EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SOCIETY OF NOTARIES PUBLIC OF BC

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SOCIETY OF NOTARIES PUBLIC OF BC

John Mayr

Who, in your opinion, were great leaders? Who would be on your list? Churchill, Kennedy, Gandhi, King, Riel, Sinclair? Maybe the better question is “what made them great leaders?” Was it the time, the events, their actions, the clarity of their vision, their focus on outcomes or an altered reality and a plan or road map to get there?

For close to a decade, the leadership of The Society has been moving the organization to an altered reality from what it once was. The genesis of almost every regulated profession is rooted in an advocacy organization which, through an act of government, is granted the privilege of regulating the profession. Selfregulation took off in the 1970s in Ontario when the government granted status to a wide range of professions.

Commonwealth governments were familiar with specialized tribunals. They recognized that highly specialized professions required knowledge that was not found within government or the Courts. The deal looked like this: Government would delegate certain quasi judicial-like functions to associations who in turn would hold their members accountable. The function of advocacy would replace the altruistic “acting in the public interest.” Throughout the latter part of the 20th century, commonwealth governments deepened the self-regulatory framework.

Research might suggest that some professions struggled with acting in the public interest and, as the century came to a close, governments began to recognize that there remained an oversight duty and they began to retract the delegation of authority.

Notable failures in self-regulation include the College of Teachers of British Columbia and most recently the regulation of real estate professionals.

It was into this milieu that the Board of The Society set out upon a path that would see the advocacy functions separated from the regulatory functions. The Society of Notaries Public has assumed the regulation of the profession and the BC Notaries Association has grasped the mantel of advocating for the profession.

Over the past 2 years, the Boards of each organization have set about

©iStockphoto.com/Vasif Bagirov

defining their roles and separating the functions.

The Society selects and educates applicants to become Notaries, sets standards of practice, establishes requirements for professional development, delivers courses and programs that are of a regulatory nature, investigates complaints, and conducts discipline processes as are set out in the Notaries Act.

Conferences, continuing education, lobbying government, promoting the profession, and publishing The Scrivener magazine are now all the domain of the Association.

Over the past while, it has been brought to my attention that having the regulatory body write an article in the Association’s magazine may cloud the minds of readers regarding the separations of function.

This therefore will be my last article in The Scrivener magazine as Executive Director of the regulating body. It has been a pleasure to write for such an esteemed and respected publication.

The leaders on the Board had a vision. That vision is the pathway to a stronger profession with increased scope in the provision of noncontentious legal services through the effective advocacy of a strong professional Association. s