Message from the President
Delegate Reports By Dave Rutherford, BCLS
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ince my last report to the membership during our own annual general meeting on March 12, I have attended the virtual AGMs of six other organizations as a delegate of the Association of BC Land Surveyors. In this article, I provide some highlights from those meetings:
Association of Canada Land Surveyors AGM (April 14) President Jim Christie summarized a very busy year for the ACLS, including an update of the national syllabus for CBEPS, an updated process for accreditation and exemptions through a partnership with land surveying associations and educational institutions, and a governance project that included a review of the ACLS mission and vision statements. Executive Director Jean-Claude Tetreault reported on: The Modernization of the Canada Land Surveyors Act; ➤ The MyCLSS Security project in order to comply with Government of Canada Policy on Government Security; ➤ The Towards an On-Line Degree (TOLD) project; ➤ The ACLS book project and the continued work of author Charlie Wilkens. ➤
Mr. Wilkens attended the AGM for a short period of time where he recited a chapter of his new book based on an
interview with Tim Koepke. Registrar Marie Robidoux reported that there were 11 new Canada Lands Surveyors commissioned last year and there were no complaints or discipline cases in 2020. There are currently 463 active CBEPS candidates.
Alberta Land Surveyors Association AGM (April 15 & 16) President Bruce Drake convened the meeting and introduced the keynote address, “Seeing Land Through a Different Viewpoint”. Presented by Jessica Vandenberghe, P.Eng., the address opened with a relationship building perspective between land surveyors and the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Jessica’s keynote included a historical review of treaty boundaries and the impact of the Indian Act on Indigenous peoples in the years 1867-1975. The President’s address highlighted work in key regulatory areas, including:
Strategic initiatives with a focus on regulation of the profession; ➤ Authoritative coordinates and associated legislation; ➤ Fair registration practices and greater public involvement; ➤ Digital signatures and their application to Real Property Reports. ➤
The ALSA Executive Director reported a decline in membership from 463 to 415 over the past five years and that there were 48 complaints received from the public during the past year. Members were asked to provide input on the ALSA Long Term Stability Fund and consider how large the fund should be and what it should be used for. President Drake passed the Presidency to incoming president John Byrne in a socially distanced video ceremony on the grounds of the Alberta Legislature, which featured John Haggerty and family on bagpipes and recognition of Past President Steve Yanish. Incoming President John Byrne talked about the Alberta Government’s pending legislative review and their goal of “red tape reduction”. The Government is looking for consolidation of professional organizations as one possible solution to red tape reduction.
the LINK | August 2021
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