Ccat-Ctac

CCAT was federally incorporated by Letters Patent issued on December 31, 1986. The applicants (and first directors) were Michael I. Jeffrey, Donald R. Yeomans, Jean-Francois Gosselin, Roger Labelle and Ghislaine Richard. But CCAT had its informal beginnings, like so many Canadian organizations, as a good idea developed around a dinner table by people discussing similar interests and concerns. As Michelle Farlardeau-Ramsay recalls, it was at her kitchen table that the idea of a conference for administrative law decision-makers germinated. Andrew Roman was in town, probably for Canadian Bar Association meetings, and he came to dinner. At the time, Ms. Farlardeau-Ramsay was the Chair of the Immigration and Refugee Appeal Board. Over dinner, they decided that it was time to hold a two-day conference for federally regulated agencies and boards and test the appetite for a mechanism to discuss common problems and issues. Harold Brown, then Chair of the federal Public Service Staff Relations Board, offered the board's hearing rooms for conference sessions, so there would be no costs for the venue. That first conference, as Ms. Farlardeau-Ramsay remembers, was a huge success, even though it coincided with a big snow storm. Participants wanted more opportunities to share common problems, interests and solutions. They also suggested that provincial boards and agencies be invited to the next conference. So planning began for another expanded conference...