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History
History
Some Recollections
by Rev. Harold U. Trinier
In the beginning, The Canadian Church Press was a fellowship of editors. I began my tenure as editor of The Canadian Baptist on Sept. 1, 1950. The very first telephone call I received was from Rev. Dr. John McNab, then editor the Presbyterian Record. After introducing himself and extending greetings, he said, ăNow you are entering on a new field of service; if there is anything at all that I can do to be helpful, please let me know.ä That was the spirit of that early fellowship of editors.
A short time later, there was a luncheon meeting at Murrayâs restaurant on Bloor Street in downtown Toronto. Those present were Rev. Dr. D. B. Rogers, editor of the Canadian Churchman, Rev. Dr. A.J. Wilson of The United Church Observer, Dr. McNab of the Presbyterian Record, and I.
The matter of concern that brought us together was, I believe, the commercialization of Sunday sport in Ontario. We decided to seek a meeting with Premier Leslie Frost. Our meeting with Mr. Frost accomplished very little.
In the following years, other occasional luncheons were held for informal discussions. At one of these, it was decided to act on my earlier suggestion and enlarge our fellowship by inviting other Toronto-based publications to join us. I was appointed to act as chair and to extend invitations to the other editors. Col. Herbert Wood of the Salvation Armyâs The War Cry, Rev. Al Forrest of The United Church Observer, Rev. Earl Kulbeck of The Pentecostal Testimony, and Alfred De Manche of The Catholic Register, indicated their willingness to share in our meetings.
Our first Annual Meeting was held at the Prince Arthur House in Toronto, in 1957. About 30 people attended the supper meeting. I had the honour to preside. There was an election of officers and the speaker of the evening was the editor of Canadian Homes and Gardens. Our first formal constitution was prepared by Rev. Gordon Baker, editor of the Canadian Churchman, Earnest Homewood of The United Church Observer, Rev. DeCourcy Rayner, editor of the Presbyterian Record, and me.
One highlight that I vividly recall was our gathering at Bloor St. United Church with Pierre Berton as speaker. Another was a reception at the Lieutenant-Governor’s suite at Queen’s Park, followed by our banquet at Casa Loma. We had a very successful three-day meeting at Glenview Presbyterian Church, Toronto, which was organized with financial support from the Associated Church Press, an organization which encouraged and assisted us in those early years. On another occasion, through the courtesy of Dr. Rayner, we met at Hart House, University of Toronto, with the Hon. Judy LaMarsh, MP, minister of state, as speaker.
My most memorable meeting was in 1965, when we were hosts to the American Associated Church Press (ACP) and we entertained a large group of U.S. church editors in Ottawa. We were honoured to have as featured speakers the Hon. John Diefenbaker, then leader of the opposition, and Rev. T.C. Douglas, then national leader of the New Democratic Party.
The American delegates were thrilled at the reception they were given. They were greatly impressed as they listened with intense interest to Mr. Douglas, the first Christian Socialist most of them had ever met, and they were more than delighted at the rollicking humour of Mr. Diefenbakerâs excellent address on ăThe History of Canadian and American Relations.ä It was a most unusual address - scholarly, informative, and at times so very humorous that our American guests found themselves bursting with uncontrollable laughter. Yet there was a serious side to it too. Prime Minister Pearson met and welcomed the delegates when they toured the parliament buildings.
The prime minister met again with Canadian Church Press editors when we went to Ottawa the following year to protest increased postage on mailing our church publications. He told us he was interested in church matters because his father had been for many years a Methodist minister. Then he called in the official photographer to take a picture of us with him. I canât recall that our postage rates were reduced.
In 1972 The Canadian Church Press was again host to the ACP. The meeting place was at Banff, Alberta, and both Canadian and American delegates were thrilled by the beauty of the location and the excellent program. Editors of the Roman Catholic church press in the U.S. shared in the program.
In 1979 members of the ACP and CCP again held a joint convention at the Park Plaza Hotel in Toronto. Larry Henderson, editor of The Catholic Register, was president that year and arranged for Malcom Muggeridge to address the CCP awards luncheon to which ACP editors were invited.
Work began the following year on a code of ethics to which member publications would subscribe. At the annual meeting in April, 1981, Joy Hansell of The Pentecostal Testimony presented a code that had been drafted by a small committee. The membership approved it as it stood, as an affirmation of our interchurch press relations and standards of professionalism.
Over the years the membership of The Canadian Church Press has extended across Canada from the Atlantic Baptist to The B.C. Catholic. Today, the more than 50 regional and national, denominational and non-denominational newspapers and magazines which comprise the membership of The Canadian Church Press make it the very representative body it is.
- Harold U. Trinier became editor of The Canadian Baptist on Sept. 1, 1950. He retired in 1977.
Historical Update
In 1984 Harold U. Trinier recalled The Canadian Church Press (CCP) founding events, and also some highlights from the 1960s and 1970s. In 1992 Ron Rempel, editor of the Mennonite Reporter, prepared an update, gleaning from annual meeting minutes plus other documents in the files. More recent data has been woven into the update by Audrey Dorsch, administrative assistant.
Annual conventions
In the early 1980s the annual conventions were one-day events with workshops and other professional development activities, a short business meeting, and an awards dinner. In 1985, the one-day convention started at noon one day and ended at noon the next, with an overnight stay at the Royal York in Toronto.
This convention and subsequent ones, were planned by a subcommittee to free the CCP executive committee time for a growing list of other concerns, for example, postal matters (see below).
For the next two consecutive years, CCP adopted a two-day residential retreat-style conference outside of Toronto: Niagara Falls in 1986 and Orangeville in 1987. The two-day format continued. The 1989 convention was held jointly with the Associated Church press (ACP) in Toronto - the first joint convention with ACP since 1979.
The 1990 convention was in Ancaster; 1991 Waterloo; 1992 Mississauga; 1993 Winnipeg, the first convention in over 20 years to be held outside of south-central Ontario; 1994 Mississauga; 1995 Ottawa, another joint convention with the ACP; 1996 Toronto; 1997 Winnipeg, coinciding with the Red River flood; 1998 Ottawa, held immediately preceding the Faith & the Media conference, in which many CCP members participated.
Awards
Prior to 1980, the CCP held an awards program every other year, with “Tweeny” awards offered in the year between. The last reference to the “Tweeny” awards was in the minutes of the 1980 annual meeting. In 1979 there were 65 award entries; in 1985 160, and in 1990 300 entries. In 1982, the CCP had only one judge for all categories. By the mid-1980s two or three judges were involved. By the mid-1990s administration of the awards had become too cumbersome for executive members to handle on a volunteer basis, so funds were designated for a part-time awards co-ordinator.
Fees and membership
A constitutional change, voted on in 1980 and 1981, established fees at $20 per year for publications under 25,000 circulation, and $40 per year for those over 25,000. The fee structure was then moved from the constitution.
The next fee increase came in 1987 - in part to raise extra revenue to fund administrative help for the CCP. The new fees were: $40 for publications under 5,000 circulation; $60 for those 5,000 to 10,000; $75 for 10,000 to 25,000; $100 for 25,000 to 50,000; $125 for 50,000 to 100,000; $150 for those over 100,000. In 1998 the membership voted an increase of 10 percent (rounded to the next dollar).
The idea of hiring a part-time administrative assistant was delayed year after year. CCP did, however, establish a permanent Toronto mailing address and purchased some clerical services from Companion magazine. In 1992 the executive dropped the permanent mailing address. In 1997 the CCP contracted a part-time administrative assistant for $5,000 per year for a projected seven hours per week.
In 1980, CCP had 59 members and six associates. The membership stayed at around 60 for the next decade. By 1998 it had grown to 73 members and 16 associates.
Newsletter and news service
At the 1981 annual meeting CCP members decided to discontinue the “newsletter” - which had functioned as a news service to member publications. The idea of news service surfaced again in 1988 when some Roman Catholic newspapers started sharing news on a computer network through Bell Canada’s Inet 2000 system.
Three or four non-Roman Catholic CCP members started a parallel and connected network in the spring of 1990. Most of the stories were carried by both networks.
By spring 1992 plans for an Ottawa-based editor for the Roman Catholic network had not yet materialized - and the CCP network had not grown beyond the founding participants. Shortly after the adoption of a new CCP logo in 1991 CCP once again started a newsletter - this time a quarterly communication from the executive committee to members. The newsletter continues on an occasional basis, four or five times a year.
Postal issues
At the 1979 annual meeting members discussed poor postal delivery - a perennial concern. However, seven years later, in 1986, CCP was jolted when three member publications lost their second class mailing permits and had trouble getting them back.
In 1987 CCP appointed a postal subcommittee and also became an associate member of The Canadian Magazine Publishers’ Association (CMPA) to benefit from the work of its political affairs committee. For several years Bob Bettson was the CCP delegate to the CMPA postal affairs committee. With the hiring of an administrative assistant, that task became part of the job description. Two further jolts kept CCP’s postal representatives busy: 1989 cuts to the federal government’s postal subsidy program, and the 1990 announcement that the subsidy would be eliminated entirely and replaced with a new program to support lower postal rates by 1996. Implementation of that new program, the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), was delayed. In 1997 all subsidized publications were required to re-apply under the PAP. In June 1998 a delegation of the CCP met with representatives of the Department of Canadian Heritage to present concerns with some of the new regulations, and explain the implications they would have. In late 1998 the Department of Canadian Heritage was still processing the applications and many CCP members were hanging in uncertainty. In 1998 the CCP representative on the CMPA postal committee was invited to participate on the ongoing subcommittee that met with the Department of Canadian Heritage to draft the Memorandum Of Agreement between the government and Canada Post.
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