THE EDUCATION OF BC NOTARIES
TEACHING IN THE SFU MA-ALS PROGRAM
“Nine Years Before the Mast” Ron Usher
On the classroom wall in the beginning lectures, I typically put “the Oath of Office” of a BC Notary Public. (We did have in-person lectures then.) I wanted students to “begin with the end in mind” and appreciate that the point of the courses was to enable them to take the swearing of the Oath with confidence. “I do swear that I will not make or attest any act, contract, or instrument in which I know there is violence or fraud, and in all things I will act uprightly and justly in the office of a Notary Public.”
“I do swear that I will not make or attest any act, contract, or instrument in which I know there is violence or fraud, and in all things I will act uprightly and justly in the office of a Notary Public.” Bermuda and Afghanistan. A few years in, I started inviting students to attend in person at The Society of Notaries Public offices in downtown Vancouver if they wished. Even when just a few—or even one— attended, it seemed to improve the process for everyone. Along the way there were a number of very memorable classes. We did “walkabouts” in Gastown, bringing a level of reality to complex
Sometimes it felt like each class was prompted by the front page of the newspapers. Dramatic changes in the real estate market drove legislation implementing new taxes, concerns about affordability, and the need to be ever more careful about money laundering and fraud.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Woodward’s Project
Air Space Strata Plans and titles that became what is known as the Woodward’s Project. Once during ALS 612 sessions at SFU downtown, as a group we attended a “free” real estate investment seminar. The story was told in a Scrivener article (Fall 2016, page 22) and reported in a Globe and Mail story by Mike Hager. https:// tgam.ca/2P2BOAG https://www. theglobeandmail.com/news/britishcolumbia/bc-real-estate-seminarsprey-on-house-hunters-promiseinsider-tips-lawyer/article30182672/ )
Throughout my time teaching, there were important developments in the laws that the students needed to learn in preparation for becoming Notaries in practice.
Most classes were primarily online, with students as far afield as
Photo: Daniel Usher Photography, Vancouver
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n December 2020, I finished 9 years of teaching in the SFU MA-ALS degree Program. It was a remarkable privilege to teach aspiring Notaries Public as they worked diligently on the courses.
Cropped image from Woodward’s Project Strata Plan
BC Notaries Association
It was very important for the students to experience a “Trump University” style real estate con for themselves so they could see how easy it is to use real estate dreams as the basis for fraud. Volume 30 Number 1 Spring 2021
