[Qgis-psc] agenda item for next PSC meeting: QGIS Canada user group proposal

[Jeff McKenna]

Hi Tim!

Ha you made me laugh - yes a rowdy but very polite Canadian bunch indeed.

Regarding the website ( https://qgis.ca ) I am following your/Lova's 
activity in the Hugo template repo for user groups, but (because I 
wanted to set something up fast initially), I forked that old one-pager 
user group template (into https://github.com/QGIS-ca/qgis-ca-website ). 
It looks a little dated and basic, and I hinted at others in the Canada 
group that we should consider the Hugo template - so far no champions 
jumped up to volunteer for that next step, but I'll likely ping you both 
soon about that.  We'll definitely need French/English translations, so 
maybe your Hugo way is better to manage this in the long run.  (but I do 
like seeing the many user groups in the "Other User Groups" dropdown on 
our page, I had recently added India, Armenia, Algeria)

Regarding logo, I quickly added a red leaf beside the QGIS svg, but 
we're planning on creating a new logo version (likely incorporating the 
Canadian flag into right into the "Q" like other user groups have).

Just for the record, here are some other updates regarding the group:

- our third meeting will be on 17 September
- we are using Discourse for initial planning discussions (under the 
QGIS/OSGeo umbrella, with a new "QGIS-CA" category: 
https://discourse.osgeo.org/c/qgis/qgis-ca/77 )
   - I hope to soon see some technical questions etc there, but 
initially it has just been user group planning
- LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/18131068/
   - the LinkedIn group seems to be more popular (I guess I'm old-school 
with email updates ha)
- I sent a bio of the 5 founding members to MarcoS (it is a good mix of 
private + academic, so far), located across Canada
- we've begun to setup a non-profit entity, at the Canada-wide 
("federal") level.  As you know very well, it will require us to create 
by-laws, voting rules, hold an AGM, etc.
- we have discussed a possible QGIS Canada event in November
- PS. "a little birdie" has discussed with me a possible QGIS North 
America event someday, even just a virtual event, with Mexico, U.S., and 
Canada user groups hosting it (I like that idea!).  We're interested for 
sure.

Sorry for the long message, but we're excited! (yet lots to do still, ha)

thanks Tim, MarcoS, Lova, all!

-jeff








On 2026-08-28 11:33 a.m., Tim Sutton wrote:
> Dear Jeff
> 
> This is a hard no from me. Canadians are known to be a rowdy bunch and I 
> even hear tell of some of them being heavily involved in a competing 
> project called MapServer which will not stand!
> 
> Ok jokes aside (and please anyone looking on, the above was 100% a 
> joke), so pleased to support your formation of a Canadian User group and 
> seeing a maple leaf bedazzled QGIS logo emerge from your midst.
> 
> On the technical side, Lova and I will be happy to help you get your web 
> presence up and running using our hugo template if you are interested.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Tim
> 
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2026 at 2:08 PM Jeff McKenna via QGIS-PSC <qgis- 
> psc at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org>> wrote:
> 
>     Hi QGIS PSC,
> 
>     This is just a short request, to add the agenda item "QGIS Canada user
>     group proposal" to your next PSC meeting (which I think might be on 2nd
>     September, according to what I saw on today's QGIS Open Day session
>     "What happened in QGIS this month?").
> 
>     We have been working with Marco Serusi regarding this, and I sent him
>     some remaining required pieces this morning.
> 
>     We are thrilled to possibly become an official QGIS user group, and
>     look
>     forward to helping QGIS.ORG <http://QGIS.ORG> grow.
> 
>     thanks
> 
>     -jeff
>     (on behalf of QGIS Canada user group)
>     https://qgis.ca <https://qgis.ca>
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> *Tim Sutton*
> QGIS Project Steering Committee
> tim at qgis.org <mailto:tim at qgis.org>