Presidents Message
A Message From the President of FSANS
20 May 2011
Greetings to all members of the FSANS. It is with pleasure that I present my Annual Report for 2010 - 2011. Since our AGM in 2010, the Board of Director's of the FSANS have been working diligently on various matters brought forward by the membership, board initiated situations, and the annual on goings of our profession while, maintaining a strong and steady goal orientated and progressive outlook. I feel this has been a rather successful fiscal year. 2010 brought along many challenging situations. Many doors have opened with the communication between NS Medical Examiner, Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations, Vital Statistics, and various Government Agencies. Throughout the course of this year, we as an association retained a lawyer who is now available to work on our behalf in respect to our profession, primarily in respect to the Acts and Regulations we all follow as successful funeral directors. I am very satisfied with the research and results in which our board have achieved in regards to the "Special Resolution" That was made at our last AGM held May 13, 2010 referring to Self Governance. An ad-hoc committee was formed to look into the idea of Self Governance for us as a profession. Adam Tipert worked effortlessly to gather the details to bring forward to you as a membership. A presentation will be made here today outlining the information that has been gathered. We then, as a Board of Director's, will discuss with you, the membership, to determine how we will proceed in respect to Self Governance. Many thanks to Mr. Tipert for his many hours of research and dedication to this project. An ad-hoc committee was also formed to review the Acts and Regulations under which we are governed as professionals. The committee was formed to explore within what boundaries funeral home inspections can be performed under Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations and to review what Acts and Regulations govern the cross-over between the funeral home and Medical Examiners responsibilities. Formal meetings have been held with both the Medical Examiners office and Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations in respect to issues identified by concerned members. In January of 2011, a new Registrar, Ms. Catherine Smith, was appointed to Service Nova Scotia, which led to communications and a formal meeting. I feel a renewed sense of cooperation with this Government Agency and look forward to working with Ms. Smith for the next term as President of the FSANS. The Acts review also led to a question/answer session with Matt Bowes, Chief Medical Examiner for the Province of Nova Scotia at which time all members had been invited to come and share their concerns. We continue to work with Mr. Bowes and his office to ensure a good working relationship. 2011 brought the first edition of our Association Newsletter. It was decided to have the newsletter delivered electronically for most members to determine the interest in continuing. There has been very positive feedback, and I thank Chairperson Lisa Smith for her efforts in preparing the inaugural newsletter. Please do contact the association office should you have any input for the next edition. Once again this year we have scheduled multiple education opportunities for licensing credits. It is my pleasure to have had our keynote speaker, Mr. Dennis Daulton of Dodge, present at our seminar