President’s Message – Winter 2022
Heather Bennett
B.Tech, B.A.Tech(GIS), SLS, P.Surv
SLSA President
As the holiday season has come and gone for another year, I hope that each of you had the opportunity to relax & recharge; doing the things you enjoy with the people you care about most.
Travel to our sibling Association AGMs has been quiet since my last note, however the connections & communication amongst us has not. Discussions have been ongoing with respect to the supply & demand of Land Surveyors & Survey Technicians, Foreign Trained Land Surveyors, Business Licenses & the processes & procedures for Orphaned field notes in each jurisdiction. I look forward to continuing these discussions in person at the upcoming AGM in Saint John New Brunswick January 18th through 20th.
Further to my last report, Bill No. 100, The Miscellaneous Statutes (Accretion) Amendment Act, 2022 has received it’s first and second reading in November 2022. Council, upon receipt of notice of the introduction into the house, has responded to the working group, and reiterated that the SLSA remains highly engaged in the topic & we have requested to be involved from onset of the development of the supporting regulations. Further updates on this Act will be provided as information becomes available.
The deadline for applications for our Public Member Position has now passed. The Executive Committee will be completing interviews the first half of January, with recommendations put forth to the Ministry shortly after. Confirmation has been received that our current Public Member, Terry Alm, can remain on Council until such time as an appointment has been received. The Executive Committee will then pivot to focus on posting & interviewing for an Executive Director, as Carrie’s contract comes to an end in May 2023.
In addition to Council’s activity, your committees have also been busy with the Board of Examiner’s setting and preparing for the 2023 professional exams being held in March & April, in addition to scheduling two student question & answer nights in February & March; the Peer Competency Review Committee has closed & is compiling responses from the membership surveys send out in September; the Practice Committee reviewed & responded to the Controller of Survey’s regarding Plan Preparation and Procedure Manual Revisions; Public Relations, with the support of the membership attended Career Fairs & has updated the Associations branding/booth; the Admissions Board for Professional Surveyor’s presented & arranged for external facilitation for a workshop on the future of P.Surv. in Saskatchewan, the Museum Committee has added a virtual tour to the website (if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, I highly recommend you do.); the Government Relations Committee continues to review notices received by the association; and the Government Policy Review Committee has continued to work with the Accretion Working Group/Ministries, and the concerns around slumping lands. Thank you to each one of our committees & the membership for their continued efforts in 2022, as it proved to be another busy & active year.
It was nice to catch up with many of you at the Fall Seminars in Regina and look forward to seeing you at our AGM.
Sincerely,
Heather Bennett (née: Maloney)