(Information through 1996 drafted by Garth Spencer, Vancouver, B.C., July 1996)
The Canadian Unity Fan Fund was conceived about 1981 as a means to
better acquaint Eastern and Western Canadian fans with each other.
The point about CUFF is that this country (Canada, I mean) is
regionalized enough that a Canadian Unity Fan Fund actually makes
sense here; but I think there has been a recurring problem raising
the profile of this fanactivity.
1981
Mike Hall of Edmonton received a total $50 to attend Torque 2 in
Toronto.
Bio: Michael Hall was an active member of ESFCAS when he
travelled to Toronto on the award, and visited Torque, a small
fannish convention. He was also a fanzine fan, and helped Robert
Runte produce New Canadian Fandom between 1981 and 1983.
His own fanzine, Laid, was a sort of National
Enquirer parody of fannish newszines - "All lies as long as
they were close to the truth", as he put it. He was also a member
of the collective that produced The Monthly Monthly in
Edmonton, and had a one-shot in the late 80s, New Wave Video
Snacks, before gafiating for some years. Mike Hall was a member
of CANADAPA until it ceased to publish, and helped Garth Spencer
produce New Canadian Fandom until Georges Giguere assumed
the printing function. Mike Hall is married to Mary Fedun and now
lives in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Hiatus 1982-1986
A lapse of some years followed.
1987
When the 1987 Canvention was chosen at the first Canvention
Business Meeting (Ad Astra 6 in Toronto), Wallis immediately
announced his Canvention intended to revive CUFF, the Canadian
Unity Fan Fund in conjunction with the Caspers, and he proposed
that the CUFF winner each year should come to the Canvention. He
also proposed that future Canvention bids and CUFF nominations be
entered alternately by Western and Eastern fan communities, as
divided by the Manitoba/Ontario border.
Bio: Michael Wallis was active in Toronto convention fandom
from the late 80s, participating in TAPA and chairing a number of
Ad Astras. He became chiefly known through the phrase "It's all
Michael's fault." He has since moved to Los Angeles, where he has
been involved in Los Angeles cons.
1988
Taral Wayne of Toronto won the 87/88 CUFF race by acclamation,
and attended Keycon/Canvention 8 in Winnipeg.
Bio: Taral Wayne joined the Ontario SF Club (of Toronto) in
1971, and became part of the "new Derelicts" circle which became
prominent in OSFiC after Torcon II. After 1973 Taral became a
well-known fanzine publisher, fanartist, apahack and congoer. His
fanhistory articles have appeared in New Canadian Fandom,
Maple Leaf Rag, Torus and Opuntia. His fanart
has appeared in File 770, Ansible, DNQ,
Mainstream and many other zines. He is now a graphic artist
in Toronto. His fannish activities are now largely confined to
furry-fandom/graphic art apazines.
1989
Robert Runte of Edmonton attended PineKone II/Canvention 9 in
Ottawa. Steve Forty and Robert Runte were both nominees; the winner
was Robert, due perhaps to the fact that Steve Forty was
campaigning for him.
Bio: Robert Runte, a mysterious and powerful figure wreathed
in legend and rumour, was the driving force behind the Edmonton SF
and Comic Art Society from the late 1970s, and at least once
revived the club with a cleverly-designed hoax. He contributed to
Neology, the club fanzine, and joined The Monthly
Monthly collective; his own fanzines, New Canadian
Fandom and I'm Not Boring You Am I?, helped shape the
minds of two fannish generations, along with his contributions to
CANADAPA and GALACTUS. Robert has been part of the movement of many
former ESFCAS members to go into SF writing, and found groups such
as SF Canada, the Canadian SF and Fantasy Foundation, the On
Spec editorial collective, and the Books Collective which now
publishes the Tesseract Books Canadian SF line. This graduate
sociologist now works for the Alberta board of education, where he
helps shape the minds of a generation of innocent children. Robert
Runte co-edited the last Tesseracts anthology of Canadian SF
with Yves Meynard (1995), and lives in Lethbridge.
Steve Forty, a steel burnisher and longtime member of
BCSFA, the British Columbia Science Fiction Association, the oldest
and once the largest SF club in Vancouver, B.C. Steve Forty has
served as BCSFAzine editor, club president, and convention
chair (V-Con 20, 1993).
1990
Paul Valcour of Ottawa attended Con-Version 7/Canvention 10 in
Calgary. The nominees were Paul Valcour and Keith Soltys. Paul
Valcour later wrote, "the 54 votes cast [this year] is a marked
improvement over last year's 20." (Con News)
Bio: Veteran of several Ottawa convention committees and
chair of PineKone I and II, Paul Valcour has produced one one-shot
fanzine, Long Distance Voyeur, and has written articles for
Con News, MLR, Con-TRACT. He has served until
recently as eastern administrator of the Canadian Unity Fan
Fund.
The Canadian Unity Fan Fund apparently was suspended in 1990.
1991
Linda Ross-Mansfield travelled from Winnipeg to Kitchener,
Ontario, to attend Wilfcon (Canvention 12) at the Wilfrid Laurier
University campus.
Bio: Linda Ross-Mansfield's fannish experience goes back
over a decade and a half; in 1980-81 she edited Northern
Lights, a Canadian newszine, from Oromocto, New Brunswick. With
her husband John Mansfield she relocated to Winnipeg and helped
start up Star Trek fandom and Keycon. She is western administrator
of the Canadian Unity Fan Fund.
Hiatus 1992-1995
Since then, to judge from John Mansfield's and Linda Ross-
Mansfield's reports published in fanzines, there has been a good
deal of difficulty getting enough general fan participation to
carry on CUFF. In fact at one point in 1994, John Mansfield
declared that CUFF was abolished, because nomination returns were
so poor.
Bio: John Mansfield was on the scene in OSFiC in the early
1970s, and in the early days of the Ottawa SF Society around 1977.
He now resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba with his wife Linda
Ross-Mansfield, runs a gaming store (Pendragon Games), and edits
Con-TRACT, a bimonthly listing of conventions across
Canada.
1996
RENE WALLING of Montreal won the 1996 CUFF and attended Canvention
96/Con-Version XIII in Calgary.
Bio: "Rene has been involved with Con*Cept" (a Montreal
convention) "since 1992. He has been in charge of Consuite,
Registration, Program Book translation through the years, moving up
to Vice-Chair in 1995 and Chair in 1996. As part of the Montreal
Smoked Meat Parties and Con*Cept, Rene has been promoting Canadian
cons at various US cons, and has worked on joint mailings and
program book ad exchanges with cons."
(Con-TRACT 8:4, Jul-Aug 96)
The following information is taken from the CUFF website.
Updated 19 February 2008. If you have a comment or question about these Web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.