History of our Web Site

The Beginning

Discussions

As with any volunteer organization, the success of any communications scheme depends greatly on volunteers and their time and skills... Being a small Group (5 Wings), a few meetings and phone calls would usually suit our purposes. However, this situation left little room to promote AFAC within the community and efforts aimed at increasing public awareness since our name change from the Royal Canadian Air Force Association (RCAFA) to the Air Force Association of Canada (AFAC) produced little results.

With the RCAF 75th and AFAC 50th Anniversary celebrations, we felt that this provided an excellent opportunity to expand our horizons and the idea of producing our own web site had surfaced on many occasions.

After a few discussions, the Group President entrusted this project to the Group Secretary and plans were made to launch our web site as part of the numerous events held throughout Quebec to mark the end of our 75th and 50th anniversaries.

Inauguration Ceremonies

Our Web site inauguration ceremony was held at the Discovery Pavilion of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City on 1 April 2000, date that coincided with the end of the RCAF's 75th and AFAC's 50th Anniversaries.

The ceremony was presided by Her Excellency, the Honourable Lise Thibault, Lieutenant Governor of the province of Quebec. In her remarks, Her Excellency noted that the past, present and future were well represented by having AFAC members, serving CF personnel and Air Cadets respectively in attendance. She also appreciated the opportunity to talk to just about every guest present and mentioned that the AFAC plaque she received will be proudly displayed in her offices, located in the National Assembly building in Quebec City.

The success of this ceremony would not have been possible without the valuable assistance provided by:

• Lieutenant-Colonel Denis Dubois, Commanding Officer of 5th Service Battalion and Aide-de-Camp to Her Excellency
• The late Mr. Jacques Rainville, then Membership Chairman of 302 (Quebec-Valcartier) Wing
• 302 Wing Past President Rolande Poulin
• Executive and members of 302 Wing
• Personnel of the Discovery Pavilion of the Plains of Abraham
• Major Jean-Pierre Marier, Capt Lyse Lévesque and cadets of 629 (Sillery) Air Cadet Squadron
• Members of the Quebec Group Executive
• Mr. & Mrs. Kelly Spence (394 West Island Wing) for their invaluable help during the final preparations in Quebec City

Of course, special thanks go to Her Excellency, the Honourable Lise Thibault for having graciously accepted our invitation. Her presence was appreciated by all who took part in the inauguration and we will all keep a lasting souvenir of this opportunity to meet a very special person!