President’s Message

By Sarah Gallagher (Western)

Dear CASCA Community,

It has been an honour to continue to collaborate with the CASCA Board, committees, members, and partners since the 2024 Annual General Meeting to advance the priorities of our community. Below are some of the activities that we have been undertaking over the past six months.

The Coalition for Canadian Astronomy continues to support the CASTOR mission  our top priority for space astronomy. To start, we submitted a pre-budget brief to Parliament. At the end of November, the Coalition met with the leadership of the National Research Council and the Canadian Space Agency to hear from them and update them on the mission. The CASTOR team and industrial partners have come together to ask for funding for a Phase A study to continue progress and complete detailed costing for the full mission. This step is considered essential to maintain the confidence of our international partners in what would be the first Canadian-led major space astronomy mission.

To maintain ties and communication with our partners, I continue to meet regularly with Gilles Joncas, the Executive Director of ACURA, and the leadership of CAP. I represented our community in the CAP Strategic Planning process, and we endorsed their submission to the Tri-Councils on the consultation for the capstone agency that will oversee mission-driven and interdisciplinary research funded by the granting councils. Of particular concern for us is robust and sustained support for major facilities, which is directly relevant to our domestic observatories.

The Mid-Term Review was launched in August 2024 and is well underway. The panel has solicited community papers and committee reports to set up further consultations for the beginning of 2025. I have heard multiple times from our partners in government as well as other science communities about the value of our community engagement and consensus-building process through long-range planning and interim mid-term reviews. This process requires substantial and repeated effort, but speaking with a coherent vision is extremely powerful for advancing our ambitious goals. Thank you to the panel and all of you who are contributing.

The last quarter of my term as President starts this January. We will have significant turnover in the Board for the next term, with two Directors, the Treasurer, the Secretary, and the Vice President cycling off. Please consider agreeing or volunteering to stand for election. I’ve been truly fortunate to have such fantastic colleagues during my tenure so far, and I know that given the depth of talent in our community that the new members who step up to take over will be just as committed. I wish all CASCA members a restorative holiday break and a happy 2025!

Best wishes, Sarah Gallagher

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