Dear colleague,

I invite you to join the Canadian Association of Newspaper Editors, an organization for newsroom managers.

For more than 50 years, the Canadian Managing Editors Conference provided newsroom executives with an annual forum for discussing issues that were common to us all. Participation in those meetings grew in the past few years after we started to hold the conference in conjunction with the annual meeting of The Canadian Press, the Canadian Newspaper Association’s Super Conference and the presentation of the National Newspaper Awards. But most newspapers still did not send more than one or two editors to our conference and we had no year-round forum to share our knowledge.

At our 50th conference in 1998, managing editors agreed we should broaden our group to include more newsroom department managers who might benefit from our discussions and workshops. And at the last CMEC meeting in May of 1999, we voted to regroup under this new name, and to start developing a web site and training programs that would make participation in our activities more affordable and accessible throughout the year.

The first annual conference of CANE was held in Montreal on May 12, 2000, along with the CNA Super Conference. At that meeting, more than 45 editors agreed to stand behind CANE’s goals and objectives and to commit their full support.

The Canadian Association of Newspaper Editors has been set up with you in mind. We need your support to make it succeed and we are planning some new ways to get you involved and share ideas.

Senior editors and news executives of Canadian newspapers and news agencies are eligible to become active members of CANE. The cost is just $25 and from that modest membership fee we plan to build an association that works hard to provide Canadian editors with the resources and help they need to do their jobs better.

People in some related fields, such as magazine or Internet news executives, journalism educators and news-business suppliers, can join CANE as associate members for $50 a year.

I’m looking forward to working with you. Don’t hesitate to let me know what you think of this website and what you’d like from CANE.

Yours sincerely,

Rod Hilts
Managing Editor, Sarnia Observer
President, the Canadian Association of Newspaper Editors