In a bulletin issued at the beginning of the year I noted that RAC members in Prince Edward Island who had been seeking a new separate Section for RAC ARES in PEI had been successful and the position was open for election. I am happy to report that the election process has concluded and I would like to congratulate William Caw, VY2CAW, as the new and first Section Manager for the PEI Section.

First, a bit of background. There are four levels of ARES organization: National, Section, District and Local. Sections are geographically-based administrative units organized to deliver RAC services to non-government organizations and governments through the ARES program. The senior RAC official in each Section is the Section Manager (SM). The SM appoints a Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) for the Section. The SEC, in turn, appoints District Emergency Coordinators (DEC) for each region. DECs, in turn, appoint Emergency Coordinators for each city in their District. 

The ARRL and RAC both have Sections and – as in the case of some other administrative structures that RAC inherited from the ARRL as a result of our shared history – the functions of our Sections have changed over the years to meet our particular circumstances.

William Caw, VY2CAW, is a second generation Amateur Radio operator having been introduced to Amateur Radio by his father G4ALV (SK). His father was a victim of polio and therefore William was co-opted into stringing dipoles, erecting rotating beams, running coax and soldering connectors. 

William’s first Amateur Radio Christmas present was an enormous radio receiver from a battleship (war surplus was in great supply) and William became an enthusiastic Short Wave Listener. 

Many years passed and William emigrated to Canada. He joined the federal public service with Transport Canada, Emergency Preparedness Branch. In planning for Y2K, Amateur Radio featured as a backup resource in the Emergency Operations Centres and this reignited his interest. 

He is currently living in Argyle Shore on beautiful Prince Edward Island and is a volunteer with the PEI Red Cross and is interested in the concept of Amateur Radio as a public service. He is a member of both the Charlottetown and Summerside Amateur Radio Clubs.

In the future, the Maritimes Section that had earlier coordinated the ARES activities in the three Maritime provinces will continue to be responsible for the activities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and the new PE Section will deal with the activities on Prince Edward Island. We look forward to reading about the new PE Section in the Public Service / ARES column and in the Section News in upcoming issues of TCA. 

Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA
RAC President and Chair