– By: Phil Lightstone

Change is underway at the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada

On March 7, 2023, Mr. Fabien Gagné, Director of the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada, tendered his resignation after his election in October 2021. The letter of resignation was posted on RCCanada.ca (https://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=632877) on March 9, 2023 and on MAACNews.ca. In December, members of MAAC received an email from MAAC’s President Mike Anderson advising them to cease and desist any outdoor flying of their radio controlled (R/C) models until further notice due to non-compliance with a number of the conditions of Transport Canada’s (TC) Exemption to CARs Section IX, requiring R/C model aircraft to become in scope to TC’s RPAS rules.

From his letter of resignation: “I find myself in a position where I cannot support a decision of the board. I will not associate myself with it. The pursuit of vengeful disciplinary measures is not only useless but extremely harmful to the organization and the board. In my opinion, not only should this be abandoned, but the people behind this initiative should leave. The board should never undertake an extreme measure, such as excluding a member, as a first resort. This is not in line with Canadian values, not with mine.” Fabian concludes his letter of resignation with: “I have failed to fully restore democracy in time to avoid this radical action. Here, history repeats itself. In my opinion, these struggles within the board of directors are the root cause of its apparent failure. I am in a situation where I cannot support a board decision, and unable to act on the replacement of advisory board members, I am therefore resigning today from my position as director of MAAC. I want to thank the organization and members for the opportunities and experiences I gained during my time as a director at MAAC, and I wish everyone all the best for the future.” Interestingly Fabien serves on the MAAC Sailplane Committee.

Effective immediately, Alain Carpentier will replace Fabien as zone director Zone J – St. Lawrence. Alain has been flying R/C pattern model aircraft for roughly two decades, flying in Montreal’s South Shore area. Alain was able to fill Fabien’s role based upon the succession planning which MAAC’s board of directors have strategically initiated.

Mike Anderson, President of MAAC reports: “the loss of MAAC’s exemption to CARs Section IX creates a new paradigm everyone needs to adapt to in their own way”. Recently, Mike passed the RPAS Basic Exam scoring approximately 85 percent and taking 30 minutes to complete the on-line exam. Further Mike confirms that MAAC has received a formal letter from TC advising them of the loss of MAAC’s waiver. Mike is hopeful that with the on-going collaboration between MAAC and TC that a new exemption waiver may be received sometime in the future. .https://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=632877

(Photo: Phil Lightstone)