Caribbean communicators participate in Montreal summit

Monday, February 9, 2004

MONTREAL, Canada: President of the Caribbean chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Gerry McDaniel and the organisation's E-Communication Director Othniel Harris traveled to the French Canadian city of Montreal this past Friday, February 6 to participate in the deliberations of IABC's Canada District 2 Board (CD2). 

CD 2 is a caucus of professionals in communication incorporating the Canadian provinces from Ontario, due east to Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Bermuda and the English and French-speaking Caribbean.

While in Montreal, McDaniel and Harris met with the President of IABC Montreal, Pierre Ostiguy, who will head up the francophone delegation to IABC/Caribbean's 4th annual regional conference, Trade Winds '04, to be held under the theme "Beyond Borders" at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port of Spain Trinidad, April 21-23.

"With the CSME practically yapping at our heels, we have decided to be radical about fulfilling our mandate to make IABC/Caribbean a bilingual chapter, with plans in place to introduce some Dutch…after all, Suriname is a member of CARICOM, with no indication that they are about to withdraw. High quality communication is definitely at the heart of our current transition as a region of diverse peoples to that 'seamless economic space', we keep hearing about", McDaniel explained. 

"The French islands are reaching out to us, and we cannot afford to allow business opportunities to go a-begging, simply because we were unresponsive to their overtures, or refusing to meet them half way by at least gaining an appreciation of their language and culture," he added.

IABC Caribbean was chartered in March 2000 as a development chapter, stepping up to full membership during last year's conference in Kingston.

Spawned in the 1970's out of a merger of several North American entities, IABC represents the interests of more than 14,000 professionals in over 60 countries on six continents. Its members run the gamut of mainline media workers, information technology specialists, public relations and marketing executives and educators. 

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