Key stakeholders have had no voice

Re: Proposed foresters legislation

On behalf of the New Brunswick Forest Technicians Association (NBFTA), I wish to respond to the legal notice posted by the Association of Registered Professional Foresters of New Brunswick (ARPFNB), on Oct. 14.

The NBFTA had been involved in the drafting of this proposed legislation entitled “An Act to Incorporate the Association of Registered Professional Foresters of New Brunswick,” and voted to oppose this proposed legislation on April 7.

This proposed legislation intends to define the profession of forestry and its accountability, and establish disciplinary procedures and offenses for violations. The implications of defining the forestry profession and its accountability will have profound effects on the entire N.B. forest sector. The NBFTA believes this proposed legislation must receive the formal participation and support of key stakeholders.

Key stakeholders have not participated in the drafting of this proposed legislation. The ARPFNB has failed to get any letters of support for this proposed legislation from key stakeholders.

The NBFTA represents professional forest technicians and technologists in the province. Professional forest technicians and technologists play a vital role throughout the New Brunswick forest sector. The NBFTA is not opposed to professional certification and accountability, but it is opposed to this proposed legislation and the process in which it was drafted.

Due to the social and economic importance of the forest sector to the province of New Brunswick, this proposed legislation is of general public concern. The NBFTA cannot support this proposed legislation.

A detailed account of our position can be found on the NBFTA website: http://www.nbfta.org/

Gareth Davies

President, NBFTA

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

To Whom It May Concern;

At the Annual General Meeting of the New Brunswick Forest Technicians Association (NBFTA) on April 7^th, 2011 the Membership voted on Right to Practice Legislation.

The Members were asked to cast their vote as either “Yes” or “No” on the following statement:

“I support the Act to Incorporate the Association of New Brunswick Forestry Professionals”.

The vote results were as follows:

25 Votes Cast

Yes Votes: 2 (8%)

No Votes: 23 (92%)

The vote was cast after a presentation from Dr. Roger Roy, President of the Association of Registered Professional Foresters of New Brunswick (ARPFNB) on Right to Practice (RTP), followed by a question and answer session. After Dr. Roy left the meeting the Membership discussed the issue and then a motion was made to conduct the vote.

Following this vote, and much focused discussion, the NBFTA has concluded that it cannot support and must now oppose the ARPFNB’s proposed RTP legislation. The NBFTA believes that the process by which the RTP document has been produced is fundamentally flawed thus yielding a flawed document. Further, this process has failed to gain the necessary participation of a broad base of the New Brunswick forest sector.

Based on Membership feedback, the NBFTA’s reasons for rejecting the current RTP document are as follows:

• The NBFTA required written letters of support from stakeholders when we became partners in the RTP process with the ARPFNB. This requirement had been previously agreed to by the ARPFNB, yet, as of the writing of this letter, none have been received. Generally speaking, the NBFTA Membership was not satisfied with the explanation given by the ARPFNB regarding why there are no letters of support.
• The RTP document has been changed significantly, from the early stages, when all forestry practitioners would be required to work within their competencies and continue their education. This is no longer the case in the current RTP document.
• Changes to the RTP document were made without any consultation with the NBFTA before voting for the changes. Rather than standing up for the original proposal, which was agreed upon by our two Associations, the ARPFNB chose to make significant changes to bring some of their members on board.
• Because of changes to the definition of forestry, the RTP document no longer requires that all practitioners become registered and, in fact, contains an ‘out’ clause which, in effect, would allow one person to assume the entire responsibility for an organization, no matter its size. If public accountability is the goal of the RTP document then this ‘out’ clause does a disservice to the public. In the opinion of the NBFTA the RTP document does not have anything to do with the best interest of the general public.
• The RTP Document has been changed and approved by a small number of members of the ARPFNB, yet non-members, who are practicing Foresters in New Brunswick, have had little or no input. The NBFTA finds this most troubling; that an organization would attempt to force something on professionals without allowing them to participate in the process.
• From the Government of New Brunswick website (underlined sections are important because the proposed Act would affect the rights and interests of many others not included, such as Technologists, and other forestry practitioners not represented by either association):  Private Bills are those relating to private or local matters or for the particular interest or benefit of any person, corporation or municipality. Private Bills are not usually promoted by members of the Legislature, but by outside persons or bodies. They confer special powers upon companies, municipalities and private persons and are not of general public concern. Therefore, before any special favour of this nature is granted, the Legislative Assembly requires to be satisfied that no other rights or interests would be prejudiced by granting the special legislation sought to be obtained.

In conclusion the NBFTA feels that the approach to RTP has been a flawed process due to lack of written stakeholder support, changing the RTP Document without NBFTA consultation, resulting in sacrificing any apparent public good or accountability to the public by forestry professionals.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the New Brunswick Forest Technicians Association;

Todd MacPherson, Past President

The Association of Professional Foresters of New Brunswick have sent a cover letter and a copy of the proposed Act to its membership as a precursor to a to an online vote scheduled to run from February 21, 2011 – March 4th, 2011.

From the cover letter:

On February 21st , you will receive an email from ClearPicture, a company from Nova Scotia that will conduct a fair and anonymous electronic voting procedure. Please follow the instructions and respect the deadlines indicated. Voting will open on February 21st and close March 4th, 2011. If the Association does not have an email address for you, then you will have received this notice and instructions for voting by post mail.

For years the NBFTA Executive has been working on Right-to-Practice on behalf of Technicians and Technologists working in New Brunswick. Based on a membership vote, at a Nov 2009 emergency meeting, the Executive was giving a clear mandate on how to proceed with RTP. Our mandate was lost for two reasons:

1 – There are no letters of support from stakeholders.
2 – The definition of forestry in the final draft of the Act has changed.

We, as an organization, need to decide what is best for New Brunswick Forests and what is best for Forest Technicians and Technologists.

I have attached the cover letter and French and English versions of the final draft of the Act. This is required reading for anyone who wants to see how this document, if becomes legislation, will affect your profession.

As I outlined in my previous blog post you really need to be involved in this process. We do not want the decisions of a few influencing the lives of so many so get involved and show up at our AGM on April 7th, 2011 at 1PM in Moncton.

COVER LETTER | FRENCH VERSION OF ACT | ENGLISH VERSION OF ACT

You can view the ARPFNB announcement on their website by clicking here.

Bye for now.

Todd MacPherson,

President

The 2011 NBFTA Annual General Meeting will be held in Moncton at Ramada Crystal Palace on April 7th beginning at 1 PM Sharp. Although the Agenda has not yet been released, the primary topic will be Right to Practice. Your Executive and, in particular, Chris Finnamore, has been hard at work with this on behalf of the membership.

As you may recall we held an Emergency Meeting of the NBFTA on November 14, 2009 at which time the Membership voted to support Right to Practice Legislation. We, as an Executive, were tasked by the Membership to meet with the ARPFNB and tell them our conditions of support. We did that. To freshen your memories of those conditions I have copied and pasted them here:

It was motioned and accepted that  the NBFTA Executive meet with ARPFNB Executive to confirm support of Right-to-Practice by contributing $5000.00 toward legal costs incurred to date, conditional on :
- no more money be spent on legal fees until stakeholder support is given
- consultation process to begin immediately, including written letters of support from stakeholders including, but not limited to :

• DNR
• NB Federation of Woodlot Owners
• Crown Licensees and Sub Licensees
• MCFT
• UNB
• U de M
• NBCC Miramachi

The NBFTA Executive met with the ARPFNB Executive on December 5th, 2009 and presented them with our conditions of support. They unanimously accepted the conditions as outlined above.

A joint letter from both Associations was mailed out to approximately 120 stakeholders province-wide late December – early January 2010. No letters of support were received, so at an NBFTA Executive Meeting on October 16th, 2010 it was decided that ample time had passed. The Executive felt that we no longer had a mandate and would bring this to the attention of the Membership at our AGM to decide which way to proceed.

On Friday January 28th, 2011, Chris Finnamore and myself were invited to attend the ARPFNB AGM. At that meeting their Membership voted to change the definition of Forestry from the original draft that the Membership of the NBFTA had supported. With this change in hand, their membership in attendance, which included representatives from two large Crown License holders and one Marketing Board, offered support, through their vote of presenting the document to their membership via a mail-in vote.

The ARPFNB felt that they did not have a strong enough quorum at their AGM to hold a vote to accept the document and begin the public process of having it become Legislation. They decided to send a cover letter and copy of the document to their membership, soliciting a mail-in vote in support of the draft Act.

This may be changing somewhat because recent correspondence that I have received shows that the ARPFNB may hire an on-line voting house to prepare an electronic ballot for their membership who have Internet access.

On Saturday, February 5th, 2011 the NBFTA Executive met and this was the main topic on our agenda. We, the Executive, felt that the NBFTA can not support this new draft of the Act because, with the change to the definition of forestry, we no longer have a mandate from our Membership.

Further, although three representatives of major players in the forest industry voted at the ARPFNB AGM to support the new version of the Act, there are no official letters of support, that our Membership had requested.

Acting on your behalf today, we decided that we would not be joining the ARPF in their mail-out / electronic vote campaign. It was decided that is beyond our scope and mandate and that we need to take the new draft of the Act directly to you, the member, at our upcoming AGM.

If you are a Forest Technician or Technologist working in New Brunswick you need to be at our AGM in Moncton on Thursday afternoon April 7th, 2011. Decisions made at this meeting will chart a course for your career in Forestry. I can not stress enough how important this meeting is. Even if you are not a member, you still need to come. While it would be nice to recruit new members into the Association, you are welcome to come and sit as an observer and listen to the work that has been done, on your behalf, to protect your interests. If what you see and hear inspires you to participate in the process, you are more than welcome to join the NBFTA.

Again, to all Technicians of New Brunswick. I implore you to be present at our AGM. This will be, without a doubt, the most important meeting that we have ever had. You need to be informed. You need to be involved. You need to be there. If you are reading this and are coming, I want you to bring at least one other Technician or Technologist with you.

It is estimated that there are over 1200 Forest Technicians and Technologists currently working in New Brunswick. It is my hope that every single one will be present in Moncton on April 7th. Please do not let the decisions of a few affect the careers of so many.

Respectfully Submitted;

Todd MacPherson, President
New Brunswick Forest Technicians Association

The Emergency Meeting of the NBFTA set for February 6th, 2010 at MCFT has been canceled. Our next scheduled meeting will be at our AGM in Moncton, Thursday April 8th at 1 PM at Crystal Palace.

More details to follow.

Thanks

Todd MacPherson, President
NBFTA

Bye for now

Todd

===========================================

Hello Members

As a follow up to out last emergency meeting and subsequent acceptance of the ARPFNB to our terms, we are now in full support of the current Right-to-Practice Legislation. With that in mind, I am required to call one more emergency meeting for the general membership on Saturday, February 6th, 2010, at 10 AM in room 224 at MCFT.

The purpose of this meeting is to ratify the latest version of the legislation document. After that we will begin a 6-week public relations campaign, as required by law. The ARPFNB is holding their Annual General Meeting a week prior to ours and if for some reason their membership votes against the legislation then I will cancel our meeting. The Private Members Bill can not go forward unless both associations approve the latest draft of the legislation.

I can not stress enough the importance of this meeting. Forestry as you know it in New Brunswick will change forever with the enactment of this legislation. In order for your voice to be heard you must attend the meeting.

Attached to this document is the Act, rough draft of the By-laws, and a letter that was mailed out to various members of the forest community seeking their support of the legislation.

This meeting is open to NBFTA members in good standing only. To participate, your dues must be paid in full at the door.

(Note to Executive Members – I would like to meet with all of you after the emergency meeting to go over the applications for the NBFTA Scholarship. We received two applications so it should not take long.)

If any of you receive this email more than once, I apologize.

See you all on February 6th.

Sincerely;

Todd MacPherson
President
New Brunswick Forest Technicians Association
www.nbfta.org

I have felt it necessary to call an emergency meeting of the NBFTA general membership in regards to ‘Right to Practice’ legislation that was initiated by the Association of Registered Professional Foresters of New Brunswick. The meeting will be held Saturday, November 14th, at 9:00 AM  in Room 224, at the Maritime College of Forest Technology (most of you know it as MFRS), in Fredericton.

As a bit of a background for you, the NBFTA was involved in the RTP process for a number of years but after many meetings and much discussion the process was abandoned. This was due to lack of support and the government not wanting to invest the time or resources for a public bill.

In late 2008 until the present, RTP was revived by the ARPFNB, because their membership demanded it an an AGM. The new approach is to go forward with a private members bill and pay all of the associated costs out of pocket.

In the spring of 2009, at our AGM in Moncton, Jen Hacking, the Executive Director of the ARPFNB, asked if she could speak to the general membership at our AGM. We accepted and allowed her to speak. The result of her meeting was that Chris Finnamore and Gareth Davies agreed to be representatives for the NBFTA in all future RTP meetings.

As a result of feedback from those meetings, the NBFTA Executive has twice voted that we no longer be part of the process as we felt it was not in the best interest of New Brunswick Forest Technicians and Technologists.

So why am I calling this meeting? We will reveal the full transcript of events at the emergency meeting but in a nutshell, we have had verbal complaint(s) from our Membership that the Executive may have overstepped their authority in making this decision on behalf of the members. Also we have received a formal letter from John Kershaw, President of the APRFNB, where he has addressed our concerns. Whether we agree or not with his letter is up for debate.

The Executive works tirelessly on behalf of the Membership and we are always looking out for all of our best interests, so I take complaints seriously. The main reason that the NBFTA Executive voted against this is that we disagreed with the entire process to move forward with RTP. This is such an important issue because if the proposed legislation
becomes law, here are some of the significant changes that will occur:

- The NBFTA will merge with th ARPFNB and a new association will be formed.
- All Technicians and Technologists will have to join if you want to
practice forestry in New Brunswick.
- Membership dues will go up significantly as the cost of running the
new Association will increase dramatically.
- Our financial resources will be seriously depleted paying for legal
bills and getting the legislation passed through a Private Members Bill.
Any remaining funds will transfer to the new Association.

There are other concerns in the draft legislation that we would like to explain at the meeting and will prepare a presentation, followed by a question and answer period. At the end of our presentation any other member will be allowed to make a RTP-related presentation, followed by a Q & A. My only request is that you inform me at least 1 week prior to the meeting with your estimated time allotment.

No other issues will be on the agenda. At the end of the presentations, the general membership will vote and the decision will be final. I can not stress the importance of this meeting. We need a quorum to allow for
a vote, otherwise the decision on the Executive is final.

Attached you will find the most recent draft of the legislation and an OCR conversion of a letter that was mailed to me by ARPFNB President, John Kershaw. Please read it over before you attend so you are better informed. There may be some typos in the text below as it was created by computer software after scanning the document.

*note – I did not publish correspondence at this time as it is intended for Members viewing only. If you did not already receive a copy in your email (sent October 22, 2009), then that means that your email address on record is out of date or you did not provide us with one. I can be reached by sending an email to todd.macpherson@nbfta.org.

Thank you for your time,

Todd MacPherson
President NBFTA

Find below links to the newsletter I’ve distributed to our membership. It has quite a bit of information that will be of interest to NBFTA members.

This month in the Forest Practitioner: An update of the progress made on drafting legislation for mandatory regulation of foresters and forest technologists in the province. A preview of proposed changes contained in the draft.

The Forest Practitioner (English) at http://arpfnb.ca///uploads//Website_Assets/_Newsletter_Summer_09.pdf

Without pictures & colour: http://arpfnb.ca///uploads//Website_Assets/Summer_09_newsletter_no_photos.pdf

En francais: http://arpfnb.ca///uploads//Website_Assets/Newsletter_Summer_09_French.pdf

Sans photos: http://arpfnb.ca///uploads//Website_Assets/Summer_09_newsletter_french,_no_photos.pdf

Jen Hacking, RPF

Executive Director/Directrice générale

1350 Regent St., Suite 221

Fredericton, NB

E3C 2G6

506-452-6933 tel

506-450-3128 fax

info@arpfnb.ca

www.arpfnb.ca

At the NBFTA AGM we were invited to take part in this process and reserved decision until we could have a formal meeting to discuss this. That meeting took place today, April 22, 2009, and the Executive has decided that we need to be included in this process in order to have our voice at the table.

The current position of the NBFTA, with respect to this legislation, is that we neither support or reject Right to Practice Legislation. That is something that the general membership will decide in the future. Two members of the Executive will be involved in the process, representing the best interests on the Association.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks

Todd MacPherson, CFT
President NBFTA