cufflist.html

WINNERS OF THE

CANADIAN UNITY FAN FUND

(Information through 1996 drafted by Garth Spencer, Vancouver, B.C., July 1996)

The Canadian Unity Fan Fund was conceived about 1981 as a means to better acquaint Eastern and Western Canadian fans with each other. The point about CUFF is that this country (Canada, I mean) is regionalized enough that a Canadian Unity Fan Fund actually makes sense here; but I think there has been a recurring problem raising the profile of this fanactivity.

1981

Mike Hall of Edmonton received a total $50 to attend Torque 2 in Toronto.

Bio: Michael Hall was an active member of ESFCAS when he travelled to Toronto on the award, and visited Torque, a small fannish convention. He was also a fanzine fan, and helped Robert Runte produce New Canadian Fandom between 1981 and 1983. His own fanzine, Laid, was a sort of National Enquirer parody of fannish newszines - "All lies as long as they were close to the truth", as he put it. He was also a member of the collective that produced The Monthly Monthly in Edmonton, and had a one-shot in the late 80s, New Wave Video Snacks, before gafiating for some years. Mike Hall was a member of CANADAPA until it ceased to publish, and helped Garth Spencer produce New Canadian Fandom until Georges Giguere assumed the printing function. Mike Hall is married to Mary Fedun and now lives in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Hiatus 1982-1986

A lapse of some years followed.

1987

When the 1987 Canvention was chosen at the first Canvention Business Meeting (Ad Astra 6 in Toronto), Wallis immediately announced his Canvention intended to revive CUFF, the Canadian Unity Fan Fund in conjunction with the Caspers, and he proposed that the CUFF winner each year should come to the Canvention. He also proposed that future Canvention bids and CUFF nominations be entered alternately by Western and Eastern fan communities, as divided by the Manitoba/Ontario border.

Bio: Michael Wallis was active in Toronto convention fandom from the late 80s, participating in TAPA and chairing a number of Ad Astras. He became chiefly known through the phrase "It's all Michael's fault." He has since moved to Los Angeles, where he has been involved in Los Angeles cons.

1988

Taral Wayne of Toronto won the 87/88 CUFF race by acclamation, and attended Keycon/Canvention 8 in Winnipeg.

Bio: Taral Wayne joined the Ontario SF Club (of Toronto) in 1971, and became part of the "new Derelicts" circle which became prominent in OSFiC after Torcon II. After 1973 Taral became a well-known fanzine publisher, fanartist, apahack and congoer. His fanhistory articles have appeared in New Canadian Fandom, Maple Leaf Rag, Torus and Opuntia. His fanart has appeared in File 770, Ansible, DNQ, Mainstream and many other zines. He is now a graphic artist in Toronto. His fannish activities are now largely confined to furry-fandom/graphic art apazines.

1989

Robert Runte of Edmonton attended PineKone II/Canvention 9 in Ottawa. Steve Forty and Robert Runte were both nominees; the winner was Robert, due perhaps to the fact that Steve Forty was campaigning for him.

Bio: Robert Runte, a mysterious and powerful figure wreathed in legend and rumour, was the driving force behind the Edmonton SF and Comic Art Society from the late 1970s, and at least once revived the club with a cleverly-designed hoax. He contributed to Neology, the club fanzine, and joined The Monthly Monthly collective; his own fanzines, New Canadian Fandom and I'm Not Boring You Am I?, helped shape the minds of two fannish generations, along with his contributions to CANADAPA and GALACTUS. Robert has been part of the movement of many former ESFCAS members to go into SF writing, and found groups such as SF Canada, the Canadian SF and Fantasy Foundation, the On Spec editorial collective, and the Books Collective which now publishes the Tesseract Books Canadian SF line. This graduate sociologist now works for the Alberta board of education, where he helps shape the minds of a generation of innocent children. Robert Runte co-edited the last Tesseracts anthology of Canadian SF with Yves Meynard (1995), and lives in Lethbridge.

Steve Forty, a steel burnisher and longtime member of BCSFA, the British Columbia Science Fiction Association, the oldest and once the largest SF club in Vancouver, B.C. Steve Forty has served as BCSFAzine editor, club president, and convention chair (V-Con 20, 1993).

1990

Paul Valcour of Ottawa attended Con-Version 7/Canvention 10 in Calgary. The nominees were Paul Valcour and Keith Soltys. Paul Valcour later wrote, "the 54 votes cast [this year] is a marked improvement over last year's 20." (Con News)

Bio: Veteran of several Ottawa convention committees and chair of PineKone I and II, Paul Valcour has produced one one-shot fanzine, Long Distance Voyeur, and has written articles for Con News, MLR, Con-TRACT. He has served until recently as eastern administrator of the Canadian Unity Fan Fund.

The Canadian Unity Fan Fund apparently was suspended in 1990.

1991

Linda Ross-Mansfield travelled from Winnipeg to Kitchener, Ontario, to attend Wilfcon (Canvention 12) at the Wilfrid Laurier University campus.

Bio: Linda Ross-Mansfield's fannish experience goes back over a decade and a half; in 1980-81 she edited Northern Lights, a Canadian newszine, from Oromocto, New Brunswick. With her husband John Mansfield she relocated to Winnipeg and helped start up Star Trek fandom and Keycon. She is western administrator of the Canadian Unity Fan Fund.

Hiatus 1992-1995

1996

RENE WALLING of Montreal won the 1996 CUFF and attended Canvention 96/Con-Version XIII in Calgary.

Bio: "Rene has been involved with Con*Cept" (a Montreal convention) "since 1992. He has been in charge of Consuite, Registration, Program Book translation through the years, moving up to Vice-Chair in 1995 and Chair in 1996. As part of the Montreal Smoked Meat Parties and Con*Cept, Rene has been promoting Canadian cons at various US cons, and has worked on joint mailings and program book ad exchanges with cons."

(Con-TRACT 8:4, Jul-Aug 96)

The following information is taken from the CUFF website. (http://cuff.cometdust.ca/, which has since disappeared, and the wayback archive failed to capture it, Kent)

* 1997 - R. Graeme Cameron: Vancouver, BC to Toronto, ON

* 1998 - Lloyd Penney & Yvonne Penney: Toronto, ON to Montreal, QC

* 1999 - Garth Spencer: Vancouver, BC to Fredericton, NB

* 2000 - Sherry Neufeld: Saskatoon, SK to Toronto, ON

* 2001 - Murray Moore: Mississauga, ON to Vancouver, BC

* 2002 - Colin Hinz: Toronto, ON to Calgary, AB

* 2003 - Lyndie Bright: Winnipeg, MB to Toronto, ON

* 2004 - No Delegate

* 2005 - Brian A. Davis: Fredericton, NB to Edmonton, AB

Kent adds:

2006 - (possibly vacant, possibly Mike Omelusik or Michael Skeet?)

2007 - Peter Jarvis

2008 - Lance Sibley

2009 - LeAmber Raven Kensley

2010 - Diane Lacey

From Facebook:

Basic Info

Name: Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF)

Category: Organizations - Clubs & Societies

Description:

CUFF was established in 1981 to help bridge the distance between science fiction enthusiasts from Eastern and Western Canada. Due to organizational and geographical barriers, the eastern and western regions of the country operated in relative isolation from each other. By bringing science fiction fans from opposite sides of Canada together, an opportunity is provided to learn from the experiences of different fan bases and regions. Finances are raised through a series of fund raising efforts, as well as donations from prominent science fiction individuals and organizations. (read less)

CUFF was established in 1981 to help bridge the distance between science fiction enthusiasts from... (read more)

Privacy Type:

Open: All content is public.

Contact Info

Email: runte@uleth.ca

Website: http://cuff.cometdust.ca/ (no longer extant)

Some info from an SFContario new page:

http://sfcontario.ca/blog/2010/02/canadian-unity-fan-fund/

SFContario News Blog

Convention and Community News

Feb 02 2010

Canadian Unity Fan Fund

Posted on 19:40, February 2nd, 2010 by Diane

I’m running to be this year’s CUFF delegate. I’m very pleased to learn that this year, for the first time since 2003 it seems, there will be an election. The competition will be good for CUFF and for Canadian fandom in general. Rob Uhrig, from Nova Scotia is also in the race. I wish him the best of luck.

So why am I doing this? Well, it occurs to me that while I’ve attended conventions all over the US, I’ve never attended any in Western Canada, and this seems wrong. I’d like to rectify that situation. I’d like to meet all those fans from Western Canada that I’ve been missing, as well as visit those I have managed to meet elsewhere. I’m also eager to attend the one day conrunner’s convention that’s planned for the day following Keycon. I’d like to find out what they’re doing over there and to let them know what we’ve got going on over here.

I believe I have the organizational skills to be a good administrator. I have some ideas for fund-raising but plan to pick the brains of those who are much more experienced with that than I am for more and better ideas. I absolutely intend to publish a trip report as soon as possible upon my return. I’d also very much like to see the fund promoted more. Right now it is difficult to find very much information online. Other than the facebook page, a google search brings up little information on the application procedure, membership, qualifications, expectations, etc., and many of those hits are several years old. I’d like to address this.

Voting takes place from February 5th to February 25th. I don’t have a link for that yet but will post it as soon as I do.

Thanks to my nominators. From the West they are Fran Skene, Dave Clement, Richard Graeme Cameron and Tim Hogue. From the East they are Murray Moore, Rene Walling, Lance Sibley and Colin Hinz.

From FILE 770:

Posts Tagged ‘CUFF’

Lacey Wins CUFF

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Diane Lacey has won the 2010 Canadian Unity Fan Fund race. She’ll be going to Keycon 27 in May.

LeAmber Raven Kensley, last year’s CUFF delegate and the fund administrator, wrote online that she received 40 votes. She said it was a close race but hasn’t posted the voting totals.

Online CUFF Voting

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

The CUFF ballot is now online. The Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) invites any Canadian (resident or citizen) fan who was active in fandom prior to April 2008 to contribute CDN$5 (or more) and vote to select Diane Lacey or Rob Uhrig as Eastern Canada’s delegate to Canvention 30/Keycon 27.

Due to a delay in getting the ballot out, the voting deadline has been extended to March 13.

[Thanks to Diane Lacey for the story.]

CUFF Race Begins Soon

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

The Canadian Unity Fan Fund has a contested race for the first time since 2003, reports Diane Lacey, one of the fans who’ll be on the ballot. She helped administer the Hugos for last year’s Worldcon in Montreal.

Her rival for CUFF is Rob Uhrig, a member of the Klingon Assault Group (KAG/Kanada).

Voting takes place from February 5 to February 25. The winner will attend Keycon in Winnipeg over the May 22-24 weekend.

Diane’s nominators from the West are Fran Skene, Dave Clement, Richard Graeme Cameron and Tim Hogue. From the East they are Murray Moore, Rene Walling, Lance Sibley and Colin Hinz.

Rob’s nominators are: Dayna Dickens, Tourism Coordinator for the town of Vulcan; Margie Welsh, Thought Admiral Klingon Strike Force (KSF); Dana Dean, Minister and retired Admiral Starfleet Canada; Lori Lightfoot, KAG Kanada; David James, KAG Kanada; Paul Carreau, Thought Admiral (Retired) KAG Kanada.

[Thanks to Diane Lacey for the story.]

Update 2/5/2010: Added Rob Uhrig’s nominators per the comment below.

2008 CUFF Delegate Chosen

Peter Jarvis, 2007 CUFF Delegate & Administrator (and TorCon chair) announces:

“Lance Sibley has been chosen at the 2008 Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) delegate. Lance is very active in Fandom in the Toronto area and beyond. He has been involved with Polaris (previouly named Toronto Trek), the 2003 Toronto Worldcon, the 2006 Toronto Gaylaxicon, and the 2009 Montreal Worldcon in various senior roles.”

“The Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) is a Canadian national fund, which provides for an Eastern Canadian or a Western Canadian science fiction enthusiast to attend Canvention. Canvention is the annual convention of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. Traditionally, the location of Canvention alternates between Eastern and Western Canada. The CUFF delegate is chosen from individuals residing in the opposite region of Canada. For 2008, the Canvention is being held in Western Canada (Winnipeg) so this year’s CUFF delegate is from Eastern Canada. Further information about this year’s Canvention held at Keycon (May 16th-19th) may be found at http://www.keycon.org. Information about Canvention in general may be found at: http://www.prixaurorawards.ca.

“CUFF was established in 1981 to help bridge the distance between science fiction enthusiasts from Eastern and Western Canada. Due to organizational and geographical barriers, the eastern and western regions of the country operated in relative isolation from each other. By bringing science fiction fans from opposite sides of Canada together, an opportunity is provided to learn from the experiences of different fan bases and regions. Finances are raised through a series of fund raising efforts, as well as donations from prominent science fiction individuals and organizations.”

[Thanks to Murray Moore for the information.]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 5:19 am and is filed under Fan Funds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

From SFContario (1) cuff page

http://sfcontario.ca/cuff/

Canadian Unity Fan Fun ("CUFF") Voting is complete. Congratulations to Diane Lacey as the new CUFF delegate.

2010 Delegate Ballot:

Western Canada to Canvention 30/Keycon 27

What is C.U.F.F.? The Canadian Unity Fan Fund was conceived about 1981 as a means to better acquaint Eastern and Western Canadian fans with each other. Or alternately, it's an outgrowth of a one- shot effort devised to send Edmonton fan Mike Hall to Torque 2 in Toronto in 1981. Both of these statements are true, actually.

C.U.F.F. exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates are voted on by interested fans across Canada, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than CDN$5.00.

Who may vote? Voting is open to any Canadian (resident or citizen) fan who was active in fandom prior to April 2008, and who contributes at least CDN$5 to the Fund. Larger contributions will be gratefully accepted. Voting is by secret ballot: only one vote per person, and you must sign your ballot. You may change your vote any time prior to the deadline. Votes submitted electronically as part of a PayPal payment of the voting fee are also acceptable.

Deadline: Votes must reach the administrator by midnight, 13 March 2010.

Hold Over Funds: This choice, like "No Award" in Hugo balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no C.U.F.F. trip this year, if none of the candidates appeal to you. Hold Over Funds may be voted for in any position, and if it receives a majority of the votes on the final ballot, no C.U.F.F. trip will be held this year regardless of how many votes Hold Over Funds received on the first ballot.
No Preference: For voters who prefer not to choose between candidates, but don't want the trip held over.
Donations: C.U.F.F. gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction -- give early and often! Please contact the administrator for details.

Candidates: Each candidate has promised - barring events clearly outside their control - to travel to CanVention 30 (also known as KeyCon 27), in Winnipeg, MB over the Victoria Day weekend, if elected; and has provided signed nominations and a platform statement (see right).

Diane Lacey

I'm doing this largely because it occurs to me that while I’ve attended conventions all over the US, I’ve never attended any in Western Canada, and this seems wrong. I’d like to meet all those fans from Western Canada that I’ve been missing. I’m also eager to attend the one day conrunner’s convention that’s planned for the day following Keycon. I’d like to find out what they’re doing over there and to let them know what we’ve got going on over here. (Also, any opportunity to hear Dave Clement is a very good thing indeed.)

I believe I have the organizational skills to be a good administrator. I have some ideas for fund-raising but plan to pick the brains of those who are much more experienced with that than I am for more and better ideas. I absolutely intend to publish a trip report as soon as possible upon my return. I’d also very much like to see the fund promoted more. Right now it is difficult to find very much information online. Other than the Facebook page, a Google search brings up little information on the application procedure, membership, qualifications, expectations, etc., and many of those hits are several years old. I’d like to address this, perhaps with its own webpage.

Nominators: Richard Graeme Cameron (BC), Fran Skene (BC), Dave Clement (MB), Tim Hogue (MB), Colin Hinz (ON), Murray Moore (ON), Lance Sibley (ON), Rene Walling (QC)

Rob Uhrig

I was asked "How did a retired Gulf War Veteran with 13 years Reg. Force military service; a retired martial arts Master Instructor; a Freemason, and Knight of St. George become a lifelong Sci-Fi Fan?" The short answer - by watching early re-runs of Star Trek!

Since attending my first Sci-Fi convention in 1993 (T-Trek 7), I have been actively involved in fandom. I have attended cons from one coast to the other and points in between; I have been chief of security for one con, on CON- COM for two others, and worked at the dealer table for a Creation con. Above all else I am a member of the Klingon Assault Group (KAG) Kanada. Through my participation in fandom, especially KAG Kanada, I have actively participated in countless charity events and have helped to raise several thousand dollars for the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada, and several other worthy charities. Full details of my involvement can be found on www.kagkanada.com

In short, I have used my costume and love of sci-fi to help promote fandom at every turn and would love to do so again by being the CUFF representative. I would use this opportunity to promote KAG Kanada in Manitoba, and in turn use Klingon fandom to help promote CUFF. Let’s face it a Klingon draws a certain amount of attention, a Klingon in a kilt is a beacon for media types, now that’s an opportunity that could be put to good use for CUFF and fandom.

Nominators

From the West: The Chevalier Paul Carreau, KSTG, CD, former Senior Command Officer, KAG Kanada Mrs. Dayna Dickens, Tourism Coordinator, Vulcan AB The Chevalier, Reverend Dana Dean, KSTG, former Admiral, Starfleet

And from the East. Mrs. Margie Welsh, Thought Admiral Klingon Strike Force (KSF) Mr. David James, Fleet Commander, KAG Kanada Ms. Lori Lightfoot, Fleet Commander, KAG Kanada

Links

Keycon Keycon on LiveJournal Canvention Aurora Awards Canadian SF

From the 1995 CSFFA (Aurora Organization) Business meeting minutes:

New Business:

(1) A discussion of CUFF (Canadian Unity Fan Fund) and Canvention was made. John Mansfield expressed his disappointment that all the efforts to bring a CUFF winner to Canvention 94 had failed. Cath Jackel announced that the 1996 CUFF winner would receive a free membership to Con-Version XIII. Discussion came to a close after it was pointed out that there would be a panel dealing with CUFF the following day and that CUFF and Canvention had no direct ties.

from File770-148r

(http://efanzines.com/File770/File770-148r.pdf)

CUFF

Brian Davis wrote online in June that due to ill health he had been unable to fulfill his duties as Canadian Unity Fan Fund administrator.

No well-publicized developments followed his announcement that it was too late to arrange a delegate for 2006, although he named one Vancouver fan (Mike Omelusik) as expressing interest in becoming the CUFF delegate for 2006.

When Brian wrote CUFF had a bank balance of $1262.64. His CUFF website is still online, though it hasn’t been updated since Brian loaded his own bio as the 2005 delegate: (offline now) http://cuff.cometdust.ca/.

Interestingly, Brian’s bio ends by mentioning that he is a Bid Committee member for Anticipation, the Montreal in 2009 WorldCon.

WCSFAzine

from editorial in http://efanzines.com/WCSFA/WCSFAzine03.pdf: (Possibly R Graeme?)

Fran Skene’s Turkey readings raised $600 for the Canadian Unity Fan Fund ( though all of it going to cover Peter Jarvis’s trip expenses I understand. He starts his year as administrator from scratch, with the next Canvention only 6 months away. CUFF activity iin terms of fundraising and election is going to be fast & furious ).

and later in the same issue:

And now a digression, in which I quote from my CUFF ( Canadian Unity Fan Fund ) trip report ( published in SPACE CADET #10, OCT 1998 ) wherein I describe meeting Jean-Pierre at Primedia in Toronto, Oct of 97:

“Jean-Pierre greets me as I enter his room. It is very crowded…With a beard as black and curly as his hair he rather resembles Zeus…he hauls out his portfolio from underneath the bed. He does the kind of hard-edged, photo-realist art that I especially like… he does more than just spacecraft, as I pour through the covers he’s done for SOLARIS and ON SPEC as well as assorted novels, I find his attention to detail with old sailing ships and aircraft ( albeit posed in fantasy or SF situations ) to be nothing short of fantastic…”

“Inspired by my interest, Jean-Pierre pulls out his photo collection showing his many SF models. Hordes of them. Shelf after shelf after shelf of assorted monsters and spaceships. I am impressed that he has so many. He is impressed that I recognize most of them. We get along hugely well…” One of my fondest memories from my CUFF trip.

2011 Campaign Information:

from: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6119342503&topic=18024 Jan 8, 2011

Topic: CUFF nominations open for 2011Reply to Topic

Diane Lacey

Nominations are now open to find a CUFF delegate for 2011. We are looking for a fan from Western Canada to come attend SFContario as the CUFF delegate. The delegate is welcome, even encouraged, to stay longer than just the convention and hang out with the local fans. In fact our Third Monday pubnight, a regular gathering of local fans happens to fall on the Monday immediately following the convention.

In order to be nominated for the CUFF this year an application must be submitted by March 31, 2011 to d dot lacey at gmail dot com. The application must have a minimum of three references from people in the east and 3 people in the west. It should contain a letter describing who you are, why this would be beneficial for you and your community. Voting will be open April 5 and close May 31st. This will allow the successful candidate enough time to work with SFContario programming and to schedule their visit.

Email from Diane lacey to CanadianConrunners@yahoogroups.com++

X-Sender: d.lacey[at]gmail....

X-Apparently-To: CanadianConrunners@yahoogroups.com

X-Received: (qmail 62467 invoked from network); 8 Jan 2011 18:25:47 -0000

To: CanadianConrunners@yahoogroups.com

Canadian Unity Fan Fund provides for an Eastern Canadian or a Western Canadian science fiction enthusiast to attend CanVention. CanVention is the annual convention of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. Traditionally, the location of CanVention alternates between Eastern and Western Canada. This year CanVention will be held at SFContario in Toronto on November 18-20th. The CUFF delegate will be chosen from nominees residing in the Western region of Canada, defined as Manitoba and parts west. We are looking for a fan from Western Canada to come attend SFContario as the CUFF delegate. The delegate is welcome, even encouraged, to stay longer than just the convention and hang out with the local fans. In fact our Third Monday pubnight, a regular gathering of local fans happens to fall on the Monday immediately following the convention.

In order to be nominated for the CUFF this year an application must be submitted by March 31, 2010 to dlacey[at]gmail.... The application must have a minimum of three references from people in the east and in the west. It should contain a letter describing who you are, why this would be beneficial for you and your community. Voting will be open April 5 and close May 31st. This will allow the successful candidate enough time to work with SFContario programming and to schedule their visit.

From http://2011.sfcontario.ca/site/index.php/community/cuff (at close of Voting, June 1, 2011)

Canadian Unity Fan Fund

This year's CUFF voting is now closed.

What is C.U.F.F? The Canadian Unity Fan Fund was conceived about 1981 as a means to better acquaint Eastern and Western fans with each other. Or alternatively, it's an outgrowth of a one-shot effort devised to send Edmonton fan Mike Hall to Torque 2 in Toronto in 1981. Both of these statements are true, actually.

C.U.F.F. Exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates are voted on by interested fans across Canada, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less that CDN$5.00.

Who may vote? Voting is open to any Canadian (resident or citizen) fan who was active in fandom prior to April 2008, and who contributes at leas CDN$5.00 to the Fund. Larger contributions will be gratefully accepted. Voting is by secret ballot: only one vote per person, and you must sign your ballot. You may change your vote any time prior to the deadline. Votes submitted electronically as part of a Paypal payment of the voting fee are also acceptable.

Deadline: Votes must reach the administrator by May 31st, 2011.

Voting Details: As with other fan funds, C.U.F.F. uses a preferential ballot system which guarantees automatic runoffs until a majority is obtained. You rank the candidates in the exact order of your preference for them. If the leading first-place candidate does not get a majority, the first-place votes for the lowest-ranking candidate are dropped, and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted as first-place votes. This process repeats itself until one candidate has a majority. Your votes for second and third place are important, but you may give your candidate only one ranking on your ballot.

Hold Over Funds: This choice, like “No Award” in Hugo balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no C.U.F.F. trip this year, if none of the candidates appeal to you. Hold Over Funds may be voted for in any position, and if it receives a majority of the votes on the final ballot, no C.U.F.F. trip will be held this year regardless of how many votes Hold Over Funds received on the first ballot.

No Preference: For voters who prefer not to choose between candidates, but don't want the trip held over.

Donations: C.U.F.F. gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction – Give early and often!

Please contact the administrator for details.

Candidates: Each candidate has promised – barring events clearly outside of their control – to travel to Canvention 31 (also known as SFContario 2), in Toronto ON, November 18th to 20th, if elected; and has provided nominations and a platform statement (below).

Platform Statements:

Kent Pollard

I've been an ardent fan of Genre Fiction since the mid 70s, when I discovered Isaac Asimov, and a bookseller for most of the last 25 years. Although I've attended few conventions spread across the last 30 years, I've enjoyed being an active participant in those I did. I find the convention atmosphere pleasant, and I much enjoy the general mixing of fans and professionals in a collegial environment. I'd like to be part of increasing fan activity in Saskatchewan and across the Canadian Prairies and I think an important part of that is a mingling of information and ideas. Canada is a broad and diverse country, and I feel that CUFF has a significant role in keeping Canadian fan activity vital, and can play an even greater role. I'd like the chance to be part of the CUFF history, with a chance to represent the west at SFContario, and an opportunity to bring the experience back to Saskatoon to go toward the genesis of new fan activity here. I have a number of ideas toward increasing the profile, viability and long-term usefulness of CUFF, and intend to play a role in it, regardless of the outcome of this year's process. I'm looking forward to being part of the recent moves to revitalize CUFF and to doing my part in injecting additional interest and energy into it.

Nominators: R. Graeme Cameron (BC), Julie Czerneda (ON), Jane Garthson (ON), LeAmber Kensley (MB), Rob Sawyer (ON), Victor Schwarsman (BC).

Danielle Stephens

I went to my first convention, V-CON 27 in 2002. I joined the concom as Masquerade Director in 2006 by walking into a coffee shop and hearing the words “Oh hey, Danielle will do it! She likes costumes.” the next year I chaired and I've been heavily involved ever since. I've worked on a handful of other conventions in the Pacific Northwest as well. I'd like to get a feel for how things are run “back East” to help give our BC conrunners a wider perspective, as not a lot of us often get the chance to travel that far. I'd also like to see about bringing Canvention back to Vancouver. I want to create events that fie participants as many choices and new experiences as possible, and I fell that sharing time with other eager congoers is an excellent way to expand my understanding and abilities. I'm currently co- Programming coordinator for VCON 36 and I'll be chair again for CON 37 in 2012. In my work life I'm the colourist and manager for the webcomic “Goblins”.

Nominators: Carolyn Clink (ON), Tarol Hunt (BC), Randy McCharles (AB), Marah Searle-Kovacevic (ON), Alex Von Thorn (ON), Rene Walling (QC), Michael Walsh (BC), Susan Walsh (BC).

I’m attaching below a trip report that Robert Runte did of Canvention 9, which I have lifted wholesale from Garth Spencer’s chronicle of Canventions and the Auroras

Robert Runté wrote of Pinekone II/Canvention 9:

Somewhat to my surprise, Easterners actually attend the opening ceremonies at their conventions. There were easily 60 people listening to speeches by the Guests of Honour explaining how glad they were to be there. This all seemed rather redundant ... When eventually called upon to speak myself, however, I provided a brief explanation of the function of CUFF. To whit (sic): that I was the one fan Westerners were most anxious to ship east, presumably because they had not understood that it was intended as a round trip. This seemed to be well received, and I sat down again ...

... The artshow was quite good, and while there were a number of familiar prints and the usual assortment of dragons and spaceships, at least most of the artists were new to me. I think a number of eastern artists could do quite well at conventions in the West and vice versa, simply because they would be reaching new audiences. David Cherry's work also helped to raise the tone of the artshow ...

The dealers' room, while small, had some interesting displays. There was one of the best tables of Lovecraft, Weird Tales and so on that I've ever seen, though I'm not into such things myself. The second dealers' room was for fan stuff, where I picked up a subscription to the Ottawa Statement and various back issues.

Somewhat to my surprise, I was invited to the banquet and seated next to Michael Skeet at the head table. I thought the food rather better than typical for such functions, and enjoyed the usual upbeat, congratulatory banquet speeches. ... Realizing somewhat belatedly that I would probably be called upon to speak, I wrote a few notes on the general theme of `Fandom Is a Family' and awaited my turn. I was somewhat dismayed to hear Michael give his speech on the theme `Fandom Is a Family' a couple of minutes ahead of me, and so switched to a few brief comments on `The Purpose of CUFF.' I was therefore definitely dismayed to hear the MC explaining `The Purpose of CUFF' as he introduced me. I ended up extemporizing something on the `Ecology of Fandom' theme. ...

Some of the behind-the-scene operations of eastern conventions strike me as very bizarre, particularly in the way they are financed. I'm still a little vague on some of the details, but I take it that wealthy conventions invest in smaller ones as a sort of corporate diversification strategy. And I was amazed at the size of the personal financial losses individuals (called `patrons') were prepared to accept as a routine element of running a con. I mean, sure, any con can miscalculate and lose money, and it's great when people chip in to bail them out (as happened with ConText '89), but it seemed to me that some of the patrons went in knowing they were going to lose thousands of dollars. This is nuts.

(I'm Not Boring You Am I? #7, fall 1989)

It took a while for an explanation to appear of the "corporate diversification" reference. What Robert was referring to was a feature specifically of PineKone II (1989), an entirely new convention in the Ottawa area; being a new convention, perhaps the concom had to solicit startup funds. At any rate, Ad Astra apparently had lent money to Pinekone. "Patron" may have been another concept Paul Valcour came up with on his own, like "private con."

below is copied wholesale from Richard Graeme Cameron’s Canadian Fan encyclopedia under CUFF and CUFF TRIP REPORTS here: http://efanzines.com/CanFan/CanFan-C.pdf with his kind permission

CUFF

-- Stands for 'Canadian Unity Fan Fund'. CUFF was created in 1981 by Toronto fan Bob Webber, inspired by the American/British TAFF, or 'Trans Atlantic Fan Fund' which was founded in 1953. TAFF was designed to foster personal communication between British and American fandom. CUFF aimed to overcome geographical barriers to a unified Canadian fandom by bringing a Western fan to an Eastern convention, and -- in alternating years -- an Eastern fan to a Western convention. Since 1988 that has usually been 'Canvention' where the Auroras (formerly Caspers) are handed out. The East/West boundary is defined by the Ontario/Manitoba border.

Winners are expected to publish a -- preferably humorous -- trip report afterwards, and to serve as Administrator for a year, their task: to generate publicity, raise funds through voting fees and mail auctions of fannish goodies like rare fanzines, liaise with the target convention, encourage nominations, and conduct the actual mail-in election to determine the next winner.

CUFF WINNERS:

[Removed, as updated info exists above, Kent]

[ See CANVENTION, AURORAS, FAN FUNDS, TAFF, CUFF TRIP REPORTS, CUFF-LINKS, FISTI-CUFFS, OFF THE CUFF ]

CUFF TRIP REPORTS

-- It is a tradition among fan fund winners to write up an account of their trips so that other fans can share vicariously in their experiences. In 1952 Walt Willis even wrote an account of his trip to America BEFORE going, titled: 'Willis Discovers America (Or Why Magellan Sailed Completely Around It)'. Part of the tradition demands wry humour. Another part of the tradition calls for copies to be sold in order to raise funds for the next winner. Generally, CUFF has lived up to this tradition.

1981 - Michael Hall: Published a brief account, more a con report than a trip report, in #2/3 of NEW CANADIAN FANDOM (June-Sept 1981): "I ran into the Pro Guest of Honour, Tom Disch, late Saturday night, while he was in the process of forming a new religion...”

1988 - Taral Wayne: To the best of my knowledge Taral never wrote a trip report, though he apparently thought it would be a good idea. Writing in #1 of his fundraising CUFFzine titled CUFF-LINK, distributed with #7 of Michael Skeet's MLR (July-Aug 1988), he commented: "I can always get an article published, somewhere, eventually. But I'd like to see a tradition begin, of the CUFF winner writing a short piece for the Canvention which will also serve as his trip report." He did write a speech detailing the history of CUFF which he hoped to deliver at Canvention 8, but he was never given the opportunity. Fortunately it was published in full in #13 of MLR (July-Sept 1989): "...two weeks before the deadline for nominations, there still weren't any...So much for the open, above board, democratic way of running a fan fund... there was always the closed-door, smoke-filled room full of SMOFs approach. In the original tradition of 1981, CUFF was fixed... Once again there was no final ballot, no candidates, nor a vote. But by god you've got a winner whether you want one or not!"

1989 - Robert Runte: Published his CUFF report in #7 of his perzine I'M NOT BORING YOU AM I? circa Nov/Dec 1989, consisting of 8 pages of impressions and musings. As he put it: "While we're establishing traditions here, I thought I'd borrow one from TAFF and DUFF, and produce the first CUFF trip report." In it he quotes his banquet CUFF speech in full, but first describes a bit of a problem:“Realizing somewhat belatedly that I would probably be called on to speak, I wrote a few notes on the general theme of 'Fandom is a Family' and awaited my turn. I was somewhat dismayed to hear Michael Skeet give his speech on the theme 'Fandom is a Family' a couple of minutes ahead of me, and so switched to a few brief comments on 'The Purpose of CUFF'. I was therefore definitely dismayed to hear the MC explaining 'The Purpose of CUFF' as he introduced me. I ended up extemporizing something on the 'Ecology of Fandom' theme."

1990 - Paul Valcour: Elected to drive from Ottawa to Calgary but got creamed by a heavy metal object falling from a truck ahead of him:"Black Beauty had to eat the damn thing. The transmission and bell housing were destroyed; the gas tank was severely ruptured; the stick shift and console was no more; and I had an ashtray in the ceiling of my car." Fortunately he was unhurt. He described his trip to the convention in #1 of his perzine LONG DISTANCE VOYEUR (Dec 1990) along with some very significant musings on the nature of CUFF and the direction it should take. He then promised: "The next LONG DISTANT VOYEUR will form a rough draft of my CUFF trip report...The main trip report is going to be a fanzine...may contain photographs...will contain copies of gathered memorabilia. Cartoon illustrations are planned as well..." Unfortunately, due mostly for burn-out reasons, neither a second issue of LDV nor the planned trip report ever appeared.

1992 - Linda Ross-Mansfield: Alas, I have no information as to whether or not Linda wrote a trip report, but she did eventually publish 'THE CANADIAN UNITY FAN FUND - A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE CONCEPT AND SPIRIT OF THE FUND' in V7#4 of her husband John Mansfield's con-newszine ConTRACT (Jul-Aug 1995), which is a valuable snapshot of the state of CUFF at that time:

"We have used as our guide, the rules of both other existing fan funds (ie. TAFF & DUFF), but since CUFF is still in it's infancy, and has a smaller financial base than it's sister funds, it does not run an election until funds have reached a reasonable quantity to cover the cost of airfare and some accommodation. It usually takes a couple of years to build the fund up again to such a point."

1996 - Rene Walling: I know of no trip report. Perhaps he thought there was no point. I remember that in a 1997 phone conversation he sadly stated that he was able to raise only 50¢ for CUFF while attending the Canvention meeting. Depressing.

1997 - R. Graeme Cameron: I published my 9 page (six point type!) 'THE 1997 CUFF TRIP REPORT' in Issue #10 of my perzine SPACE CADET in October 1998. It included 13 tiny, photo-reproduced photos of well-known Canadian fans at Primedia, like Lloyd & Yvonne Penney, Mike Glicksohn, Dennis Mullin, Brian Davies, John Mansfield, & Larry Hancock, plus pros Robert Sawyer, Jean-Louis Trudel, & Artist Jean-Pierre Normand. One reader commented: "I couldn't recognize the people pictured and I KNOW most of them personally!" Ah the perils of cheap photocopying..

A very personal account. "I should mention that I'm wearing two badges, the first of which states 'THE 1997 CUFF WINNER', and the second of which reads 'THE GRAEME, EDITOR OF SPACE CADET'. People in the con suite lean forward to read my badges and forever after seem to back off and keep their distance. Hmm. Oddly, no one throughout the entire convention asks me what CUFF stands for or what SPACE CADET is all about. Hmmm."

"Jean-Pierre greets me as I enter his room. It is very crowded with people everywhere...he sells me a print (out of a limited edition) of his artwork showing the Titanic about to strike Godzilla's fins. It's beautiful. I especially like the deep blue of the water which well emphasizes how cold the scene is... Pleased by my response, he hauls his portfolio from underneath the bed. He does the kind of hard-edged, photo-realist art I like... I find his attention to detail with old sailing ships and aircraft (albeit posed in fantasy or SF situations) to be fantastic...I suggest he expand his market by contacting the various aviation and marine history prozines in the States. He seems intrigued.. Inspired by my interest, Jean-Pierre pulls out his photo collection showing his many SF models. Hordes of them. Shelf after shelf of assorted monsters and spaceships. I am impressed that he has so many. He is impressed that I recognize and can name most of them. We get along hugely well." (Note: Jean-Pierre wins the Aurora for ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT at Primedia.)

"I tentatively produce my working copy of 'INCOMPLEAT GUIDE TO CANADIAN FANZINES 1937 TO 1998' (an early printed version of this website). Mike Glicksohn leafs through the pages. 'I didn't know there were so many, ' he comments. Gives me a thrill to hear him say that. If one of the most important Faneds in the history of Canadian zinedom is impressed by the amount of research I'm doing and the results I'm coming up with then surely I must be on the right track."

"Run into Larry Hancock in the hall. 'Oh, by the way,' he says, 'did you know that Canvention is planning to leave it to the CUFF winner to organize next year's Canvention?' My jaw hits the floor. Always a kidder, is Larry Hancock."

1998 - Lloyd & Yvonne Penney: Wrote 'PENNEYS UP THE RIVER and other CUFF Stories', publishing it in December of 2000. Contains illustrations by Teddy Harvia & Brad Foster. My favourite is by Harvia depicting two robots, the one with the maple leaf saying: "Allow me to download to you the entire history of the Canadian Unity Fan Fund", and the other commenting "Sure, I have a nanosecond or two to spare."

The 25 page report is in itself an excellent promotional vehicle for CUFF. The first few pages are devoted to their growing awareness of the history behind CUFF, with some very nice compliments directed my way as then CUFF administrator, and their slowly dawning acceptance of their candidacy.

By page 11 they've won and are underway, flying to Montreal from Toronto ( due to time constraints and taking advantage of a 2-for-1 seat sale ). The hotel is straight out of Kafka, what with the staff having been on strike for nearly three years and a sign in the bathroom reading "The base of this bathtub is threatened with a non-slip product for your safety". Lloyd comments: "That'll teach THAT bathtub...and we can all rest easier at night."

Not to mention the surreal episode at the masquerade where "one of the entries was Andrew Gurudata, dressed as.... Lloyd Penney, tacky shirt, Bill Shatner diction and all. He didn't get many points from Yvonne ( grin ), and I heckled him from the audience. He would have been disappointed if I hadn't." ( It should be noted that Lloyd is notorious for his signature extremely LOUD Hawaiian shirts at conventions. Where he finds them is an ongoing fannish mystery.)

Lloyd and Yvonne are attending Con*cept98/Boreal98/Canvention 18. Con*cept GoH is Robert J. Sawyer, of whom Lloyd writes: "I remember how busy he was at our school, Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, especially in his year as the editor of the school's literary magazine, the White Wall Review, and he hasn't changed all that much, now that he's the most successful SF writer in the country."

On the subject of Yves Meynard, Boreal GoH, Lloyd notes: "Yves Meynard is schmoozing with the Francophone members of the Boreal part of the convention. Boreal was, at one time, a stand-alone convention in Quebec, focusing exclusively on Quebec French language SF. It shares space with Con*cept now because according to that year's Boreal Chairman Claude Mercier, it can't survive by itself anymore. Boreal attracts an attendance of about 40, down from about 300 in its heyday. The appeal of literary SF seems to be in trouble in many places." Sigh. Still true.

And as for Fan GoH Forrest J. Ackerman, Lloyd writes: "And then there's Forry. I have the chance to chat with him a little bit...I got the impression he was tired...but 4sJ is in his early 80s now. Anyway, Forry is everywhere, spreading good cheer among the denizens of the convention. I'm sure there's a lot of kids gaming in the darker rooms, wondering who the hell the old man is, but that's okay...those who should know do know, and Forry is doing his job in fine style."

Lloyd and Yvonne do their utmost to promote CUFF, and Lloyd storms out of a tempestuous CUFF business meeting tired of the "slimy politics" and the "carping criticism", but all in all "No regrets though... We didn't go to Montreal to add our names to an illustrious list of CUFF winners, but to go see people and be with friends. In that, we succeeded admirably. Mission accomplished."

The report concludes with a list of winners to date, 'A Brief Explanation of the Concept and Spirit of the Fund' penned by former CUFF winner Linda Ross-Mansfield in 1995, a detailed financial statement, and a touching tribute to an old friend of theirs, fanartist Joe Mayhew who passed away in 2000, which includes a photo of him and one of his last illustrations, the latter showing two aliens reading a fanzine, one of them commenting: "This isn't a real Earth fanzine; there's no Loc from Lloyd Penney."

1999 - Garth Spencer: Titled his CUFF report 'WHAT I DID ON MY OCTOBER VACATION'. He's quite intrigued about attending inCONsequential II/Canvention 19 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, writing: "I have some outspoken opinions about regional fandoms like the Maritimes... It was curiously difficult to get word on Maritimes fanactivity, or indeed to get word to them, for years at a go...I still perceive them as low-profile, barely visible...In short, there are hurdles to overcome and not a little work to do." Not least is the fact he can only get a flight to Halifax and must bus for six hours to get to Fredericton. GoH is Tanya Huff, MC Robert J. Sawyer, and Artist GoH Donna Barr of 'Desert Peach' fame.

"Evening events were pretty much limited to the consuite...there were no room parties...It is of interest to note that inCONsequential's consuite is a 'dry' consuite. Apparently, this is a general policy for Maritime conventions, ever since Halcon 10. ( The story I got is that Maritime Fandom experienced a phase when university students discovered their cons, and perceived them as a cheap place to get drunk and weird. Also, Maritime fans are generally concerned to present their fandom as a safe place to bring kids. ) I commented that other cons in North America have similarly found reason not to serve alcohol."

Garth has brought numerous chapbooks on CUFF, Maritime fanhistory, the Auroras & Canvention, to hand out in an effort to stimulate interest in fannish history and communication. By the time he gave a CUFF presentation on Sunday he found "to my dismay all the historical chapbooks had gone, so I extemporized on fannish fanzine fandom, fan funds, the history of the Canadian Fan Fund, and the topic of Getting the Word Out." It's a good sign of interest that all his chapbook freebies had been snapped up, and that a dozen people showed up for his 10:00 AM presentation. Not bad for a convention of only about 80 attendees. Especially considering that no one showed up for the Saturday slave auction, or the Kingcon SF Society presentation. So kudos to Garth for stirring things up and getting people interested.

One sour note: "I'm not really proud of my exhibition of temper...I was really appalled at the CSFFA ( Canadian SF & Fantasy Awards ) meeting, and kept saying so, heatedly. But Robert Sawyer, and Tanya Huff, and Patricia Evans all assured me that meetings usually are slow ( this one lasted three hours ), and inefficient, even in professional associations and conferences. I guess it's just as well, for me and for you, that CUFF is not run by a committee." Famous last words. Currently, circa late 2007, CUFF is being run by an ad hoc committee of 11 former CUFF winners, including, ironically enough, Garth.

The trip report is rounded out with a financial statement and an alphabetical glossary "intended to fill in some context, if you are unfamiliar with the fans or writers at inCONsequential, or with Canadian fandom, or with this fan fund. Anything I haven't explained here has yet to be explained to me."

2000 - Sherry Neufeld: I do not know if a trip report was ever written.

2001 - Murray Moore: Produced an absolutely delightful report titled 'A TRIP REPORT FOUND IN A PLAIN MANILA ENVELOPE' describing his visit to Vancouver's VCON 26 and continuing on to Seattle to meet with fans there. Cover art by Craig Smith shows 'Adamski' style UFOs hovering over the Seattle Space Needle. The interior is enlivened by 2 art fillos by Craig Smith and no less than 25 by Cumberland fanartist Scott Patri. Carolyn Clink contributes colour photos showing Murray with Vancouver fans Garth Spencer, Fran Skene, Steve Forty, Clint Budd, as well as writers Rob Sawyer, Candas Jane Dorsey & Donna McMahon. To top it off, an index is included, so those who met Murray at the con can immediately look up the pages wherein he gives his impression of them.

The 22 pages of the report itself are easy on the eye. Murray took notes throughout and the report is written up in diary form as a series of wry observations rather than a continuous narrative which nevertheless captures the spirit of the con, the character of the attendees and the nature of the setting. Plus a lot of interesting quotes:

"Al Betz recalls an idea that never got off the ground: 'Stone Lake is in the middle of the Golden Gate Park ( in San Francisco). People drive their remote control boats on it. I wanted to make a remote control dirigible and drop bombs on the boats.'"

"To make Ice Cream using liquid Nitrogen, Al Betz is wearing oven mitts, a red and white plastic helmet, and a white lab coat with red trim. 'I have on occasion hidden a hot dog wiener in a glove finger, put the glove in liquid nitrogen, and then smashed that finger with a hammer. The tricky part is to remember which finger I want to hit.'"

"Frank Johnson describes becoming the maker of the Aurora Award Sculptures. In conversation with Robert Runte in a bar in Alberta. 'Just like that I said I'll build it.' Robert: 'There's 10 of them.' Me: 'Oh'. Frank signed the base for 2001. 'It's the polish that's the grind. I don't know how people do it for a living.'"

Note: The title of Murray's report is a takeoff on the most important Canadian SF novel published in the 19th century: James de Mille's A STRANGE MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A COPPER CYLINDER (published 1888), a utopian satire set in a lost world. Rather appropriate, what? They don't call the West coast 'The Land of the Lotus Eaters' for nothing you know!

2002 - Colin Hinz: Not aware of a published trip report as yet.

2003 - Lyndie S. Bright: Have not heard if a trip report is available.

2005 - Brian Davis: Do not know of any trip report.

2007 - Peter Jarvis: No report of any trip report so far.

2008 - Lance Sibley: Again, have no idea, but it’s early yet.

ARRGH! Is the CUFF Trip Report tradition dead? ARRGH!

[ See CUFF, CUFF-LINKS, FISTI-CUFFS, OFF THE CUFF ]

Notes from Linda Ross-Mansfield: (http://fanac.org/fan_funds/cuff.html)

Candian Unity Fan Fund

Linda Ross-Mansfield

An Information Sheet for re-print by any and all interested persons and groups or clubs.

March 1995 -- This may be a one-shot if there is no response from anyone.

Please respond to: Linda Ross-Mansfield, 333 Lipton St., Winnipeg, MB, R3G 2H2

Time is Running Out

Is There A Place for C.U.F.F. ???

There has been a small amount of discussion recently about the lack of entries for C.U.F.F. in 1994 and yet there has been no one yet who has come forward to say "YES WE THINK IT SHOULD CONTINUE."

I am hoping that there are enough fans out there who DO think this, that C.U.F.F. can rise from the ashes of apathy which have been burying it recently.

One of the main difficulties with the Fund this far is, well, HOW DO WE GET THE INFORMATION OUT TO PEOPLE? There is no database nor is there the funds to mail out to each individual the nomination info. Although the info is sent to as many clubs/fanzines as the administrator has addresses for, the people who receive such a mailing don't seem to realize how important it is for them to disseminate this info to their fellow fans, and to encourage someone to enter. If a club zine doesn't print even the acknowledgement that the club had received the nomination info, how are people suppose to know even enough to ask "What is C.U.F.F., and why was this info sent to us?"

Obviously they can't. "If good people do nothing..." to paraphrase the quotation. It is just that easy for the fund to fall into oblivion. With no nominations there can be no voting ballot. With no vote, there is no C.U.F.F. candidate to send to the opposite side of the country to attend a convention, and advance communications amongst fans from both sides of the country.

At this point I have sitting in the bank, more than enough money to send a winning nominee to anywhere in Canada, and cover reasonable hotel costs.

Is there no-one who wants this opportunity? Or is it that no-one wants to carry on the responsibility as winner to administrate and raise funds for future nominees?

I am asking each person who receives this to copy it at least once and pass it along.

I am also asking you to send me a postcard, or letter and tell me: is there a place for C.U.F.F. or if not, tell me what you think should be done with the funds that I have raised and been holding.

My address is at the top of this newsletter. If you are one of those who are electronically connected, I can also be contacted at my Compuserve Number: 70324.2252 or you can send it to John's Genie connection: J.Mansfield4 and he will pass it on to me. So come on, let's here from you. Silence is a terrible thing in this case!!!

Nominations Required to Keep C.U.F.F. Alive!

Send all comments and letters to:

Linda Ross-Mansfield, 333 Lipton St., Winnipeg, MB, R3G 2H2

At this time, Nominations are open Canada Wide, since there was no response to the 1994 request for Nominees. While it has been expected in recent years that a C.U.F.F. winner should attend the CANVENTION, there were apparently no comments about this during the induction of the 1995 Canvention, at the last business meeting, and this aspect seems to be up in the air at this point. If there is no response to a call for nominations this year, and no one gives me any feedback, the fund may possibly fold. The requirements for nominating are shown below. Please diseminate this information as much as you are able to, and if possible let me know what you think.

Date: March/95

Now is the time for all good fen to stand up and be counted.

Nomination Rules

Each Candidate provides a brief written platform, with their name and address.
Provide the names and signatures of six fans, three in the east and three in the west.
Agrees to administrate the fund and race, and pass funds to the new administrator.
The Winner agrees to travel to and attend the designated convention, (Barring acts of God).

Rumour Spike

Despite assumptions to the contrary, my spouse is not adminstering or controlling CUFF, I am. Nor have I in any way folded the fund, and persons wishing to contribute may still send to me at the address above.

I have stopped doing auctions to raise more funds until I receive some input from my fellow fen as to what to do if CUFF doesn't receive Nominees again.

Anomaly Creates Problem

While there is normally an East-West rotation, when there has been a year with no nominees, the next opportunity is open Canada-Wide.

The other small difficulty is, since I, as current administrator, was unable to attend the business meeting of Canvention in 1994, apparently no one mentioned or reminded the 1995 Canvention winner about the usual tie between CUFF and CANVENTION. As a result, there was no one set as a liason to contact me, and they have apparently announced that there will be no Fan guests at their Convention. This is a bit embarassing since one of the committee members of the 1995 Canvention, Paul Valcour, is a former CUFF Winner himself, and he was the administrator prior to my winning CUFF, (which by the way means that one automatically becomes the administrator.)

Since I for one, would not want to force any group to host the CUFF winner, I would like to suggest that IF there are nominees for 1995, that there be the following possibilities offered. If the winner lives in the West he or she could be sent to Ad Astra, and if the winner is from the East they could go to Con Versions. Since both these cons are reasonably sized, and are in the summer, it might make it easier on everyone.

There are sufficient funds to pay both airfare and accomodations, within reason. I am open to other suggestions, but we can't procrastinate too long. The only other option is to wait until 1996. If we do that, then I will continue fund-raising, to pass on a healthy fund.

Categories:

Nomination Calls

Campaigns/Platforms

Results

Trip Reports

Comments

WCSFAzine19

2009 CUFF NOMINATIONS OPEN!

By Lance Sibley, 2008 CUFF Delegate

I'm writing to announce the opening of nominations for this year's Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) delegate. CUFF provides for a Canadian SF fan to travel to the current year's Canvention, or Canadian National SF Convention. This year's Canvention coincides with Anticpation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, being held in Montreal from August 6-10.

Since the Canvention is being held in the East, this year's CUFF delegate must be chosen from west of the Ontario-Manitoba border. As the 2008 CUFF delegate, the responsibility falls to me to select the 2009 delegate. I am therefore asking that you consider who from among your fannish circle may be a good delegate for this year. It could even be you!

To be nominated for CUFF, the successful delegate must: provide a short biography detailing their activities in fandom. As well, nominees must show that they have the support of other Canadian fans by having their nomination co-signed by three fans from the East and three fans from the West. The successful nominee must also agree to administer the fund for 2010, including selecting the 2010 delegate.

To submit a nomination, or to ask for more information, please feel free to contact me at lance_sibley@yahoo.com And please feel free to forward this email to others as you see fit, or publish it in your fanzine, clubzine or newsletter.

Regards, Lance Sibley

MORE INFO ON 2009 CUFF!

By Murray Moore

During a conversation today with Lance I learned that Lance received approximately $1,000 from Brian Davis. Lance received this money last May.

The current balance in the CUFF account, including the Brian Davis money, is $2,162.03.

As for the current race, recently Lance sent info about the CUFF race to 35 groups west of the Ontario border, organizations and clubs and cons and magazines Neo-Opsis and On Spec. He will follow up soon with a nomination deadline.

And a race is possible this year. Lance has received two strong expressions of interest; in which case Lance will send a ballot to the same 35 groups, leading to income from the voting fee for the CUFF bank account, plus more publicity

WCFAZine16

FOWL PROGRESS! ANTICIPATION GOES AVIAN!

From the urban jungles back East, Murray Moore reveals:

“I am pleased to announce that Fran Skene is attending Anticipation, during which Fran will conduct one of her Turkey Reading fund-raisers for the benefit of CUFF (the Canadian Unity Fan Fund).”

And fresh from the literary turkey slaughter at VCON 33, Fran Skene reports:

“This year's Turkey Readings took in $150 which I'm sending to the CUFF administrator. Congrats go to all who participated, including talented artist Felicity!”

CUFF RACE GEARING UP!

Lance Sibley, the current Canadian Unity Fan Fund Administrator is seeking nominations for the

2009 CUFF race to be awarded at Anticipation Worldcon. He is contacting as many Canadian SF

organizations as possible, as well as posting online everywhere, in the hope this will trigger

nominations and produce candidates.

He is also dreaming of ways to raise funds, including the possibility of giving turkey readings at various cons he will be attending, asking authors to donate ‘Tuckerisms’ (name a character after the fan who ‘buys’ the privilege), and is thinking of holding one or more silent auctions. As a former CUFF winner/administrator I advise him to try everything everywhere as often as possible. It’s a real struggle to pull in funds. I don’t know what to say works best, because in my experience everything worked equally poorly, but collectively everything adds up.

One thing I didn’t try is an online auction. Might work. Another idea might be to post vastly entertaining CUFF bulletins on Efanzines.com, complete with items for auction and/or sale (fixed selling price to first interested fan works best methinks, since often there isn’t enough time to get competitive bidding going). The bulletins should be more than a mere listing, should include articles, preferably humorous ones. The items for sale should be the kind of thing fans faunch for excessively, rare fanzines, unusual souvenirs, etc. And of course, not just Canadian fans should be targeted. Fannish collectors exist everywhere.

Meanwhile, here is a complete (?) list of CUFF winners over the years:

BCFSAZine410

CUFF:

Is there anybody in Canada ready to run for CUFF?

On May 27/07, I wrote to Rene Walling c/o the CanadianConrunners group:

“Dear Rene, This is tangential to conrunning issues, but … “Brian Davis has put up a website documenting the Canadian Unity Fan Fund (far better designed than my old, provisional CUFF site), but he might benefit from some additional information and links.”

Rene Walling replied:

“Yes, I've seen the site (for everyone else, the URL is: http://cuff.cometdust.ca/)

“BTW, if you know someone who's interested in being a delegate, TELL US!!!”

Rene Walling, May 27, 2007

CanFan-C

CUFF

WCFSAzine17

WCSFAzine20

C.U.F.F. FAN FUND NOMINEES!

Canadian Unity Fan Fund 2010 Ballot Now available!

The winner will attend Canvention 30/Keycon 27

What is C.U.F.F.? The Canadian Unity Fan Fund was conceived in 1981 as a means to better acquaint Eastern and Western Canadian fans with each other. Or alternately, it's an outgrowth of a one-shot effort devised to send Edmonton fan Mike Hall to Torque 2 in Toronto in 1981. Both of these statements are true, actually.

C.U.F.F. exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates are voted on by interested fans across Canada, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than CDN$5.00.

Deadline: Votes must reach the administrator by midnight, 13 March 2010.

Voting details: As with other fan funds, C.U.F.F. uses a preferential ballot system which guarantees automatic runoffs until a majority is obtained. You rank the candidates in the exact order of your preference for them. If the leading first-place candidate does not get a majority, the first-place votes for the lowest-ranking candidate are dropped, and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted as first-place votes. This process repeats itself until one candidate has a majority. Your votes for second and third place are important, but you may give your candidate only one ranking on your ballot. Hold Over Funds: This choice, like "No Award" in Hugo balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no C.U.F.F. trip this year, if none of the candidates appeal to you. Hold Over Funds may be voted for in any position, and if it receives a majority of the votes on the final ballot, no C.U.F.F. trip will be held this year regardless of how many votes Hold Over Funds received on the first ballot.

No Preference: For voters who prefer not to choose between candidates, but don't want the trip held over.

Donations: C.U.F.F. gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction -- give early and often! Please contact the administrator for details.

Diane Lacey

I believe I have the organizational skills to be a good administrator. I have some ideas for fundraising but plan to pick the brains of those who are much more experienced with that than I am for

more and better ideas. I absolutely intend to publish a trip report as soon as possible upon my return.

I’d also very much like to see the fund promoted more. Right now it is difficult to find very much

information online. Other than the Facebook page, a Google search brings up little information on the

application procedure, membership, qualifications, expectations, etc., and many of those hits are

several years old. I’d like to address this, perhaps with its own webpage

Nominators: Fran Skene (BC), Dave Clement (MB), Tim Hogue (MB), Colin Hinz (ON), Murray

Moore (ON), Lance Sibley (ON), Rene Walling (QC).

Note: I, R. Graeme Cameron, also nominated Diane, but my name was inadvertently left off the

actual application. I state this for the record, to show that Diane received a total of 8 nominators.

Rob Uhrig

I was asked “How did a retired Gulf War Veteran with 13 years Reg. Force military service; a retired martial arts Master Instructor; a Freemason, and Knight of St. George become a lifelong SciFi Fan?” The short answer - by watching early re-runs of Star Trek!

Since attending my first Sci-Fi convention in 1993 (T-Trek 7), I have been actively involved in fandom. I have attended cons from one coast to the other and points in between; I have been chief of security for one con, on CON-COM for two others, and worked at the dealer table for a Creation con. Above all else I am a member of the Klingon Assault Group (KAG) Kanada. Through my participation in fandom, especially KAG Kanada, I have actively participated in countless charity events and have helped to raise several thousand dollars for the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada, and several other worthy charities. Full details of my involvement can be found on www.kagkanada.com

Nominators:

From the West:

The Chevalier Paul Carreau, KSTG, CD, former Senior Command Officer, KAG Kanada

Mrs. Dayna Dickens, Tourism Coordinator, Vulcan AB

The Chevalier, Reverend Dana Dean, KSTG, former Admiral, Starfleet

And from the East:

Mrs. Margie Welsh, Thought Admiral Klingon Strike Force (KSF)

Mr. David James, Fleet Commander, KAG Kanada

Ms. Lori Lightfoot, Fleet Commander, KAG Kanada 12

TO VOTE:

Go to the KeyCon website at http://keycon.org and click on the 'C.U.F.F.' tab. For electronic voting, follow the instructions provided. You will be paying the voting fee by PayPal.

You can also download the voting form pdf file from the same site to vote by mail. Please read and fill out both sides of the sheet. Send in entire sheet as your vote.

Send ballot & donation to:

LeAmber Raven Kensley, 341 Anderson Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2W 1E5.

Reproduction of the form is encouraged. It is the official voting vehicle and must be reproduced verbatim.

Please make cheques etc. payable in Canadian currency to "LeAmber Kensley", not to "C.U.F.F." If you think your name may not be known to the administrators, then in order to qualify your vote, please give the name and address of an active fan (not a fan group, a candidate or their nominator) who is known to them and to whom you are known:

File770-141

Colin Hinz Wins CUFF

Colin Hinz of Toronto is the 2002 Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) winner. He will travel to Conversion 19 (host of this year’s Canvention), being held in Calgary over the August 9-11 weekend.

Hinz won “by acclamation” – meaning he was selected by CUFF administrator Murray Moore and may have been the only qualified candidate – there rarely are multiple candidates in a CUFF race.

Colin's platform explained why he wanted to become the CUFF delegate: “Running back to...Calgary? Sure, Saskatoon would be true to the song and faithful to my roots as well, but Calgary was where I was corrupted back in 1985. And in fact it was at an earlier Con-Version, the second of now nineteen of 'em, where I lost my convention virginity. I went through a long semi-gafiated period in the 1990s, and thus I lost track of many wonderful Western Canadian fan friends. I'm hoping to go back and rekindle these friendships -- and with luck make many new ones - should I be chosen to be this year's CUFF delegate.”

What is CUFF? Murray Moore explains,

“In a country in which business travel and personal travel increasingly is north and south, CUFF encourages the linking of fans on the opposite sides of the ManitobaOntario border. The CUFF delegate attends the Canvention as an ambassador of one part of Canadian fandom to another.”

CUFF pays the travel expense and the hotel room expense of a fan attending the Canvention.

What is Canvention? Moore calls Canvention, “the annual physical expression of the Canadian SF professional and fan community's appreciation of the best of Canadian professional and amateur activity in the previous year.”

Canvention is an added feature for its host convention, helping to recognize contributors to the Canadian sf scene through such events as the presentation of the Aurora Awards. The Auroras go to English-language and French-language winners in various professional and fan categories.

CUFF Delegate’s Duties: During the 2002 Conversion/Canvention the CUFF delegate is encouraged to volunteer to work the con, to attend the Canvention business meeting, to represent CUFF, and to take notes of what is heard, seen and said.

After the con, the CUFF winner takes over administration of the fund. The CUFF administrator's duties include (1) Writing, publishing, and selling a CUFF trip report. Publishing a trip report is important because SciFi Inc. of Southern California, on receipt of a fan fund trip report, donates $500 to CUFF. (2) Opening a bank account into which all of the CUFF money received by the CUFF administrator is placed. (3) Organizing the selection of a successor who will be the 2003 CUFF delegate and administrator. (4) Passing the CUFF money to the 2003 CUFF delegate.

Delegate Qualifications: A CUFF delegate must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident who agrees to attend the 2002 Canvention and to fulfill the obligations of the CUFF administrator.

BCSFAzine431

Late News But Great News

Murray Moore writes:

“During a conversation today with Lance I learned that Lance received approximately $1,000 from Brian Davis.

“Lance received this money last May. Lance remembers Brian Davis explaining to Lance that he had had medical problems and had to sell some of his property to repay the CUFF money with which he was entrusted. “The current balance in the CUFF account, including the Brian Davis money, is $2,162.03.

“As for the current race, recently Lance sent info about the CUFF race to 35 groups west of the Ontario border, organizations and clubs and cons and magazines Neo-Opsis and On Spec. He will follow up soon with a nomination deadline.

“And a race is possible this year. Lance has received two strong expressions of interest; in which case Lance will send a ballot to the same 35 groups, leading to income from the voting fee for the CUFF bank account, plus more publicity.”

Forwarded by Garth Spencer,

Saturday 28 February 2009

WCSFAzine04

LATEST C.U.F.F, ( CANADIAN UNITY FAN FUND ) NEWS

By Murray Moore

I have added our newest CUFF administrator, Peter Jarvis, to the list of CUFF admins. Welcome Peter.

(( GhodEd-note: Current CUFF admin list consists of former CUFF winners: Lyndie S. Bright ( 2003 ), R. Graeme Cameron ( 1997 ), Michael Hall ( 1981 ), Colin Hinz ( 2002 ), Peter Jarvis ( 2007 ), Linda Ross-Mansfield ( 1992 ), Murray Moore ( 2001 ), Lloyd Penney ( 1998 ), Robert Runte ( 1989 ), Garth Spencer ( 1999 ), Paul Valcour ( 1990 ), Rene Walling ( 1996 ), & Taral Wayne ( 1988 ). ))

I am pleased to announce that I have received a cheque for $900 from Torcon 3, the second and last grant for CUFF. The first grant was $1,000. As administrator for Torcon of the CUFF money I will send each year to the current CUFF administrator $200. I have written a cheque payable to Peter and only need to get from Peter his realmail address.

More good news: Keycon 25 < www.keycon.org/index.php >, host of the 2008 Canvention, will comp a room for the CUFF winner. Keycon is four days through the 2008 Victoria Day weekend, in Winnipeg.

And much money was raised during VCon 32. Fran's popular annual turkey reading raised $150. The way it works is, Fran collects very, very bad writing, Lionel Fanthorpe/Pel Torro, etc. Volunteer readers read a section of very bad writing. For example the characters are a knight, a peasant, a princess, and three ogres. Audience members volunteer to be the characters. The reader begins reading and the volunteers mime the actions of the characters. Laughter ensues.

When someone becomes bored, that someone donates money for that reading to stop. Someone else will donate more money for the reading to continue. Each donation must be larger than the previous donation. Some times one of the volunteers donates money to be able to stop. Peter also auctioned an Anticipation membership and other donated items with a very good result.

(( GhodEd-note: Last issue I reported the VCON Turkey readings raised $600 for CUFF, the money going toward Peter Jarvis’s expenses, based on 2nd hand verbal info I received. Fran has since confirmed $150 raised by her Turkey reading, and the rest raised by auction as reported below. ))

(( GhodEd-P.S.: I believe Fran introduced the Turkey Reading concept as a CUFF fund-raiser at VCON 13 in 1985. I asked Fran where she came up with the concept and she said she had been inspired by a short-lived turkey reading she’d seen once or twice at a Portland convention that had been done to raise money for a scholarship fund two years in a row and then been discontinued. As to where the American fans had come up with the concept? At any rate, Fran’s Turkey Readings have proved very popular and very lucrative for VCON & CUFF over the years. ))

LATEST 2007 C.U.F.F, WINNER FINANCIAL REPORT

By Peter Jarvis

Breaking out the money:

2007 Turkey's was $146.25 which Fran rounded up to $150.

2006 Turkey's was $140, which Fran had been holding on to and passed onto me.

The CUFF Auction brought in $219.30 and everything donated was sold (which was a big relief as I did not have to

carry anything back). Of the $219.30, $100 was for an Anticipation membership, and $15 for Keycon membership.

Total taken in at V-Con was $509.30.

"non-money" items was $119 for one room night, since I shared with Keycon Co-Chair D Strang for 2 nights.

I'll have more particulars in my report.

( After the con ) Received a cheque for $250 from Murray Moore for CUFF. $200 as part of his annual payment from Torcon and $50 his personal donation.

MAD SCRAMBLE FOR 2008 C.U.F.F, WINNER UNDERWAY!

Or at least, the CUFF Admin collective is thinking about it. The winner will be flown to Keycon 25 in Winnipeg come May 16-19, 2008 and be comped a free room for the duration. Pretty cool, eh?

Trouble is, that’s only half a year away. Doesn’t leave much time for the current Cuff winner and Administrator Peter Jarvis to raise money, seek nominations, and conduct a Canada-wide mail-in ballot election. Still, it’s been done before. And he’ll have the help of numerous former CUFF winners as listed above.

Point is, you could be the 2008 winner!

To be eligible, you must reside East of the Manitoba/Ontario border ( since the target convention is in the West this year, and typically CUFF sends an Eastern fan to a Western convention, or vice versa, to promote Canadian fannish unity. But 2007’s target convention was also in the West, so maybe this year the eligibility will extend Canada-wide. Up to Peter to decide. ) and be an ‘active’ Sci-Fi fan ( active in the sense of organizing, planning, and doing, as opposed to mere passive participation ) and be engaged in one or more of the following activities: SF fanzine activity, SF club/organization activity, SF convention-running activity, or anything else deemed suitably fannish.

You must be nominated by six nominators, three from the East and three from the West, all of whom must be ‘wellknown’ fans engaged in one or more of the above listed activities. If you are the only candidate successfully nominated, you will win. If there is more than one candidate, a mail-in ballot election will take place, to which any Canadian fan can participate, providing they pay the voting fee ( yet to be determined ), one of many ways CUFF raises money to cover the winner’s travel expenses.

The catch is the winner then becomes, post-con, the principal CUFF administrator whose duty is to organize the next CUFF election. But this can be a lot of fun. You get to hound Canadian fans relentlessly. Plus you’re expected to write a humorous trip report to help publicize CUFF. The main thing is to have a good time both at the con and being administrator. I did. You can too. Think about it.

Probably the campaign will kick into high gear come the new year, so the next issue of WCSFAzine will probably be full of concrete details of use to both potential candidates and potential nominators. Stay tuned!

C.U.F.F. FACEBOOK ESTABLISHED!

Legendary Canadian fan Robert Runte, a former CUFF winner and ( long ago ) prolific fanzine editor has started up a facebook for former CUFF winners/administrators and any other interested fen for the purpose of promoting CUFF and aiding the current winner/administrator Peter Jarvis. Waiting on a healthy number of members – current membership 9 – before beginning on discussions. Will need to start soon, given that the next Canvention/host convention Keycon 25 is a mere six months away. Still, quite excellent that moves are afoot to share the burden of promoting CUFF. Makes the task of being a winner/admin much easier, or at least less solitary.

Current members include Lloyd Penney, Paula Johanson, Fernando Novo, Peter Jarvis, Linda Ross-Mansfield, Cathy Palmer-Lister, R. Graeme Cameron, Rene Walling & Dr. Robert Runte.

< http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6119342503 >

WCSFAzine08

2008 C.U.F.F. DELEGATE SELECTED!

Lance Sibley has been chosen at the 2008 Canadian Unity Fan Fund ( CUFF ) delegate. Lance is very active in Fandom in the Toronto area and beyond. He has been involved with Polaris ( previously named Toronto Trek ), the 2003 Toronto 15 Worldcon, the 2006 Toronto Gaylaxicon, and the 2009 Montreal Worldcon in various senior roles.

The Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) is a Canadian national fund, which provides for an Eastern Canadian or a Western Canadian science fiction enthusiast to attend Canvention. Canvention is the annual convention of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. Traditionally, the location of Canvention alternates between Eastern and Western Canada. The CUFF delegate is chosen from individuals residing in the opposite region of Canada. For 2008, the Canvention is being held in Western Canada (Winnipeg) so this year’s CUFF delegate is from Eastern Canada. Further information about this year’s Canvention held at Keycon (May 16th-19th) may be found at < www.keycon.org >. Information about Canvention in general may be found at: < www.prixaurorawards.ca >.

Peter Jarvis

2007 CUFF Delegate & Administrator

WCSFAzine02

2007 C.U.F.F. WINNER TO ATTEND VCON 32

Peter Jarvis of Hamilton, being the only candidate nominated, has been acclaimed 2007 CUFF winner by an ad hoc committee of 11 former CUFF winners. Peter, who chaired the TORCON 3 Worldcon in 2003 and worked on many other Canadian conventions, most notably numerous SF cons in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, will act as an ambassador for Eastern fandom and CUFF.

‘C.U.F.F.’ stands for 'Canadian Unity Fan Fund'. CUFF was created in 1981 by Toronto fan Bob Webber, inspired by the American/British TAFF, or 'Trans Atlantic Fan Fund' which was founded in 1953. TAFF was designed to foster personal communication between British and American fandom. CUFF aimed to overcome geographical barriers to a unified Canadian fandom by bringing a Western fan to an Eastern convention, and -- in alternating years -- an Eastern fan to a Western convention. Since 1988 that has usually been 'Canvention' where the Auroras (formerly Caspers) are handed out. The East/West boundary is defined by the Ontario/Manitoba border.

Note: It is tentatively planned that Peter Jarvis will take part in a CUFF panel with former winners Garth Spencer, R. Graeme Cameron, Murray Moore & possibly others. The history of CUFF will be touched on ( possibly noting the humour ridden snafus, scandals & upsets that make CUFF history so entertaining ), the current status of CUFF ( desperate ), the future of CUFF ( dubious ), the financial status of CUFF ( hilarious ), and above all, the all-around good times, good humour of the fannish phenomenon of CUFF and the wonderful trip report literature it has spawned.

File770-148r

CUFF

Brian Davis wrote online in June that due to ill health he had been unable to fulfill his duties as Canadian Unity Fan Fund administrator. No well-publicized developments followed his announcement that it was too late to arrange a delegate for 2006, although he named one Vancouver fan (Mike Omelusik) as expressing interest in becoming the CUFF delegate for 2006.

When Brian wrote CUFF had a bank balance of $1262.64. His CUFF website is still online, though it hasn’t been updated since Brian loaded his own bio as the 2005 delegate:

http://cuff.cometdust.ca/.

Interestingly, Brian’s bio ends by mentioning that he is a Bid Committee member for Anticipation, the Montreal in 2009 WorldCon.

BCSFAZine412

FAN FUNDS:

CUFF

“The last annual general meeting of the non-profit corporation which held Torcon 3, the 61st World Science Fiction Convention, in Toronto in 2003, occurred July 21.

“The last of Torcon 3's surplus funds were distributed. Grant recipients in B.C. are VCon ($1,000) and Neo-opsis ($500). “Also, the Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) is receiving $900. CUFF in the first round of grants received $1,000. “The corporation's members voted to instruct the corporation's board of directors to dissolve the corporation within a reasonable time. The time from the first meeting of the group of fans interested in bidding for Toronto to host the Worldcon to last month's last AGM was about 11 years. I was a latecomer to the Torcon 3 gang; I joined the bid group in October 1998. Montreal, I hope, will host the Worldcon in 2009. When can I attend a Vancouver Worldcon?”

Murray Moore, 06 August 2007

fIle770-136

Past CUFF winners Yvonne and Lloyd Penney met this year’s delegate, Sherry Neufeld, at TorontoTrek 2000 (Canvention) in July. Lloyd comments that she was “fun to talk to, and she represented Western fandom well. Now to see what she says in her trip report.” He also reports that it looks like two candidates may step forward to compete for the 2001 CUFF race. There may actually be a contested vote for a change.

There was some concern that CUFF was out of balance, focused on sending delegates from west to east because of its ties to Canvention. “The Canvention is supposed to rotate east to west and back, but for the past four years, it's been in eastern Canada: Toronto in 1997, Montréal in 1998, Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1999 and Toronto again in 2000. The problem has been that Western fandom has been short on activities and funds for a while, and only now is convention fandom there on the rebound. So, the rotation is rotating again... At the Canvention business meeting, I made a presentation on behalf of Vancouver fandom to host the 2001 Canvention, which will be a part of VCon 26, and the business meeting decided Vancouver it will be. Just wish I could get there. Vancouver isn't just down the street.”

file770-153

2008 CUFF Delegate Chosen

Lance Sibley was selected as the 2008 Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) delegate. He attended this year’s Canvention, held in conjunction with Keycon, May 16-19, in Winnipeg.

The Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) is a Canadian national fund, which provides for an Eastern Canadian or a Western Canadian science fiction fan to attend Canvention, the annual convention of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. Traditionally, the location of Canvention alternates between Eastern and Western Canada. The CUFF delegate is chosen from individuals residing in the opposite region of Canada.

Lance is very active in Fandom in the Toronto area and beyond. He has been involved with Polaris (previouly named Toronto Trek), the 2003 Toronto Worldcon, the 2006 Toronto Gaylaxicon, and the 2009 Montreal Worldcon in various senior roles.”

[Thanks to Murray Moore for the information.]

WCSFAZine06

2008 CUFF DELEGATE NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN!

By Peter Jarvis ( Jan 01, 2008 )

You could be the next Canvention Unity Fan Fund Delegate

At the 2008 CANVENTION held at KEYCON!

NOTE: The deadline for receipt of CUFF nominations is February 28

, 2008.

The Canadian Unity Fan Fund ( CUFF ) is a Canadian national fund, which provides for an Eastern Canadian or a Western

Canadian science fiction enthusiast to attend Canvention. Canvention is the annual convention of the Canadian Science

Fiction and Fantasy Association. Traditionally, the location of Canvention alternates between Eastern and Western Canada.

The CUFF delegate is chosen from nominees residing in the opposite region of Canada. For 2008, the Canvention is being

held in Western Canada ( Winnipeg ) so this year’s CUFF delegate is being sought from Eastern Canada ( East of the

Manitoba border ). Further information about Canvention may be found at: < www.prixaurorawards.ca >

CURRENT CUFF NOMINATION RULES

In order to be eligible as a candidate for the position of CUFF delegate, prospective nominees must be a Canadian citizen, or permanent residents of Canada. Nominees need to complete the following simple steps.

1. Submit a written document outlining their fannish history, and their reason(s) for wishing to be the CUFF delegate. The submission must be dated and provide full contact information.

2. Provide signed nomination letters from six Canadian fans; three fans from Eastern Canada and three from western Canada.

3. Agree to assume the duties & responsibilities of the position of CUFF Administrator ( see below ).

4. Agree to represent CUFF and their region of Canada by attending the 2008 Canvention, which will be hosted by Keycon in Winnipeg, Manitoba May 16-19, 2008. It is also Keycon’s 25 th anniversary! Further Keycon information can be found at < www.keycon.org >

CURRENT CUFF RESPONSIBILITIES

The winning candidate will have four main responsibilities as the CUFF Delegate/Administrator.

1. Have fun interacting with fans from the other side of the country by attending Canvention.

2. Write and publish a Trip Report of your experiences.

3. Work to replenish the funds used to finance your trip.

4. Administer the process of finding your replacement.

For more information or to submit your nomination, please contact the 2007 CUFF delegate Peter Jarvis at email < pjarvis@nas.net > or by post at : Peter Jarvis, RPO Box 57331, Jackson Square, Hamilton, ON, L8P 4X2.

NOTE: The deadline for receipt of CUFF nominations is February 28th, 2008. This is to allow for the possibility of a vote if more than one person submits their nomination.

CUFF was established in 1981 to help bridge the distance between science fiction enthusiasts from Eastern and Western Canada. Due to organizational and geographic barriers the Eastern and Western regions of the country operate in relative isolation from each other. By bringing science fiction fans from opposite sides of the country together, an opportunity is provided to learn from the experience of different fan bases and regions. Finances are raised through a series of fund-raising efforts, as well as donations from prominent science fiction individuals and organizations.

WCSFAzine07

Afterwards comes the CUFF ( Canadian Unity Fan Fund ) panel. It is well attended… by the panelists that is, CUFF winners and/or administrators all, namely myself, Fran Skene, Garth Spencer, Murray Moore and Peter Jarvis. We outnumber the audience which consists of Steve Forty, Christian Sauve and David Strang. No sense in explaining the history, meaning and purpose of CUFF since we are all familiar with the phenomenon. ( Though Peter Jarvis is relatively new, being the current winner. I give him copies of both my CUFF trip report and my history of CUFF to further his knowledge. )

We start off by sharing amusing anecdotes from our CUFF experiences ( none of which I remember, alas ) and then get down to the serious business of figuring out how to promote CUFF ( obviously holding a CUFF panel at a convention doesn’t work ). In effect, we turn a panel discussion into a working seminar. Various ideas are tossed about. Establish a wikpedia style website? All agree that would be a disaster. Perhaps a blog? A dedicated website? What kind of computer geek technical knowledge is required these days? Who among CUFF activists has the requisite skills? Or the time to monitor such a site? Unresolved questions. ( Robert Runte later establishes a CUFF Facebook site, though so far it

has remained largely inactive. See < http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6119342503 >)

Then we get down to the nitty gritty of promoting the next CUFF election. Have to move fast. Only 7 months till the winner attends Canvention at Keycon 25. The consensus is that we should concentrate on networking to establish a general awareness among fen till the end of the year, then slip into a publicity frenzy come the new year, building on the foundation we’ve already established. ( Am not positive we’ve actually done this – I put info re the nomination process last issue -- but by the time you read this the nominations will have closed and hopefully, if not traditionally, at least one candidate will have been nominated. )

LATEST C.U.F.F. NEWS!

There isn’t any, mainly because no candidate has come forward as yet, and the Feb 28th deadline is now past.

If you are an active Canadian fan living in Eastern Canada, and the idea of going to the May 16-19th Keycon 25/Canvention 33 convention -- your travel expenses paid -- appeals to you, contact Current Administrator Peter Jarvis at < pjarvis@nas.net >.

See the article “2008 Cuff Delegate Nominations Now Open” on page 16 of WCSFAzine #6 for details.

C.U.F.F. FUNDRAISING IDEA: ‘TORONTO THE GHOOD’

In 1988 Taral Wayne published ‘Toronto The Ghood’, an anthology of fanwriting by fans living in or near Toronto from the 1940s thru to the 1980s. This included articles by: Beak Taylor, P. Howard Lyons, Boyd Raeburn, Peter Gill, Susan Wood, Rosemary Ullyot, Mike Glicksohn, Victoria Vayne, Bob Wilson, Janet Wilson, Phil Paine, Taral Wayne & Bob Webber. It was 43 pages long.

In 2000 Taral gave me, as editor of The BCSFA Press, permission to publish a reprint edition in order to raise money for C.U.F.F. It suddenly occurred to me that I still have a few copies left, so why not remind people it’s still available? CUFF can certainly use whatever money the fund can get.

Here is my Canfancyclopedia article on the zine:

“ -- Faned: Taral Wayne. A one-shot anthology of Toronto fanwriting which Taral put together for the first Ditto Convention, held in Toronto, Ontario, in 1988. Wrote Taral: "This collection was edited, typed, designed, illustrated, and electrostenciled by Taral. Mimeography was by Mike Glicksohn, who battled valiantly against the deadline. TORONTO THE GHOOD is dedicated to the memories of Susan Wood, Bill Grant, P. Howard Lyons, and Les Croutch: Ghood Torontonians all. As a Ditto publication, proceeds from TORONTO THE GHOOD will first be applied to convention losses. In the event there are no convention losses, profits will be donated to the fan funds deemed advisable by the Ditto Masters."

"This collection celebrates a fandom that is probably under-recognized, but has much to be proud of. Our fair city is the home of the man who was accused of sawing Courtney's boat, (falsely!). A Toronto fan enriched fanspeak with the word "sercon". The first Worldcon in Canada was held in Toronto, and debued the first propellor beanie to be worn by a fan. To the everyday world, "Toronto The Good" meant exactly the opposite -- blue laws and dour working class values. But to fandom Toronto has been genuinely GHOOD. Let us drink to the memory."

Contained the following articles:

- "Casting in the Time Pool" - Editorial by Taral Wayne.

- "Aaaaaagghh!!!" - by Beak Taylor - from CANADIAN FANDOM #11 - 1946.

- "Chain Letter" - by P. Howard Lyons - from IBIDEM #3 - 1955.

- "Derelict derogations, #8" - by Boyd Raeburn - from A BAS #10 - 1957.

- "Straw & Cold Cuts" - by Boyd Raeburn - from LE MOINDRE #30 - 1973.

- "Fans and the Future" - by Peter Gill - from ENERGUMEN #1 - 1970.

- "My 2 cents Worth" - By Susan Wood - from ENERGUMEN #4 - 1970 & #6 - 1971.

- "Kumquat May & Coddled Eggs" - by Rosemary Ullyot - from ENERGUMEN # 15 - 1973.

- "In The Glicksohn Vein" - by Mike Glicksohn - from KARASS #2 - 1974.

- "Killer Fudge" - by Victoria Vayne - from NON SEQUITUR #9 - 1976.

- "Das Boots & A Dialogue" - by Bob Wilson - from EINE KLIENE BOTTLE, MUSIK I & CALICO BELLY - 1976. 14

- "But What About Photosynthesis" - by Janet Wilson - from SIMULACRUM #7/8 1977/78.

- "MSS From a Tobacco Factory " - by Phil Paine - from FOOTWEAR FOR ACHILLES - 1976.

- "I Can Always Dream" - by Taral Wayne - from THE MONTHLY MONTHLY #9 - 1981.

- "Here And Back Again" - by Bob Webber - from FISH BELOW ICE #1 - 1988.

Also contains a number of "CAN FAN PERSONALITIES" (articles profiling Canadian fans) which first appeared in issues of CANADIAN FANDOM. These include: #3 -- Beak Taylor, #4 -- Albert A. Betts, #6 -- Ned McKeown, #8 -- Bill Grant, #9 -- John Millard, #11 -- Gerald A. Steward, & #12 -- Boyd Raeburn.”

So I think it would be a good idea to offer it again to anyone interested in Canadian Fannish history and raise some money for CUFF. Trouble is, I don’t know how much it will cost to mail and how much on top of that I should charge in order to cover mailing expenses and earn some money for CUFF. I’ll figure it out by next issue.

In the meantime you can always email me at < rgraeme@shaw.ca > to reserve a copy in your name.

Hmm, I should check and see if the archive still has any copies of the BCSFA Press edition of Murray Moore’s ‘Harry Warner, Jr. Fan of Letters’ tribute as well.

Plus, I’m toying with the idea of putting together a ‘Vancouver The Wet’ anthology of local fan writing to raise money for CUFF. Hmmm, could be fun. Stay tuned.

CUFF…I gather that Dennis Mullin was approached to run for CUFF, and he unfortunately refused, citing poor health and finances. Still, I hope he knows that there will be a shiny Aurora waiting for him should he get to the Canvention. Dennis has worked hard over the years to make the Auroras work; he’s given away plenty of them, and should finally get to keep one for himself.

I totally agree. It was very good of Robert J. Sawyer to come up with the CUFF proposal. I was one of the Western Nominators, so was a tad disappointed by Dennis’ decision, but remain quite content that he will receive a well-deserved Aurora. Meanwhile, if Peter Jarvis can come up with an alternate candidate… winning by administrativer fiat is a CUFF tradition…sometimes the winner didn’t even know he was in the running… so confidence is high someone will be found.

Search This Blog

Assorted CUFF related materials

Captured from http://fanac.org/fan_funds/cufflist.html

Kent adds:

From Facebook:

Basic Info

Contact Info

Some info from an SFContario new page:

From FILE 770:

From SFContario (1) cuff page

from File770-148r

(http://efanzines.com/File770/File770-148r.pdf)

WCSFAzine

from editorial in http://efanzines.com/WCSFA/WCSFAzine03.pdf: (Possibly R Graeme?)

and later in the same issue:

2011 Campaign Information:

from: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6119342503&topic=18024 Jan 8, 2011

Email from Diane lacey to CanadianConrunners@yahoogroups.com++

[Removed, as updated info exists above, Kent]

Candian Unity Fan Fund

Linda Ross-Mansfield

Time is Running Out

Is There A Place for C.U.F.F. ???

Nomination Rules

Rumour Spike

Anomaly Creates Problem

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CUFF Biographical materials and photos

Historical CUFF Delegate List