What is the Hamilton Association?

The Hamilton Association is one of Canada's oldest independent, not-for-profit, cultural organizations. It has its origins in the Hamilton Scientific Association, founded in 1857, and counts among its founding members Dr. John Rae, Arctic explorer and physician, who served as the Association's first Vice-President and second President.

Many prominent Hamilton and area educational and cultural organizations had their beginnings in, or received early support and encouragement from, the Hamilton Association, including the Hamilton Public Library, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Royal Botanical Gardens, and McMaster University.

What does the Association do?

The Association's principal activity is the presentation each year of at least eight free public lectures. These are open to anyone interested in attending. One of these talks, named in recognition of Dr. John Rae, honours Rae's connection to the Canadian landscape by focussing on a topic related to the Canadian North or the spirit of exploration. In addition, the Association will work annually with another local educational or cultural organization to co-host a special lecture or similar event. These are also advertised on our Lectures page.

• The Maitland Banting Silver Quill Award
• The Young Poet Award
• The Bay Area Science Fair Award(s) – formerly The da Vinci Science Fair Award
• The Young Musician Award

Whenever possible the Association organizes each year a tour of some local building or location of interest. This is announced on our Annual Tour page and at our public lectures.

The Association's annual General Meeting is usually held prior to our public lecture in October. The date and times are listed when available on our Lectures page and our Annual General Meeting page.

What is a “member” of the Association?

A member is someone who has paid either our annual membership fee or our one-time-only life membership fee.

• share their expertise and experience regarding some issue of concern to the Council
• offer an idea concerning our lecture series, awards or other activities
• suggest a possible presenter for the annual lecture series
• provide the name of a potential new member for the Council.

We endeavour to keep our members (and friends) informed in advance about upcoming lectures and other HA activities. Both members and friends receive..

• a printed copy of the Association's annual brochure, usually in August, well before the start of the year's lecture series
• emailed notification throughout the Fall and Spring of upcoming lectures, the Annual Meeting and other HA events
• an emailed or printed copy of the President's annual letter to everyone on the Association's mailing list.

For information about membership fees and other ways of contributing financially to the Association go to our Become a Member page. There you will also find..

• a link to our Contact Information and Donation (CIAD) form, with which you can apply for membership
• a link to "CanadaHelps.org", where you can make a secure online donation to obtain a membership and/or make a donation for other purposes.

Printed copies of our CIAD form are also available at our public lectures and distributed with our annual, late-July, mailing of our printed brochure.

Do I have to be a “member” to attend Association activities?

What is a “friend” of the Association?

A friend is someone who, although not a member, wants to be kept informed about upcoming lectures and other HA activities and/or makes a special financial contribution to the Association.

You'll get the same mailings as HA members but you won't have the personal satisfaction that comes with having contributed financially to our educational efforts or awards. For instructions on how to add your name to our list of Assocation friends, go to our Become a Friend page.

Is the Association a registered charity?

The Association is recognized as a charitable organization by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Our Charitable Business Number is "11923 6651 RR0001". You will find annual financial and other information about us on the CRA's Charities Directorate website. Search for "Hamilton Association for the Advancement", not for "HAALSA", our user-friendly legal alternative.

Contributions for membership, our awards funds, and other expenses, are all donations for charitable purposes that convey no tangible "benefit" (as defined by the CRA) to the donor. As such they are tax deductible at the CRA-prescribed rates.

Donors who, after donating, change either their postal or email address—or both—should always inform our Treasurer of their new address(s), preferably by email.

When does the Association issue tax receipts to its donors?

Please read the information provided on our Receipts page.

Does the Association Issue an Annual Report?

The Association does not issue an annual summary on our activities. However, our latest annual brochure provides details about our current lectures series. Our website's Awards page provides details about our awards program and links to lists of recent (and earlier) award recipients. Our annual financial statements for the past five fiscal periods are available in the Archives section of our website. Some of the information in these statements is also available on the Canada Revenue Agency's website (see above).

Hamilton Association Executive Council

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