President’s Message Summer 2015
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Chris C. D. KuntzSLS, P. Surv., ALS President |
President’s Message to the Membership
I would like to thank the membership for giving me this opportunity to become President of the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors Association. I’m looking forward to contributing to this association as so many excellent land surveyors have in the past. I would like to thank Mike Waschuk for his outstanding contribution to the association over the past three years. With a young council, it was great to have Mike there to give insight on issues that have arisen in the past. I would also like to thank Scott Colvin and Gerald Johnson for their time on council.
At our AGM it was great to hear about the interest in the Geomatics and Surveying Engineering Technology Program at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. A few years ago I don’t think anyone would have believed that there would be over a 20 person waiting list to get into the program. Unfortunately a short time after the AGM, Ryan Brazeal notified us that he would be leaving Saskatchewan Polytechnic at the end of June. Ryan, along with remaining staff are in the process of submitting the application to CBEPS to try and obtain a few course exemptions. I would like to thank Ryan for all the hard work that he has put into the program. Over the last number of years Ryan has spent considerable effort in helping to update and promote the program. With the number of applicants and the quality of the graduates, Ryan’s efforts are to be commended.
I had the opportunity to attend two other association AGMs in May. The ACLS AGM was held from May 13-15th in Winnipeg. It was great to see many familiar faces from within our association. Calvin Bourassa gave an interesting presentation of the on-going survey of the Makwa IR near Loon Lake. Also congratulations to Dave Gurnsey for winning the David Thompson award. The business meetings went smoothly. Most of the time was dedicated to discussions about a lack of new members in the last couple of years, resulting in a decrease in revenue leading to a year end loss. This made me realize how fortunate we have been; in the last 10 years we have had nearly 50 newly commissioned surveyors.
The ANLS AGM was held May 20-23rd near Corner Brook at the Marble Mountain Resort. Heather and I had about half a day to tour around the area and head-up to Gros Morne National Park. If you ever have the chance, I recommend visiting the west side of Newfoundland. Amazing scenery although surprisingly I have seen more Moose around Lloydminster than the week we spent in Newfoundland. As for the meeting, one of the biggest concerns was unauthorized practise. On a couple of occasions Land Surveyors from other provinces have won contracts to survey within the province; these companies do not have Newfoundland Land Surveyors on staff. We will need to monitor this situation; it has been a long time since we have had a problem like this. Although, council has been notified in a couple of instances where non-licenced surveyors have been referencing boundaries.
In the coming months we hope to provide any assistance needed to Saskatchewan Polytechnic to help with the CBEPS exemptions. Also I hope to meet our new Public Member, Madeleine Robertson. I’m sure her legal background will be an asset to our council meetings and association, to help us to continue serving the public in the best way possible. I would like to thank Terry Alm for his two terms (plus a bit) as our Public Member. It was a long process so a special thanks to Terry for sticking it out for nearly an extra year and I look forward to seeing him at future AGM’s as our newest Honorary Member. Lastly congratulations to Don Franko and Wes Jamieson for becoming Life Members. I encourage every newly commissioned surveyor to read the bios of these two men as shown in Resolution 3 & 4 of the 2015 Committee Reports.
Thank you and I hope by the time I give my fall report the Roughriders aren’t using their third string quarterback.