CANADIANCANADIAN ASSOCIATIONASSOCIATION FORFORFOR PHYSICALPHYSICALPHYSICAL ANTHROANTHROANTHROPOLOGYPOLOGY Robert D. Hoppa, Editor L’ASSOCIATIONL’ASSOCIATION CANADICANADIENNEENNE D’ANTHROPOLOGIED’ANTHROPOLOGIE PHYSIQUEPHYSIQUEPHYSIQUE Department of Anthropology University of Manitoba NewsletterNewsletter Volume 2002 Issue 2 Fall 2002 Message from the Outgoing President Richard Lazenby Inside this issue: So this is the also goals I had hoped to ac- studies, and into tenure-stream end. It has complish which were not positions (even within the been a full achieved, and among those the highly competitive US market). 2 three years most vexing is that we still re- Skinner named 2002 plus one that I flect, by and large, the commu- I would like to thank all of my Bora Laskin Fellow have served as nity of English-speaking biologi- colleagues with whom I have President of cal anthropologists. had the pleasure of working as Three Centuries of TB 3 CAPA,. It has President: Nancy Lovell and been a time of some transfor- But we are nonetheless a very Rob Hoppa (past and present mation of the Association, dynamic community, of excel- Newsletter Editors), Charles most of which I imagine has lent scholars (witness the num- FitzGerald and Anne Zeller Member News 4 been fairly imperceptible to ber of Canada Research Chairs (past and present Secretary- much of the membership among our relatively small Treasurers), Leslie Chan (web (perhaps a hallmark of good midst: Shelley Saunders, Chris guru), Chris White, who pre- change?). We have a new con- White, Linda Fedigan, and Rob ceded me in this role and pro- Quebec Cree Back 6 stitution with a new executive Hoppa) and excellent stu- vided much guidance in the Power Project organization, a new financial dents – peers and future col- time of baby steps. And I thank leagues. Their presence at our all of those who served the structure, a new logo, a new (and still under construction) annual meetings is always re- Association, hosting our meet- website, a new newsletter for- freshing and exciting (he says, ings, acting as judges of student mat. And I am happy to say, a fondly recalling those days of papers, and just doing good new president., Andrew Nel- much exuberant energy..). physical anthropology. Finally, son, from the University of Perhaps what pleases me most much gratitude to a few very Western Ontario. There were has been to see the growth in special friends among you CAPA over the past four (whom I shall not name, but years, much of it among the you know who you are) – student ranks, and to see as thank you for your kindness well their success, in moving these past two years. on to more advanced degree Message from the President Elect HIGHLIGHTS Andrew Nelson · News from Members I would like to start by thank- ment and achievement, to build ing the nominating committee upon my successors achieve- · Conference Reports and the membership for con- ments with the granting coun- · Job Opportunities ferring upon me this honour. cils, and to foster new areas of · New from the Press These are challenging times for research collaboration and co- physical anthropology in Can- operation. I look forward o · Meetings of Interest Andrew Nelson, ada, as evidenced by the ongo- working closely with you all in ing ambiguity for our area in the upcoming years. Department of terms of SSHRC and NSERC. However, at the same time, Editor’s Note: Andrew’s research Anthropology, University of these are exciting days, as evi- has been recently profiled at Inno- denced by new job openings vation Canada’s website: Western Ontario elected and by our members' consider- http://www.innovationcanada.ca able successes with CFI. In my new CAPA President term of office, I hope to carry on our organization's tradition of fostering student involve- Page 2 CAPA / ACAP Forensic anthropologist named 2002 Bora Laskin Fellow Simon Fraser professor wins award to address the challenges of collecting evidence from mass graves and to secure the protection of human rights (from SSHRC website http://www.sshrc.ca/web/whatsnew/press_releases/fellowship_laskin_e.asp) (Ottawa, September 26, 2002) - World- On sabbatical from the archaeology depart- agencies involved in death investigations. renowned forensic anthropologist Mark Skin- ment at Simon Fraser University, Skinner is ner, who has spent the past five years assisting advising the International Commission on "The field is so new and expanding so fast that international investigations of human rights Missing Persons, which is monitoring the on- those with the most experience-much of it abuses, is the 2002 winner of the annual Bora going exhumations and autopsies of human gained in the last five years-have not been able Laskin Fellowship. remains from mass gravesites in Serbia. The to synthesize their experiences and make victims are thought to be Kosovars and Alba- them accessible to others dealing with mass Established in 1985 by the Social Sciences and nians who disappeared in 1999. Previously, graves," Skinner said. "And, current interna- Humanities Research Council of Canada Skinner's expertise was invaluable during n-i tional guidelines for the exhumation of graves (SSHRC) to honour the late chief justice of vestigations in Afghanistan, Bosnia- and collection of shallowly buried remains are the Supreme Court of Canada, the Bora Herzegovina, East Timor, and Yugoslavia. insufficient to prepare the invest igator for the Laskin award supports multidisciplinary re- scale and range of situations that are com- search and the development of Canadian ex- "I have a personal concern with abuses of monly encountered." pertise in the field of human rights. The 12- power and, over the past decade, we've seen month award, valued at $45,000, plus an al- too many discoveries of mass graves in trou- Skinner will also study the feasibility of creat- lowance of $10,000 for research and travel bled parts of the world," he said. "The exhu- ing a Canadian training centre for forensic expenses, is granted once a year following a mation of victims for the purposes of identif i- archaeology to help deal with the forensic national competition. cation and to obtain evidence for prosecution challenges posed by the discovery and invest i- is a large challenge. The job of forensic scien- gation of mass graves. "There is no doubt that Mark Skinner is at the tists is to collect evidence in an unbiased man- forefront of the forensic work being done at ner to ensure punitive responses are appro- The winner of the Bora Laskin Fellowship is mass grave sites around the world," said Marc priate and justifiable." chosen by a five-member panel of expert Renaud, president of SSHRC. "He has already scholars in international and constitutional made a significant contribution to the field of Skinner will use the fellowship to fund his re- law, refugee and immigration law, human human rights and this fellowship will most search project, which will re-evaluate current rights, social, legal and constitutional history, certainly support more exemplary work and guidelines for the exhumation of mass graves ethnicity, legal philosophy, geography, and further justice by protecting individual rights and related sites, and make recommendations education. around the world." for their amendment to those international Forensic Anthropology plays a major role in Missing Women Joint Task Force Investigation Excerpted from http://www.rcmp-bcmedia .ca/pressrelease.jsp?vRelease=1784 At Canada's largest-ever crime scene investiga- Toronto, University of Manitoba, University of whose volume of interest cannot be estimated at tion located on an urban farm property in Port Saskatchewan, University of Alberta, and Simon this point. Coquitlam, near Vancouver, British Columbia, a Fraser University. Two members of the team are small army of police investigators, scientists, and Canadian students studying abroad. The team As the team members examine the sifted soil on specialists are applying the latest in technology members are at various stages of their academic the conveyor belt they search for bone and and forensic investigative tools to try and unravel careers ranging from upper undergraduate to other material with potential forensic value. The mysteries surrounding the disappearance of 54 PhD candidates. All have experience identifying Osteologists take the material they recover to a women missing predominately from the Eastside human bone from fragments as small as a finger- special processing area. Procedures to maintain of Vancouver over the past 13 years. nail to complete elements, under different cir- and secure the possible DNA viability of each cumstances and in a variety of contexts. item are carefully followed. Each item that is Since February of 2002, Robert William Pickton, seized is thoroughly examined and documented. a co-owner of the Port Coquitlam farm has been Members of the team were selected for their The potential evidence is redirected to various charged with seven counts of first degree mu r- ability to recognize bones in diverse states of specialists for additional analysis and documenta- der. All the charges stem from work of the Miss- decay that have been exposed to factors ranging tion. For example, all bone is examined by a Fo- ing Women Task Force at the farm site. Most of from fire to water. The job involves careful at- rensic Anthropologist to determine its signif i- the charges have come from not only hundreds tention to detail and intense concentration. cance to the case. of hours of old-fashioned police leg work - find- Team members stand over four conveyor belts ing and interviewing individuals that are often examining soil that has come through a sifter. Forensic Anthropologists are experts in distin- hard to find - but from the precise and painstak- The soil comes from the farm site, which has guishing animal from human bone, providing a ingly detailed work of scientists and forensic been divided into 216 search grids of 20 x 20 biological profile of human skeletal remains (age, experts.