The Alliance was proud to award its first annual “Sparrow” award to a dedicated member and long-serving Chair of the Children In Limbo Task Force, Dr. James Wilkes.

We also wish to acknowledge the work of Marvin Berstein in conceptualizing the criteria and materials for this award. If you would like to nominate an individual for the 2006 award, please see the nomination form and award criteria below, or contact any member of the steering committee.

Although there was some mixed feedback on the new “group facilitation” format on Friday afternoon, attendees this year were for the most positive about the format change and the chance to have more built-in discussion time at the annual meeting. While there are a few aspects of this format that need to be “tweaked” the overall results of this group exercize demonstrated that this is a viable possibility for future meetings.

The key note speech by Cindy Blackstock and the update from Ontario 's Deputy Minister of Children and Youth services, Jessica Hill were also highly rated by meeting attendees that completed their evaluations. The complete results of this year's annual meeting evaluations are posted below.

	Evaluation Results (108KB)
	Evaluation Results (112KB)

Alliance Co-Chairs
This year's annual meeting marked the end of Co-Chair Bruce Ferguson's tenure as Co-Chair of the SLA (2001-2005). Bruce will continue to support the SLA by serving as a member of the steering committee. We thank Bruce for his hard work and dedication to the work of the SLA and for his pivotal role in maintaining the Alliance as a vital organization following the major change in leadership that took place four years ago.

Long-time steering committee member Graham Clyne will now become Co-Chair, alongside returning Chair Celia Denov who enters into the 5 year of her term.

Steering Committee
The SLA welcomes its newest member Adelina Urbanski, the Commissioner of Social & Community Services Department for the Regional Municipality of Halton.

We also bid a fond farewell to Marvin Berstein (also a member of the Children in Limbo task Force) who will be leaving us this fall to take on the position of the Child & Youth Advocate for the Province of Saskatchewan .

Welcome New Members
A warm welcome to our many new members this year form across the province and the many child-serving sectors. For those attending the annual meeting for the first time we hope to see you again next year!

We welcome aboard :
D. Bellissimo,	L. Brough,
T. Cane,	H. Cook,
M. Dermenjian,	M. Duncalfe,
L. Dunlop-Dibbs	G. Floyd
K. Gallagher-Ross	S. Gardner
K. Glazier	C. Goard
A. Hogan	L. Intersano
J. Johnston	N. MacLaren
N. Mazaheri	N. McDougall
V. Miranda	A. Newby
C. Nicholls-Jones	S. Ranta
R. Rutland	S. Scott
K. Sewell	C.Simmons-Physick
S. Stewart	A. Urbanski
J. VanLankveld	D. Vickers
J. Wright