The Scrivener - Spring 2023 - Volume 32 Number 1

Hon. Niki Sharma, KC, British Columbia’s Attorney General

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The Scrivener: What’s in a Name?

“A professional penman, a copyist, a scribe…a Notary.” Thus the Oxford English Dictionary describes a scrivener, the craftsman charged with ensuring that the written affairs of others flow smoothly, seamlessly, and accurately. Where a scrivener must record the files accurately, it’s the Notary whose Seal is bond.

We chose The Scrivener as the name of our magazine to celebrate the Notary’s role in drafting, communicating, authenticating, and getting the facts straight. We strive to publish articles about points of law and the Notary profession for the education and enjoyment of our members, our allied professionals in business, and the public in British Columbia.

Published by the BC Notaries Association

Editor-in-Chief Val Wilson

BCNA CEO Chad Rintoul

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The Scrivener

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Send photographs to scrivener@bcnotaryassociation.ca.

All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted or reproduced without written permission from the publisher. This journal is a forum for discussion, not a medium of official pronouncement. The BC Notaries Association does not, in any sense, endorse or accept responsibility for opinions expressed by contributors.

Legal information contained in The Scrivener is for educational purposes, and should not be taken as advice for the reader's specific circumstances. Please consult a Notary Public or Lawyer (as appropriate) if something in this issue applies to your personal situation.

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The Technology Issue

In this issue of The Scrivener, we learn how technology has changed the many ways British Columbians can access legal services, and how BC Notaries have adapted to the change and are ever-ready to serve their clients.

Chad Rintoul

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 EXHIBITORS

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

THANK YOU

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

While technological advances improve access to legal services and enable safe interactions among us, taking the time to get to know a client and personalizing the experience remains a hallmark of being a BC Notary.

In my mind, what makes a BC Notary unique in the delivery of legal services is that a “personal

relationship” builds upon the Tradition of Trust Notaries have earned in their communities. Clients will always have differing comfort levels with the use of new technology; British Columbians can continue to expect that a caring and dedicated BC Notary will work with them to deliver services to meet their personal needs.

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 EXHIBITORS

TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

After a prolonged period of restrictions on in-person gatherings, I was delighted to see such a tremendous turnout in Kelowna to attend the BC Notaries Association Annual Continuing Education Conference in April.

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

sessions, but the opportunity to network and learn from colleagues informally in the foyer of a Conference Centre is important; the opportunities are what truly make our Association a community. It’s an intangible benefit of attending in person if you can. The BCNA recognizes this; we are currently surveying members in an effort to ensure future conferences are accessible and formatted to encourage attendance.

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

Technology has enabled virtual attendance at formal education

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of professionals with public records to support business transactions and regulatory compliance.

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of professionals with public records to support business transactions and regulatory compliance.

My sincere thanks to our wonderful sponsors and exhibitors who participated in our 2023 Annual Conference. They are partners in serving British Columbians. BC Notaries appreciate their ongoing support.

Many Thanks to our 2023 Annual Conference Exhibitors

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of R E professionals with V L public records to IS support business transactions and E regulatory Z

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of R E professionals with V L public records to IS support business transactions and E regulatory

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of professionals records to transactions regulatory compliance.

THANK YOU

TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

The Dye & Durham connects a global of professionals records to business and regulatory compliance.

The Dye & Durham connects global of professionals public records business and regulatory compliance.

compliance.

With thanks to the Notary Foundation for their continued support

The Dye connects a global network of professionals with public records to support business transactions and regulatory compliance.

With thanks to the Notary Foundation for their continued support

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of professionals with public records to support business transactions and regulatory compliance.

compliance.

Mark your calendars for the BCNA 2024 Annual Continuing Education Conference, April 5 to 7, at the

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of professionals with public records to support business transactions and regulatory compliance.

With thanks to the Notary Foundation

R B

With thanks to the Notary Foundation for their continued support

With thanks to the Notary Foundation for their continued support

Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre. We hope to see you there! ▲

With thanks to the Notary Foundation for their continued support

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of professionals with public records to support business transactions and regulatory compliance.

Respectfully Chad Rintoul, Chief Executive Officer

Technology: Tools for Transition

There’s no denying Technology is a driving force in our personal and professional lives.

We are constantly having to adapt to changes in technology. Most of us believe the changes are for the better, and most probably are, although sometimes the oldfashioned ways are still the most comfortable and enjoyable.

I spend most of my day reading on a computer screen. For private reading, l prefer the print version of a novel, with a soothing beverage by my side. I hope technology never replaces the paperback book.

BC Notary Akash Sablok has been writing Technology articles in The Scrivener for more than 15 years. Never at a loss for a storyline, Akash constantly finds innovative technology to include in his column. If you look back at his early articles, you will note that some of those latest-andgreatest devices are not even in use anymore. The articles are now historical reference points to the power of technology and how it changes the way we live our lives.

When I became a BC Notary 15 years ago, the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) was just introducing the Electronic Filing System (EFS).

I worked in another Notary office at that time; we had to transition from paper filings and use a registry agent for filing digital PDF documents using EFS—a major transition as staff members were reluctant to change.

personal desktop will appear on the monitor and they just continue from where they left off. That change has taken a while to feel normal, but the benefits are already being realized. Our data is still very secure and well-backed-up. It is now simple to employ off-site personnel as “the office” can now be any place that has an Internet connection.

As humans we tend to get comfortable with our surroundings and how we do things. Suddenly, technology comes around and insists we update our ways.

Once the office got working with EFS, the staff could not imagine ever going back to paper filings. Fifteen years later, those PDF Land Title forms are gone and we use web forms—a vast improvement from the PDF—but nonetheless a major change in the way we do our jobs. Technology strikes again!

My office has just completed a major technological change. We have moved our entire computer system into “the cloud.” We no longer store our data in-house—of course we still own and control it.

We no longer have dedicated workstations. Anyone can sit at any terminal and just log in. Their own

If we have hardware problems, for example a computer malfunctions or dies, we can just switch to another computer, log in, and continue. If someone is home sick for a couple of days but wants to get some work done, they can log in from their laptop or home computer as if they were in the office. Technology has provided a more flexible work environment and approved efficiencies.

I encourage everyone to check out the cloud-based options. There are many advantages.

In summary, while technology can help us live our daily lives better, it also has the power to make them more complicated. It is up to each of us to choose which technologies we embrace in our businesses while at the same time we must be willing to adapt to the inevitability of new technologies being imposed upon us.

Please enjoy this edition of The Scrivener as we explore technology together. ▲

I encourage everyone to check out the cloud-based options. There are many advantages.

Daniel Boisvert

The Evolution of a Technologyenhanced Justice System that Works for Everyone

Iam so honoured to be BC’s Attorney General and work alongside all the dedicated legal professionals who help people everyday in their time of need.

By connecting people to justice services, BC Notaries are helping people build the life they want for themselves and their families. Notaries’ expertise, advice, and dedication are making our province more equitable, fair, and just for everyone.

Before I entered politics, I helped clients fight to access their fundamental liberties. I specialized in representing Indigenous Peoples, focusing on rights and title, negotiations, First Nations’ governance, environmental conservation, and residential school settlements. I learned a lot from residential school survivors who demonstrated exceptional courage and resilience in reliving their traumas to pursue legal claims against the federal government and churches.

I heard, every day, how the justice system worked both for and against people. Witnessing our institutional systems foster inequity, whether inadvertently or intentionally, I learned government has an important role in repairing those fissures. We have a responsibility to recognize and remove the systemic barriers holding people back and to make it easier for everyone to access the justice they need to reach their full potential.

Increasing Access to Justice through Technology

We learned many lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Court system was no different. While the pandemic brought many things to a standstill, access to justice wasn’t one of them.

The pandemic public health restrictions provided an opportunity for Court staff to make significant technology upgrades to ensure people could continue to safely access the justice services they needed. Changes like moving more Court forms online, implementing more virtual hearing technology, recognizing electronic Wills, and improving Internet services, including public access Wi-Fi were greatly needed and helped level the playing field for people needing Court services in communities across the province.

The pandemic public health restrictions provided an opportunity for Court staff to make significant technology upgrades...

To support timely, effective bail hearings that protect the public and meet constitutional obligations, the Province recently expanded virtual bail hearings. That initiative allows accused people to attend bail hearings in their home communities instead of travelling to a bigger centre where they are disconnected from family and community supports.

I see my job as Attorney General as making sure our justice system—and everyone working within it— has the tools to help more people. That includes using technology to meet the needs of people today.

Work is also underway to modernize how families engage the legal system during times of separation and divorce. By creating online fillable forms for matters such as parenting arrangements, child support, and guardianship arrangements, Family Court Order applications can be processed more efficiently. Virtual supports are also being expanded, so families in need can access family justice counsellors wherever they are in the province.

Attorney General of British Columbia Niki Sharma, KC

That’s not the only work being done to modernize our justice system with the help of technology. Everyone deserves equitable access to justice, but Indigenous Peoples continue to be overrepresented in the criminal justice system, due to long-standing systemic racism and the impacts of intergenerational trauma. The Virtual Indigenous Justice Centre, in addition to three in-person centres located in Merritt, Prince George, and Prince Rupert, provides free, holistic, and culturally appropriate legal services for Indigenous clients living in underserved areas of the province where legal advice or representation is difficult to access. Another 10 physical centres are slated to open over the next 2 years, helping Indigenous Peoples address the root causes of their involvement in the justice system and build a better life for themselves.

Ensuring Our Systems Remain Fair in an Increasingly Online World

We’ve also seen technology used for nefarious purposes, which is why we need to make sure our systems stay adaptive to an increasingly digital world.

We’ve all heard about the reports of electoral interference threatening democracies around the world. Those revelations are very concerning. In BC, we’re taking steps to mitigate disinformation and support integrity, fairness, and transparency in our provincial elections.

Since BC’s Election Act was designed at a time when the Internet was not widely used, there’s been a growing need to amend the Act to address online political campaigns and election advertising. That’s why, based on recommendations from BC’s Chief Electoral Officer, we’re amending the Act to enhance how we combat disinformation, increase transparency, and strengthen third-party advertising rules in the electoral process.

During the 2020 Provincial General Election we saw an unprecedented number of advance and mail-in ballots. That was the first election in which more people voted at advance voting locations or by mail than on general voting day in BC. The proposed changes will also make votingby-mail and confirmation of ballots more efficient and accessible for people by removing the requirement for a witness declaration, improving the identity verification process, and making it easier to drop off ballots.

Protecting People from Online Harms

Technology also helped people connect personally during the pandemic and many spent more time online as a result. In 2020, Statistics Canada reported an 80 per cent increase in incidents reported to police of nonconsensual sharing of intimate images across the country compared to the previous 5 years. And we know those incidents are often unreported due to stigma, embarrassment, and a prevailing presumption there’s

Premier David Eby congratulates Niki Sharma on being appointed Attorney General during the announcement of a new Cabinet on December 7, 2022.

Photo courtesy of BC Government

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We are proud of our work— recycling/repurposing up to 98% of all office items, furniture/equipment/stationery. . . even whole floors of office buildings.

When we are done, the office keys can be handed back to the landlord. We have diverted well over 10,000,000 lbs. from going to the landfill.

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In March, I was honoured to introduce the Intimate Images Protection Act to better protect people from the harmful effects of having their intimate images shared without their consent. The legislation also provides a clear legislated avenue for civil actions to seek monetary damages for harms suffered.

The legislation is the result of in-depth consultations led by former Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, Grace Lore. We heard loud and clear that people wanted a civil avenue to get their images offline as quickly and easily as possible. The process will be different from the existing criminal Court process that can have traumatizing affects on victims.

The legislation covers intimate images, near-nude images, videos, livestreams, and digitally altered images including videos known as “deepfakes.” It will create a new, fast-track process for getting a legal decision that an intimate image was recorded or distributed without consent and ordering people to stop distributing or threatening to distribute it.

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When it comes into force, the legislation will provide recourse for all people in BC, including minors and the families of deceased individuals to pursue legal action to stop the distribution of their private images. It will also offer a clearer legal avenue for lawsuits to seek monetary damages for harms suffered. To support the legislation, the Civil Resolution Tribunal will expand its online portal to help people define their legal issues, provide information on their rights, access immediate self-help tools to begin remedial action, and connect to community and mental-health supports.

We know that victims of sexualized violence not only need access to justice, but also access to supports; the legislation is victim- and trauma-informed and is one part of the work we’re doing across government to address gender-based violence.

I’m proud of the recent advances we’ve made to improve access to justice and look forward to carrying on that important work with you. I want to thank everyone who works within the justice system for everything you do to help people through what are often very challenging times.

•

Your efforts are making a meaningful difference for British Columbians. ▲

no meaningful avenue for redress—and the statistics indicate it is a problem that’s increasing.

The Human Touch

Technology seems to promise so much. To improve our lives we have only to implement the latest soft- and hard-ware products.

Who doesn’t believe in progress and in embracing the future?

The abstract world of the Internet promises happiness if we leave paper and vinyl behind and jump over into the screen. A straight line runs from analog to digital, they say, “they” being the same people that use the term “virtual reality”—an oxymoron if ever there was one.

The latest fad on that line of progress appears to be “ChatGPT.” The GPT in the name stands for generative pre-trained transformer. In essence, it is an artificial intelligence program that in a conversational way, hence “chat,” is able to answer questions big and small. Artificial intelligence is another oxymoron.

It will write essays and poems for school, compose music, create artsy paintings, and put your job application together. Recently one ChatGPT passed an MBA exam. (Disclaimer: I typed this article

personally, with only the muses mentioned below to assist me.)

Students love it but professors don’t. Singer-songwriter Nick Cave had it create some lyrics for him; he was not impressed. Would-be Picassos are multiplying and HRmanagers had better beware; your ideal candidate might exist only on paper.

A blissful technology then for mankind? Feed this to the robots, especially to those looking and acting like human beings, which we call androids; their IQ just increased a thousandfold. Did we reach the end of the line then—humans no longer required?

Or should mankind fear this development? Those artifacts have a dark shadow that many sciencefiction writers have identified over the years. Philip K. Dick has human bounty-hunters kill rebellious androids in his 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

That book formed the basis for the 1982 Ridley Scott cult-movie Bladerunner. In the famous last scene, the hunted-down android dies after many brutal fights but not without imparting the “human” wisdom he found in his 4 years on Earth: “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe (…). All

those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

The android was aware that all the moments he had experienced were going to be lost for all time. By expressing that, the android not only demonstrated he was aware of his existence, he also showed the very human desire not to be forgotten, not to have lived in vain. The android displayed a human touch.

About 80 years ago, another famous science-fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, was already musing on the relationship between humans and androids. He devised the Three Laws of Robotics to which all robots in his stories must adhere so they would not turn against their human creators:

1. a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;

2. a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and

3. a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Those writers taught us two things:

Filip de Sagher

•

Those technological advances come with limitations, and • ethical guidelines need to accompany the new products. Whether for androids threatening to terminate humans or for students cheating on their assignments with ChatGPT, new technology should come with a warning label.

In any case, that supposed straight line from analog to digital does not appear to be that smooth a ride. We should not yet defer paper, vinyl, and humans to the dustbin of history.

Paper, an ancient technology, actually shows us the limitations of its digital version. Apart from the sense of touch it conveys and the vital link with the past it preserves, it can be the more productive technology of the two.

A paper agenda is not subject to power or Internet-connectivity issues or to viruses. Both a paper calendar and a paper map provide dimensions that scrolling through their electronic versions, especially on a cellphone, cannot. And where are my pen and paper so I can doodle while on hold “forever” with the corporate calling centres of the world?

In many ways, the virtual world has muzzled our senses. Having your music collection available at the click of your mouse is not the same as having your records available at the tip of your finger. Are the touch and feel not more rewarding?

Maybe the digital world of clicks and taps has reduced human interaction excessively. Face-to-face interactions have been devalued; tech companies in particular have come to realize that. They now configure their workspaces to promote time-away from the screen and to encourage “real” conversations between co-workers.

We humans are trying too much to iron out our imperfections with new technologies. And we thereby forget that our imperfections prompt our creativity in the first place.

Writing with a fountain pen in a leather-bound paper notebook or reading the Sunday newspaper, paper edition, morning coffee in hand, is much more than mere nostalgia. When we do that, we use our five senses, we create dimensions in and around us; we find our human equilibrium. In short we experience something real and authentic.

Analog and digital do not contradict each other; they complement each other and we need them both.

What we should do, then, is put those new IT advances in their proper context.

• Does the new gadget really improve your life?

• Does it really increase your productivity?

• What are you giving up by implementing yet another application?

And what we certainly should not do is despise and discard the old technologies. That analog product par excellence—the human being—is not yet ready to be replaced by an android.

My Muses

• The Human Touch, a song by Bruce Springsteen

• The Revenge of Analog, a book by David Sax

• The Foundation and the Robot series by Isaac Asimov

• A cup of coffee from freshly ground Arabica beans from Colombia ▲

Notary Public Filip de Sagher is the Manager of Complaints at The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia.

Looking Back Moving Forward

Val Wilson Editor-in-Chief

Benjamin Franklin

Since the inception of the office of Notary, 2 millennia ago, successive generations of Notaries have been challenged by and adapted to technological change—from wax tablets to parchment and then to paper as writing surfaces…and reed pens to quills to typewriters and then to computers as writing instruments.

The technological changes discussed in this important issue of The Scrivener are part of the changing continuum. As they have always done, Notaries throughout the common law and civil law worlds adopt those changes and apply them in their work for the good of their clients. ▲

When you are finished changing, you are finished!

Consequences of Technology

Nigel Atkin

There are consequences to advancing communication technology. We can sometimes predict the effects that we call “progress.” Other times we cannot. Fortunately, some books help explain the changes we face.

When Marshall McLuhan wrote, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, in 1964, he titled the first chapter “The Medium is the Message.”

Often misunderstood to mean the “content” of a message, he was studying how various new humanmade technology was altering our world.

Many scholars today contend that McLuhan was “Canada’s most exciting and original thinker.” He is widely studied and considered relevant today.

In Understanding Media he explored and explained how the human inventions of print, the newspaper press, radio, television, weaponry, automation, etc., affected society in both predictable and unforeseen ways.

Since then, as we all know, there have been many technological, political, social, and cultural changes in our society.

Most federal legislators struggle to understand the language of technology, let alone embrace the deeper concepts, ramifications, and intentions of developers.

For the most part, although we recognize that things have changed, we don’t fully understand how the technology has affected us, our families, and the wider cultures.

As we continue to witness technological advances and often benefit from them, we rarely ever fully recognize their downsides.

Even more rare is society’s ability to control or otherwise regulate technology’s newly unleashed power. Most federal legislators struggle to understand the language of technology, let alone embrace the deeper concepts, ramifications, and intentions of developers.

A Brief History of Social Media

There have been many changes in communication media since McLuhan’s death in 1980—too many to document in the past 40 years. Here is a summary of some key moments in recent social media:

• 1997, Six Degrees—considered the first social media site launches

• 2001, Six Degrees closed

• 2002, Friendster launched

• 2002, Linkedin launches

• 2002, MySpace launches

• 2004, Facebook founded

• 2006, Twitter launched

• 2007, MySpace the most used in the world

• 2008, Facebook passes Myspace as most visited site in the world

• 2010, Instagram enters market

• 2011, Snapchat launched

• 2015, Friendster suspends service

• 2017, TikTok launches

In just a few recent decades, social media has gone from conceptual ideas to daily practice for some

5 billion users of social media in the world today. At the same time, the rate of change continues to accelerate, meaning “We ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Four Laws of Media

Eight years after McLuhan’s death, his son Eric and McLuhan Associates Ltd. published what was to become one of his most important theories, Laws of Media: The New Science (1988).

In that book, the McLuhans retrieved a new way of understanding the world based on previous thinkers from ancient Greeks to Francis Bacon, to T.S. Elliot and James Joyce in the previous century.

Media, in its broadest meaning, is explored in the book as “encompassing all that has been created by humans: Artifacts, information, ideas—every example of human innovation from a computer program to a teacup, from a musical arrangement to the formula for a cold remedy, from an X-ray machine to the sentence you're reading right now, all media to which can be applied the laws the McLuhans have developed.”

“The laws are based on a set of four questions—a tetrad—that can be applied to any artifact or idea.”

• What does it enhance or intensify?

• What does it render obsolete or displace?

• What does it retrieve that was previously obsolesced?

• What does it produce or become when pressed to an extreme?

For Instance

• The car enhances transportation and privacy.

• It obsolesces the horse and buggy.

• It retrieves romance, the knight in shining armour.

• It reverses when pressed into an extreme a traffic jam and gridlock.

Many thought-provoking ideas— even esoteric truths, some controversial—are applied in answering those four questions in the book.

As examples, the following thoughts are mostly quoted directly from the tetrads presented in 1988.

The Clock

Enhanced: Work

Obsolesced: Leisure, bells, and sundials

Retrieved: History as an art form cast in a fixed chronology

Reversed: The eternal present; the 17th century “Sacrament of the Present Moment”

Radio

Enhanced: Access to entire planet, everybody, everywhere

Obsolesced: Wires and connection and physical bodies

Retrieved: Tribal ecological environment, trauma, paranoia

Reversed: World Village Theatre

Wine

Enhanced: Food, the occasion

Obsolesced: Inhibition

Retrieved: Festive spontaneity of speech and gesture

Reversed: Hangover, insult

Airplane

Enhanced: Vertical and horizontal locomotion

Obsolesced: The wheel and the road

Retrieved: Aerial perspective

Reversed: Projectile

Stirrup

Enhanced: User’s weight and power

Obsolesced: Infantry

Retrieved: Centaur

Reversed: Tank

Those are just a few of the “tetrads.” More important, today there are many more artifacts and ideas to think about and ponder to understand fully.

While what the new product or idea advances, obsolesces, and retrieves from the past is straight forward, it is more difficult to understand what the new product will reverse into if taken too far, or used to an extreme.

Artificial Intelligence

The Four Laws of Media as presented by McLuhan can be powerful critical thinking tools to examine, surmise, and understand the role and consequences of new technology.

In online classes at the University of Victoria where I teach the Evolution of Public Relations, I ask students to learn how to use and answer the Four Laws of Media applied to many subjects.

Recently in class, their self-chosen exercises included questioning Netflix and Instagram, Yoga and Fashion, Marketing and “Voluntourism,” Twitter and Remote Online Learning, Free Speech and Empowerment. One post was a discussion about how fake news leads to fascism by smashing truth.

I asked student Jeremy Pilon to review and think about Artificial Intelligence from his and other views.

Photo: iStock

I summarize some of his thoughts below, all worthy of further examination from wider and otherwise inclusive perspectives.

Artificial Intelligence

Specifically, tools like ChatGPT that can produce and write copy and create imagery

Enhanced

All people’s ability to communicate clearly: Communication speed, clarity, and accuracy.

Obsolesced

Human writers, photographers and artists, word processors/ art software, copyright and other intellectual rights, editors, and critics

Retrieved

Old voices and artists; pre-literate skills and behaviours whereby people may return to a time when

manual and artisan skills become more desirable; class systems and slavery—our new machine intelligences become slaves or subservient to ourselves.

Reversed

Access to new original ideas. If taken to extreme, no humans are creating novel ideas for AI to draw upon.

He and others will be getting an “A” for their work in growing their understanding of consequences, the ebb and flow of technology, if not a tsunami of change.

While inventions enhance the technological landscape of our lives, the guidance, mores, and ethics, the general oversight and legislative aspects governing the controls of social media, etc., are yet to be implemented.

Privacy issues, legal issues such as copyright, academic integrity, technological governance are but a few of the discussions required in academic and governing institutions. ▲

Nigel Atkin teaches the Evolution of Public Relations course online at

Protect Your Emails

There is a high probability that you receive spam, phishing, or unsolicited emails in your mailbox occasionally…if not daily.

If you don’t have an email account, you can go back to living your life happily under a rock. For those of us who depend on that medium of communication with the world, sending and receiving emails is an essential part of our day.

Some of us even have multiple email accounts to keep our personal and work lives separate and multiple work emails to keep communications organized.

The more email accounts you have, the more time you spend trying to decipher what is a legitimate communique and what is spam or phishing. Spammers send unsolicited promotional emails and want your attention to encourage you to buy their products or services; they can be annoying.

Threat actors, on the other hand, are the technology-savvy bad people who use spam emails to penetrate a device or an organization’s defence structure by sending viruses and malware in the

forms of links or attachments. Those types of attacks are called phishing.

Threat actors not only try to steal company data, they try to gain access to your personal bank information, steal credit card information, or try to steal your identity.

...to entice you to open an attachment or click on a link. The attacks have various names— spearing, whaling, smishing, vishing, etc.

According to Canadian AntiFraud Centre (CAFC), in 2021, more than 43 thousand people have fallen victim to losing more that $360 million. That whopping value keeps increasing as Internet scammers get craftier every day.

Before we begin going into how you can protect yourself from receiving spam or phishing emails in the first place, it is important

to outline the different forms of spam and phishing emails.

Where did we get the term Spam?

The name Spam was adapted from a Monty Python sketch in which the canned pork product called SPAM is featured in every breakfast menu item in the sketch. The word spam began to be used to refer to junk emails flooding the Internet in the 1980s. The repetitive, unsolicited, and sheer volume of spam emails can set back your day and divert your attention from being productive.

Threat actors use similar techniques to send malicious emails to access your contacts, read your emails, or access your data. A few different techniques can be used by Threat actors or spammers in a phishing attack.

Phishing

Those types of attacks start with a well-crafted “fake” email. Threat actors send emails with an infected attachment or malicious link. By opening that attachment or clicking on the link, you give authorization to the Threat actors who gain access to your computer or infect your device.

Those approaches are modified and made better over time, to entice you to open an attachment or click on a link. The attacks have

Ramin Ahmed

Photo: Shutterstock

various names—spearing, whaling, smishing, vishing, etc. Every month thousands of new phishing attacks are launched. Phishing attacks typically work 1 out of 10 times. The phishing emails may appear to be from a trusted partner or provider that is your bank or other familiar businesses.

The subject line may start with “RE:” to indicate it is an ongoing thread. Other deceptive ways are used to persuade you to open the email. As you click on the link or open the attachment in the phishing email, it may self-install a malicious program to gain access to your computer or company network.

That is when the scammers get to work monitoring your emails, studying your communication habits, and reviewing your emails to your frequently emailed contact list—including your personal or company private and privileged information.

Spearing

Unlike a general phishing attack where a threat actor sends a malicious email to many people, a spearing phishing attack is more targeted. The attacker has some prior knowledge of who you are through social media or previously captured information from another contact, etc. Those types of email attacks are more convincing as they may bypass your default visual verification, where on the surface the email does not appear to be a phishing email.

Whaling

Like a spearing email attack, a whaling attack is designed to target senior management. The context of a sophisticated email is designed for a busy executive or CEO. Sometimes, employees may receive an email with an urgent request that looks like it is from their CEO or an executive team member.

Smishing and Vishing

Threat actors not only rely on sending malicious emails, they send a similar message through text message or Short Message Service (SMS), Teams Chat, WhatsApp, or other messaging platforms. The text typically comes from an unknown or unrecognized number with some urgency, requiring you to click on a link or to perform an action.

Angler Phishing

Social media is another domain for sending malicious links designed to lure you into opening the link or redirect you to cloned websites or posts.

Squishing

Threat actors use a Quick Response (QR) code to direct or redirect someone to a website that is hosting malicious codes. By scanning the QR code and opening that website, they can run those malicious codes on your device to infect and gain remote access to your device.

Pharming

That type of phishing uses Domain Name Service (DNS) “cache poisoning.” DNS is typically provided by your Internet Service Provider. It is a service that translates a website address or

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to an IP address where the website is hosted. Threat actors attempt to redirect the request to a malicious IP address.

Other Scams

You may receive an email claiming that a hacker has gained control of your computer and webcam and has embarrassing videos of you. That is becoming increasingly widespread. The attacker sends an email from an email account that may appear to be yours. They are fake emails with spoofed email addresses. The threat actor then demands money in the form of bitcoin with a deadline, or else they will release the embarrassing video to all your contacts.

For those types of spam emails, check the email properties to see the source of the email. There is a high probability the email did not originate from your computer and the threat actor hasn’t really gained access to your computer.

How to Protect Yourself

Phishing attacks continuously evolve as threat actors refine their antics. Unsafe email practices are the single biggest threat to online security. For a phishing attack to be successful, the victim user needs to click on a link or open an attachment.

Those links may look very convincing to open. As soon as you open the link, you may be directed to a well-crafted website that looks like a Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or other online file storage provider. That page is designed to capture your credentials.

To avoid that, you need to stay up-to-date on this topic and provide continuous education programs to your staff to refresh their memory and keep email security at the forefront.

Every month thousands of new phishing attacks are launched. Phishing attacks typically work 1 out of 10 times. The phishing emails may appear to be from a trusted partner or provider that is your bank or other familiar businesses.

Services a BC Notary Can Provide

Here are some tips and tricks to avoid clicking on spam email links or opening malicious attachments.

• Use your work email to conduct work-related communication. Avoid using your personal email for work.

• Use email encryption to convert the message in your email from readable plain text into encrypted or scrambled text when possible. That process works using a public key and a corresponding private key. The sender encrypts the email using the public key and only the recipient with the private key can unencrypt the text.

• Aside from having a good antivirus program, it is essential to have a spam filtering program that checks the emails and attachments and also checks and validates the links in an email.

• Be on the lookout—check the sender’s email address. The sender’s email address may not show when you check your emails from your mobile device. It is a good practice to click on the name to verify the email address. Using the same name as one of your contacts but a different email address is an attack-vector of choice in a spearing or whaling attack.

• Look for spelling errors and grammatical mistakes in an email. Lately, the spammers and threat actors have improved their email writing styles. The emails could be well-written and formatted. You can, however, sense the tone of the emails as not being consistent with that of your contact.

• Some email providers like Microsoft365 give you the ability to add a subject line tag to a line in the subject line or

body of the email identifying when an email has originated from outside your organization. That is a good visual reminder to use caution when opening an attachment or clicking on a link.

Use email encryption to convert the message in your email from readable plain text into encrypted or scrambled text when possible. That process works using a public key and a corresponding private key.

• Using Multifactor Authentication (MFA) is a must. MFA is another authentication challenge to an ID and a password challenge when checking your emails through a web browser. You can use an app like Google or Microsoft Authenticator or use SMS to receive a code. The code in the Authenticator app changes every 30 seconds to ensure your login access remains secure. Using MFA is a strong deterrent in preventing remote access to your email account.

• If you are concerned about an email, contact the sender through a different means to validate the request. That is a useful process especially when there is a financial transaction, such as when receiving wiretransfer instructions is involved. Threat actors on a compromised computer can change the wire transfer instructions to redirect the funds to another account.

• Be sure to backup your emails regularly. Threat actors can easily encrypt a compromised email account to extort money. It is important to know that it is your responsibility to keep your data backed up. Many email service providers do not backup your email account. Some may allow you to restore deleted emails but will not be able to restore an encrypted email account.

Other considerations to keep your device and login safe

• Login to websites that use HTTPS. You can identify those sites with a padlock on the left of the https://. You can go one step further and check the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate of the website by clicking on the padlock to the left of the URL to ensure the site URL and SSL certificate are valid and they match. Avoid browsing websites if you get a certificate error.

• Limit access to your company Wi-Fi to your guests who are not employees. Provide a separate Wi-Fi access to your clients and your staff’s personal devices. Use Virtual Private Network (VPN) when using a public Wi-Fi.

• Avoid using the same passwords for multiple accounts. Storing logins and passwords in a password-protected Word or Excel file is not secure. Consider using a good password manager application like 1Password, Dashlane, Keeper, or similar. Those products are also offered at the enterprise level, where password sharing is required between team members in a department, e.g., accounting department requiring a login ID and password to various vendor portals to retrieve bills.

• Always make sure to keep your computers and devices up to date with the latest Operating System’s security patches and updates. In addition, ensure the software applications you are using are fully updated. Although there are Artificial Intelligence-based antivirus applications available, many traditional antivirus software applications, e.g., MacAfee, still rely on the virus definition database. Keep an eye on your antivirus subscription and ensure you configure your antivirus application to receive multiple updates daily. Avoid using free antivirus software as that may provide only basic security and some may gather your personal data.

Those are some ways you can protect yourself and your organization. Using a combination if not all the above methods will help you protect your email account, identity, data, and your organization.

Of course, each organization’s security needs may be unique to their environment with some commonality, so be sure to consult your IT support provider for additional tips, tricks, and strategies to keep your organization’s intellectual property safe.

You can report any spam and phishing emails to cyber.gc.ca or visiting CAFC’s website. www.antifraudcentrecentreantifraude.ca/report-signalezeng.htm ▲

Ramin Ahmed is an IT Solutions Provider with Inlet Technologies with over 20 years of experience providing IT services for small to medium businesses throughout greater Vancouver and beyond. www.inletTechnologies.ca

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A

There is no doubt innovation has changed the course of human history, time and time again.

Many will debate what the best-ever invention has been. The wheel? The computer? The answer, of course, is the Thermos…it keeps the hot stuff hot and the cold stuff cold, but how does it know?

How do we really know anything anymore? In the race to push the envelope further, Innovation is always asking itself, “Could we make it?” The equally important question is, “Should we make it?” The balance of those two questions is key to working and living in an ever-expanding technological world.

Perhaps Darwin’s theories on evolution have larger implications. Today, everyone’s life is touched by the evolution of the things around them. Constant updates for equipment, apps, and life make us question the efficacy of the updates.

• Invariably, the new version of the app or equipment has different functions than the old.

• Some of the older version’s good points have been lost to less-efficient practices, effectively cancelling the “work smarter, not harder” mantra. A person is often steered away from a method that did the job

with few or no problems toward one that requires extra safety measures and more work.

It’s getting ever harder to determine what’s real and what isn’t. Recent innovations in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and photo apps have further blurred the real from the generated. When I taught school, I knew plagiarism when I saw it or a “store-bought” essay. Some new AI-generated letters and reports are quite good, however.

Recent commercials tout cameras that can change or delete the distracting or negative parts of a photo. Can we trust photos today when they can be changed so quickly, easily, and without the once-obvious photoshop issues?

Alert: You are Still the Gatekeeper. Don’t delegate your role. One of your most important jobs is to decide whether an innovation will make your life (beyond the acceptable growing pains) simpler, richer, and/or more peaceful. It may be that some innovation is just change-for-the-sake-of-change, with the potential for more stress and more work.

Legal professionals often encounter challenging decisions that centre on identification and documents during their work day. Identification-mills are creating better fake IDs…no more John Smith with a Sharpie mustache added. Some documents you are

asked to witness may look very official but could be used to gather your signature for forgery and criminal purpose.

Remember when the early TV Reality Show genre was unveiled? They promised a fascinating glimpse into daily life, unscripted. We have learned those shows are just as “rehearsed and produced” as any other show. Many people who will become your clients have adopted those shows’ edginess into their own worldview.

We’ve all seen the latest-andgreatest ideas fall by the wayside, only to emerge cleverly rebranded. Some of today’s “new” technologies have been around for years in one form or another. There has always been a reason we have been wary of implementing them.

Accountability, Authenticity, Attention to detail, and Authorship of the process and product have traditionally been the hallmarks of our BC Notary profession.

Maintaining those “A” values won’t make you a technological dinosaur. As you consider how implementing the next innovation will fit into your practice’s equation, maximize the “A” qualities by balancing these two questions: Can I do this? Should I do this? ▲

Photo:

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Records in the Cloud

The term cloud in our mind relates to a virtual place. The idea comes from a refusal to accept the physical extension of digital information in computer terminals and other machines: Digital material is physical, because it resides in servers, while at the same time being ubiquitous, due to its redundancy.

The servers in fact contain several instances of the same document; such redundancy is both uncomfortable and desirable, because on one hand it is impossible to guarantee privacy and the right to be forgotten, and on the other it might enable us to preserve indefinitely our data/documents/ archives.

Or, does it?

The following discussion very briefly reports some of the key finding of the research project

InterPARES Trust (2012-2019), whose goal was “to generate theoretical and methodological frameworks to develop local, national, and international policies, procedures, regulations, standards, and legislation, to ensure public trust grounded on evidence of good governance, a strong digital economy, and a persistent digital memory.”1

The Cloud is a model of services requiring a connecting network and delivered ubiquitously to multiple users, regardless of the location of the user and the provider’s facilities, provisioned on demand and paid proportionally to usage (like electricity and water, and other critical infrastructures). The many issues related to storing records in the cloud have been reduced to a question of trust, both technological and social, based on a shared fiduciary relationship that relies on a provider’s reputation, performance, and competence.2 Trust is confidence of one party in another, based on an alignment of value systems with respect

1 This was the 4th phase of the InterPARES project, which began in 1998, with the goal of ensuring the continuing trustworthiness of digital records across technologies. This project is now in its 5th phase and is exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence tools to carry out records and archives functions (see www.interparestrustai.org ). All the products of InterPARES Trust, the phase dedicated to the cloud, are listed here: http://interparestrust.org/trust/research_ dissemination. Among them, there are 5 books, of which the first is relevant to all juridical and cultural environments: Luciana Duranti and Corinne Rogers, eds., Trusting Records in the Cloud (London, UK and Chicago, USA: Facet Publishers and the Society of American Archivists, 2019). The other 4 books regard the use of the cloud in: 1. International Organizations: Jens Boel and Eng Sengsavang eds., Recordkeeping in International Organizations Archives in Transition in Digital, Networked Environments (London, UK: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2021);

2. Europe: Hrvoje Stancic ed., Trust and Records in an Open Digital Environment

to specific actions or benefits, and involving a relationship of voluntary vulnerability, dependence, and reliance.

The greatest concern in storing records in the cloud, regarding data sovereignty (involving data protection) and the certainty of people’s rights (including privacy— an aspect of liberty in North America, of dignity in Europe), is location independence, a defining feature of the cloud because it allows for highest security and economy. But there are also concerns about climate. The data centres account for 3 per cent of global electricity supply and consume more power per capita than any given country. Data centres also contribute 2 per cent of global total greenhouse gas emissions, and a by-product of data centres’ refreshing activities is electronic waste (E-Waste).3

When talking about keeping records in a cloud environment we must consider that, in the digital environment, a record’s

(London, UK: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2020); 3. Latin America: Alicia Barnard ed., InterPARES en Latinoamérica y el Caribe 2005-2019 (Alcaldía Coyoacán CD MX: Instituto Nacional de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información y Protección de Datos Personales, 2020); and 4. Africa: Mpho Ngoepe ed. Managing Digital Records in Africa (London, UK: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2022). A direct link to the books is on the home page of www.interparestrust.org The products of the previous phases of InterPARES are here: www.interpares.org

2 See for example Christopher S. Yoo and Jean-François Blanchette, eds., Regulating the Cloud. Policy for Computer Infrastructure (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2015). See also Erik A.M. Borglund, What About Trust in the Cloud? Archivists’ Views on Trust” The CanadianJournal of Information and Library Science 39 (2) (June 2015) 39(2): 114-127.

3 See: https://www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/cleaning-electronic-waste-e-waste.

Dr. Luciana Duranti

Photo: Shutterstock

content, structure, and form are not inextricably linked. The record as a stored entity is distinct from its manifestation on a computer screen, and its digital components have to be taken into consideration together with its documentary form. When we save a record, we take it apart in its digital components. When we retrieve it, we create a copy; there are no originals in the digital environment. Hence, it is not possible to maintain and preserve digital records; we can only preserve the ability to re-produce them, maintain authentic copies, and keep them accessible during and across different generations of technology over time, irrespective of where they are stored.4

Considering the above, one has to look at the possible reasons an organization would entrust its records to a cloud provider. InterPARES Trust found that most records creators and preservers do so to achieve the following.

to a cloud provider. They relate to data ownership, availability, access, and to the reliability of the systems hosting the data, records retention and disposition, storage and maintenance, security, location and transfer, end of service, preservation, and trustworthiness.5

When a user entrusts its records to a provider and uses the latter’s platform and application to generate additional data, the provider will create data related to actions about data processing, management, etc. While the content created and/or stored in the cloud by the user is owned by such user, the metadata created by the provider are not, and, as the user needs them to demonstrate the integrity of the records, that is not a minor problem.

Records availability is a fact, while access is a right, but the latter cannot be satisfied without the former. In a cloud environment, availability of the stored records

for example a FOIA process, and the owner of the data, being liable for providing access to them, may be sanctioned. No cloud provider guarantees constant availability. Neither do they guarantee the reliability of the system, which is the characteristic of behaving consistently with expectations, meaning that access to the same records by multiple users must be consistent and accurate.

As it regards the retention and disposition of records, compliance with the creator’s schedule is difficult to verify. Furthermore, transfer from a system to another for retention (e.g., from a recordkeeping system to a records preservation system) might involve loss of authenticity. Destruction of the records that are not transferred to a preservation system might involve a breach of confidentiality or privacy, persistence of some of the copies and related metadata, and of the metadata generated by the provider about the user’s records.

Clearly, the overwhelming reason for choosing to keep records in the cloud is economic, as increasing storage also is related to reducing costs. Very few organizations consider the issues that are linked to entrusting records

involves the availability of the infrastructure (i.e., the amount of time a system is expected to be in service equals 100 per cent). Availability facilitates retrieval and readability of the data, while technical difficulties might slow

4 Luciana Duranti and Kenneth Thibodeau, “The Concept of Record in Interactive, Experiential and Dynamic environments: the View of InterPARES,” Archival Science 6, 1 (2006): 13-68 (Online at http://www.interpares.org/ip2/display_file. cfm?doc=ip2_book_appendix_02.pdf ).

Storage and maintenance impact the quality of the records and their ability to serve as legal evidence, especially in legal jurisdictions where the authenticity of the record is an inference made from the integrity of the system where the data reside, (e.g., Canada).6 Contractual agreements do not generally specify how records are maintained across changing technologies and data formats, and they generally say users are responsible for backing up their data. All maintenance procedures, including proper storage, care, custody, and data control, are referred to by providers as “backup procedures.”7

6 Canadian General Standards Board, National Standards of Canada CAN/CGSB72.34-2017 Electronic Records as Documentary Evidence. Amended October 2018. Reaffirmed March 2022.

5 Luciana Duranti and Corinne Rogers, “Trust in digital records: An increasingly cloudy legal area,” Computer Law & Security Review 28.5 (October 2012): 522-531.

7 For a discussion of contractual agreements for cloud services see Jessica Bushey, Marie Demoulin and Robert McLelland, “Cloud service contracts: an issue of trust”, The Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science 39 (2) (June 2015) 39(2): 128-153. The entire issue of the journal is dedicated to the cloud environment.

What are the motivations for keeping records online?

Records security is protection of the system/records from unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction. In a context like the Canadian one, where integrity of a system is an inference made from its security, and where the integrity of the record is an inference made from the integrity of the system, security is the new authenticity. Individuals enforce security with something they know (e.g., password), they own (e.g., tokens), or they are, (e.g., fingerprints). A cloud provider enforces it through encryption, should produce audit trails and access and capture logs, and should maintain and make available metadata associated with access, retrieval, use and management of the records, in addition to those linked to the records themselves. All those procedures add to the cost of cloud services, however, thus the primary reason for using them becomes weaker.

The security issue links directly to the matter of data location and cross-border data flow. Records can be in data centres anywhere in the world and they move constantly as space becomes available. The location of the records is a criterion in determining the law that applies in case of litigation. National strategies used to require that records reside within the boundaries of the country where they were created, which would be very expensive for data centres in Europe or North America; thus the international strategy no longer requires it, underscoring instead the importance of multilateral agreements among countries for collaboration in security.

As it regards ends of service or contract termination, if the provider ceases to exist or terminates

one or more of its services for breach, inactivity, or convenience, the records will be deleted or inaccessible. Free services do not have an established duration and may close accounts unilaterally, requiring users to delete software and applications, and preventing them from accessing the data left with the provider. When the data are given back to the user, it is not certain they will be in a usable and interoperable format.

as long as the records must be preserved, or that the technologies replacing them will be compatible with the previous ones. Standards give information about preservation formats but there is no way of controlling compliance. There is no way of verifying records authenticity.

Regardless of all the above, most records creators and preservers prefer the cloud to an inhouse system, because it increases collaboration and organizational performance; there is no owning of hardware/software—which can be better than the one an organization can afford; the energy costs are lower; the IT personnel is reduced in number; and mostly because they can get whatever is needed and only pay for what they use, a use that can be tracked and measured.

If the contract is terminated by the user, the restitution of the records may be expensive and they may not be in accessible formats. Also, the user may not have the right to access for its recordkeeping or legal purposes the metadata related to records maintenance, preservation, and access generated by the provider in the period it had had control of the records, and may have no guarantee that the provider will destroy every copy of the records held in the data centres and/or of the related metadata.

Finally, preserving records in the cloud is a black box process. Providers may not know where the records are, can and do subcontract some of their services to other providers who may maintain servers or be registered as providers in different countries. One cannot expect the same hardware and software will remain in service for

In conclusion, the cloud is here to stay. Though a private cloud presents fewer problems than a commercial cloud because of the absence of a multitenant system, (i.e., sharing the same servers with unknown organizations), it is essential that its users obtain a contract with their chosen provider that keeps into account all the issues identified in this short overview.8 ▲

Dr. Luciana Duranti, graduate of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, is a Professor of archival theory, diplomatics, and digital records in the Master’s and Doctoral archival programs of the School of Information of the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. Since 1998, she is the Principal Investigator of the SSHRC funded InterPARES research project and since 2015, Chair of the Canadian Government Standards Board Committee for Electronic Records as Documentary Evidence.

8 The outline of the components of a good contract is in the article by Jessica Bushey, Marie Demoulin and Robert McLelland, “Cloud service contracts: an issue of trust”, cit.

Regardless of all the above, most records creators and preservers prefer the cloud to an in-house system...

Technology and a Retired Guy!

When you think of technology, what comes to mind — your laptop, desktop computer, cell phone, or maybe Bluetooth?

I retired as Secretary and CEO of The Society of Notaries Public in 2017 and in 2019 I was CEO of the BC Notary Association for 10 months, then retired again.

When I was working, I used various technologies all the time and, because I was busy, I simply took them for granted. Since my last retirement, however, with more time on my hands I sometimes reflect on the technology we used to create new initiatives for BC Notaries.

The one that stands out is the technology used to provide legal education to prospective Notaries in the Province of BC. Because we are a large province—and it was our desire as the Notary Society to provide Notarial services in as many BC communities as possible, our challenge was to provide the necessary education in rural and urban communities outside the Lower Mainland.

Thus we partnered with Simon Fraser University; they put together a program delivered in part using technologies over the Internet.

Students in places like Kamloops, Cranbrook, Prince George, and Fort St. John could take part in the studies without having to live in Vancouver or Burnaby where the specific campus is located.

The technology for the Master of Arts in Applied Legal Studies Program (MA ALS) was one of the first of its kind in Canada for a Master’s degree—and received a very prestigious award for academic initiative.

its various compartments with your cell phone? Many have the ability to connect to our Wi-Fi so you can see and speak with your neighbour, your sister or brother, or a cooking friend as you prepare dinner.

What are semiconductors anyway?

They are material products usually comprised of silicon that conducts electricity better than an insulator such as glass, but less than a pure conductor such as copper or aluminum. Their conductivity and other properties can be altered with the introduction of impurities, called doping, to meet the specific needs of the electronic component in which it resides.

Also known as semis or chips, semiconductors can be found in thousands of products such as computers, smartphones, appliances, gaming hardware, and medical equipment.

Uses of Semiconductors

Today as a retired guy, I marvel at the technologies around me. We recently purchased new appliances for our kitchen. The dishwasher uses “chips” or semiconductors to do its thing! The options for a new refrigerator were limited only by the number of things you might want a frig to do—want a built-in radio or the ability to control your frig and

Broadly speaking, semiconductors fall into 3 or 4 main product categories.

Memory

Memory chips serve as temporary storehouses of data and pass information to and from computer devices’ brains. The consolidation of the memory market continues, driving memory prices so low that only a few giants like Toshiba,

Photo: Shutterstock

Photo: Shutterstock

Wayne Braid

Samsung, and NEC can afford to stay in the game.

Microprocessors

They are central processing units that contain the basic logic to perform tasks. Intel’s domination of the microprocessor segment has forced nearly every other competitor, with the exception of Advanced Micro Devices, out of the mainstream market and into smaller niches or different segments altogether.

Commodity Integrated Circuit

Sometimes called “standard chips,” they are produced in huge batches for routine processing purposes. Dominated by very large Asian chip manufacturers, this segment offers razor-thin profit margins in which only the biggest semiconductor companies can compete.

As a result, there is constant pressure on chipmakers to come up with something better and even

cheaper than what was defined as state-of-the-art only a few months earlier.

A new car for example can have more than 3,000 chips or semiconductors on board, needed to operate most components of the vehicle. (Please refer to my friend Akash Sablok’s Technology reviews in The Scrivener.)

It is interesting to note that the first documented discovery of a semiconductor was by British physicist Michael Faraday in 1833. Over the years, many scientists developed and improved semiconductor’s transistors to be used in various ways and products.

I am certain Silicon Valley is a term we have all heard during the development of many computer products. The United States of America became the leading developer and manufacturer of “chips.” At one time, the US produced over 80 per cent

of the chips used in the world. That percentage has slipped to about 17 per cent in 2023. It is interesting to note that President Biden in his February 2023 address to Congress stated the US was going to take back the leadership role of manufacturing-and-furtherdeveloping microchips in the world!

Certainly, we recognize the very important role technology plays in our economy and indeed in our day-to-day lives.

After you read this, I hope your mind will consider your retirement (whenever that may be). I suggest you sit back and contemplate all that goes on around us and let the chips fall where they may! ▲

Wayne Braid is the former CEO/ Secretary of The Society of Notaries Public.

Excerpts were quoted from an article by Troy Segal in September 2022.

Embracing Technology Can Benefit Seniors

Do you know the fastestgrowing demographic for Internet use in Canada? It’s people age 65+.

Seniors still lag behind their younger counterparts when it comes to using the Internet and Internet-linked technologies, but the gap is closing. That could be a really important development for ageing in Canada.

A growing body of research shows that going online and owning a smartphone or tablet can provide surprising health benefits for seniors. For example, recent studies by the US-based Pew Research Centre found that seniors who use technology

• feel more connected to others,

• are better engaged in the community and the world around them, and

• are more informed about current events.

That should be welcome news to the 92 per cent of Canadian seniors who say they hope to agein-place at home for as long as possible. Loneliness, isolation, and

mental decline are all-too-common problems for at-home seniors. The Pew results suggest a solution may be just a few daily mouse-clicks or finger-touches away.

Falls are the leading cause of injury among older Canadians with 20 to 30 per cent of seniors experiencing one or more falls each year. While falls can commonly lead to broken bones, the worst health outcomes are often not a product of the fall itself—medical situations can develop due to the time spent on the ground afterward.

With a home medical-alarm, you can call for help with just the push of a button on a monitoring device—or even on your cell phone. Many newer-model monitors can auto-detect falls and are GPSlinked to provide support for seniors wherever they go.

2. Maintaining Community and Connections with Loved Ones

Here are ways technology may help seniors continue living independently longer.

1. Ensuring Personal Safety

There are a plethora of homemonitoring and security systems that can help you feel safe and protected in your own home. For many, the most important technology may be a home medical-alarm.

Numerous studies link staying socially active with

• myriad health benefits for seniors,

• reduced risk of depression and dementia,

• improved cognitive abilities,

• better capacity to cope with loss, and

• a longer lifespan.

There are a plethora of home-monitoring and security systems that can help you feel safe and protected in your own home.

Lori McLeod

Photo: Shutterstock

Unfortunately, many seniors struggle to maintain their social connections because reduced vision, hearing, and mobility challenges conspire to limit their outings and keep them at home more often.

After a couple of years of COVID lockdowns, you likely already know how video chats, texting, and social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram can help you stay connected with those you love when in-person visits aren’t possible.

A growing number of online community forums continue to pop up, too, providing a place for seniors to connect regarding shared hobbies and interests, or to make new relationships.

3. Providing Companionship

If you’ve ever owned a pet, you know cats and dogs provide us with companionship, fun, and a nonjudgmental ear. They can be a lot of work, however; some seniors can no longer manage walking, feeding, or caring for a live animal.

Fortunately there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting robotic pets can provide seniors with many of the joys of pet ownership, without the inconveniences. In fact, Eldercare Foundation already has a program that provides robotic cats and dogs to seniors in long-term care.

Other studies in that area are looking at a wide range of robotic designs that help seniors manage their health needs and daily tasks for living—think “Siri” or “Alexa” that can move and interact with you, so you never have to feel alone.

4. Improving Your Mental and Physical Well-Being

It turns out Super Mario can be super for your brain. A 2020 study in the US found that playing Super

Mario helped boost memory after just a few weeks of game-play. The researchers concluded that novel stimuli, paired with rich 3D environments, can work together to improve cognition and memory in ageing brains.

So the next time you tell the kids or grandkids to get off the computer and go outside, maybe it should be so you can play with it yourself!

Mario isn’t alone in offering benefits, either. Tetris, Solitaire, Sudoko, chess, and several braintraining apps have also been shown to help with memory and problemsolving skills.

Nintendo Wii and PlayStation both offer motion-controlled games that make at-home exercise fun. Fitness trackers like Fitbit can encourage movement and provide real-time feedback on important health metrics. Virtual reality devices are also showing promise for both brain and body engagement, and may be particularly helpful for seniors with limited mobility.

5. Staying Informed about News and Current Events

Many seniors still prefer to get their news from more traditional media like the newspaper or TV local news, but seeking trusted news sites online can have many positive benefits.

In an instant, you can view coverage from all around the world and check out different viewpoints about the new and emerging stories. Many publishers now offer more content online than they do through more traditional channels. It’s a simple way to engage your brain in a new way and stay up-to-date on happenings local and global. ▲

Lori McLeod is Executive Director of the Greater Victoria Eldercare Foundation. www.gvef.org

Seeking a Career as a British Columbia Notary Public?

There are business opportunities for Notaries in various communities throughout British Columbia.

Some of the Requisites for Becoming a BC Notary

• Undergrad degree with a CGPA not less than 3.0

• Interest in the practice of law

• Strong entrepreneurial spirit

• Strong communication and people skills

• Dedication to community and serving the public

• High degree of honesty and integrity

For more information, please contact The Society of Notaries Public of BC 1-800-663-0343 or visit our website, www.snpbc.ca.

BC NOTARIES ARE RESPECTED IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.

Aspects of Our Technological Future

In their important and thought-provoking book, The Future of the Professions, 1 Daniel and Richard Susskind posit two possible futures for the established professions, both scenarios resting on technology

• the first, a comforting and comfortable time ahead in which technology streamlines, optimizes, and complements professional life and work;

• the second, a dystopian future in which increasingly capable systems and machines [designed and operated by IT professionals] gradually take on more of the tasks associated with the established professions until professionals [such as lawyers and Notaries] are effectively replaced.2

Peter Zablud, AM, RFD

secure their places in the first possible future scenario advanced by the Susskinds.

Notaries and their firms are steadily turning to cloud data services to meet their document management and storage needs.

Since the introduction of personal computers in the mid-1970s, followed by the public availability of the World Wide Web from 1991, several significant and far-reaching developments in information and communications technology have become widely and generally available, including cloud data services, videoconferencing, and the now-ubiquitous smartphone. Overwhelmingly at present, Notaries are armed with personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Notaries and their firms are steadily turning to cloud data services to meet their document management and storage needs. Spurred on by the Pandemic, videoconferencing has become a norm.

Competence

They go on to say that during the medium term, the two futures will be realized in parallel. Dishearteningly, their general view is that, although by virtue of technological progress, new and more efficient ways to solve important problems will undoubtedly arise, in the long run new technologies are an existential threat to many professionals.3

As the digital environment continues to evolve, it becomes increasingly important for Notaries to actively embrace new and emerging technologies if they wish to

To function effectively during the coming years, it is essential that Notaries be digitally competent. The basic competencies involve being able to

• browse, search, evaluate, and manage data, information, and digital content;

• interact, share information and collaborate with government, people, and entities (in Canada and abroad) through the use of digital technologies;

• understand copyright and licences;

• prepare, revise, integrate, and disseminate digital content;

3 Ibid

1 Daniel Susskind and Richard Susskind, The Future of the Professions How technology will transform the work of human experts, (Oxford University Press, 2015).

2 Daniel Susskind and Richard Susskind, “The Future of the Professions.” A Paper presented on April 27, 2017, and subsequently published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (Volume 162, No 2, June 2018), 125.

Photo: iStock

protect devices, personal data, and [important] privacy;

• keep up-to-date with new technologies as they emerge; and

• solve elementary technical problems.4

Achieving a sufficient level of digital competence may prove difficult for some professionals. It is clear from observing and conversing with many of the younger generation, that they mostly have the skills required to provide a smooth pathway to digitally competent professional practice.

Paperless Practice?

Currently, many government, commercial, and professional services have already been moved or are soon to be moved into the digital environment, thereby reducing their use of paper and paper-based document-management systems. But as far as most Notaries are concerned, for notarizations for international purposes, paper is still king, and [with apologies to Marshall McLuhan] paper continues to be the principal medium for the Notarial message.

On June 30, 1975, in its leading article, “The Office of the Future,” the American magazine BusinessWeek confidently opined that by the year 2000, commercial and professional offices would be substantially paperless.

In their 2001 book, The Myth of the Paperless Office, 5 Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper wrote:

As we write this book, we have paper all around us. …One has only to look at any workplace to see how firmly paper is woven into the fabric of our lives. …It seems that the promised “paperless office” is as much a mythical ideal today as it was thirty years ago.6

4 Adapted from European Commission, Joint Research Centre, DigiComp 2.2, The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens: with new examples of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. (Publications Office, 2022) <http://publications.frc. ec.europa.eu/repository/handle JRC128415>.

Also see Catalina Jodache, Ilse Mariën and Dorien Baelden, Developing Digital Skills and Competencies: A Quick Scan Analysis of 13 Digital Literacy Models, (Italian Journal of Sociology of Education 9(1) 2017), 6.

5 Abigail J. Sellen and Richard H.R. Harper, The Myth of the Paperless Office (The MIT Press, 2001).

More than 2 decades on, almost nothing has changed. The world’s love affair with paper continues unabated and shows little sign of ending. For Notaries and other professionals, “paperless” does not mean dispensing with paper altogether. It means using less paper while at the same time taking on available technologies to modernize work practices and office procedures.

Three Emerging Technologies

Of the presently known emerging technologies, three in particular are considered to bear upon future legal and Notarial practice in countries such as Canada. They are

• Artificial Intelligence (“AI”);

• The Next-Generation Internet (“the Metaverse”); and

• Distributed Ledger Technology (“Blockchain”).

Artificial Intelligence

At its simplest, AI is “the capacity of computers or other machines to exhibit or simulate intelligent behaviour.”7

AI is of course far from a simple matter. According to leading British AI scientist and commentator Professor Stuart Russell, OBE, “AI… is the dominant technology of the future.8 Success [in inventing superintelligent AI] would be the biggest event in human history…and perhaps the last event in human history.”9

AI is the branch of computer science that deals with the simulation of intelligent, i.e., human-like, behaviour in computers, such as planning activities, moving around in a physical environment, recognizing objects and sounds, speaking, and translating.

“Machine learning” (“ML”) is the subset of AI that uses algorithms [procedures used for solving a problem or performing a computation] to select, organize,

6 Ibid. 1 and 2.

Thereby giving support and credence to Sir Arthur Clarke’s dictum, “It is impossible to predict the future, and all attempts to do so in any detail appear ludicrous within a very few years.” Arthur C. Clarke Profiles of the Future. An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible (Harper & Row, revised ed, 1973), xiii.

7 Entry for Artificial Intelligence (Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed, 2008).

8 Stuart Russell, Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control, (Penguin Books, 2020), ix.

9 Ibid. 3.

Also see, Stuart Russell, Living with Artificial Intelligence, (2021 Reith Lectures transcripts). Found at <bbc.co.ui/programmes/b00729d9/episodes/player>.

Photo: iStock

and present data and learn from doing so to make a determination or prediction about certain things or events.

AI’s capabilities are built on ML and it uses the determinations and predictions to solve problems faster and more efficiently than humans are able to do. For example, finding the winning move in a chess game or identifying which chemical molecules can create a new antibiotic that scientists at America’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved in 2020—naming the antibiotic “Halcin” after the computer HAL in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.10

In the popular mind, AI is best exemplified by sentient robots created by Hollywood such as R2D2 and C3PO in Star Wars and Lt. Commander Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Doubtless, one day sentient robots will emerge and be a feature of the future; but in the interim, as the scientific community strives to develop AI-powered machines able to think, feel, and express emotions, it is useful for them to remember that the creation of sentient machines has been a Holy Grail pursued by humanity since at least Biblical times and that “few of the miraculous automata attributed to inventors and thinkers from Archimedes to Descartes have materialized beyond legend.”11 They should also take the trouble to recall and heed the adage, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

Although sentient robots remain the stuff of science fiction, AI has quietly slipped into modern life as the technology facilitating significant advances in fields as diverse as conveyancing (in British Columbia and jurisdictions abroad), education, legal research, medical imaging and diagnostics supply chain management, and tourism. Social media platforms, virtual assistants such as “Alexa” and “Siri,” digital wallets, passport and ID document verification, voice recognition and translation software, and e-signature services are among the very many AI-driven applications in general communal and commercial use.

10 Arthur Herman, “Who Will Control the Machines?” (Commentary Magazine, Volume 153, February 2022) 45.

See also, Stuart Russell, Intelligence in Humans and Machines (Chapter 2 in Human Compatible, (above n5).

No AI applications specifically directed toward supporting and enhancing the international role and function of common law Notaries have yet come on the market, but there are a number of AI-based tools available, including AI-based Generative Pre-trained Transformer (“GPT”) applications that Notaries could usefully take onboard to assist in the promotion and conduct of their practices.

The Metaverse

“Metaverse” is a portmanteau of meta (after or beyond) and Universe, apparently devised and first used by the American science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel, Snow Crash.

Supported by the currently embryonic 6G wireless communications technology, the Metaverse will be

a postreality universe that is a perpetual and persistent multiuser environment merging physical reality with digital virtuality. It is based on the convergence of technologies [such as virtual reality (“VR”) and augmented reality (“AR”)] that enable multisensory interactions with virtual environments, digital objects, and people. …Hence, the Metaverse is an interconnected web of social, networked immersive environments in persistent multiuser platforms. It enables seamless embodied user communication in real-time and dynamic interactions with digital artifacts.

Its first iteration was a web of virtual worlds where avatars were able to teleport among them. The contemporary iteration of the Metaverse features social, immersive VR platforms compatible with massive multiplayer online video games, open game worlds, and AR collaborative spaces.12

Presently there is an intense race to construct the infrastructure, protocols, and standards that will govern the Metaverse. Large corporations [including Amazon, Apple, Disney, Google, and Microsoft] are endeavouring to construct their closed proprietary hardware and software ecosystems to attract users and become the de facto Metaverse destination.13

11 Jessica Riskin (ed), Genesis Redux : Essays in the History and Philosophy of Artificial Life, (University of Chicago Press, 2007), 267

See also, Gaby Wood Edison’s Eve : a Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life (Alfred A Knopf, Inc. 2002)

12 Stylianos Mystakidis, [entry for] Metaverse in the E-encyclopaedia (MDPI, Basel) 2022.

13 Ibid.

Photo: iStock

On October 31, 2008, the [as yet unidentified] pseudonymous person(s) Satoshi Nakamoto published a White Paper, “Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System.”14 In January 2009, Nakamoto launched the cryptocurrency “Bitcoin” based upon the Blockchain technology described in the Paper.

It took practically no time for Blockchain to be touted as a major technology of the future that, among other things, would see the end of traditionally trusted intermediaries, in a wide range of activities, including the verification and authentication of commercial, legal, and public documents, while at the same time reducing the risks of tampering and fraud.15

Blockchain is a tamper-evident and tamper-resistant cryptographically protected decentralized digital ledger (record of transactions) database—validated, maintained, and supervised by a network of computers known as “nodes.”

The basic unit in a Blockchain is a parcel of data known as a “Block.” Blocks are cryptographically securely linked together to form a continuous chain. Hence, “Blockchain.”

The rationale behind Blockchain is that participants interacting within the system do not necessarily have to know or trust each other, but are still able to transact securely. The system itself creates trust in the transaction(s).

No technology has stirred up so much popular passion since the advent of the Internet and none has sparked so much controversy beyond the confines of the mysterious universe of information technology specialists.16

Blockchain’s potential has been emphatically, albeit somewhat hyperbolically, described in the following way.

[In the world of the future] every agreement, every process, every task, and every payment would have a digital record and signature that could be identified validated, stored, and shared. Intermediaries like lawyers, brokers, and bankers might no longer be necessary. Individuals, organizations, machines, and algorithms would freely transact and interact with one another with little friction. This is the immense potential of blockchain.17

That “immense potential” is subject to the provisos that …if there is to be a blockchain revolution, many barriers—technological, governance, organizational, and even societal—will have to fall.

True blockchain-led transformation of business and government…is still many years away. …While the impact will be enormous, it will take decades for Blockchain to seep into our economic and social infrastructure. The process of adoption will be gradual and steady, not sudden, as waves of technological and institutional change gain momentum.18

So far, opinion in commercial and legal circles is sharply divided as to the utility of Blockchain as a practical means of generating, storing, accessing, and authenticating documents of all descriptions.

On one hand, it is seen as an indispensable solution for every present-day problem arising from the use and abuse of paper instruments of all kinds; on the other, it is seen as a solution looking for a problem, or as one pundit has put it, Blockchain is a case of

14 A “White Paper” is the first document [people] should read to better understand a core concept or idea (Wikipedia). The term originated in Britain in the 1920s when government papers were colour-coded for distribution purposes. “White” papers were for public access. The Nakamoto White Paper may be found at <https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-paper>

15 See e.g., T Shah, S Kadam, et al, Web based Voting Frameworks using Blockchain Technology (2010) PDF Smjournals.com. and Y.H. Lim, H. Haslim, et al, Blockchain Technologies in E-commerce, Social Shopping and Loyalty Program Applications (2011) researchgate.net.

Also see, Marcela M Gomez, et al, Is Blockchain the next step in the eVolution of [Market] intermediaries? (TPRC47: The 47th Research Conference on Communication Information and Internet Policy 2019).

16 Emmanuelle Ganne, Can Blockchain revolutionise international trade? (2018) WTO Publications, Switzerland, 2.

17 Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani, The Truth about Blockchain in Blockchain: Insights you Need from Harvard Business Review (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019), 6.

18 Ibid.

Photo: iStock

“an extraordinary technology in search of an ordinary use.”19

Whatever the Fates have in store for the technology, as far as Notaries in all jurisdictions are concerned, the efficacy and effect of Blockchain are yet to be proved.

Blockchain Unravelled

Blockchain is a mathematically and technically complex methodology that remains a closed book for most people. The following notes compiled from a number of sources are offered to provide a simplified outline of key aspects of the technology (other than as it relates to cryptocurrency).20

• Blockchain is implemented

◊ without a central data repository;

◊ usually without a central authority such as a bank or a government entity; and

◊ by enabling a community of participants to record and access transactions within the community, so that normally a transaction cannot be changed once it has been recorded.

• As required for the purposes of each individual transaction, the elemental data in every Block in the chain comprises alphanumeric information and any necessary [digitized] appurtenant materials such as maps, plans, photographs, illustrations, film and video images, and speech, music, and sound effects.

• The “Genesis Block” also known as “Block 0” (Block Zero) is the first or foundation Block in a Blockchain. Anyone may set up a Genesis Block for a proposed specific purpose by using a commercially available software package or the services of a professional Service Provider (generally the latter).

19 Atlantic Magazine staff writer, Derek Thompson Online Newsletter (Blog) 23 November 2022.

20 The principal sources, in alphabetical order

• Bambosa, Joseph J, and Allen, Paul R, et al, Blockchain: a practical guide to developing business, law and technology solutions (McGraw Hill, 2018)

• Monash Blockchain Technology Centre (<https:www.monash.edu.blockchain>.

• Other than creators of Genesis Blocks, most participants in a Blockchain transaction use one of the increasing number of available commercial Blockchain Platforms to assist them.

• Save for the Genesis Block, (which has no previous Block to reference), each Block contains a one-way cryptographic mathematical algorithm (a set of rules for calculations or problem-solving) known as a “hash” of the previous Block in the chain, as well as all the transaction data and a time stamp—the hash function is used to connect the Block to the previous Block and to secure and verify the data in it.

• A transaction is implemented and managed by a so-called “peer to peer” network of computers. Each computer in the network is known as a “node.” Each node is not necessarily connected to every other node.

• Currently, nodes are overwhelmingly PCs, Macs, or Tablets, but it is expected that newer generations of smartphones and handheld devices will have sufficient computational power and storage to be used as nodes.

• The number of nodes required for particular transactions varies and is determined by transactional requirements.

• Blockchains may be

◊ Public Blockchains, i.e., Permissionless; anyone can join them;

◊ Private Blockchains, i.e., Permissioned; participation is restricted and is usually limited to a business network where a single entity or consortium controls membership; or

• Hybrid Blockchains, i.e., that use components of both Public and Private Blockchains).

• Access controls embedded in the system for a specific transaction are designed to prevent the insertion of data and resources into the chain by

• The OECD Blockchain Primer (OECD undated) www.oecd.org/finance/blockchain.

• Tapscott, Don, et al Blockchain: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review (Harvard Business Review, 2019).

• Wikipedia Online Encyclopaedia.

“Blockchain”

• Wong, Terry,

in Emma Jones and Francine Ryan, Ann Thanoraj and Terry Wong (eds) Digital Lawyering (Routledge, 2021)

Photo: iStock

More Than Just a Summer Camp

For EFry's young clients, Blue Sky Summer Camp isn't just a week of fun. It's a chance for kids from difficult life circumstances to relax and just be kids. It's also a step towards a brighter future.

“I attended EFry summer camp from the time I was 12,” says Jordan, now 21. “As a counsellor, I was trained on the impacts of trauma and how to help kids deal with it. Now I understand why my time as a camper felt so good. It's rewarding giving kids the kind of fun I had.”

EFry summer camps are made possible thanks to donor support.

Visit: efry.com/donate-now

unauthorized participants or by malevolent persons. Attempts to introduce new or different data are generally immediately detected and result in the deletion of the [introduced] transaction record. Problems are arising from attacks by hackers and cybercriminals but researchers are constantly developing new means of improving Blockchain security.

• The well-known rule, “Garbage in Garbage out,” i.e., information is only as good as its source, applies to Blockchain transactions.

Learn More about Blockchain

Fortunately, Canada has a significant number of private enterprise organizations and tertiary education institutions offering quality courses of instruction in Blockchain technology. For example, in British Columbia, UBC has an online program leading to the award of a “UBC MicroCertificate in Blockchain Innovation and Implementation.”

“The SFU Blockchain Club” hosted by Simon Fraser University could well be worth considering by Notaries and other professionals generally.

EPILOGUE

Observations about Technological Change21

• It is a delusion to believe that the wisdom of the ages has been rendered irrelevant by the technological changes of our era.

• You would be surprised by how many people believe that new technologies are unmixed blessings.

• All technological change is a Faustian bargain; for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage.

• The advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population. Every new technology benefits some and harms others. There are even some who are not affected at all.

• The consequences of technological change are always vast, often unpredictable, and largely irreversible.

• We must proceed with our eyes wide open so that we may use technology rather than be used by it. ▲

Professor Peter Zablud, AM, RFD, is an Australian Lawyer, Notary, and the Director of Notarial Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne.

21 From a talk by Neil Postman, Denver, Colorado, March 28, 1998. “Five Things you need to know about technological change.” ([PDF] ucdavis.edu).

The Power of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

content that matches our interests. Google maps use AI to determine the best routes and travel times. Uber does, too, and uses it to determine fares. The facial recognition unlock on your iPhone is based on AI, as is pretty much every other app and function.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be an invaluable tool for streamlining your digital marketing efforts, helping you to better understand your customers, personalize your marketing messages, and save time and resources.

In this article, we’ll look at how you can use AI to improve the effectiveness of your digital marketing and take your business to the next level.

In customer service, sales, and operations there are many opportunities for businesses in every sector to leverage AI capabilities to connect with consumers. AI is present in our everyday lives whether or not we’re aware of it. Youtube, Netflix, and Amazon all use AI to determine the “best” information to serve those who are searching.

The aim is to maximize customer satisfaction and engagement and keep us on their sites and apps longer by serving up

AI is now making payper-click advertising (PPC) even more effective. PPC advertising is a digital marketing model in which advertisers pay each time a user clicks on one of their ads.

Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertising

AI is now making pay-per-click advertising (PPC) even more effective. PPC advertising is a digital marketing model in which

advertisers pay each time a user clicks on one of their ads. Those ads typically appear in search engine results (Google, Bing, etc.), social media platforms, and other websites and are designed to promote a product or service. There are a number of reasons the AI behind PPC advertising is valuable.

• It helps you identify key words your target customers are searching for online, getting your ads in front of the right audience.

• You pay only when someone is interested enough to click on the ad, and you control the budget by setting a limit for your total advertising spend.

• Since you get a detailed analysis of how well each advertising campaign is performing, you can try out different options and see what is most effective.

Better Copywriting

AI has been in the news recently due to the proliferation of powerful automatic writing tools now on the market, heralding the end of authentic writing and comforting stressed-out students everywhere. It’s no joke and it is very interesting

The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, and it’s important to stay ahead of the curve.

Mark Smiciklas

Photo: Shutterstock

to see what AI can do to help improve content writing for the web. There are lots of tools available for that. I tried a free trial of Anyword. com for the purpose of this article. If you’ve read this far… go back to the first paragraph of the article. It was 100 per cent written by the Anyword content generator!

Improved Facebook and Instagram Targeted Ads

Facebook gathers data as people use it. Every action taken such as messaging, liking, and clicking provides important information that it then packages up for advertisers.

Facebook uses artificial intelligence to make sense of the information it gathers about our preferences, which becomes extremely valuable for marketers interested in delivering relevant, hyper-targeted ads. You can make use of that intel for your own ads very easily. Facebook

and Instagram ads can easily be targeted by geography, age, wide ranges of interests, and more.

Streamlined Email Marketing

AI can help improve and streamline your email marketing efforts. Thanks to its powerful capabilities, AI can do a number of email marketing-related tasks, increasing the chances that your email reaches its intended target.

AI-powered email marketing tools such as Mailchimp and many others are constantly improving their automation and effectiveness, including the following.

• Writing email subject lines

• Drafting copy

• Sending personalized emails

• Optimizing send times to get better open rates

AI is Here to Stay

Artificial Intelligence has become a powerful tool for digital marketers.

AI technologies allow for the quick analysis and understanding of vast amounts of data, identification of patterns, and optimization of marketing strategies in real-time. It can help automate routine tasks, such as content creation and customer service—and enhance customer experiences by providing personalized recommendations and insights.

In addition, AI enables companies to make data-driven decisions and adapt their strategies in real-time. Overall, AI is becoming very useful in helping increase efficiency and effectiveness, and deliver better customer experiences. ▲

Mark Smiciklas, MBA, is the founding partner at Intersection Digital, a Vancouver-based agency that develops and manages digital marketing strategies to help organizations communicate and connect with their audiences.

Three Digital Marketing Tech Trends to Make Use of Now

As with all technology, digital marketing tools continue to change at a brisk pace. In this article, we’re taking a look at some of the top trends it pays to be aware of, as digital marketing continues to be an important focus for businesses of any size.

Did you know that social media started 18 years ago? It’s still a young medium—especially if you compare it to television for example, which has been mainstream since the early 1960s. The tools may change but the principle remains the same—authentically connecting with your target audience will always pay off.

Google’s Helpful Content System

Here’s something that isn’t actually new, but Google’s new “helpful content system” has recently made it even more important. Creating authentic, long-form content for your website will now help you get found online even more often.

The algorithm update from Google now helps searchers find high-quality content specifically written to be helpful and

educational. That is in contrast to key-word stacked content primarily created for ranking well in search engines. The algorithm aims to better reward content where visitors feel they've had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn't meet a visitor's expectations won't perform as well.

• Key Takeaway

Create long-form articles for your website (sharing them to your newsletter or social media), and focus on topics that are interesting to your prospects and existing customers. Writing valuable content using relevant keywords for your website will help improve your search rankings, and your business will be found online more often.

Short-Form Video

Video is ever increasing in its value across multiple platforms. But short-form videos that are 60 seconds or less in length are having a really big moment right now. Platforms are favouring those video “reels,” and are showing them to much broader audiences than longer videos posted to your Facebook or Instagram feed.

Even though they’re short, the videos should provide the engaging, educational value that

your customers are seeking. Tik Tok may not be where customers are, but chances are they’re on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and/or LinkedIn. Short-form video is increasing in value on all those channels. Not sure which social media channels are most important to your customers? Ask them.

• Key Takeaway

Create short-form video content on topics that are of interest to your customers and prospects. It can help people find you that might not otherwise. Determine which social media platforms are most used by your target market, and post your videos there.

Customer Service and Social Media

If you’re promptly responding to customer inquiries via email and phone, why not on your social media channels, as well? Using social media as a customer service platform has increased as people realized they can use it to reach out to companies directly. Customers ask questions or post complaints, and companies respond.

People are increasingly expecting businesses to respond to their questions or complaints on social media promptly; not

Jean Beale

doing so can spell trouble for the reputation of your business.

Recent surveys show that 40 per cent of consumers said they expect companies to respond within the first hour of connecting through social media, while 79 per cent expect a response in the first 24 hours.

Tech tools like Buffer or Sprout Social can help you monitor your social media accounts and alert you every time there is a comment or direct message that needs attention. Using social media as a customer service platform happened gradually as people realized they could reach out to companies directly. Customers ask questions or post complaints and companies respond.

• Key Takeaway

Providing prompt and great customer service through your social media channels provides an important opportunity to engage with consumers, who clearly already have high expectations that you should be doing so.

Successfully marketing your business online is an evolving process that needs to take into account your goals, the industry you’re in, your budget, and the capacity you have—to not overextend your bandwidth. Understanding how some new technologies can help you reach your customers even better than before, and developing a solid understanding of where your target market is online, will start to pay off almost immediately. ▲

Jean Beale is a partner with Intersection Digital, a Vancouver-based agency that develops and manages digital marketing strategies to help organizations connect with their audience.

LiDAR… Today’s Technology

Watch out!” my colleague Harry shouted as a distracted driver blew through our lane closure, racing toward the two of us and our array of survey equipment.

We were standing on the side of the Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam, BC, on a cool, misty evening in 2008. Harry had flown out from Ontario to lead a laserscanning campaign along the Trans Canada Highway. The firm I worked with at the time, MMM Group, had the contract to complete an as-built survey of the highway and connecting roads, as part of the design for a new bridge over the Fraser River.

Harry was our resident laserscanning expert, a technology I knew very little about and had never used before. My education and work experience was in traditional survey methods, such as total stations and satellite positioning. Those methods result in a single point to identify a feature in the physical world. The point would have an X, Y, Z coordinate and description, like Edge of Pavement. We would measure many points as part of a topographic survey, creating a sample of the environment we were tasked with measuring.

For the large infrastructure project, however, we were utilizing a Leica Scan Station 2, a terrestrial laser scanner capable of measuring 50,000 points per second. At the time, it was a technological marvel, capable of quickly and accurately measuring the features surrounding it. Rather than taking a small sample of points and interpolating between, our scan data produced thousands or millions of points on the surface of an object, enabling structures like concrete abutments or steel bridge components to be modelled in 3D. Those 3D models allowed engineers to accurately and confidently design a new bridge and corresponding road network.

Thankfully that distracted driver on the Lougheed narrowly missed Harry and me. We walked away shaken, with a new level of respect for traffic-control people who spend their working hours next to speeding vehicles. Completing that project also left me with a fascination with how lasers can be used to measure and model the physical world. Over the next 15 years I would continue to grow in my knowledge and use of laser scanning, also known as LiDAR.

LiDAR is an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging. In simple terms, a LiDAR sensor emits a laser beam that reflects off objects and returns to the sensor. Since we know how fast a laser beam travels (the speed of light), we can calculate the location of objects by measuring how long it takes the laser beam to return to the sensor. The calculations happen almost instantaneously while the sensor is being operated. The resulting information is compiled in a point cloud—a cluster of thousands or millions of points representing the area scanned by the LiDAR sensor.

The first commercial LiDAR applications were developed in the late 1980s when the US Department of Defense launched the Global Positioning System (GPS). Today GPS sensors are everywhere but satellite positioning

Jordan Litke

John La Compte Image

technology was revolutionary in the ‘80s. Some very smart people figured out that a LiDAR sensor could be mounted in an aircraft and by utilizing a combination of GPS and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), the three dimensional location of the sensor could be determined, while the aircraft was in flight.

To learn more about the early days of LiDAR acquisition, I reached out to Doug Linwood, production manager at Eagle Mapping. Eagle Mapping provides aerial LiDAR and imagery acquisition and processing, among other services. While their head office is located in Langley, British Columbia, Eagle Mapping works throughout North, Central, and South America. Doug was kind enough to answer a few questions about his experience and knowledge in LiDAR.

1. In the early days of your career, what problems were solved or solutions provided, by utilizing LiDAR?

“Previous to LiDAR, mapping was either compiled by Ground Methods, Aerial Imagery, or Satellite Imagery.

• Ground methods for surface modeling are very accurate, but not efficient for difficult areas to access or large areas to cover.

• Aerial Imagery is slower than LiDAR for general surface modelling and has difficulty determining ground heights where there is vegetation.

• Satellite Imagery has the same issues as Aerial Imagery.

“LiDAR is faster in terms of processing and is more accurate for determining ground elevations and other features than from Imagery (Aerial or Satellite). Where the

ground cannot be seen in vegetated areas from imagery, LiDAR can penetrate through vegetation to the ground because the LiDAR pulses will find enough openings in the vegetation to reach the ground.

“The use of LiDAR also provides feature information such as the shape of a roof or other above-ground features on the same flyover as for the ground. Processing can be a bit of work to classify all those features, but LiDAR is much faster than previous methods of mapping for that purpose.”

survey acquisition was done by a subcontractor. Owning aircraft now required management and maintenance of the plane as well as hiring new personnel for the field division and training them. Additionally, we had to deal with equipment that worked fine in testing, but now thousands of kilometres from nowhere, could fail or malfunction. Over time, with experience, we have become very good at solving those issues.

“Processing the data had its own challenges; people had to be trained and it takes years to be proficient. The hardware required to process large LiDAR projects is significant and several projects happening at once has also required quite powerful computer systems. I believe we have become quite efficient at the processing and am proud of the quality of data we deliver.”

3. How has the use of LiDAR within your industry changed over the course of your career?

2. What challenges did you have to overcome in utilizing LiDAR data?

“Integrating LiDAR into our workflow at Eagle Mapping involved adding a whole new technology. There was the learning curve of acquisition, beginning with starting up a 'field' division.

“Previous to LiDAR, all our work was from the office, and any photo, satellite. or ground

“From a mapping perspective, LiDAR was initially used to determine surface models. As sensors became more efficient and powerful, we could collect much larger areas in the same time it used to take to fly smaller areas, or pick up a higher density in one flyover. Clients are now using LiDAR to determine tree species and identify geological formations. LiDAR is being used for object recognition and recording feature locations such as powerline transformers if the density is high enough. We have flown projects in Central America to determine where historic buildings such as old temples are located. Prior to LiDAR, those locations were never known. LiDAR is also used in safety applications to identify hazards. Using LiDAR the aviation industry identifies above-ground objects at airports for possible issues.

xxx

Doug Linwood

Mine Site

Surrey Hillshade

“Terrestrial LiDAR (laser scanning) has now been around for a few years and is an emerging market being used for all sorts of applications. Laser scanning can be used for building design. New builds in houses and commercial buildings are recording Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing (MEP) locations so once the walls are up, future renovations will know exactly where those items are behind the walls. Terrestrial LiDAR is being used inside buildings to model the exact building dimensions. Laser scanning can be used for future planning or a record of what was there if needed. That is known as Building Information Modeling (BIM).

“Bathymetric LiDAR sensors are available to measure below the surface of water, although the water needs to be reasonably clear; that type of LiDAR is limited to depth depending on the turbidity of the water.”

As Doug alluded, some 30 plus years after mounting LiDAR in aircraft, the modern-day applications are almost endless. LiDAR is becoming part of the day-to-day vocabulary through its depiction in film and television or through the inclusion of LiDAR sensors in new technology, like smartphones, vehicles, and military applications.

In addition to finding LiDAR in commercial and military products, laser scanning is becoming increasing commonplace in the technology sector. Surveyors, engineers, and other professionals are realizing the benefits of utilizing LiDAR within their industry. LiDAR sensors are becoming smaller and less expensive and can now be mounted to drones (UAVs), on top of vehicles, and even built-in to small, handheld platforms.

The laser scanning tools are a great means of obtaining vast

amounts of data. But like any technological advancement, the widespread adoption of LiDAR is not without its challenges. One challenge with using LiDAR is assessing the quality of the data. The latest iPad or iPhone may have a LiDAR sensor in it, but is the data any good? What is the accuracy of the data? Or put differently, what is a reasonable use for the technology?

performing as expected and the products being produced meet the required standards. Through the past century, land surveyors have incorporated all kinds of technology into their toolkits, including Electronic Distance Measuring (EDM), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), photogrammetry, and more recently laser scanning. There is a time and a place for each piece of technology and land surveyors have the expertise to ensure the correct tool is being used for the task at hand.

Another challenge that comes with LiDAR is managing the data. Today’s laser scanners are capable of measuring up to 2 million points per second—even a short scan campaign can result in many gigabytes of data. Processing the data requires a workstation with significant computing abilities and storing the data requires the ability to archive terabytes of data. Surveyors and other geospatial professionals have the required abilities, but the average person doesn’t have the means of accessing and visualizing the vast datasets. Dr. Derek Jacoby is not one of those people.

The survey industry is well positioned to help other professionals understand the abilities and limitations of laser scanning. Land surveyors have always checked and assessed their data to ensure their equipment is

Jacoby is a Research Manager in Computer Science in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Victoria. As I understand it, a technology called Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) utilizes multiple 2D images to generate what is called a 3D scene. In other words, a NeRF is used to render a digital, 3D environment from photos. In addition to the digital rendering, one of the benefits of a NeRF is the potential for compression of the large datasets, making them more manageable and more accessible.

LiDAR is becoming part of the day-to-day vocabulary through its depiction in film and television or through the inclusion of LiDAR sensors in new technology, like smartphones, vehicles, and military applications.

Dr. Derek Jacoby

The research at the University is taking the emerging technology and pushing the envelope even further. Specifically, Jacoby is looking at how LiDAR can be used to generate a scene, since LiDAR can be a much more efficient data collection tool than 2D imagery. Additionally, his team is studying how generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used in representing spatial data in a digital scene. Or in simple terms, using intelligent software to create digital, 3D environments.

The concept of AI-generated NeRFs offers a glimpse into the future and how some of new technologies may impact our lives. One can imagine a scenario where LiDAR sensors are everywhere— built into vehicles, embedded in our handheld devices, and mounted on infrastructure. The sensors would be continuously collecting data and then uploading that data through 5G connectivity. Artificial Intelligence would use the data to build, update, and verify 3D models of the real world. That digital data would be continuously uploaded to autonomous vehicles and plugged in to the navigation system, ensuring the passengers have a safe ride home. Or perhaps the data is the foundation of a virtual city, enabling virtual tourism, digital property inspections for real estate transactions, or asset management of the city’s infrastructure. Those are just interesting hypothetical scenarios, but wherever the future of LiDAR takes us, I am comforted that industry experts like Doug Linwood and academics like Derek Jacoby are at the bow of the ship, scanning the horizon for new opportunities and new applications. We’re in good hands. ▲

Jordan Litke, P.Surv, BCLS, is an Associate with Polaris Land Surveying Inc., based in Victoria, BC.

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Robot Tortfeasors and the Law:

BCLI'S ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CIVIL LIABILITY PROJECT

What happens when a robot commits a tort?

The British Columbia Law Institute and an interdisciplinary committee of volunteer experts are looking for an appropriate answer via the Artificial Intelligence and Civil Liability Project. We are working toward recommendations on how the rules of tort law should be adapted to reach just and fair solutions when artificial intelligence (“AI”) causes harm to persons or property.

Our Project Committee reflects a blend of expertise in law, computer science, engineering, and medicine that is necessary for the project. The Project Committee has been at work, supported by the BCLI staff, since late 2021.

Basic Questions We Seek to Answer in the Project

• Who is, or should be, legally responsible for decisions made by autonomous intelligent machines that lead to harm?

• On what basis?

• In what circumstances?

Tort law developed as part of the common law to provide redress to victims of wrongful human conduct and deter others from engaging in it.

If damage or loss results from nonhuman conduct or decisionmaking, dilemmas arise in trying to apply its rules. Intent, fault, reasonable care, and foreseeability of harm are all important tort concepts.

Applications

Artificial intelligence or AI is software that allows automated systems to simulate abilities associated with human intelligence and perception. Some examples of AI are natural language processing, speech recognition, computer vision, and computer translation.

AI pilots self-driving vehicles, powers digital voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, and lies behind interactive chatbots like ChatGPT that answer questions and carry on conversations.

• Can a software system be said to have “intended” the consequences of its decisions?

• How can we know whether an AI system could have “foreseen” that its output would result in collateral damage to someone or someone’s property?

• Should the designers of the system have foreseen the risk in question?

• Should the user of the system have foreseen it?

As automation expands, those questions will gain increasing importance.

AI is proving to be increasingly valuable in medical diagnosis. It is being used increasingly to design new drugs, to predict weather, and in robotics, to name a few of its uses. AI has many legal and business applications.

Human programmers supply the fundamental objectives of AI systems, but many of the systems are designed to operate autonomously. The systems select from among alternative solutions and actions that have the greatest probability of reaching the objectives embedded in their programming.

Results

AI is bringing great benefits, especially in fields like medicine, pharmacology, predictive data

How can we know whether an AI system could have “foreseen” that its output would result in collateral damage to someone or someone’s property?

Greg Blue

analysis, and robotics. AI can deal with huge amounts of data in timeframes that are far beyond human abilities.

Risks

It also brings new sources of risk. The autonomy that makes AI systems so useful in arriving at innovative solutions has a downside. It makes them less predictable than more conventional software. They have been called “unpredictable by design.”

In the course of pursuing their programmed objectives, their decisions and actions may have harmful effects because they lack the extent of knowledge of the outside world that a human being gains by lived experience.

• In one publicized example, a bored child asked a popular domestic digital voice assistant to “find a challenge to do.” The voice assistant told the child to plug a phone charger halfway into a wall outlet and touch a penny to the exposed prongs. The digital voice assistant performed the task it was assigned, but lacked the context to know what it had selected for its response was dangerous.

• Someone who has suffered injury or loss through the operation of AI can face nearly insuperable challenges in proving who was at fault. Many different parties are usually involved in designing, programming, developing, training, testing, and deploying an artificial intelligence system. Even if they could all be identified, it might not be possible to prove what went wrong.

• The expression “black box” is often used in connection with artificial intelligence. It points to the fact that autonomous AI systems have limited

explainability. Even the original programmers of an AI system may be unable to explain or reconstruct how it reached a specific output. That is especially true of AI systems that operate through machine learning, because they are not limited to executing a fully preencoded program. Instead, they make decisions, predictions, or recommendations on the basis of inferences they make from processing data that is either supplied to them or gathered by sensors.

• There is a push for “explainable AI” but for the time being and foreseeable future, our ability to build systems that do remarkable things has outstripped the ability to determine how they accomplish them.

All those factors create higher barriers for someone harmed by AI who is seeking redress in the civil justice system than the ones faced by victims of human tortfeasors. Classic tort doctrines need to be adjusted to remove those barriers, and the need will become greater as the world becomes increasingly automated.

In late Spring 2023, BCLI will issue a consultation paper with tentative recommendations on Artificial Intelligence and Civil Liability and the public will have the opportunity to comment. The responses BCLI receives will feed into the final recommendations in a report to be issued later this year.

The consultation paper will be available along with all our other publications on the BCLI website at www.bcli.org

G. Blue, KC, is a Senior Staff Lawyer for the British Columbia Law Institute.

Gregory

T. DUONG GORDON J. KEHLER

Technology and Innovation at LTSA

In late 2022, I joined the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) as Chief Information Officer, inspired and motivated because LTSA holds values that align with my own. Specifically, very important to me are the organization’s focus on working in public interest and our shared values of respect and integrity.

I appreciate working with individuals who are striving for a better future; LTSA has so many smart and engaged people who are passionate about what they are doing.

My job as Chief Information Officer really comes down to two core things,

• keeping systems up and running properly to ensure they are available and secure; and

• helping the organization leverage technology as a driver for positive change.

Reinvesting in the core systems BC’s citizens depend on, LTSA is using technological innovations to support a real property market that is trusted and transparent.

Our ongoing investments in core systems help provide stability through periods of rapid change. Continual improvements to systems and processes ensure LTSA is responsive to market fluctuations while maintaining a high level of customer trust in the accuracy, security, and efficiency of our systems.

The future of our industry depends on our proven ability to deliver integrated technology solutions that provide accurate, secure, and trusted information.

By adopting technological practices into our organization, we can ensure better automation and efficiency when building and updating our services.

LTSA is currently in the early stages of visioning a modern Real Property Platform, intended to enable delivery of more adaptable and extendable systems that will improve customer experience by integrating capabilities and making systems easier to use.

The platform will be flexible to customers’ needs and will offer a range of services dependent on customer type. That includes

• a shared underlying technology and a standardized user portal for a unified customer experience;

• modernizing the land title system to enhance security and efficiency; and

• upgrading geospatial and data insight capabilities.

Currently in its early phases, the project will continue for a number of years as additional capabilities are built and implemented.

We are also continuing to work with our customers to understand their needs in a changing digital environment. We know our customers are looking for options that are efficient and easy to use. With that in mind, our focus is on developing online services with user-friendly workflows and interfaces.

The future of our industry depends on our proven ability to deliver integrated technology solutions that provide accurate, secure, and trusted information. I’m excited to be part of LTSA and to contribute toward creating innovative systems our customers can count on. ▲

Photo: Shutterstock

Matt Dockerty is Chief Information Officer at the LTSA.

Matt Dockerty

Providing for Attendance at Strata General Meetings by Electronic Means:

JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD

Amendments to the Strata Property Act made at the end of November 2022 now permit all strata corporations in British Columbia to provide for attendance at annual and special general meetings by electronic means without passing a bylaw.

But just because strata corporations can, should they?

In this article, we explain the background behind the amendments to the Strata Property Act concerning general meetings and we consider the amendments.

The article includes a discussion on some of the practical considerations that are not addressed by the amendments to the Strata Property Act concerning general meetings.

We conclude the article with an overview of some considerations for councils when deciding whether to provide for attendance at a general meeting only by electronic means, only in person, or a hybrid of both.

I. Why were the legislative changes made?

At general meetings, owners meet to discuss and vote on decisions concerning strata business. Prior

to the COVID-19 pandemic, a strata corporation could, if a bylaw permitted it to do so, provide for attendance at general meetings by telephone or “any other method.”

The only requirement for providing for attendance at an annual or special general meeting by telephone or other method was that the method must permit all persons participating in the meeting to communicate with each other during the meeting.

Pursuant to the BSSAA, the British Columbia Legislature decided to permit strata corporations to provide for attendance at general meetings by electronic means without passing a bylaw to do so.

The COVID-19 pandemic created an urgent need for strata corporations to be able to provide for attendance at general meetings by electronic means. Between restrictions to the size of gatherings and many other factors, holding inperson annual and special general meetings over the past 3 years was difficult and sometimes impossible.

To address this, the British Columbia Government implemented various temporary measures over the course of 2020 through 2022 that permitted strata corporations to provide for attendance at general meetings by electronic means without a bylaw.

At the end of November 2022, the British Columbia Legislature passed the Building and Strata Statutes Amendment Act (BSSAA) that amended the Strata Property Act. A number of amendments were made addressing different topics; the focus of this article concerns the amendments regarding general meetings.

Pursuant to the BSSAA, the British Columbia Legislature decided to permit strata corporations to provide for attendance at general meetings by electronic means without passing a bylaw to do so. Additional requirements were added to provide for attendance by electronic means, which we will consider in the next section.

The amendments concerning electronic attendance at general meetings were passed with a 4-month transition period. The provisions must be complied with as of March 24, 2023.

II. What amendments were made? The amendments made to the Strata Property Act at the end of

Elaine T. McCormack, Emily Sheard (R)

November 2022 regarding general meetings concern the following.

• Requirements to provide for attendance by electronic means

◊ notice requirements,

◊ communication among attendees, and

◊ identification of eligible voters.

• Voting cards and voting by secret ballot

Amendments concerning general meetings were not made to the Schedule of Standard Bylaws to the Strata Property Act (the “Standard Bylaws”). The Standard Bylaws apply by default as the bylaws for each strata corporation. A strata corporation can pass bylaws that amend the Standard Bylaws by filing bylaws with the Land Title Office. Those amendments can effectively add to the Standard Bylaws, amend them, or replace them.

Later in this article we discuss bylaw amendments that councils may wish to consider proposing to the owners to help ensure that electronic attendance, if provided for, at general meetings goes smoothly. Bylaws must be consistent with the Strata Property Act, but can add to it.

A. Requirements to Provide for Attendance by Electronic Means

The newly amended section 49 of the Strata Property Act requires the following for the strata corporation to provide for electronic attendance at a general meeting.

1. Notice Requirements

There are a number of requirements pursuant to section 45 of the Strata Property Act with respect to notices for all general meetings. Those requirements include, but are not limited to, a description of the matters that will be voted on at the meeting, the date, time,

and if applicable, the place of the meeting. The notice must also be delivered to owners and other specific legal persons pursuant to one of the methods prescribed by the Strata Property Act, giving a proper notice period.

The recent amendments to section 49 of the Strata Property Act require the electronic means to enable the chair of the general meeting to identify whether a person attending by electronic means is an eligible voter.

Further to the recent amendments, there is an added requirement that if attendance by electronic means is being provided for at the general meeting, the instructions for attending the meeting by electronic means must be included in the notice.

2. Communication among Attendees

If a strata corporation provides for attendance to a general meeting by electronic means, the recent amendments to Strata Property Act require the electronic means to enable all persons attending the general meeting to communicate with each other. This requirement is consistent with the previous version of section 49 of the Strata Property Act.

3. Chair of the Meeting

The recent amendments to section 49 of the Strata Property Act require the electronic means to enable the chair of the general meeting to identify whether a person attending by electronic

means is an eligible voter. The recent amendments do not take into account that the chair of the general meeting may not have been elected prior to when that identification occurs.

Generally, registration occurs prior to calling the meeting to order and electing a chair. Certifying proxies and corporate representatives, which is part of the registration process, is the first order of business pursuant to the Standard Bylaws.

Determining there is a quorum is the second order of business pursuant to the Standard Bylaws. Quorum is established by determining whether eligible votes holding one third of the strata corporation’s votes are present in person or by proxy, subject to the strata corporation’s bylaws.

Other provisions apply when there are fewer than 4 strata lots or fewer than 4 owners. To establish quorum, the person(s) conducting the registration will have had to identify whether a person attending by electronic means is an eligible voter.

Electing a person to chair the meeting, if necessary, is the third order of business pursuant to the Standard Bylaws.

B. Voting Cards and Voting by Secret Ballot

The recent amendments to the Strata Property Act have affected how voting happens at general meetings when attendance is provided by electronic means. If an eligible voter attends a general meeting by electronic means, the strata corporation is not required to issue a voting card to them. In addition, an eligible voter that attends a general meeting by electronic means is not entitled, nor required, to vote by secret ballot.

III. What should councils consider in light of the changes?

While the amendments to the Strata Property Act pursuant to the BSSAA set out a framework for strata corporations to provide for electronic attendance at a general meeting without the need for a bylaw, there are many practical considerations not addressed in the Strata Property Act.

Those practical considerations include, but are not limited to the following.

• Format of the general meeting

• Facilitating electronic attendance

• Process for proxy appointment forms

• Registration (identifying eligible voters, certifying proxies and corporate representatives)

• Voting procedures

• Privacy issues

A. Format of the General Meeting Councils will now need to choose a format for each general meeting. For example, will the general meeting be held only in person at a physical location or will council provide only for attendance by electronic means without a physical location? Or will the general meeting be a hybrid, whereby there is a physical location with some meeting attendees and some attending by electronic means?

B. Facilitating Electronic Attendance

If the strata corporation provides for attendance by electronic means, council should consider how it will facilitate that. Councils must ensure that the program, platform, or application used enables all persons attending the meeting to communicate with each other. Login instructions for the chosen program, platform, or application must be included in the notice of general meeting.

If some attendees are unwilling or unable to attend the meeting by the program, platform, or application chosen by council, it would be prudent to provide for the option to attend by telephone. Attending by telephone comes with its own set of unique considerations.

For example, if council uses a written chat function on the program, platform, or application to conduct a vote, can the function be used if a person attending by telephone cannot view the chat, i.e., communications from other attendees, or vote by the same method?

Identifying eligible voters and certifying proxies and corporate representatives may also be more challenging if those individuals attend by electronic means.

C. Process for Proxy Appointment Forms

No matter whether the general meeting is held solely by electronic means or it is a hybrid, eligible voters may still vote by proxy at an annual or special general meeting. Council should consider prior to the meeting whether it wants to implement a process for eligible voters to submit their proxy forms. For example, when trying to register attendees prior to the meeting, asking or requiring eligible voters to submit proxy forms may be more efficient than trying to read proxy forms held up to the camera by a proxy attending by electronic means.

D. Registration

Registration can be difficult enough at in-person general meetings. Councils should consider prior to the meeting how to conduct registration for individuals that attend general meetings by electronic means. For example, will all attendees have to wait in a waiting room until they are identified, then admitted to the meeting?

Alternatively, will registration occur once everyone has connected to the meeting? Especially when there is a large number of strata lots and the person facilitating registration does not know the attendees well, registration can take a long time and it will be important to have a system in place to make the registration process more efficient.

Identifying eligible voters and certifying proxies and corporate representatives may also be more challenging if those individuals attend by electronic means. Council should consider whether photo identification is going to be requested or required.

The definition of “owner” in the Strata Property Act encompasses more individuals than may initially come to mind. Our article “Whose Strata Lot Is It Anyway?” published in the Spring 2021 edition of The Scrivener [www.bcnotaryassociation. ca] provides a useful discussion on who is considered an owner pursuant to the Strata Property Act Conversely, in some instances an owner may not be an eligible voter. Section 53 of the Strata Property Act provides that the strata corporation, by bylaw, can prevent a vote for a strata lot from being exercised if the strata corporation is entitled to register a lien against the strata lot pursuant to section 116, except in the case of 80 per cent votes or unanimous votes.

E. Voting Procedures

The recent amendments to the Strata Property Act create an interesting situation for hybrid general meetings, as the Standard Bylaws would permit eligible voters attending in person to vote by secret ballot and have voter cards issued to them, but electronic attendees would not have the same rights. Councils should also consider how to respond to attendees when a secret ballot is requested for a vote in the case of hybrid general meetings or meetings held solely by electronic means.

Aside from the secret-ballot votes, councils must consider the logistics of how eligible voters can cast their votes and how the appropriate person(s) can count the votes cast.

Prior to the meeting, council may wish to set out voting procedures in the notice of meeting and/or the strata corporation’s bylaws so the eligible voters know what to expect.

Voting by electronic means can be complicated when a strata plan has both residential and nonresidential strata lots. Residential strata lots will have 1 vote, and nonresidential strata lots will have a varying number of votes, sometimes not involving a round number. That is typically due to the size of the nonresidential strata lots compared to residential strata lots.

If voting is conducted by using a “raise hand” function, the person(s) counting the votes must be cognizant that the number of votes may not equal the number of hands raised, either because 1 person holds several votes, or because 1 person is voting for a nonresidential strata lot.

F. Privacy Concerns

Council should be aware of privacy concerns at general meetings and consider how it will address them. Even at in-person-only general meetings, there is a privacy concern that someone may record the meeting without authorization to do so. That privacy concern is elevated when individuals attend general meetings by electronic means.

Council may wish to propose certain bylaws for the consideration of the owners at a general meeting that address practical considerations of electronic attendance at general meetings.

There are other privacy concerns associated with providing for attendance by electronic means at general meetings. For example, when attendees have their cameras off or are attending by telephone, it is difficult or impossible to tell who is in the room with them. Even with a camera on, people not entitled to attend the meeting may be present with the attendee, but be off screen.

Another concern may be when an attendee participates at the general meeting from a public space, such as the SkyTrain or a coffee shop; members of the public may be able to hear what is happening at the meeting.

G. Addressing Practical Concerns

Council may wish to propose certain bylaws for the consideration of the owners at a general meeting that address practical

considerations of electronic attendance at general meetings. While a bylaw is not required for a strata corporation to actually provide for such attendance, having bylaws that address other practical considerations can help individuals know what to expect.

Bylaws can address requirements for the notice of a general meeting, the process for registering eligible voters, certifying proxies and corporate representatives, voting processes, and privacy concerns.

IV. How should councils decide whether to provide for attendance by electronic means to a general meeting?

The Strata Property Act is a onesize-fits-all statute. Along with the practical considerations discussed above, the unique nature of each community must be considered when councils decide how and when to provide for attendance at general meetings by electronic means.

Factors to be considered can include, but are not limited to

• the number of strata lots;

• the number of owners;

• the general use of the strata lots; and

• the number of owner-occupied strata lots.

For example, it will likely be easier for a strata corporation to provide for electronic attendance at a general meeting for a duplex with 2 owners, versus a complex with 2 apartment towers comprising a total of 400 strata lots.

Providing for electronic attendance at general meetings can be advantageous for communities such as resort complexes, where the primary residence of the owner may not be in the vicinity of the complex.

Similarly, if a large proportion of the strata lots in a complex is rented out, the owners of the strata lots may not live in the same city, province, or country as the location of the strata lot. It may be beneficial to provide for attendance at general meetings by electronic means in those situations, because owners are otherwise unlikely to attend except by proxy.

By now, most strata corporations have had experience with providing for attendance at general meetings by electronic means. Councils should carefully consider whether providing for such attendance is appropriate for the community. Perhaps a change of approach, such as to a hybrid general meeting, will be the answer.

V. Conclusion

Now that strata corporations in British Columbia can provide for attendance at annual and special general meetings by electronic means without passing a bylaw, councils should carefully consider whether to do so.

If councils are considering bylaw amendments that address holding general meetings by electronic means, they may wish to seek the assistance of a lawyer familiar with the law and the practicalities of holding such a meeting to draft the bylaw amendments.

Keep an eye out for future articles we may publish that address other recent amendments to the Strata Property Act

This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. ▲

Elaine T. McCormack is a lawyer, mediator, and arbitrator with Wilson McCormack Law Group.

Emily Sheard is an associate lawyer with Wilson McCormack Law Group.

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Access to Justice

Joining the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) panel “Access to Justice: Whose job is it anyway?” was a worthwhile and rewarding endeavour. As the designate from the BC Notaries Association (BCNA), I was pleased to be able to offer a unique, Notarial perspective on Access to Justice (A2J).

The session was extremely well moderated with excellent discussion topics. We discussed what A2J means to each panelist,

• what our various professions have contributed and what we might contribute in the future;

• who will benefit from creating A2J;

• what regulatory changes would support increased A2J;

• how technology can help us; and

• whose job it is to make A2J a reality.

A summary of my talking points follows.

It is easy to think of A2J only in reference to Court proceedings involving criminality, resolution of conflicts, or remedies for losses,

areas you could assume BC Notaries influence in a limited way. I think it can be helpful to think of A2J as “access to the law,” meaning British Columbians have a fulsome range of reliable options when they need to engage with the legal system. Much like a healthy ecosystem thrives on diversity, so could our legal system.

Kate Roome

As a Notary, I am often presented with folks who are intimidated by the system due to their lack of resources, previous negative encounters, or a fundamental misunderstanding about how a particular problem might be tackled.

Frequently, people are deeply fearful of lawyers and will not seek their services, regardless of the referrals I might provide. Perhaps we can learn important lessons from their experiences that might positively inform the way we continue to construct a robust legal ecosystem that accurately reflects the population it is intended to serve.

To be successful in providing true A2J, there must be options reflecting the needs of every British Columbian and the factors that inform their decision-making. Providing accessible options reflective of the diversity of our population could be viewed as preventative care, helping keep citizens from increasingly complicated legal entanglements, including time in Court.

The BC Notary profession already makes significant contributions to A2J. Our Notary Foundation funds both Legal Aid and the A2JBC initiative. Additionally, Notaries continue to offer excellence in our practice areas and have increased the standard of education for our Notary members (via the Master of Arts in Applied Legal Services degree (MA ALS); we formed a Captive Insurance program and separated our regulator and our professional Association (BCNA). We’ve worked with our partners at Simon Fraser to prepare for the additional education needed for any upcoming expansion to our scope of practice.

To be successful in providing true A2J, there must be options reflecting the needs of every British Columbian and the factors that inform their decisionmaking.

We learned during COVID that perhaps we are underutilizing technology in the provision of services remotely. While I believe there are ways we can perform some of our duties successfully using remote technology, let us be cautious in our approach, particularly given what we are learning about land title fraud in Ontario. Remember that access to functioning technology and the skills required to use it may not be within reach for many British Columbians.

BC Notaries have long recognized we could be doing more to provide noncontentious legal services to British Columbians. We feel strongly that we could be offering more comprehensive services in the areas of

• testamentary trusts and life estates;

• probate filings; and

• corporate registry services for small businesses.

Currently, we are engaging with government about an expanded scope in those key practice areas— identified in very high public demand and a logical extension of the work we are already performing.

Notaries are ideally situated to fill for British Columbians. The inclusion of an expanded scope of practice for Notaries in the legislation would demonstrate an understanding of a need for a rapid response to the challenges faced by consumers. If the key principles of access to justice include lowering barriers and costs, including hardto-measure social costs, Notaries would play an important role.

During this pivotal time when unified legislation is being constructed, it’s important that government recognizes the niche

BC Notaries are a wellregulated body of highly trained legal professionals who continue to demonstrate our value to British Columbians. We recognize we are essential to the robust fabric of the legal system in BC. Proactive and enthusiastic contributors to both A2J and the project of new unified legislation, we are ready, willing, and able to do more for the citizens of British Columbia. ▲ Kate Roome’s Notary practice is in Duncan, BC.

BC Notaries are a well-regulated body of highly trained legal professionals who continue to demonstrate our value to British Columbians.

Year CONGRATULATIONS

Year CONGRATULATIONS

Notary Club

Notary Club

Sabrina Hanousek, Victoria Notary Public

Sabrina Hanousek, Victoria Notary Public

Sabrina is married to her incredibly supportive husband Steve Madsen ; she has one son Nathan Hanousek who was 4-years-old when she was commissioned. Now Nathan works for Sabrina as an office assistant to her, the other Notaries, and the legal assistants also known as the “siblings he never wanted.” Joking aside, the Notaries on Douglas team and their families are like one big happy family, which is how Sabrina always hoped her office would be.

Sabrina is married to her incredibly supportive husband Steve Madsen; she has one son Nathan Hanousek who was 4-years-old when she was commissioned. Now Nathan works for Sabrina as an office assistant to her, the other Notaries, and the legal assistants—also known as the “siblings he never wanted.” Joking aside, the Notaries on Douglas team and their families are like one big happy family, which is how Sabrina always hoped her office would be.

Sabrina is married to her incredibly supportive husband Steve Madsen ; she has one son Nathan Hanousek who was 4-years-old when she was commissioned. Now Nathan works for Sabrina as an office assistant to her, the other Notaries, and the legal assistants also known as the “siblings he never wanted.” Joking aside, the Notaries on Douglas team and their families are like one big happy family, which is how Sabrina always hoped her office would be.

"I started my Notary career in Victoria practising with Leta Best at Kitto & Best for 9 years. In September 2007, I started my own practice, Notaries on Douglas, with one employee; now I have 2 staff Notaries and 5 full-time employees, including my son Nathan. Notaries on Douglas focuses on real estate but is a busy full-service Notary firm. After many years of crazy hard work, I bought a landmark heritage building on Douglas Street, Victoria, built in 1910 as a Canadian Bank of Commerce. The new location is our second home and we love it. I am proud to have been a Notary for the last 25 years and wish to congratulate my fellow Notaries joining the 25-Year Club this year. It's been a wild and crazy time!"

"I started my Notary career in Victoria practising with Leta Best at Kitto & Best for 9 years. In September 2007, I started my own practice, Notaries on Douglas, with one employee; now I have 2 staff Notaries and 5 full-time employees, including my son Nathan. Notaries on Douglas focuses on real estate but is a busy full-service Notary firm. After many years of crazy hard work , I bought a landmark heritage building on Douglas Street, Victoria, built in 1910 as a Canadian Bank of Commerce. The new location is our second home and we love it. I am proud to have been a Notary for the last 25 years and wish to congratulate my fellow Notaries joining the 25-Year Club this year. It's been a wild and crazy time!"

"I started my Notary career in Victoria practising with Leta Best at Kitto & Best for 9 years. In September 2007, I started my own practice, Notaries on Douglas, with one employee; now I have 2 staff Notaries and 5 full-time employees, including my son Nathan. Notaries on Douglas focuses on real estate but is a busy full-service Notary firm. After many years of crazy hard work , I bought a landmark heritage building on Douglas Street, Victoria, built in 1910 as a Canadian Bank of Commerce. The new location is our second home and we love it. I am proud to have been a Notary for the last 25 years and wish to congratulate my fellow Notaries joining the 25-Year Club this year. It's been a wild and crazy time!"

Megan Knight, White Rock Notary Public

Megan Knight, White Rock Notary Public

Megan grew up in a large family of 14 children in Cloverdale. Her father was head of the RCMP in Surrey. Megan has lived in the White Rock area since 1979 and, along with her husband Gary, has 5 children and 4 grandchildren.

Megan grew up in a large family of 14 children in Cloverdale. Her father was head of the RCMP in Surrey. Megan has lived in the White Rock area since 1979 and, along with her husband Gary, has 5 children and 4 grandchildren.

Megan grew up in a large family of 14 children in Cloverdale. Her father was head of the RCMP in Surrey. Megan has lived in the White Rock area since 1979 and, along with her husband Gary, has 5 children and 4 grandchildren.

"I first starting working for Notary El Fedewich in Cloverdale. El taught me a lot and then the opportunity came up to work in White Rock as the head conveyancer for Joyce Alp and Roy Cammack. Joyce later sold her practice to David Rowan and I worked for him.

"I first starting working for Notary El Fedewich in Cloverdale. El taught me a lot and then the opportunity came up to work in White Rock as the head conveyancer for Joyce Alp and Roy Cammack. Joyce later sold her practice to David Rowan and I worked for him.

"I first starting working for Notary El Fedewich in Cloverdale. El taught me a lot and then the opportunity came up to work in White Rock as the head conveyancer for Joyce Alp and Roy Cammack. Joyce later sold her practice to David Rowan and I worked for him.

“David encouraged me to become a Notary and we struck a deal that if I could complete the course and graduate, he would give me the opportunity to purchase the practice. I graduated from UBC in June 1998 and took over the practice. I have fond memories working with all the Notaries. I have stayed close to many with whom I graduated. I have served on the Notary Society Board of Directors and the Notary Foundation Board of Governors. I was also honoured to be a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medallion for my community service. The past few years I have been a Roving Notary and, with more time on my hands, decided to get involved in politics. I have been a City Councillor for the City of White Rock and this past Fall, I was elected Mayor of White Rock."

“David encouraged me to become a Notary and we struck a deal that if I could complete the course and graduate, he would give me the opportunity to purchase the practice. I graduated from UBC in June 1998 and took over the practice. I have fond memories working with all the Notaries. I have stayed close to many with whom I graduated. I have served on the Notary Society Board of Directors and the Notary Foundation Board of Governors. I was also honoured to be a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medallion for my community service. The past few years I have been a Roving Notary and, with more time on my hands, decided to get involved in politics. I have been a City Councillor for the City of White Rock and this past Fall, I was elected Mayor of White Rock."

“David encouraged me to become a Notary and we struck a deal that if I could complete the course and graduate, he would give me the opportunity to purchase the practice. I graduated from UBC in June 1998 and took over the practice. I have fond memories working with all the Notaries. I have stayed close to many with whom I graduated. I have served on the Notary Society Board of Directors and the Notary Foundation Board of Governors. I was also honoured to be a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medallion for my community service. The past few years I have been a Roving Notary and, with more time on my hands, decided to get involved in politics. I have been a City Councillor for the City of White Rock and this past Fall, I was elected Mayor of White Rock."

Year CONGRATULATIONS

Year CONGRATULATIONS

25 Year CONGRATULATIONS

Notary Club

Notary Club

Notary Club

Carmen Langstaff, Kelowna Notary Public

Carmen Langstaff, Kelowna Notary Public

Carmen Langstaff, Kelowna Notary Public

Carmen was born and raised in Abbotsford and moved to Kelowna with her mother Agnes and father Ernie when she was in Grade 11. Carmen's father Ernie Janzen was a BC Notary for many years as is her brother Tim Janzen. Carmen and her partner Dana enjoy travelling as much as possible.

Carmen was born and raised in Abbotsford and moved to Kelowna with her mother Agnes and father Ernie when she was in Grade 11. Carmen's father Ernie Janzen was a BC Notary for many years as is her brother Tim Janzen. Carmen and her partner Dana enjoy travelling as much as possible.

Carmen was born and raised in Abbotsford and moved to Kelowna with her mother Agnes and father Ernie when she was in Grade 11. Carmen's father Ernie Janzen was a BC Notary for many years as is her brother Tim Janzen. Carmen and her partner Dana enjoy travelling as much as possible.

Carmen was born and raised in Abbotsford and moved to Kelowna with her mother Agnes and father Ernie when she was in Grade 11. Carmen's father Ernie Janzen was a BC Notary for many years as is her brother Tim Janzen. Carmen and her partner Dana enjoy travelling as much as possible.

"I purchased Leona Messer's Notary practice in 1998. I enjoyed a busy practice in downtown Kelowna for about 2 years, then moved my practice into a shared office space with my brother Tim. That gave me the flexibility to be a practice inspector alongside my Notary practice.

"I purchased Leona Messer's Notary practice in 1998. I enjoyed a busy practice in downtown Kelowna for about 2 years, then moved my practice into a shared office space with my brother Tim. That gave me the flexibility to be a practice inspector alongside my Notary practice.

"I purchased Leona Messer's Notary practice in 1998. I enjoyed a busy practice in downtown Kelowna for about 2 years, then moved my practice into a shared office space with my brother Tim. That gave me the flexibility to be a practice inspector alongside my Notary practice.

"I purchased Leona Messer's Notary practice in 1998. I enjoyed a busy practice in downtown Kelowna for about 2 years, then moved my practice into a shared office space with my brother Tim. That gave me the flexibility to be a practice inspector alongside my Notary practice.

“I eventually sold my practice and continued working as a staff Notary, then as a Roving Notary. I have been on the Education Committee and am currently a Roving Notary and practice inspector."

“I eventually sold my practice and continued working as a staff Notary, then as a Roving Notary. I have been on the Education Committee and am currently a Roving Notary and practice inspector."

“I eventually sold my practice and continued working as a staff Notary, then as a Roving Notary. I have been on the Education Committee and am currently a Roving Notary and practice inspector."

“I eventually sold my practice and continued working as a staff Notary, then as a Roving Notary. I have been on the Education Committee and am currently a Roving Notary and practice inspector."

Vivien Lee, Vancouver Notary Public

Vivien Lee, Vancouver Notary Public

Vivien Lee, Vancouver Notary Public

Vivien Lee immigrated to Canada from Singapore in the late 1980s with her husband Bernard; she is the proud mother of three girls—Shara, Celise, and Esteia. Vivien is also a doting grandma to Savannah, who just turned 4.

Vivien Lee immigrated to Canada from Singapore in the late 1980s with her husband Bernard; she is the proud mother of three girls Shara, Celise, and Esteia. Vivien is also a doting grandma to Savannah, who just turned 4. Before becoming a Notary, Vivien was a paralegal at a Vancouver law firm, which was the catalyst for her Notary career. Vivien believes in giving back to society. She is an active member in her church and enjoys helping in the community. Vivien is also on the Board of “Hope2Offer,” a charity offering humanitarian assistance. Vivien believes, “No one has ever become poor by giving,” quoting Anne Frank.

Before becoming a Notary, Vivien was a paralegal at a Vancouver law firm, which was the catalyst for her Notary career. Vivien believes in giving back to society. She is an active member in her church and enjoys helping in the community. Vivien is also on the Board of “Hope2Offer,” a charity offering humanitarian assistance. Vivien believes, “No one has ever become poor by giving,” quoting Anne Frank.

Vivien Lee immigrated to Canada from Singapore in the late 1980s with her husband Bernard; she is the proud mother of three girls Shara, Celise, and Esteia. Vivien is also a doting grandma to Savannah, who just turned 4. Before becoming a Notary, Vivien was a paralegal at a Vancouver law firm, which was the catalyst for her Notary career. Vivien believes in giving back to society. She is an active member in her church and enjoys helping in the community. Vivien is also on the Board of “Hope2Offer,” a charity offering humanitarian assistance. Vivien believes, “No one has ever become poor by giving,” quoting Anne Frank.

Vivien Lee immigrated to Canada from Singapore in the late 1980s with her husband Bernard; she is the proud mother of three girls Shara, Celise, and Esteia. Vivien is also a doting grandma to Savannah, who just turned 4. Before becoming a Notary, Vivien was a paralegal at a Vancouver law firm, which was the catalyst for her Notary career. Vivien believes in giving back to society. She is an active member in her church and enjoys helping in the community. Vivien is also on the Board of “Hope2Offer,” a charity offering humanitarian assistance. Vivien believes, “No one has ever become poor by giving,” quoting Anne Frank.

"I am proud to be a Notary and enjoy every aspect of my job, especially working alongside people from every walk of life. My clients are real people with real needs and I am privileged to help them in my professional capacity to the best of my ability. Whether Notarizing a document at my office or formalizing a Last Will and Testament by a hospital bed, I take this responsibility seriously with a measure of humility for their trust in often the most challenging of situations and circumstances. I remember helping a family whose young husband and father was in his last days. With a heavy heart, I carried out my professional duty by his hospital bedside to put together the most important documents he would sign on earth, his Power of Attorney and his Will. Two weeks later, he was gone. I remember thinking to myself after my conversation with his young widow, I have just helped put the most important last wishes of this man on paper! Commissioned 25 years ago, I daily recall my solemn and privileged role as a Notary Public of British Columbia."

"I am proud to be a Notary and enjoy every aspect of my job, especially working alongside people from every walk of life. My clients are real people with real needs and I am privileged to help them in my professional capacity to the best of my ability. Whether Notarizing a document at my office or formalizing a Last Will and Testament by a hospital bed, I take this responsibility seriously with a measure of humility for their trust in often the most challenging of situations and circumstances. I remember helping a family whose young husband and father was in his last days. With a heavy heart, I carried out my professional duty by his hospital bedside to put together the most important documents he would sign on earth, his Power of Attorney and his Will. Two weeks later, he was gone. I remember thinking to myself after my conversation with his young widow, I have just helped put the most important last wishes of this man on paper! Commissioned 25 years ago, I daily recall my solemn and privileged role as a Notary Public of British Columbia."

"I am proud to be a Notary and enjoy every aspect of my job, especially working alongside people from every walk of life. My clients are real people with real needs and I am privileged to help them in my professional capacity to the best of my ability. Whether Notarizing a document at my office or formalizing a Last Will and Testament by a hospital bed, I take this responsibility seriously with a measure of humility for their trust in often the most challenging of situations and circumstances. I remember helping a family whose young husband and father was in his last days. With a heavy heart, I carried out my professional duty by his hospital bedside to put together the most important documents he would sign on earth, his Power of Attorney and his Will. Two weeks later, he was gone. I remember thinking to myself after my conversation with his young widow, I have just helped put the most important last wishes of this man on paper! Commissioned 25 years ago, I daily recall my solemn and privileged role as a Notary Public of British Columbia."

"I am proud to be a Notary and enjoy every aspect of my job, especially working alongside people from every walk of life. My clients are real people with real needs and I am privileged to help them in my professional capacity to the best of my ability. Whether Notarizing a document at my office or formalizing a Last Will and Testament by a hospital bed, I take this responsibility seriously with a measure of humility for their trust in often the most challenging of situations and circumstances. I remember helping a family whose young husband and father was in his last days. With a heavy heart, I carried out my professional duty by his hospital bedside to put together the most important documents he would sign on earth, his Power of Attorney and his Will. Two weeks later, he was gone. I remember thinking to myself after my conversation with his young widow, I have just helped put the most important last wishes of this man on paper! Commissioned 25 years ago, I daily recall my solemn and privileged role as a Notary Public of British Columbia."

Year CONGRATULATIONS

Notary Club

Shirley Manfron, Vancouver Notary Public

Shirley has been married to her husband Luciano for 35 years, and together they have 2 children, Michael and Jessica. Born and raised in Richmond, she has lived in Vancouver all her married life. Her large extended family has been exceptionally supportive during her Notary career.

Shirley has been married to her husband Luciano for 35 years, and together they have 2 children, Michael and Jessica. Born and raised in Richmond, she has lived in Vancouver all her married life. Her large extended family has been exceptionally supportive during her Notary career.

"I have been proud to serve East Vancouver as a Notary Public for 25 years, and cherish all the friends I have made while doing so. I was very fortunate to have been mentored by former Notary Public Stephanie Williamson, from whom I purchased my business and learned so much.

"I have been proud to serve East Vancouver as a Notary Public for 25 years, and cherish all the friends I have made while doing so. I was very fortunate to have been mentored by former Notary Public Stephanie Williamson, from whom I purchased my business and learned so much.

“I remember starting out on my first day and panicking, wondering if I could really do this job. It didn't take me long to realize how much I loved it, working with all the wonderful clients I have met along the way. I have been very humbled by the loyalty shown to me by my clients; some come into my office in East Vancouver from outside the Lower Mainland, such as Chilliwack, the Gulf Islands, and even from The Interior. Being in East Vancouver, I have been called, on a number of occasions, to local movie studios and have been privileged to meet some celebrities, as well as many local personalities.

“I remember starting out on my first day and panicking, wondering if I could really do this job. It didn't take me long to realize how much I loved it, working with all the wonderful clients I have met along the way. I have been very humbled by the loyalty shown to me by my clients; some come into my office in East Vancouver from outside the Lower Mainland, such as Chilliwack, the Gulf Islands, and even from The Interior. Being in East Vancouver, I have been called, on a number of occasions, to local movie studios and have been privileged to meet some celebrities, as well as many local personalities. It is my hope to continue in my practice for a bit longer, and to carry on in this wonderful profession."

Jackson Poon, Vancouver Notary Public

Jackson was born and raised in Hong Kong. He moved to Canada with his wife Fatima and daughter Charlene in early 1990. They are now living in Vancouver. Fatima retired from her secretary job about 10 years ago and Charlene is a busy insurance broker.

Jackson was born and raised in Hong Kong. He moved to Canada with his wife Fatima and daughter Charlene in early 1990. They are now living in Vancouver. Fatima retired from her secretary job about 10 years ago and Charlene is a busy insurance broker.

"I was a legal executive in Hong Kong before I left the job and moved to Canada in the early 1990s. I started my legal career in Vancouver by working in a small law firm downtown In 1994 I switched to a law firm where I was a conveyancing assistant focusing more on real estate transactions.

"I was a legal executive in Hong Kong before I left the job and moved to Canada in the early 1990s. I started my legal career in Vancouver by working in a small law firm downtown. In 1994 I switched to a law firm where I was a conveyancing assistant focusing more on real estate transactions.

“I was commissioned in June 1998. A classmate from the Notary course and I set up our businesses and shared an office until the landowner sold the building to a developer. Since. 2015, I have been working by myself in my East Vancouver office. Fatima sometimes helps me with the office work. In the past 24 years, there were ups and downs in my business/practice In general, I am satisfied with what I have been doing I serve a lot of clients in the local community. I have repeat businesses from many long-established clients. That means my services are recognized and appreciated. I am thankful for the support of my colleagues and The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia."

“I was commissioned in June 1998. A classmate from the Notary course and I set up our businesses and shared an office until the landowner sold the building to a developer. Since. 2015, I have been working by myself in my East Vancouver office. Fatima sometimes helps me with the office work. In the past 24 years, there were ups and downs in my business/practice. In general, I am satisfied with what I have been doing. I serve a lot of clients in the local community. I have repeat businesses from many long-established clients. That means my services are recognized and appreciated. I am thankful for the support of my colleagues and The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia."

Year CONGRATULATIONS

Notary Club

Akash Sablok, Vancouver Notary Public

Akash's practice on Fraser Street in Vancouver is where his Notary father Tarlok has practised since 1977. Tarlok's wife—Akash's mother Shabnam, was his legal secretary in the days Wills were done on a typewriter. She still keeps a watchful eye on both Notaries! Akash's amazing wife Raj has endless amounts of energy and smiles. And thankfully so as they have two busy, talented boys: Aryan the basketball player, and Ishan the singer/songwriter. The office mascot and king of the house is their mini-Golden Doodle Bruno. When not in the office, Akash is behind the wheel of a fast car or cycling around or playing hockey.

Akash's practice on Fraser Street in Vancouver is where his Notary father Tarlok has practised since 1977. Tarlok's wife Akash's mother Shabnam, was his legal secretary in the days Wills were done on a typewriter. She still keeps a watchful eye on both Notaries! Akash's amazing wife Raj has endless amounts of energy and smiles. And thankfully so as they have two busy, talented boys: Aryan the basketball player, and Ishan the singer/songwriter The office mascot and king of the house is their miniGoldenDoodle Bruno. When not in the office, Akash is behind the wheel of a fast car or cycling around or playing hockey.

"After I was sworn in as a Notary, I asked my then-2-year-old niece what my new profession was, she said, ‘a Naughty.’ There have been days I just wanted to be naughty and leave the office to race cars somewhere in the world or watch a movie; I knew it was my time to put my head down and work. What I started off as a Monday-Friday 9-5 schedule, quickly became Sunday-Sunday, 6 am-10 pm. I guess youth, or craziness, kept me going through it all. Some regular clients didn't want to see the 'kid,' they only wanted to work with my dad, the 'real' Notary. I was cool with that. From the days of in-person studying, in someone's basement with lots of pizza with our incredible study group (cohort as you kids call it today), to the exams (yikes), to the first day of real-life practice (bigger yikes), to now 2.5 decades later—and all the fun, tears, joys, scares, celebrations, and accomplishments, for me and my clients in between, I wouldn't change a single moment. In the last 25 years, I have made many Notary 'family' members. I know some newer members will do the same over their 25-year journey. Thank you."

"After I was sworn in as a Notary, I asked my then-2-year-old niece what my new profession was, she said, ‘a Naughty.’ There have been days I just wanted to be naughty and leave the office to race cars somewhere in the world or watch a movie; I knew it was my time to put my head down and work. What I started off as a Monday-Friday 9-5 schedule, quickly became Sunday-Sunday, 6 am-10 pm I guess youth, or craziness, kept me going through it all. Some regular clients didn't want to see the 'kid,' they only wanted to work with my dad, the 'real' Notary. I was cool with that. From the days of in-person studying, in someone's basement with lots of pizza with our incredible study group (cohort as you kids call it today), to the exams (yikes), to the first day of real-life practice (bigger yikes), to now 2.5 decades later and all the fun, tears, joys, scares, celebrations, and accomplishments, for me and my clients in between, I wouldn't change a single moment. In the last 25 years , I have made many Notary 'family' members. I know some newer members will do the same over their 25-year journey. Thank you."

Michael Tin, Vancouver Notary Public

Michael celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary this past August with his wife Bonnie. Michael has three kids. Ryan (20) is attending 2nd year UBC in Kinesiology and twins Kaitlyn and Brandon (both 14) are in Grade 8 high school.

Michael celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary this past August with his wife Bonnie. Michael has three kids. Ryan (20) is attending 2nd year UBC in Kinesiology and twins Kaitlyn and Brandon (both 14) are in Grade 8 high school.

"After I graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, I was at a crossroads. I knew I didn't want to pursue a career in Accounting and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. By chance, I was having lunch with mom and sister in Chinatown and we bumped into a family friend.

"After I graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, I was at a crossroads. I knew I didn't want to pursue a career in Accounting and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. By chance, I was having lunch with mom and sister in Chinatown and we bumped into a family friend.

“The family friend told me a Notary Public (Peter Woo) needed some office help and asked if I was interested. At the time, I had no idea what a Notary Public did but reluctantly agreed to meet with Peter. Peter Woo hired me and mentored me along the way and unselfishly encouraged me to become a Notary Public myself. The rest, as they say, is ‘history.’

“The family friend told me a Notary Public (Peter Woo) needed some office help and asked if I was interested. At the time, I had no idea what a Notary Public did but reluctantly agreed to meet with Peter. Peter Woo hired me and mentored me along the way and unselfishly encouraged me to become a Notary Public myself. The rest, as they say, is ‘history.’

“I am so grateful to have met so many of you over the years and am proud to be a Notary Public and call all of you my friends and colleagues."

“I am so grateful to have met so many of you over the years and am proud to be a Notary Public and call all of you my friends and colleagues."

YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

The Dye & Durham Platform connects a global network of professionals with public records to support business transactions and regulatory compliance.

THANK

With thanks to the Notary Foundation for their continued support

CONTINUING EDUCATION CONFERENCE REVIEW

What a wonderful feeling to be back in Kelowna at the Delta Grand Okanagan! The BCNA, with the assistance of the Notary Foundation, was able to offer a hybrid conference (virtual and in-person) to ensure as many Notaries as possible could experience the Continuing Education sessions

The BCNA would like to thank our Continuing Education Liaison Committee Members for their valuable contributions throug hout the year in offering suggested topics and presenters Thank you to Morrie Baillie, Hilde Deprez, Kristy Martin, Zoe Stevens, and Ron Usher.

We started our Saturday morning with a very comprehensive presentation on Provincial Land and Water Licensing issues, presented by Patrick Tobin, Senior Authorizations Officer, Ministry of Forests; and Ray Reilly, Senior Authorizations Specialist ‒Water, Mini stry of Forests ‒ Okanagan Shuswap Natural Resource District. Patrick and Ray provided an overview on a few topics including dock licensing, registering wells, overland water from creek or spring, underground water fees for nondomestic use, and foreshore licensing

Their 2-hour session was followed by updates from Al-Karim Kara, President and CEO, and Larry Blaschuk, Registrar Land Titles at LTSA.

We th en had the pleasure of hearing Honourable Niki Sharma, Attorney General BC, address our members.

As unified Regulation is at the forefront of our members’ minds, Assistant Deputy Minister Paul Craven provided an update on key proposals and status as well as the next steps in the plan to move forward. A panel question-and-answer period included Chad Rintoul, CEO, BCNA; John Mayr, Executive Director and CEO, SNPBC; Daniel Boisvert, President, BCNA; and David Watts, President, SPNBC. The afternoon closed with the always-popular Risk Management session from Quang Duong and Marny Morin The Program Manager for the insurance Captive and the Captive’s legal defence counsel looked at recent claims and provided solutions on how to avoid mistakes that could lead to lawsuits and protracted litigation.

·

CONTINUING

EDUCATION CONFERENCE REVIEW 2023

Sunday morning saw an early start in a session with lots of engagement and participation with Diane Lloyd, CEO and Executive Coach of Inspired Results Group, who shared insights on how to Banish Burnout. Diane provided insights on the following.

An understanding of the root causes of burnout

Practical techniques that can be implemented in leadership

Insights into resistance to change and how you contribute to ones’ own burnout.

The second session of the morning was lead by a speaker we have had in the past whose content is always enjoyed. Geoffrey White, KC, Estate Counsel for Clark Wilson LLP, Vancouver & Kelowna, provided a thorough look at the electronic age of Wills. The issues addressed included the following.

The ‘new’ rules and tips for electronic witnessing

Digital wills: creation, what happens postsigning, and probate NO paper (e-signing)

How to handle incapacity planning (PoAs and Rep Agreements)

Vetting for undue influence in the electronic environment

Discussions of where practice of law goes from here

We know how much everyone enjoys hearing Ron Usher share his stories and of course play his ukelele. This session was saved till the end, to ensure everyone experienced the entire weekend. Ron, Joan Letendre, and Hilde Deprez (fairly new to PAL), provided examples and discussed questions and concerns raised with PAL over the past few months. Topics included changes to law and practice, undertakings, due diligence, communication challenges, and practice implications of recent Court cases.

With the end of the Continuing Education reporting year approaching, the BCNA is offering great virtual sessions to ensure you get the required 12 CE credits More details and registration information will be sent out shortly via the Notice to Members Information can be found on the BCNA website

UPCOMING CONTINUING EDUCATION

UNDUE INFLUENCE

Topic: Undue Influence

Presenter: Morrie Baillie, Hilde Deprez, Patricia Fedewich

When: Wednesday, June 21

Time: 11am – 1 pm

2

Description: What is undue influence? Is undue influence found only when drafting Wills? What are our professional obligations as Notaries to explore undue influence with our clients?

Join Morrie, Hilde, and Trish as they share their experiences as participants in the 13-member BCLI Project Committee to Update the “Undue Influence Recognition and Prevention Guide ” The new Guide goes beyond undue influence affecting Wills. It also covers nontestamentary undue influence in greater depth, explores medical and psychological aspects of susceptibility to undue influence, and suggests ways of conducting respectful and effective communication with clients

Presenters:

Morrie Baillie has been practising as a BC Notary since 2013. Morrie enjoys helping clients understand legal information. Her favourite area of the law is estate-and-personal planning. She appreciates working with people to draft important documents that provide them with a sense of empowerment and peace of mind

She is an active member of The Society of Notaries Public of BC and the BC Notaries Association. Morrie has participated in the screening and interviewing process of Notary candidates and was one of the examiners for the statutory estate-planning exam all new Notaries must pass to be commissioned as a BC Notary. She has also mentored new Notaries.

Currently, Morrie is Vice President for the BC Notaries Association where the goal is to support and engage all Notaries across the province

Trish Fedewich has been a Notary Public since 1993; her primary areas of practice are transfers of real estate, mortgages, wills, Powers of Attorney, and Representation Agreements

Trish has been an instructor teaching Notaries and students for The Society of Notaries Public of BC since 1998; she served on The Society's Board of Directors for 6 years In June 2018, Trish was appointed by the Attorney General of BC to the Board of Examiners for BC Notaries. She strives to provide best practice standards to her clients. Trish earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from UBC and completed a Management Training program with the TD Bank; she worked in banking for several years prior to becoming a Notary Public Trish articled with her father El Fedewich; they worked together for 20 years until his retirement in 2014.

Knowledge is empowering Trish makes the time to educate her clients and the community She has volunteered as a speaker about legal topics for over 20 years for seniors' centres, legions, financial institutions, investment companies, hospitals, the CGA Association, the MS Society, and the People's Law School

Trish has been a resident of Surrey for over 40 years.

Hilde Deprez was commissioned as a BC Notary in 2001 Her Notary practice in Vancouver focuses on Wills and Personal Planning. Hilde is also one of the teachers for the Notary students enrolled in the MA ALS Program; in 2022 she joined the PAL Advisor team with The Society of Notaries.

Often, There are Good Curveballs in Life!

As this year’s graduates from the Master of Arts in Applied Legal Studies Program (MA ALS) at SFU embark on their new business careers, it brings back memories of our graduation as BC Notaries.

My own career path took a turn when, in 2004, I did not pass the first round of the six Statutory exams—much to my huge disappointment.

Happily, many negative things that happen in our lives can have positive outcomes. For me it meant redirecting my focus, which turned out to be mediation training; I found I really loved doing mediation.

Over the next 12 months, I attended advanced mediation training. A segment of that education included participation with a trained professional in actual Court mediation sessions. By the following Spring, I had decided mediation was my true calling.

Then the Notary Society called to ask if I had considered rewriting the exams. I hadn’t—I was so happy learning how to be a mediator.

Then my mind started the “what if” game. For so many years I had had a great desire to do Notary work. What if I passed this

time? What if I was really meant to be a BC Notary?

And you know, if you don’t try you’ll never know—I didn’t want to wake up in 5 years wishing I had written again.

Studying and the stress and anxiety of writing exams is fun—so why not, I asked myself. The rest Is history now that I have 18 years of successful Notary practice under my belt. Sometimes I call upon mediation skills with clients who are feeling anxious.

Thoughts of being a mediator rarely cross my mind but I do remember wishing I had taken that training when my son and daughter were teenagers! It may or may not have made a difference in our family unit.

The moral of this little story is you never know what you can do until you try.

Most important, it was a life lesson for me…to never give up and never forget that often the negative curveballs in our lives produce positive results.

Good Luck to the 2023 grads and great success and a lot of happy times in your BC Notary career ahead! It will be what you make it! ▲

Notary Kate Manvell has practised in West Vancouver, British Columbia, since 2005.

Kate Manvell

Prefer Paperless?

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To update your subscription preference, please email bcna@bcnotaryassociation.ca.

NEXT ISSUE Fall 2023

Themes:

Thank you so much to all those who contributed to the Winter 2022 issue of The Scrivener.

Our clients have expressed appreciation for the articles on Personal Planning that became the nudge they needed to stop procrastinating and get their documents in order.

The matter of MAiD is the trendy topic of conversation around dinner tables here and over cups of tea. Canadians did not have that option previously but now we need to think about it and form direction for our families. We must consider our personal thoughts in advance of a decision that could only be made when the need arises.

Article Deadline August 15, 2023

Advertising Deadline August 15, 2023

Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)

AN APRIL 2023 UPDATE

In the Winter 2022 edition of The Scrivener, the policies and practices of MAiD were explored at length.

At the time, there was some uncertainty about the extent to which adults with mental disorders, but no other underlying medical condition, would be allowed access to MAiD despite the statutory removal of a prohibition effective March 17, 2023.

The date has now been extended to March 17, 2024, per the Act to Amend an Act to Amend the Criminal Code of Canada SC 2023, c.1 (Bill C-39) (in force March 9, 2023).

Those of us in faith communities are wrestling with what we have been taught, weighed against modern medical advancement that can keep people suffering for years. We are learning to be compassionate to those who made difficult decisions with which we may not have agreed.

Thank you so much for accurate information that has prompted many discussions and given me some interesting professional speaking engagements.

Phyllis I. Simon, Notary Public Vernon, BC

Concerns had been expressed by health care providers and others that the health care system was not ready to deal with issues arising when people with mental disorders sought MAiD, (e.g., determining the person's capacity to give informed consent), and that there should be a delay until the issues were resolved. The federal government heard the concerns and has extended the temporary exclusion of eligibility by 1 year.

The attention of practitioners interested in this area is also drawn to the recently released “Model Practice Standard for MAiD” issued by Health Canada setting out the procedural safeguards and the duties and responsibilities of MAiD assessors and providers. ▲

Dr. Robert Gordon is Professor Emeritus in the School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Rob Gordon

Winner of the prestigious Dr. Bernard W. Hoeter Award for the highest combined marks on all six in-depth Statutory Exams in 2022.

BC Notary Ms. Victoria Helmink

This “Victoria” was born and mostly raised in Victoria, BC. In our military family, my early childhood was spent moving around the country Masset, Winnipeg, Chatham, and Bordon. We returned to Victoria in time for the blizzard of ’96. My upbringing in a multigenerational household with my parents, grandmother, and sister helps me relate to clients of all ages.

In 2018, I crossed this off my bucket list—the life-long dream to publish a book. Today my writing skills are put to good use in my Notary practice.

The fundamental skills for successfully interacting with clients were acquired in an early customer-service job. My career in the legal field began 7 years ago as a receptionist in a Notary office where my role quickly expanded

to assisting with conveyancing, the drafting of personal planning documents, and management! I was convinced to become a BC Notary to combine my love of writing, problem-solving, and the desire to provide exceptional service to clients.

Passion for the content material in the Master of Arts in Applied Legal Studies Program at SFU was a big driver in my achievement on the exams. My background as a legal assistant was beneficial. The amazing student cohort made the experience even more agreeable and dynamic.

I am thrilled to be joining my mentor Beverly Carter in her Notary practice, centrally located near Mayfair Mall in Victoria. We recently expanded our office to be able to accommodate even more clients!

I look forward to the opportunity of mentoring Notary students. My favourite part of being a Notary is the relationships I am able to build with clients—whether helping a first-time homebuyer or meeting

with clients to discuss Wills and Powers of Attorney. I am privileged to have clients put their trust in me; I enjoy being a resource for their noncontentious legal needs and love that no days in the office are the same—there are always opportunities to learn and grow.

When not working, I hike with my dog Quinn, cuddle with my cat Athena, do creative writing, and spend time with family and friends.

Throughout my life, I have always been an active volunteer. Previously, through the Saanich Emergency Support Services program, I assisted evacuees who have had to leave their homes due to an emergency. Recently, I was involved in designing a fundraising calendar for the Help Fill a Dream Foundation. In 2012, I was honoured to receive the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in Recognition of my volunteering.

It is incredibly important to me to have a strong connection to my community. Being a Notary is a natural fit to fulfil that desire.

THE MiX

ORIGINAL RECIPES

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup oil

1 chicken cut into pieces (or 4 lbs. chicken pieces bone-in–thighs, drumsticks)

1 large yellow onion, minced

3 T. Hungarian sweet paprika

1 cup chicken broth

2 tomatoes cut into 1" pieces

2 red, orange, or yellow peppers, stemmed and seeded, in 1" pieces

1½ tsp. sea salt

½ tsp. freshly ground pepper

½ cup sour cream

3 heaping T. cornstarch (or more)

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Brown the chicken approx. 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.

In the same oil, add onion to the pan and sauté till golden brown. Remove from heat and add the Hungarian sweet paprika.

(Caution: Paprika becomes bitter when added to pan on the heat.)

Add the chicken and its juices to the pan. Add chicken stock, tomatoes, and peppers; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until chicken is fully cooked, 30 to 45 minutes. The meat should be tender and come off the bone easily.

Stir sour cream into the pan and add salt and pepper. If you want the sauce thicker, dissolve the cornstarch into a bit of cold water and add to the pan. Bring to a simmer and stir constantly until the sauce has thickened.

Traditionally chicken paprikash is served with pasta or it can be served over rice or potatoes.

1 cup butter

2/

3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. lemon zest

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup almond flour

¼ cup powdered sugar for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add lemon zest, almond extract, and vanilla extract—mix well. Stir in the all-purpose and almond flours and mix thoroughly. Take one heaping tablespoon of dough, roll it into a 1” ball and form into a crescent shape.

Place cookies on parchment paper; bake

13 minutes at 350° until cookies are a light golden brown.

When cooled, dust with powdered sugar.

Option: Once cookies are cooled, dip one end into melted chocolate and let the chocolate harden on the cookies.

in Maple Ridge.

Cassandra Coolin is a BC Notary

Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians

On January 1, 2023, the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act S.C. 2022, c. 10, section 235 and its related regulations (the Act) came into force in Canada. Further, the regulations have already been amended. It is a novel Act that prohibits non-Canadians from purchasing residential real estate in Canada for a period of 2 years until the end of 2024.

To determine if the Act applies, ask these questions.

1. Does land being purchased trigger the Act?

2. Does the acquisition-type trigger the Act?

3. Does the purchaser trigger the Act?

I. THE LAND

The Act applies to the following—

1. residential properties that have 3 or fewer habitable dwellings in Census Metropolitan Area or a Census Agglomeration. In BC, that means Vancouver, Victoria, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Chilliwack, Abbotsford-Mission, and Prince George;

2. a part of a building that is a semi-detached house, rowhouse unit, residential strata lot, or similar premises intended to be owned apart from any other unit in the building in a Census Metropolitan Area or a Census Agglomeration.

II. THE CONTRACT/ACQUISITION

The Act applies to any acquisition of a legal or equitable interest (such as a purchase contract, assignment, or a trust agreement) entered into after January 1, 2023.

The Act does not apply to

1. any acquisition of a legal or equitable interest (such as a purchase contract, assignment, or a trust agreement) that was entered into before January 1, 2023;

2. any acquisition by death, divorce, separation, or gift;

3. any acquisition of the interest from the exercise of a security interest or secured right by a secured creditor; or

4. any acquisition for the purpose of development.

III. THE PURCHASER

The Act does not apply to any of the following.

The Act does not apply to

1. rural properties, (residential properties outside a Census Metropolitan Area or a Census Agglomeration are exempt from the prohibition); or

2. properties with no residential zoning.

1. Canadians

2. Permanent Residents

3. Indians under the Indian Act

4. “Protected persons” within the meaning of section 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

Matthew Beharry

5. Any person who purchases with their spouse and whose spouse or common law partner is a Canadian, permanent resident, or Indian under the Indian Act

The Act applies to all temporary residents who are enrolled in a designated learning institution unless

1. all income tax returns have been filed for the 5 years prior to the purchase;

2. they were present in Canada for a minimum of 244 days in the 5 years prior to the purchase of residential property; and

3. the purchase price does not exceed $500,000.

The Act applies to all work-permit holders unless

1. they have 183 days or more of validity remaining on their work permit or work authorization on the date of purchase; and

2. the purchaser has not purchased more than 1 residential property.

In terms of corporations and entities, the Act applies to

1) non-Canadian entities or companies;

2) any privately held Canadian company or entity where

a. non-Canadians hold 10 per cent or more equity in the corporation, or

b. non-Canadians hold 10 per cent or more of voting rights in the corporation, or

c. they are controlled by nonCanadians or non-Canadian entity or company.

Notaries and Lawyers

Legal practitioners should be aware of the Act as they will be in contravention of the Act if they counsel, induce, aid or abet, or attempt to counsel, induce, aid or abet a non-Canadian to purchase,

directly or indirectly, any residential property knowing that the nonCanadian is prohibited under this Act and will be guilty of an offence and subject to a fine of not more than $10,000 (section 6 of the Act).

a situation could also be a violation of the Code of Conduct prohibiting an act of fraud and requiring members to act with integrity.

As this is a novel and untested piece of legislation, there are parts and ramifications of the Act that remain unclear or unresolved.

• What qualifies as an acquisition for the purpose of development is undefined.

Legal practitioners should be aware of the Act as they will be in contravention of the Act if they counsel, induce, aid or abet, or attempt to counsel, induce, aid or abet a non-Canadian to purchase, directly or indirectly, any residential property knowing that the non-Canadian is prohibited under this Act and will be guilty of an offence and subject to a fine of not more than $10,000 (section 6 of the Act).

• Section 5 states the Act does not affect the validity of the sale of the residential property, but if a seller were to learn the buyer is prohibited to purchase via the Act after the contract is signed, then it would appear the seller would be in danger of section 6 if they were to complete the deal (along with their Notary/lawyer). Thus, if the seller were not to complete, it is unclear what remedies the seller would then have.

• There is also no clear answer for a situation where the seller or the seller’s agents suspect that the purchaser is prohibited to purchase under the Act while the purchaser refuses to provide confirmation/documentation prior to completion (unless there are contractual obligations to provide said information).

NOT LEGAL ADVICE

As such, if they act for a purchaser or seller in a transaction where the purchaser is prohibited under this Act and the Notary or lawyer has knowledge of that fact prior to completion, then they would be in violation of section 6 of the Act. Further, acting in such

Information made available in this article is for information purposes only. It is not and should not be taken as legal advice. You should not rely on or take or fail to take any action based upon this information. ▲

Matthew Beharry is a partner at PLLR, a full-service firm in Richmond, BC, that has been part of the legal landscape for 4 decades. Matthew focuses on construction and general commercial litigation.

Interim Distributions in Estates

The Court retains a general jurisdiction over the actions of executors/trustees and will normally require that trustees discharge their duties with good faith, and with the standard of care of a reasonable and prudent

person of business

Where a trustee is granted powers that are to be exercised at the trustee’s sole discretion, however, the Court traditionally would not interfere, unless the trustee had not turned their mind to the exercise of the discretion or had acted unfairly or in bad faith.

The case of Re. Blow Press Ltd. v. U.S.W.A. (1977) O.R. (2d) 516 held that the Court had jurisdiction to intervene in the exercise of a discretion by trustees in three situations:

1. a mala fide exercise of such a discretion;

2. a failure to exercise such a discretion; or

3. a deadlock between trustees as to the exercise of such a discretion.

It is not uncommon for a Will or a trust to be drafted with adjectives giving trustees “absolute,” “uncontrolled,” or “full discretion” to trustees to use their authority. The Courts traditionally have not

interfered unless they found mala fides with respect to its exercise of such discretion.

In recent years, however, a number of estate decisions in British Columbia have allowed for interim distributions in certain circumstances, when the trustee is refusing to distribute under their discretion.

WESA

While the Wills, Estates and Succession Act SBC 2009 c-13 (the “WESA”) does not specifically allow for interim distributions of intestate estates, administrators are no longer required to wait 1 year from the intestate person’s death to distribute the surplus of the personal estate, as was previously required by section 74 of the Estate Administration Act.

Personal representatives can now distribute all forms of assets after 210 days have passed since the issuance of the representation grant, provided that no proceedings have been commenced that might affect the distribution of the estate.

A new provision, section 155(2) WESA, prohibits a personal representative from distributing the estate after the 210-day waiting period without a Court order if

1. proceedings have been commenced as to whether a person is a beneficiary or intestate heir;

2. a Variation claim has been brought; or

3. other proceedings have been brought that may affect the distribution.

INTERIM ESTATE DISTRIBUTIONS GRANTED

Trustees generally have the right to exercise their discretion to refuse to make any interim distribution to the beneficiaries until their accounts are approved by the Court, by way of a passing of accounts.

In Reznik v. Matty 2013 BCSC 1346, an application was brought by 3 of 4 residual beneficiaries for an order directing distribution of $15,000 to each of them from the $50,000 held back in the estate. The executor of the estate was the fourth beneficiary and it had been 13 years since the deceased Will-maker had passed away. The Court held that the power given to the executor under the Will to retain a portion of the estate did not displace the duty to distribute the assets.

In assuming general jurisdiction, Reznik was followed in 80 Wellesley St. East Ltd. v. Fundy Bay Builders Ltd., [1972] 2 O.R. 280 (C.A.), that stated at paragraph 282,

As a superior Court of general jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of Ontario has all of the powers that are necessary to do justice between the parties. Except

Photo credit: Matthew Chen

Trevor Todd

Photo: Shutterstock

where provided specifically to the contrary, the Court’s jurisdiction is unlimited and unrestricted in substantive law in civil matters.

The Court reasoned there was significant delay and the estate was of significant value and liquidity that the executors’ assent to the distribution was compelled, and thus the executor was ordered to pay $10,000 to each of the residual beneficiaries.

In Davis v. Burns Estate, 2016 BCSC 1982, the Court held at paragraph 31 that the following criteria govern whether an interim distribution should be made:

a. the amount of the benefits sought to be distributed as compared to the value of the estate;

b. the claim of the beneficiaries on the testator;

c. the need of the beneficiaries for money; and

d. the consent of the residuary beneficiaries to the proposed distribution.

In Davis v. Burns, the applicant was 76 years of age, had been the deceased Will-maker’s common-law spouse for 5 years and friends with the Will-maker’s ex-husband and the Will-maker for many years prior. The former spouse was bequeathed 20 per cent of the assets of the estate (approximately $500,000).

The applicant had no funds and a negative monthly cash inflow. The Court found that the other parties to the Court action would not be prejudiced by an interim distribution to him and so the Court ordered an advance of $250,000, given his advanced age and the Will’s specific direction that he should “have fun” with the monies after her death.

Nykoryak v. Anderson 2017 BCSC 1800 was a Wills Variation

action that followed the criteria set out in Davis v. Burns and ordered an interim distribution to each of the personal defendants from the estate funds in the amount of $50,000 each.

Each of the applicants provided evidence of their financial need and hardship; the Court found the plaintiff’s security was still more than adequately protected from any award at trial.

not an exhaustive list of potential considerations.

At paragraphs 42 to 46, the Court found that the factors to be considered by the Court when deciding whether to exercise its discretion to grant leave to the executors include:

a. the amount of the benefits sought to be distributed as compared to the value of the estate;

b. the claim of the beneficiaries on the testator;

c. the need of beneficiaries for money; and

d. the consent of the residuary beneficiary to the proposed distribution.

In Re. Zanrosso Estate 2021 BCSC 2928, the Court commented that the new provisions of WESA did not directly address the possibility of Court intervention, should an executor/trustee refuse or neglect to distribute the estate.

Counsel in this decision agreed that the Court had general jurisdiction to order an interim distribution of estate assets and relied on Reznik v. Natty as the authority.

The Court found it had authority to order a personal representative to make an interim distribution of an estate, further to its general jurisdiction and stating that such authority is discretionary and must be exercised to do justice between the parties.

The Court referred to the criteria set out by the Court of Appeal in Hecht v. Hecht 1991 BJ 3475, but stated that it was

The Court stated that since the legislator had not seen fit to expressly provide for interim distributions from an estate over the objection of the personal representative, an order should be made only in exceptional circumstances, and with the burden on the applicant to justify the issuance of such an order.

In the case of Re. Antonias Estate 2021 BCSC 2388, the Court ordered an interim distribution where the applicants were the sole beneficiaries of the residue of the estate, sharing equally and were siblings ranging in age from 76 to 89 years of age, some of them with health issues, and some with concerns that they would pass away before the estate was distributed.

The executor did provide an offer to make an interim distribution, the same that was sought in the Court Order, but did so on the basis that a release would be signed and returned. The beneficiaries did not comply with the request to sign the release.

The applicants relied on the decision of Reznik v. Matty and the quote of Austin v. Beddoe (1893)

...the Court ordered an advance of $250,000, given his advanced age and the Will’s specific direction that he should “have fun” with the monies after her death.

that if an executor has assented to an interim distribution and the assets available to the estate after an interim distribution are sufficient to cover all outstanding liabilities, and had basically made that acknowledgement, it is appropriate to have assets released.

The Court ordered the beneficiaries to indemnify the executor from any loss arising from the interim distribution in the event there was an estate shortfall in assets versus liabilities.

The Court ordered an interim distribution of $528,000 and noted that the estate holdback would be approximately $447,000 over and above executor’s fees of 3.5 per cent.

CONCLUSION

Since approximately 2013, the British Columbia Courts have been more willing to override the typical absolute discretion of a trustee

as to whether or not to make an interim distribution.

Historically, the Courts would interfere only where there was mala fides on the part of the trustee before they would order a distribution of estate assets.

As the recent cases indicate, if there is evidence of an appropriate set of facts that “justice is done” by ordering an interim distribution, then the Courts will seriously consider doing so.

Such evidence should consist of matters such as

• inordinate delay;

• financial need;

• the advanced age of beneficiaries;

• holdback protection for the remaining beneficiaries’ interests;

• sufficient funds to pay future debts; and

• an indemnity from the beneficiaries in the event of a shortfall.

If such evidence is accepted by the Court, then recent cases in British Columbia indicate that the Court will give serious consideration to ordering an interim distribution of estate assets, if necessary, over the objection of the executor/trustee.

As the Court in the Zanross o decision stated regarding the criteria set out by the Court of Appeal in the 1991 Hecht decision, “this is not an exhaustive list.” This statement appears to indicate a greater willingness of the BC Courts to order interim distributions of estate assets in appropriate circumstances. ▲

Trevor Todd restricts his practice to estate litigation. He has practised law in Vancouver for 48 years.

The Notary Foundation of British Columbia works with interest generated by BC Notaries’ Trust Accounts and received from our financial industry and other partners, to promote education for BC Notaries and the public, foster legal research, support law libraries, and help fund legal aid in BC.

Talk to us if you’re interested in having an impact on those important facets of BC’s communities.

Funding and strategic decisions and oversight are provided by a Board of Governors made up of 8 Directors of The Society of Notaries Public, 1 appointee from the Office of the Attorney General of BC, and 2 Governors at Large appointed by the BC Government.

Applications for funding of law-related education programs, research, and projects may be made and will be considered throughout the year. For more information, visit our website at www.notaryfoundation.ca.

First Glimpse at First Home Savings Account

Governments at all levels have been using various policies to approach tackling the problem. Recently, the Federal Government has tried to combat the issue by pulling another fiscal policy lever. In her 2022 budget, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland introduced a new tax-free savings plan aimed at responding to what she referred to as the “intergenerational injustice” for new homebuyers in Canada.

Namely, the budget proposes a First Home Savings Account (FHSA) that would offer certain taxpayers a new way to jumpstart their new home nestegg. Although the budget was passed by parliament in June, at the time of this writing the legislation codifying the new FHSA has yet to be introduced to the House of Commons; the program could therefore be subject to change before receiving royal assent.

In the meantime, here is what we know so far.

• Starting in 2023, the FHSA would allow certain taxpayers to contribute up to $8,000 per year to the account—to a lifetime maximum of $40,000.

• An individual would be allowed to carry forward unused portions of their annual contribution limit up to a maximum of $8,000.

• In other words, an individual contributing less than $8,000 in a given year could contribute the unused amount in a subsequent year on top of their annual contribution limit of $8,000 (subject to their lifetime contribution limit).

• For example, an individual contributing $5,000 to an FHSA in 2023 would be allowed to contribute $11,000 in 2024— $8,000 plus the remaining $3,000 from 2023.

• Carry-forward amounts would start accumulating only after an individual opens an FHSA for the first time.

• Therefore, an individual who waits until 2024 to open an FHSA would not be permitted

to contribute $16,000 in 2024, whereas an individual who does open an account in 2023 but who waits until 2024 to make a contribution would be permitted to contribute $16,000 in 2024. The FHSA has key benefits that are characteristic of existing registered savings plans. Specifically, contributions made to the plan would be deductible from taxable income, similar to contributions made to an RRSP; income earned from investments made in the account that is used to make a qualifying home purchase would not be subject to tax, similar to a TFSA.

As is true with RRSP deductions, plan holders would not be required to claim a deduction for the tax year in which a contribution is made; such amounts could be carried forward indefinitely and deducted in a later taxation year. Unlike RRSPs, there would be no provision for deductions made to a spouse’s FHSA.

Although unused contributions can be carried forward indefinitely, the FHSA itself has a finite lifespan and must be closed after 15 years, irrespective of whether the funds were utilized to purchase a home.

In recent years, home ownership is increasingly becoming an unattainable dream for many Canadians.

Jeremy Andersen

Unused funds, however, could be transferred to an RRSP or RRIF on a tax-deferred basis, penaltyfree—and without impacting the taxpayer’s contribution room.

For those who may have utilized all their RRSP contribution room from earned income, but who are not contemplating home ownership, this provides an opportunity to increase their RRSP contribution room without attracting the usual punitive penalties for overcontributing to an RRSP.

To be eligible to open an FHSA,

• you must be a resident of Canada for income tax purposes;

• you must be at least 18 years of age; and

• you must not have lived in a home that you owned at any time in either the year the account was opened or any of the preceding 4 calendar years. For example, if you previously owned a home that you sold in 2018 and you have since been renting or otherwise living with someone who is not your legal spouse (such as parents or siblings), you would be considered a firsttime homebuyer in 2023 for the purposes of the FHSA.

There is, however, an exception to allow individuals to make qualifying withdrawals within 30 days of moving into their home. Of note, ownership is defined broadly for the purpose of the FHSA and includes beneficial ownership, not just legal ownership.

There would be no limit to the number of accounts any one individual can hold; aggregate contributions among all accounts would be subject to the annual and lifetime maximums, however.

Moreover, individuals would be limited to making nontaxable withdrawals from an FHSA for one single property during their lifetime;

once a withdrawal is made to purchase a home, the account must be closed within a year from the withdrawal date.

Once a tax-free withdrawal has been made, the individual would not be eligible to open another account, meaning that an individual with multiple accounts who makes a tax-free withdrawal for a purchase, would need to withdraw all funds from all accounts when making the home purchase or otherwise be prepared to make a taxable withdrawal of unused funds or transfer them in kind, as described above.

• Assume you were to contribute the annual maximum $8,000 to your FHSA in each of the next 5 years, starting in 2023. All else being equal, fully utilizing the deductibility of the contributions would reduce your taxable income by the same amount. Assuming your combined marginal tax rate is 45.8 per cent, you would save $18,320 in taxes ($40,000 X 45.8%).

If the investments in your FHSA realize an annual rate of return of, say 8 per cent, the total “return” on the $40,000 invested in just those 5 years is $25,252—more than 63 per cent overall, turning your $40,000 into $65,252.

Note: That is a simplified example for the purposes of illustrating the advantages of the FHSA. Numerous factors could influence the outcome; readers are encouraged to seek the advice of an income tax professional to assess their individual financial outcome.

• With the average home price in British Columbia now over $900,000, that would allow you to save for a down payment in 5 years—at least 2 years sooner than investing that same $8,000 annually without the tax advantages of the FHSA, all else being equal.

Taxpayers would generally be responsible for ensuring they do not exceed their contribution limit in a given year, although the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) would provide basic FHSA information to support taxpayers in determining their available contribution room.

To illustrate the significant financial benefits of the FHSA, consider the following scenario.

It is interesting to note that the new FHSA does not replace the existing Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP); rather, it provides an additional option for using savings to access the property ladder.

The HBP would continue to be available as under existing rules, but you would not be permitted to make both an FHSA withdrawal and an HBP withdrawal in respect of the same qualifying home purchase; funds currently held in an RRSP, however, can be transferred to an

Taxpayers would generally be responsible for ensuring they do not exceed their contribution limit in a given year, although the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) would provide basic FHSA information to support taxpayers in determining their available contribution room.

FHSA (subject to the contribution limits mentioned above).

There are some obvious advantages to the FHSA plan over the HBP program.

For instance,

• the FHSA plan allows for access to a higher maximum-funding amount;

• any funds currently invested in your RRSP will remain in place to continue to generate a return; and

• of course the funds don’t need to be repaid.

That is not to say the HBP won’t continue to have relevance—if not just in the near term. When weighing the two programs, your time horizon for investing and saving to purchase a home and making the actual purchase transaction is an important consideration.

• For instance, if you’re planning to buy a home in 2023, you would be able to contribute only $8,000 to an FHSA. If you have sufficient funds already invested in your RRSP, however, making a withdrawal under the HBP would allow you access to up to $35,000.

Based on the information currently publicly available, there are clear benefits to the new FHSA.

Until final legislation receives royal assent, there is also uncertainty. Readers are cautioned that further review will be necessary once the final rules are announced. ▲ Jeremy Andersen is a Sooke Notary Public and CPA, CA, with 20 years’ experience working in the public sector, private industry, and public practice.

Companion Pets are specially designed to help reduce anxiety, loneliness and depression for the elderly, especially those living with dementia or Alzheimer’s. Through your adoption, the life-like furry friend you choose will be delivered to a senior in need at a local long-term care facility for them to love and enjoy. You’ll also receive a special certificate commemorating your adoption, along with a charitable tax receipt for your gift.

A Notary Gathering

This happy group is an example of the camaraderie and support among BC Notaries. This “Notary Family” was recently able to get together for lunch!

Says Mary-Ann, “One thing we chatted about was how privileged we are to have known so many great, inspirational Notaries such as Dr. Bernard Hoeter, Stan Nicol, Wayne Braid, Ken Sherk, and Leta Best, to name a few.”

John Gilks https://bachtrack.com/ review-salome-egoyan-debus-braidkupfer-radecky-canadian-operacompany-february-2023: re. Atom Egoyan’s production of Richard Strauss’s Salome in Toronto: “…Ambur Braid…was born to play Salome. The role sits well for her voice ringing out across the theatre and this production allowed full scope for her extraordinary acting skills.”

Wayne Braid, “This production was so captivating, at the finish there was silence. The audience did not know what to do for about 30 seconds, then they erupted into applause—standing and shouting! When Ambur took her bows, the response was thunderous. It was pretty cool for a dad to see 2,000 people on their feet calling her name. I have seen many of Ambur’s Operas; this one was exceptional. Ambur will appear in Egoyan’s workin-progress film, The Seven Veils.”

wrote an article for The Scrivener at age 16 about her volunteer experience in Haiti. Since then, she has often entertained us at BC Notary Conferences.

From left: Notaries Rosalyn Mow and her mother Susan Tong; Susan’s spouse Charles Mow; Eileen Smith and her partner retired Notary George Tanco; Notaries Mary-Ann Mustonen-Hinds and Alex Ning; and Mary-Anne’s spouse William (Billy) Hinds.

Ambur Braid

Photographer Anya Shor

Ambur and Walter the Wonder Dog, 2023

Trevor Todd and The Scrivener visiting the museum monument in Halabja, Iraq, built to commemorate Saddam’s chemical attack March 16,1988, that killed 5,000 Kurds and seriously injured another 10,000

BC Notary Cassandra Coolin and her beautiful daughter Emberly.

Your legacy can build the future

A small act today can have a big impact on the future health of kids. One clause in a Will is all it takes. Will you?

Let your legacy lead the way for your clients.

Learn more at bcchf.ca/legacy

Your Trusted Partner for Title Insurance

At Stewart Title, we take pride in working with Notaries. Since our inception into the Canadian marketplace, we have partnered with Notaries to offer peace of mind to your clients and our policyholders. Our comprehensive title insurance coverage for buyers, owners and lenders is competitively priced and backed by solid underwriting expertise and claims paying ability.

We support your role in real estate transactions. You understand the complexities of each transaction and are in the best position to advise clients and represent their interests. We understand the best ways to mitigate risk. Our team leverages a broad pool of knowledge to guide you through your transactions and keep them moving smoothly.

One of the keystones of this partnership is our local Business Development Team. Our team is available to answer questions about our products and coverage and to provide unique solutions for your more complex transactions. They support your practice by training new staff on procedures, best practices, the ordering process or setting up and demonstrating our time-saving applications. They’ll also keep you up-to-date on new developments and provide materials to help educate your clients.

Contact a member of our Team to learn more. stewart.ca

Stewart Title’s Business Development Team in BC