Tips & Techniques from Group Discussion:
 Use game to help new students
 Give teachers the ability to just relax with the kids and don’t expect everything to be
there – permission to adapt curriculum while meeting learning outcomes – make it
somewhat easier and give them some ‘time-outs’ as listening in a different language
can be exhausting.
 Don’t be judgmental of their cultural norms assuming ours are better
 Discussed role of teacher in different cultures – sometimes viewed as higher level of
authority than parents (in some cases teachers expected by parents to discipline for
things happening in the home)
 Emphasize what we can learn from the other cultures within schools and homestay
 Ambassador/buddy system
 Importance of having good orientation programs for new international students, staff
and homestay families
 International clubs, use SWIS (settlement workers in schools) or multicultural
workers in schools to also support the international students.
Craig distributed some additional resource sheets.
BARNGA book details:
ISBN# 1-877-864-04-8
Published by Intercultural Press Incorporated
www.interculturalpress.com
EDUNOVA – David White introduced Ava Czapaly, President and CEO of EduNova.
Ava introduced EduNova and welcomed the members to Nova Scotia then invited the
members to lunch they provided sponsorship for. Nine post-secondary members of
EduNova were in attendance to share lunch and distribute information about their schools
at various booths.
Canadian School Boards Association
4. Brent introduced Patricia Parulekar recently retired from the Canadian Schools Boards
Association. She provided some interesting statistical information that can be utilized to
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support schools marketing/promotional efforts (a copy of the presentation can be found in
the Members Only section of the CAPS-I website.)
Citizenship & Immigration Canada
5. Brent introduced Paul Snow of CIC. He’s responsible for the International Student
Program and Foreign Worker Program in the Atlantic region. Paul spoke about CAPS-I’s
representation at ACISI meetings.
Paul provided the following statistics:
 Largest #’s of students coming from (in order from largest to smallest) Korea,
China, France, US, Japan, Said Arabia, India, Mexico, Germany & Brazil.
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K-12 represented 25% of annual entries for 2008 (19,809 foreign students entered
secondary/primary sectors in 2008)
On-line applications for study permit extensions in Canada available as of April 2009 at:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-services/epass.asp
High Commission website in London will be what new websites are modeled after in an
attempt to standard websites around the world.
See details of Paul’s presentation regarding CIC in the Members Only section of the
CAPS-I website.
CAPS-I Website Update
6. Bonnie shared some information about the ‘press release’ of the launch of the website
in early 2009 and some statistical information regarding the website. Though Google
Analytics results are not available from the time of launch, they are available back to end
of February and since this time over 1500 visitors have come to the website from over 60
different countries. Bonnie shared that various inquiries (both in French and English) are
being received through the site from prospective students, parents, agents, embassy
offices around the world, etc… The French version of the site was implemented earlier
this Spring.
Bonnie advised that she would email out all members Usernames and Passwords again in
case they’ve been misplaced. Bonnie showed members present the type of
documents/resources currently available in the Members Only section of the website and
encouraged members to continue to contribute ‘best practice’ information/resources.
Bonnie also indicated that the website is a ‘work in progress’ and that further suggestions
and recommendations regarding the site are always welcome.
Other Business
7. Ronda Bell facilitated a brief discussion in order to obtain some feedback about
staffing formulas in other Districts. Carol Goerke asked which Districts/Boards had their
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own homestay programs vs. contracted the service out. She also asked of those members
present, who as a Program Administrator also took on the role of ‘custodian’ for
international students.
Next Meeting Dates/Locations
8. Geoff shared the Executive Committee’s recommendation that the next general
meeting be held on December 2/3, 2009 (Wednesday/Thursday) in Banff, AB. The
members agreed with this suggestion.
It was further determined that the May 2009 (date to be determined but likely week after
long weekend) meeting would be held in Saskatoon, SK followed by the next AGM in
Vancouver in May 2010
Thank you
9. Geoff thanked both Regis and Marilyn of Halifax Regional School Division for their
efforts in coordinating events of the conference. Dan Walsh also advised the members
that Regis is retiring at the end of June and said a few kind words about her contributions
to Halifax and the organization.
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