A service for Rick will be held:
Sunday October 1, 2023
11am - 2pm
Cole Funeral Home
2037 McGee Side Road Carp, Ontario K0A 1L0
https://colefuneralservices.com/tribute/details/8796/Richard-Wilson/obituary.html#tribute-start
In 1989 the Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical Laboratories (CAEAL) was formed by Environment Canada stakeholders as a membership organization with the aim of improving the quality of analytical laboratory data. The signatories to CAEAL’s Letters Patent – Don Laberge (private), John Lawrence (federal) and Serge Villard (provincial) – all firmly believed a national data quality approach would benefit all Canadians, and lead to the establishment of CAEAL’s Proficiency Testing Program in 1991.
In August 1994 Dr. Rick Wilson was appointed CAEAL’s Executive Director. Under Rick’s leadership, CAEAL partnered with the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) in 1994 to expand CAEAL programs to include laboratory assessments, with the SCC granting accreditations. In 1999 CAEAL’s west coast operations were consolidated with the Ottawa office. In 2001, Rick signed an agreement to conduct assessments in South America on behalf of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), with the intention of sharing best practices to allow Accrediting Bodies in the region to one day conduct assessments independently.
In one of his defining legacies, the Canadian Chemical News published Rick’s article detailing empirical proof that accredited laboratories performed better in PT than non-accredited laboratories. Published papers in 2001 and 2010 re-confirmed this premise. With data in hand, Rick often travelled across Canada to speak to regulators of all types and concentrated on extolling the benefits of quality approaches throughout the environmental laboratory industry.
In 2001, Rick was called as a witness before the Walkerton Commission of Inquiry. The impact of his statements clearly resonated with Justice O’Connor. Part II report of the commission praised CAEAL for its everyday achievements: “I heard evidence about the organization of the accreditation program and the types of review that CAEAL auditors carry out. I was impressed by the thoroughness of the verification process and the capacity to identify areas for improvement at individual laboratories. Although a quality assurance program adds time, effort, and cost to laboratory operations, the improvements in reliability, validity, and record keeping more than offset the increased expenditure. As such, drinking water testing should be performed only by accredited laboratories, as currently required under Ontario Regulation 459/00.”
By 2002, Rick and the Board understood that CAEAL’s members, clients and stakeholders would be best served with CAEAL acting as a full-service accrediting body. Rick put the wheels in motion, including establishing a new program in 2004: the CAEAL Training Service. On November 17, 2005, CAEAL became a signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA). On November 12, 2006, Rick signed the official agreement at the ILAC/IAF 2006 Joint General Assembly held in Cancun, Mexico November 6-14, 2006. This led to establishment of CAEAL’s Accreditation Council - a group of eminent professionals who take the ultimate decision on laboratory accreditation.
In June 2008, based on the hard work of Rick, the staff and the Board, CAEAL members attending the AGM provided unanimous approval for changing the association name to Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation Inc. (CALA). The presentation by the Board Chair noted that the recommendation for the name change was a response to member input for accreditations to include other types of testing laboratories – not just environmental. Today, with the assistance of over 160 dedicated volunteers, CALA accredits over 215 laboratories in 10 fields of accreditation in over a dozen countries.
Inspirational, motivational, forgiving, dedicated, and unassuming. A leader by any definition.
Perhaps staff defined Rick’s leadership impact best with their heartfelt words upon his retirement in late 2008:
- Rick has the innate ability not only to inspire people to help achieve the goals of CALA, but also to be better people - he does this with words, his actions, and his demeanor. I am proud to call Rick a friend.
- Rick, I am better person for knowing you. Thank you for your peerless leadership, wisdom, fairness and humor. You will be missed infinitely.
- I want to thank the person who gave me the opportunity to work at something I could believe in again. Rick, you are Inspiration personified.
- Thank you, Rick, for being an excellent Chief in all regards – providing vision, integrity, humility and, most of all, believing in us.
- Rick has always been attentive to the needs and welfare of his staff. From sick days to snow days, I’ve always greatly appreciated Rick’s constant concern and support for the well-being of the staff.
- Thanks for being a thoughtful and understanding leader over the years. You have let me learn a great deal, for that I am grateful.
- The atmosphere created by Rick at work is always warm, friendly, and relaxed. Rick presents himself with a high class and he’s very cultured.
- Thank you for making me feel welcome in the short time that I have being working here.
Some notable achievements under Rick’s leadership:
- 1996 inaugural Serge Villard Award (now “CALA Assessor Excellence Award”)
- 1997 brought CAEAL to the internet (caeal.ca)
- 1997 Rick publishes article “Laboratory Accreditation: Proof of Performance for Environmental Labs” in Canadian Chemical News.
- 2000 the online PT Web Data Entry System is launched
- 2004 “Laboratory accreditation: Proof of performance for environmental laboratories - 2001 Study” published in Accreditation and Quality Assurance 9(1):52-54
- 2004 inaugural annual report and the CALA Training Services begins operations
- 2004 over a period of 3 years, CAEAL delivers PT over to over 500 facilities under Alberta Environment’s Alternate Laboratory Quality Assurance Program
- 2005 first CAEAL accredited laboratories, the Accreditation Council is established and online Directory of Accredited Laboratories is launched
- 2006 CAEAL begins offering Combined ILAC MRA Marks to accredited laboratories
- 2006 inaugural Don LaBerge Award (now “CALA Outstanding Achievement Award”)
- 2007 rebranding and Letters Patent modified to expand programs
- 2007 introduced the CAEAL John Lawrence Scholarship Award (now “CALA Student Excellence Scholarship Award”)
- 2008 IAPHC, Graphic Professionals Resource Network International Gallery of Superb Printing Awards. The awards were for CAEAL’s 2005 (silver) and 2006 (gold) Annual Reports.
- 2008 association name approved (CALA) and new logo launched
- 2008 CALA celebrated ILAC’s first ever annual International Accreditation Day (June 9)
- 2009 hosted the ILAC / IAF 2009 Joint General Assembly in Vancouver
Rick (far right) at his last staff holiday party in 2007.
