The conference was attended by nearly 60 participants from Canada, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The formal program included 3 introductory addresses, 28 presentations of an academic nature, and 3 presentations of a non-academic / professional nature including a luncheon address by Anna M. Rappaport, then President-Elect of the SoA, entitled "The SoA : Issues and Challenges".
Papers corresponding to most of the contributed presentations have since appeared in the 1998.1 issue of "Actuarial Research Clearing House".
As if the serious portion of the conference program were not fun enough, some serious fun was also organized for the conference participants. The social part of the conference program included a banquet at Heritage Park, a unique historical village self-described as 'Canada's largest living historical museum'. Delegates enjoyed a relaxing cruise on the S.S. Moyie sternwheeler followed by a reception and dinner in an authentic Dairy Barn which was donated to the park by the Gunn family in 1978. The festivities were only slightly marred by the abduction and near hanging of Robert L. Brown at the hands of Heritage Parks' resident gunslingers, led by the dastardly Black Bart.
On Saturday, August 7, 27 able participants embarked on a daytrip to the Columbia Icefield (see here or here), after which they enjoyed a dinner and shopping stop in Banff. Although there were several close calls, in the end no bodies were lost to glacier crevasses in the Icefield.
In summary, the 32nd ARC was a productive one and the general consensus is that a good time was had by all.
- Professor David
P.M. Scollnik, Department of
Mathematics and Statistics, University
of Calgary