On behalf of the CAA Board of Directors I would like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year. Let’s begin the annual winter message with a summary of the Board’s plans for the upcoming year. At the fall directors’ meeting we did a complete review of the CAA Strategic Plan and tried to set some manageable goals for the next three years. To begin with, we have reorganized the CAA committees and have given them a stronger web presence. We now have seven standing committees and two working groups. The former includes membership, student affairs, advocacy, ethics, indigenous issues, and member safety, as well as an exciting new committee on climate change chaired by Matt Betts. We also have two temporary working groups on equity and diversity, and media, the latter to be chaired by Dave Norris. A list of members and terms of reference for each of these committees/working groups is now posted on the CAA website. Please check out the new pages. I will soon be making an open call to the membership for volunteers to fill vacancies on these committees. I encourage interested individuals to contact me if they see a vacant position they would like to fill.

We have also made significant changes to the CAA website to improve its usefulness for the members. Two new webpages are now posted, namely, Public Education and Government Affairs. Moira McCaffery (moira.mccaffrey@gmail.com) will be the new facilitator for the Public Education page and members can forward suggestions for new content directly to her. The webpages consist of both new and old material (moved from other webpages). The home page has also been updated and streamlined. It includes a new feature on current research to replace the defunct CAA Bulletin. Katherine Cook (katherine.cook@umontreal.ca) will be soliciting short reports on recent articles from the CJA (in 'blog' or short article format), upcoming field school updates, ongoing laboratory work, summaries of graduate and post-doctoral research, pieces on current issues in the field of archaeology, and upcoming conference sessions. We welcome your contributions.

The CAA Ethics committee has begun a review of our current ethical statements and will pass on suggestions for changes to the Board of Directors. They will also be reviewing a new strategy for member safety. Recommendations from the Board will be circulated prior to the next conference so they can be tabled at the next AGM. The Student committee is working with the 2020 conference organizing committee to coordinate student workshops, the poster session and ethics bowl. Clear instructions for poster presentation and judging will appear on the student webpage and poster winners will be posted prior to the AGM.

The 2020 CAA Annual Meeting will be held in Amiskwacîwâskahikan on Treaty 6 territory, the territory of the Papaschase, and the homeland of the Métis Nation (a.k.a. Edmonton). The conference organizers have chosen “where communities meet” as the conference theme, to reflect the importance of this area as a meeting place for different peoples and nations. The conference venue is the Sutton Place Hotel, located near the Ice District, and just a 5-minute walk from the new Royal Alberta Museum. The hotel is within easy walking distance of some of the best restaurants in Edmonton, as well as coffee shops, pubs, and bars. The planning committee has arranged for three exciting field trips: two in the Edmonton area and a post-conference trip to Jasper (please check the conference webpage for details). Future meetings will be held in Membertou, Nova Scotia (2021) and Saskatoon (2022) and we are looking for a city in Ontario to host the 2023 meeting.

The next issue of the Canadian Journal of Archaeology, 43 (2), is due to come out in early spring, and our first special issue, “Unsettling Archaeology”, is scheduled for the summer. There will be some major changes to the board this spring. We will be losing Jennifer Campbell as Vice-President this year, as her 4-year term will expire at the next annual meeting. There will be an election in the spring and an open call for candidates. Lisa Hodgetts will be taking over as President after my report at this year’s AGM and I will spend the next year on the board as Past-President.

If you have any questions or concerns, I can be reached at my CAA email address.

Warmest Regards,

Michael Deal
president@canadianarchaeology.com