News, events, tips and updates from Editors Canada
In this issue:
- TRAINING: Our last webinar of the season and more!
- EDITORS CANADA CONFERENCE: Limited spots are still available for Editors26!
- THE GOLD STANDARD: It’s time to start thinking about professional certification
- ACADEMIC EDITING: Upcoming events
- AGM: Advance motions due May 1
- GET INVOLVED: National Volunteer Month
- MEMBER DISCOUNT: Save 60% on the Literary Review of Canada
- MEMBER NEWS: Tell the world about your accomplishment!
- NEC: Notes from your national executive council
1. TRAINING: Our last webinar of the season and more!
Don’t miss the last webinar in our spring professional development lineup:
- May 7: Safe and Sensitive Practices for Working with Trauma Survivors (Meghan Fandrich)
Want to get caught up on the rest of our webinar season? Recorded sessions are available on our webinars page. You’ll find training on editing and AI, freelancing skills like managing business processes and using contracts, getting into the book editing industry and much more.
Plus, professional development in May at SFU
Join our friends at Simon Fraser University Continuing Studies for a range of flexible online courses for professional communicators. Register now to save your spot in courses including:
- Editors and Editing: An Introduction
- Structural Editing
- Efficient Business and Professional Writing
- Copy Editing
- Document Design and Production for Editors
- Ethics and Legal Issues in Writing and Publishing
- Plain Language Principles
- Grammar
2. EDITORS CANADA CONFERENCE: Limited spots are still available for Editors26!
Time is running out to register for the last spots at the 2026 Editors Canada conference: Editing in the Age of Misinformation! The conference will take place May 21 to 23, 2026, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Dalhousie University’s downtown campus. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to connect with colleagues and listen to experts share their hard-earned knowledge in person. Head to the conference website to check out the conference schedule, session topics and social events.
We hope you’ll consider arriving in Halifax early to attend the pre-conference dinner on May 20 at 6 p.m. RSVP now! If you haven’t made your travel arrangements yet, don’t forget that WestJet and Porter have exclusive deals you can take advantage of. Find out more about air travel and hotel deals for conference attendees.
This year, the price of attending the awards banquet is included in your conference registration. Join us on May 22 to celebrate our colleagues’ hard work with food, drinks and applause!
Finally, we are delighted to announce that Editors Atlantic is hosting a short story open mic night with Trident Booksellers on May 22! Do you have a fiction piece you’re working on? Read a five- to seven-minute excerpt and get constructive feedback from the audience! Space at the venue is limited, so please RSVP here, and sign up with the host to secure your reading spot!
3. THE GOLD STANDARD: It’s time to start thinking about Professional Certification
Will this be the year you put your skills to the test and level up your career?
The 2026 Editors Canada Professional Certification exams are fast approaching. In November 2026, we will be offering the Stylistic Editing and Copy Editing exams.
Why take the exam?
Being certified by Editors Canada is the recognition of an editor’s high level of professional knowledge and skill. In today’s competitive job market, certification demonstrates your expertise—and gives you a marketing advantage.
Start preparing today
Registration may not open until the summer, but you can start practising for the Stylistic Editing exam, Copy Editing exam or both. Check out our resources to get started.
You don’t have to do it alone
While the exams must be completed independently, a study group can help you uncover gaps in your knowledge and skills. Reach out on our social media platforms (Google Groups, Facebook, Discord) to form study groups. Keep an eye on branch or twig activities as some may be organizing exam study sessions.
More details to come
As we get closer to the registration date, expect more details. The latest updates can be found on the Editors Canada Professional Certification page.
4. ACADEMIC EDITING: Upcoming events
Coffee Chat
Tuesday, May 12
11:30 a.m., PT / 2:30 p.m., ET
State of Your Business
Join your fellow editors to discuss your freelance business—whether you want to celebrate wins, brainstorm solutions for challenges, or talk about how to achieve your professional goals. This session will be hosted by Karen Crosby.
Register here.
Book Club
Wednesday, June 10
10 a.m., PT / 1 p.m., ET
Come join us for a group discussion on They Say / I Say by Gerald Graff & Cathy Birkenstein. This is an opportunity to improve our practice of academic editing through academic writing techniques.
Hosted by Kate Vacek.
This event will not be recorded. Register to attend.
5. AGM: Advance motions due May 1
Editors Canada’s 2026 annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on Zoom on June 25. Our association has a long tradition of member involvement, and any member is entitled to make a motion to be put to a vote at the meeting.
The Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act requires that substantive motions must be on the agenda that goes out to members in the call to meeting notice. See sections 162 (9) to 163 (6) of the Act. The call to meeting will go out to members 21 to 35 days before the AGM, as required by our bylaw [3.01].
Certain types of motions from the floor can be accepted on the day of the meeting:
- thanking a member or committee
- awarding a surprise honour
- nominating a director to sit on the national executive council (See the National Nominations Procedures: “Further nominations are accepted at the final call for nominations held at the annual general meeting.”)
If you would like to make a substantive motion at the AGM, please submit the motion to the national secretary by May 1. You are encouraged to include a supporting statement (up to 500 words) to be included in the notice. (This maximum word count is set by the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Regulations [section 64].)
6. GET INVOLVED: National Volunteer Month
April is Volunteer Month in Canada! A big thank-you to everyone who is currently volunteering for Editors Canada or has volunteered in the past. We are a better association because of you. In fact, we are an association because of you. Editors Canada would not exist without volunteers.
If you’re interested in getting involved, it’s never too late to get started. There’s still time to stand for 2026–27 national executive council positions and committee chairs. We always have room on our many national committees, and other opportunities are available as well. Most work is done remotely, so it doesn’t matter where you live.
Here are some more ways to get involved:
Co-host needed for The Editors’ Vine
The Editors’ Vine was established in 2020 in response to member requests for an online meeting to complement in-person twig and branch meetings. The world is a different place today, but the Vine continues, currently meeting monthly on Zoom.
Topics are varied: emergency planning to AI, website design to plain language, and everything in between. We try to include information of relevance to all types of editors.
We’re looking for a volunteer to co-host The Editors’ Vine. If you’re interested, please send an email to Joanne Findon.
Nominate a featured volunteer
What fuels Editors Canada? Our energetic, selfless volunteers! We love to celebrate them via our featured volunteers profiles. If you know of someone whose outstanding volunteer work you’d like to see highlighted, please contact Vilma Vitols, chair of the volunteer management committee, providing that person’s name, email address, and volunteer position and work. Please also include a short description of what motivates your nomination. (We’ll contact them and give them the opportunity to accept or refuse the nomination.) Thank you!
7. MEMBER DISCOUNT: Save 60% on the Literary Review of Canada
Editors Canada members and student affiliates can subscribe to the Literary Review of Canada at over 60% off the cover price—the magazine’s lowest price.
About the Literary Review of Canada
Published 10 times a year, this English-language magazine features thoughtful and thorough book reviews, original essays, strong opinions, debates and fresh ideas. With over 300 reviews per year, it’s the most comprehensive source of information on the books that matter now and the stories that need to be told.
Often compared to the New York Review of Books, the Literary Review of Canada provides a much-needed perspective that is relevant for all writers, editors and readers who care about culture, literature and politics.
Included with your print subscription, you’ll also get FREE access to the Literary Review of Canada website, reviewcanada.ca, so you can read the current issue and thousands of reviews from the archives—all this for only $35 (this is $54 off the $89.50 cover price and $23 off the $58 subscription price).
Subscribe now for one year—that’s 10 issues—for only $35!
Visit the member services section of the website to get this special offer for Editors Canada members and student affiliates.
Looking for other benefits of membership? Check out the Editors Canada member resources and member services pages.
Need help logging into the website?
Visit the member portal and click the “Click here if you forgot your password” link.
Looking for tips for using the Editors Canada website? Here are some of the most common issues and workarounds.
8. MEMBER NEWS: Tell the world about your accomplishment!
Editors Canada Member News is where we share information about members and affiliates who win awards, publish books and make their mark in other important ways.
Do you have an achievement you’d like to share? Are you excited about a new project or opportunity that has come your way? Let us tell the world all about it! Please send your stories to the member news coordinator.
9. NEC: Notes from your national executive council
The national executive council (NEC) met on March 22.
A lot of projects are currently under way at Editors Canada. The publications committee continues to work on Edit Like a Pro: Copy Editing. It is nearing completion and should be released in the coming months. Webinars are currently running as scheduled, and planning for the next season of webinars is expected to begin shortly.
Our volunteers continue to be top of mind as we work to improve ways of working with and recognizing their dedication and hard work. If you are thinking of volunteering, please reach out! There are many ways to help the organization, gain valuable experience, and meet other dedicated editors.
The NEC met again on Sunday, April 26. A summary of that meeting will appear in the next e-news update.
Kaitlin Littlechild
President
The national e-news update is produced on behalf of the national executive council by the national office.