Magazine Canada Post Publications Agreement Number 40609661 The official magazine of the Canadian Association of Diving Contractors CADC Winter 2025-2026 Diving in a Digital World: The Importance of Validation Beneath the Surface –The Evolution of Canadian Diving Contingency Plans: You’ve Planned It, But Did You Drill It?5 contents ON THE COVER: The diving industry has evolved greatly under the watch of the Canadian Association of Diving Contractors (CADC), and CADC Executive Director Doug Elsey has been through it all. Turn to page 15 to hear his thoughts about his time in the water. UP FRONT 7 A Message from the President of the CADC 9 Notes from the Executive Director of the CADC 10 Why You Should Be a Part of the CADC 11 Become a CADC Member FEATURE STORIES 15 Beneath the Surface – The Evolution of Canadian Diving 21 Diving in a Digital World: The Importance of Validation 23 One Country. One Standard. One Regulation. Canada’s Commercial Diving Safety Shouldn’t Be Provincial 25 Contingency Plans: You’ve Planned It, But Did You Drill It? CADC MEMBER PROJECT SPOTLIGHT 27 Canpac Marine Services: Quality Beneath the Waves IMAGES OF INNOVATION 30 Our Members at Work NEWS 33 In Depth: Major Revisions in the 2026 Edition of CSA Standard Z275.2 36 CADC Membership Listings 38 Index to Advertisers CADC Magazine Published for: The Canadian Association of Diving Contractors 33 – 5490 Glen Erin Drive Mississauga, Ontario L5M 5R4 Doug Elsey, P.Eng., Executive Director Phone: (905) 542-7410 delsey@cadc.ca www.cadc.ca Printed by: Matrix Group Publishing Inc. 309 Youville Street, Winnipeg, MB R2H 2S9 Toll-free: (866) 999-1299 Toll-free fax: (866) 244-2544 sales@matrixgroupinc.net www.matrixgroupinc.net Canada Post Mail Publications Agreement Number: 40609661 President & CEO Jack Andress Operations Manager Shoshana Weinberg sweinberg@matrixgroupinc.net Senior Publisher Jessica Potter jpotter@matrixgroupinc.net Publishers Christine Scarisbrick, Julie Welsh Editor-in-Chief Shannon Savory ssavory@matrixgroupinc.net Editor / Social Media Manager Paul Adair, Jenna Collignon, Richard Cowan, Kaitlin Vitt Finance / Administration Lloyd Weinberg, Nathan Redekop accounting@matrixgroupinc.net Director of Circulation & Distribution Lloyd Weinberg distribution@matrixgroupinc.net Sales Manager Jeff Cash Sales Team Leader Colleen Bell Matrix Group Publishing Inc. Account Executives Ana Baez, Colleen Bell, Jackie Casburn, Chandler Cousins, Paolo Cruz, Rob Gibson, Wilma Gray-Rose, Jim Hamilton, Craig Hornell, Frank Kenyeres, Brendan Kidney, Sandra Kirby, Andrew Lee, Ian MacGregor, Brian MacIntyre, Chad Morris, Lynn Murphy, Monique Simons Advertising Design James Robinson Layout & Design Kayti McDonald ©2025-2026 Matrix Group Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Matrix Group Publishing Inc. Printed in Canada.7 up front Ryan Anderson, CADC President If someone is going underwater for work, they deserve the same level of protection regardless of where they work in Canada. Non-members, you can be added to the mailing list by going to www.cadc.ca/cadcmag. Update Your Mailing Details! CADC members, you can update your mailing details to receive upcoming issues of CADC Magazine by emailing distribution@matrixgroupinc.net. Canada Post Mail Publications Agreement Number: 40609661 Magazine The offi cial magazine of the Canadian Association of Diving Contractors CADC Summer 2025 Capturing the Reality of Commercial Diving on the Silver Screen How We Can Overcome the Shortage of Occupational Divers The Challenge of Telling Our Underwater Story Maga zine Canada Post Publications Agreement Number 40609661 The of fi cial m agazine of the Canadian Association of Di ving Co nt ra ct ors CADC Wint er 2025 -2 026 Diving in a Digital World: The Importance of Validation Beneath the Surface –The Evolution of Canadian Diving Contingency Plans: You’ve Planned It, But Did You Drill It? Note: We do not mail outside of Canada and we may limit the number of free sign-ups for non-CADC members. Canada’s commercial diving sector over the last year can be summed up simply: a lot happened and most of it moved us in the right direction. Our biggest national effort gained real traction, which is harmonizing the CSA Z275 dive standards across the country. One province confirmed that our submission will guide their next regulatory phase, and a major national committee has added harmonization to its workplan. In government time, that’s the equivalent of a full sprint. We also had to navigate Ontario’s screen-industry exemption – a reminder of what happens when diving rules get carved up by sector, by province, or by the mood of the day. The Canadian Association of Diving Contractors (CADC) pushed back firmly and consistently, all the while reinforcing our core message: If someone is going underwater for work, they deserve the same level of protection regardless of where they work in Canada. Inside CADC, we modernized membership tiers, stabilized our dues system, and kept the financials steady. Our communications sharpened, UnderwaterJOBS.com 2.0 continues to grow, and our CADC Magazine deepened its editorial content, while showcasing photos of divers doing heroic things in places most sane people avoid. We also continued building strong relationships with regulators, training organizations, and industry partners across the country. And let’s be honest – none of this happened quietly. Our members were vocal, engaged, and unfiltered in the best possible way. The emails that begin with ‘You’re not going to believe this…’ continue to fuel much of our work (and occasionally our blood pressure). Keep them coming. Looking ahead, our direction remains clear: • Push toward a nationally consistent regulatory framework. • Reinforce competency and safety grounded in the CSA Z275 standards. • Advocate for professionalism in every sector that puts people underwater. • Support our members as industry conditions continue to evolve. Commercial diving is a small, highly specialized world filled with people who do hard work in hard places. Our role at CADC is to help make sure that work is recognized, properly regulated, and backed by the standards and oversight it deserves. To all our members – thank you for your commitment, your resilience, and your steady voice throughout the year. The work we do is serious, but it doesn’t hurt to smile once in a while as we push forward together. Here’s to a safe, steady, and harmonized year ahead. A Message from the President of the CADC9 up front Doug Elsey, P.Eng. CADC Executive Director PHOTO CREDIT: DougElsey.com tidy, but because it’s fair, protective, and necessary. Anyone who’s supervised divers knows the truth behind Aaron Griffin’s hard-hitting piece, “Contingency Plans: You’ve Planned It, But Did You Drill It?” Written plans collapse fast if they’re never tested. Stress changes everything. Equipment behaves differently. People freeze. Aaron’s examples hit close to home because they reflect the real-world scenarios we’ve all seen unfold – the kind that turn into tragedies if crews aren’t prepared. Drills aren’t bureaucracy; they’re lifelines. We round out the technical side with Jonathan Chapple’s detailed breakdown, “In Depth: Major Revisions in the 2026 Edition of CSA Standard Z275.2.” Jonathan cuts through the complexity and explains the major updates of Z275.2: risk management, SCUBA limitations, reinforced crew minimums, human factors. These aren’t just rule changes. They’re reflections of how our work has evolved and what we’ve learned along the way, and they make the standard more realistic, more usable, and more human. Our Member Spotlight, “Canpac Marine Services: Quality Beneath the Waves,” showcases a company that represents the kind of professionalism I respect most: steady, competent, reliable. No shortcuts. No theatrics. Just good work done properly. When you pull all these articles together, the message is unmistakable: • Competency is earned. • Standards are built from experience. • Preparedness is non-negotiable. • Safety is personal – because the work always is. I’ve spent my life in this industry, and I know how quickly things can go wrong when we stop paying attention. The strength of Canada’s diving community comes from people who care enough to do the work properly. This issue is a reminder of that – and a reminder of the people we protect when we get it right. Every so often, we put out an issue of CADC Magazine where all the articles seem to talk to one another. An honest alignment of people who care about this industry. The issue you hold right now is one of those moments, and everything in these pages reflects a single, gritty truth: our industry only stays safe when we refuse to take the easy way out. We open with our cover story, “Beneath the Surface – Five Decades in Canada’s Diving Industry.” While the article is built around pieces of my own history, what matters isn’t nostalgia – it’s the reminder of where we came from. In the early days, the work could be rough and the structure almost nonexistent. You learned by watching, listening, and sometimes absorbing lessons the hard way. My story illustrates the transition from those unpredictable beginnings to the standards-driven world we have now. It’s a reminder that none of this – the protocols, the training, the procedures – appeared without cost. We built it all because we had to. Diver Certification Board of Canada CEO Tracy Childs’ timely article, “The Reality of the Digital World in the Diving Industry: The Importance of Validation,” we see how the digital age has made things faster, but also easier to fake. Tracy brings us a simple, human message: if we care about the people stepping into the water, then we must take the time to validate who they are, what they hold, and whether they’re competent to be there. This isn’t about suspicion. It’s about responsibility. In “One Country, One Standard, One Regulation: Why Canada Can’t Keep Playing Patchwork with Diving Safety,” I tackle an issue that’s been quietly weakening our industry for years. Exemptions, carve-outs, and regional interpretations might look harmless on paper, but underwater they turn into risks. The water doesn’t care what province you’re in. A national industry deserves national rules anchored to the CSA Z275 Standards – not because it’s A national industry deserves national rules anchored to the CSA Z275 Standards – not because it’s tidy, but because it’s fair, protective, and necessary. Notes from the Executive Director of the CADCNext >