Founded in 1992, the Canadian Transit Heritage Foundation – Fondation canadienne du patrimoine de transport urbain, is the only national organization supporting and celebrating Canada’s transit heritage. It is a registered non-profit charitable corporation with work carried out through the efforts of volunteers who are committed to preserving, recording and sharing Canada’s public transit heritage. With a mission “to be the voice and resource for Canada’s transit heritage by preserving and promoting transit history, the CTHF is dedicated to fostering partnerships, delivering value and inspiring innovation.”

Foundation Board of Directors and Executive

Executive

Directors

New Directors Elected at Annual General Meeting

At the AGM held on Saturday, June 10th, three new directors were elected to the Foundation – Klaus Peter Canavan, Nick Hauser and Alain Mercier who replace retiring directors Wes Woods, Rob Chew and Dave Reage.

Klaus Peter Canavan is a highly accomplished professional with over 27 years of experience in the transit industry. He holds a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from RWTH Aachen Technical University in Germany / ETH University in Zurich, as well as an MBA from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. He began his career as a project manager with Kiepe Electric and, after successful delivery of the latest Vancouver trolley bus order, he was promoted to manage the Canadian business for Kiepe Electric, a role he has held since 2009.

Nick Hauser has had a lifelong interest in transit while growing up in Ottawa with Silversides, Classics, Ikarus and many other distinguishing bus models during the late 1990’s. He started at OC Transpo in May of 2017 as a Bus Operator, then became a Relief Instructor in July 2022. Nick assists bus model manufacturers in North America and promotes sales. In February 2022 he started an ongoing project to revive and record future fleet developments with OC Transpo, using work from the late Paul Leger and later Peter Newgard to update documents and transcribe them to a digital format. This project also now includes not just buses but Streetcars, Para Transpo, LRT, Diesel Rail and non-revenue equipment.

Alain Mercier worked over 40 years in the public transportation field both in the private and public sectors in Canada, the U.S. and at the international level. His career included the Voyageur Group, Via Rail, ALSTOM USA, Rheinmettal AG, OC Transpo and the RTC in Quebec City. He has served on various boards such as CUTA, the Association des transports urbain du Quebec (ATUQ), the UITP, and other for-profit organizations. Since his retirement in 2022, Alain continues to serve on boards and is a mentor as part of CUTA’s mentorship program. He is currently Past-Chair of the Canadian Urban Transit Association and is a Board member of Capitale Mobilité, providing shared-bike services and real estate development in Quebec City for the RTC.

Archives/Bulletin/Social Media/Website

Strategic Plan

The CTHF Board adopted its second comprehensive Strategic Plan in November 2022 which guides the future course of action for the Foundation. The Plan covers the time frame 2022-2025 and reinforces the Foundation’s Vision – Pride and Passion in Canada’s Transit Heritage – as well as the Mission Statement adopted as part of the previous plan. The new Plan includes a series of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) which are being used by your Directors to guide our work and to measure our success. Click here to download the summary of the current Strategic Plan.

Corporate Information

The Foundation’s original 1992 Charter and By-Law was continued under the updated Federal Not-for-profit Corporations Act on September 19, 2014.

• Certificate of Continuance
• Articles of Continuance
• By-Law No. 1