OCCID Annual General Meeting is Approaching . . .

March 15th 2002 is the date for this year’s AGM. This year there are several constitutional amendments on the agenda; as well we will have final sign-off on our Strategic Plan which was developed over the past nine months; and will officially receive our budget for the current year. The agenda also includes the presentation of the Peter Wong Award.

A nomination slate for Directors was circulated to current members. Nominations can be accepted from the floor.

New members are welcome and ALL MEMBERSHIPS ARE RENEWED ANNUALLY. If you’re not already a member, this is the perfect time to join. Membership fee is $25.00. Members in good standing will not miss two consecutive meetings without reason. Member groups can send any representative from their group.

A notice of meeting is attached. In case for any reason, the government building where we usually meet is inaccessible, the meeting will be held across the street at the Travel Lodge Hotel (the old Howard Johnson).

If you haven’t already booked your hotel room, the new toll-free number is 1-. the local number is still .

If you haven’t RSVPed to our office, please do that as well. Our number is or toll-free 1-.

Arrive Alive Bottle Drive

This year’s bottle drive is gaining speed very quickly. OCCID and The Beer Store are hoping to host the day in Toronto and Ottawa this year, so volunteers in these areas are especially welcome. Almost all of last year’s participants are back. Thank you! Materials for the day and all other plans for promotion are coming along nicely .

Materials to promote the day include: hats and balloons, sticky badges for volunteers, PSAs, flyers, danglers and posters. Handouts on the day include passports, insurance folders, demerit point cards, and litter bags. Special thanks to The Beer Store for their support on this event, to the Solicitor General for his kind support as well, and to all the volunteers who have signed up so far!

Last year $8,000 of the funds raised from the one day event was returned to communities to be spent on any sober driving initiative. For more information call our office.

arrive alive DRIVE SOBER ®

The 2002 campaign will be our 13th annual summer-focused campaign to prevent impaired driving. This year’s sponsors include Pilot Insurance, the Government of Ontario, The Beer Store, the LCBO, Yamaha, and Bridgestone.

Materials will be available at the end of April. Of note, we are in the final stages of designing materials, your comments regarding wording and appearance are most welcome (right now) and if you know any other logical partners for this campaign, please call us.

2002 CONFERENCES

Dates for our own Countermeasures XIV have been reconsidered and changed. The dates will be November 24th and 25th 2002. The registration fee will be staying at $100.00 Organization of this year’s conference is still in the early stages, so suggestions can still be included. The location has not been confirmed, there are two locations being considered, both are accessible by Toronto Airport and Highway 401 and 400.

Canadian Youth Against Impaired Driving is being held March 21st – 24th at the Holiday Inn in the Toronto area (airport), hosted by Student Life Education Company and Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving. The conference is not yet sold out – interested parties should contact Maria at , or on line at www.cyaid.com - right away. For those working with youth – this will be an excellent conference, providing insight and information for both youth and youth leaders. CYAID has not been hosted in Toronto since 1993. This promises to be exciting!

Injury Prevention professionals – there are two other conferences in the near future:

• The World Health organization is hosting the 11th International and 5th National Safe Communities conference in Fort Frances May 7th to 9th 2002. See www.who2002.com
• The 6th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Control will be hosted in Montreal May 12th to 15th 2002. See www.trauma2002.com

OCCID submitted an abstract to International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) coming to Montreal, August 5th to 9th. The abstract was accepted for a poster presentation. MADD Canada will be organizng a one-day symposium in harmony with this conference (August 3rd).

Congratulations to Take Action on Impaired Driving (TAID) on the success of their recent conference in Picton, Ontario. 150 delegates participated a fun weekend of learning and networking. Thank to everyone who supported the day!

Congratulations to Ontario Drug Awareness Partnership (ODAP) and FOCUS on their joint conference in downtown Toronto, just now drawing to a close. Their “survivor” theme was well played out and quite enjoyed by delegates.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

If you would like to know more about becoming a member of Ontario Community Council on Impaired Driving please call our office. Our members meet 4 times annually and members can attend by (speaker) telephone if it facilitates their attendance. OCCID pays travel for members attending meetings and 75% of their accommodations. Lunch is provided at meetings (and morning coffee). OCCID meetings provide a great networking opportunity.

BEST WISHES FOR THE SUMMER.

* TO ALL THOSE WHO OPERATE SUMMER STUDENT PROGRAMS, THE GRANT APPLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE AT YOUR HRDC/OTHER EMPLOYMENT OFFICE, THE DEADLINE IS APRIL 2/02.