PRESIDENT, BC NOTARIES ASSOCIATION

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The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia PRESIDENT, BC NOTARIES ASSOCIATION

Daniel Boisvert Our New Association

Back in November 2015, the Board of Directors of The Society of Notaries Public attended a 3-day Strategic Planning session to discuss the future organization of The Society.

It was unanimously agreed that The Society would transition and separate its regulatory functions from its trade and member functions. Simply put, The Society would continue to be the regulator and the champion for public protection and a new Association would be created as a champion for the Notary profession in our province and provide further benefits and representation beyond what The Society currently provides.

For the past 92 years, The Society of Notaries Public of BC has been a strong representative for BC Notaries, while always remaining vigilant in its mandate to protect the public through self-regulation. The Board felt it was time, however, to separate the two functions. Indeed, BC Notaries are one of the last self-regulating professional bodies to separate their regulatory body from their trade association.

On June 26, 2018, the BC Notaries Association was registered as a member-funded Society. For the next several months, we will be in an operational transition while we set up all the various components needed to effectively operate the new entity. It is our intention that the BC Notaries Association be fully operational by January 1, 2019.

Between now and then, it is important for every BC Notary to complete a membership application form and return it to us. The membership form was released a couple of weeks ago and we have already received 100 applications, which is fantastic. If you do not have the form, please contact the office; we will email it to you right away.

…it is important for every BC Notary to complete a membership application form and return it to us

Our Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mendes has been hard at work since her arrival last year doing an amazing job on our existing promotion and education programs. Going forward, we would like to hear from all BC Notaries about what they would like to see their association do for them. I encourage each Notary Chapter to invite us out to your next meeting and be prepared to let us know how the Association can better promote and advance the BC Notary brand within your community.

Now more than ever, we need to advocate for our profession. We need to be sure that both the public and government keep BC Notaries top-ofmind. The BC Notaries Association needs a membership that understands the value of constantly advocating and promoting BC Notaries.

I look forward to working with each of you on how we can deliver on our vision. s Dan Boisvert is a BC Notary practising in Tsawwassen.