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THE CEO/SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY
Wayne Braid
THE NOTARY FOUNDATION OF BC: Doing Great Things in British Columbia
It has been a long time since I have written about the activities of The Notary Foundation of BC in my Scrivener column.
We have just celebrated the 30th Anniversary of our formation by an Act of the Legislature. The culmination was a wonderful acknowledgement dinner on January 19, fully sponsored by Do Process and ProSuite Software Limited. Read about it in our Spring 2017 issue. www.notaries.bc.ca/scrivener
Formed by an amendment to the Notaries Act in 1986, The Foundation was modelled after the Law Foundation of BC with legislation closely following the mandate set out in the Law Foundation’s legislation.
The Act sets out the purpose of The Foundation. (1)
The purpose of the foundation is to establish and maintain a fund to be used for the following purposes. a. Legal education b. Legal research c. Legal aid d. Education and continuing education for BC Notaries and applicants for enrollment as
Notaries e Establishing, operating, and maintaining law libraries in
British Columbia f. Contributions to the Special
Fund established under this Act
The Act also sets out the governance of The Foundation. Members are appointed for 3 years. The Board of Governors consists of 8 members appointed from their ranks by the Directors of The Society; 2 persons (not members of The Society) appointed by the Attorney General; 1 representative from the AG’s office in Victoria; and the Executive Officer. I am the EO.
The Foundation of course receives its revenue from the interest earned on the trust accounts of its member Notaries. Most of the work conducted by BC Notaries is conveyancing; the funds held in their trust accounts are related to the buying and selling of real estate.
Money received by The Foundation can be disbursed only as follows. • 55% to Legal Services Society (LSS) • 10% for legal education, legal research, and operating/ maintaining law libraries in BC • 35% to the administration of
The Foundation and education and continuing education for
BC Notaries and applicants for enrollment
Last year, Notaries in BC conducted over 180,000 transactions that resulted in some $40 billion flowing through the trust accounts of BC Notaries. While we have decent arrangements in place with the financial institutions, the low prime rate severely limits the return on those monies being held by the banks and BC credit unions.
What our small membership has been able to generate in the way of revenue for The Foundation over the past 30 years is quite amazing, resulting in support for many organizations that provide legal aid, public legal education, and professional education.
For example, you will see on our Foundation Thermostat on page 49 that we have provided LSS of BC with over $48 million in support. The mandate of Legal Services Society under section 9 of the current Legal Services Society Act is to • help people to solve their legal problems and to facilitate access to justice; establish and administer an effective and efficient system for providing legal aid to people in BC; and provide advice to the Attorney
General about legal aid and access to justice for people in BC. Section 9 also states that the LLS is to give priority to identifying and assessing the legal needs of people with low incomes in BC;
