Early bird registration of $125 CDN (+tax) remain in effect until Friday, March 3rd, 2023, after which rates increase to $145 CDN (+tax). To enjoy the discount, register soon at: 14th BC Paleontological Symposium Registration, Fri, 9 Jun 2023 at 8:00 AM | Eventbrite.
Final registration closes April 15th, 2023. A special student rate of $85 CDN (+tax) is also available.
Thank you to those in the paleontology community who have submitted Abstracts for the 14th British Columbia Paleontological Symposium. Abstracts will continue to be accepted until midnight this Friday, March 3rd, 2023.
If additional time is required, please contact organizers at vicpalaeo@gmail.com as soon as possible to arrange an extension.
Paleontology presentations or posters which relate to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are welcomed and encouraged, as are presentations on other changes significant to the field of paleontology.
Ronna-Rae Leonard, the provincial MLA for Courtenay-Comox, has introduced a private members bill to adopt the elasmosaur as BC’s provincial fossil. The bill would add a section to the existing Provincial Symbols and Honours Act to recognize the fossil, known scientifically as the Elasmosauridae, as a symbol of the Province of BC if passed.
The first elasmosaur fossil was found in November 1988 by Mike Trask and his daughter Heather, who were looking for fossils along the Puntledge River. Its discovery marked the first fossil of its kind found west of the Canadian Rockies. The elasmosaur is a large marine reptile dating back to the Cretaceous period; approximately 80 million years ago. Since this initial find, another elasmosaur was found in Comox Valley by Pat Trask in 2020. Both elasmosaurs are on display at the Courtenay and District Museum and Paleontology Centre.
Feb 15, 2023 media release from the New Democrat BC Government Caucus. Hyperlinks added within this post.
Please view the entire media release here.
An update on the progress that’s been made toward the 14th BC Paleontological Symposium being a success has been issued. Please read all about it here.
A few highlights to list:
Professor Shahin Dashtgard, P. Geo of SFU now has a blog at www.whattherock.ca to make geology more accessible to those who are interested in it. This was undertaken in response to his recent talk to the VPS and several emails he’s received recently asking geological and palaeontological questions.
With only three posts so far, he’s just getting started. With two of those posts about Vancouver Island, and plans to add a few on the Nanaimo Group, his writings should be of interest and instruction to our VicPS members.
News coverage of the succesful Fossil Fair held by VicPS at Swan Lake can be found at the Saanich News website here. Congrats to all the volunteers and VicPS members who contributed their time and effort to this educational and fun event!
Our local Times-Colonist carried advance notice of the event, and followed up after the event with a photo of VicPS member and fossil expert Tom Cockburn at the Fossil Fair.
We’re excited to be holding a post-pandemic Fossil Fair on March 26, 2022. Check out the poster below for details!
Please register for this event at Eventbrite.
As reported by Roxanne Egan-Elliott for the Times Colonist, the fossil found by Steve Suntok in 2014 near Sooke has now been classed as a new genus and species, and named for him.
Suntok found the fossil on a beach northwest of Sooke in 2014. He donated it to the Royal B.C. Museum, and a leading world expert on fish fossils studied the specimen in detail. In a scientific paper recently published, Russian scientist Evgeny Popov concluded the fossil was a new genus and species in the Chamaeridae family, which are cartilaginous fishes that have short rounded snouts and long tapered tails.
Times Colonist, Sep. 18, 2020
Popov named the fish Canadodus suntoki — Canadodus for “tooth from Canada” and suntoki for Suntok.
Congrats to Steve Suntok on this honour!
CBC Radio’s On the Island host Gregor Craigie interviewed Steve Suntok and Marji Johns about this fossil discovery. You may listen to that radio clip here.
A press release, with good images, prepared by Popov, Johns and Suntok may be viewed here. The scientific paper itself may be viewed here.
In keeping with the BC government’s COVID-19 directive of no events in the province with over 250 people, our 24th fossil fair is being cancelled, or possibly postponed, until later notice.
Swan Lake is in the process of posting notices in the Nature House, and updating their website and Facebook page. Given the BC government’s province-wide directive, there was really no choice in this matter. We will try to re-schedule at a later date if the situation changes for the positive.
Perry Poon of the Vancouver Palaeontological Society has asked that consideration be given for presenting the Rene Savenye Award at the July 10-13, 2020, 13th BC Paleontological Symposium at UBC in Vancouver.
Here are the guidelines, approved by the Board in 2003, outlining the purpose, criteria and process for the Award. To nominate a person for the award, follow the procedure on the guidelines and send the nomination to Graham Beard no later than March 31, 2020. This will allow the committee time to review the nominations and, if appropriate, select an award winner. If an award winner is chosen, the award (usually a big secret) will be announced at the symposium.
Graham Beard of the Vancouver Island Paleontological Museum Society (VIPMS) serves as Chair of the award committee. Graham will establish who is on the award committee. In the past, the award committee has included some previous award winners, and Jim Haggart has been involved as an advisor due to his past involvement in the award. The people on the award committee should be perceived as neutral and not as advocates for a particular nominee.
There have been only five previous winners of the Savenye Award – see the BCPA website for details.
