HAC’s Board Announces 2018 Honourary Life Member Award

Our Honorary Life Member Award Winner in 2018 is Sylvain Seguin of CHL. He first trained as a fixed-wing pilot in 1979 in North Bay. He completed his helicopter commercial license with Nipissing Helicopters in 1980, where he began his first job in the industry flying for Luc Pilon at the same company. In 1983 he completed his instructor’s license and started work for Lakeland as an instructor and in exploration, drill projects and fires. In 1985 he completed his IFR rating, and ATPL-H and worked as an EMS pilot with Toronto Helicopters, flying their 212s. In 1990, he began operating Heli-North – a company he owned and operated for 10 years.  In 2000, he worked for Canadian as an EMS pilot on their S76s. Since then, he has been EMS Safety Manager, VP Safety & Quality and VP Marketing for Eastern Canada. In 2012, he took on the role of CHL’s VP and COO. He chaired the Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) for Canada as part of the International Helicopter Safety Team’s (IHST) initiative to reduce accidents and he has testified before the US NTSB Hearings on the safety of EMS operations.

He was an active and outspoken member of HAC’s board for eight years, until his term-limit was reached last year – and he’s back on the board this year. He spent most his time on the board as HAC’s chair. During that time, HAC struggled with a variety of particularly challenging issues that Sylvain helped tackle, including changes to the Canadian foreign ownership limits; re-writing HAC’s bylaws to bring the association into compliance with the new Canadian Not-for-Profit Act; creating the economic footprint for the Canadian commercial helicopter industry that is used to help politicians and members of public recognize the importance of the services that our industry provides; and a move from costly leased HAC office facilities to an ownership model that will save money and provide a more permanent home for HAC. Congratulations, Sylvain!