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The right stuff . . .
A Family Operation
From left, Keremeos Notary Lawrence Stevens Sr.
with his wife Janice and her brother Jim.
James Robinson, father of Janice and Jim,
founded the Coquitlam Notary practice that Jim
now operates. At right is Princeton Notary
Larry Stevens Jr., son of Lawrence and Janice.
What does it
take to become a
BC Notary Public
?
• Strong entrepreneurial and people skills
• The highest degree of honesty and integrity
• University degree and 5 years’ related experience
• Fluency in English; other languages an asset
• Financial backing
• Dedication to serving the public
These are the characteristics of a BC Notary Public.
There are 323 Notarial Seals throughout British Columbia.
In some communities, Seals are available.
As a BC Notary, you will have the opportunity to enjoy
a rewarding career as an independent businessperson
who serves the public, and sets the example of integrity
and trust for which Notaries are known throughout
the world.
If you have these qualities and are looking for a new
career path, consider our two-year program, conducted
through the Sauder School of Business Real Estate
Program, University of British Columbia.
For more information, please contact:
The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia
1-800-663-0343 or visit our Website:
www.notaries.bc.ca.
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Photo credit: www.franceslitman.com
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P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E S O C I E T Y O F N O TA R I E S P U B L I C O F B C
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SECRETARY/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Are You Really Listening?
7
Wayne Braid
PRESIDENT
Are You Having Fun Yet?
8
Chris Dupuis
KEYNOTE
Do You Yearn to Learn?
9
Val Wilson
BC Notaries Enjoy First-Class Education
10
Rick Evans
Lifelong Learning: the Path to
Professional and Personal Fulfillment
12
Susan Davis
Book Smarts or Street Smarts?
14
Marny Morin
Royal Roads’ Learning Models
Have Positive Global Impact
17
Phil Saunders
School Supports Student Success
From left: Dr. Liz Ashton; Josje Andmore; Leta Best;
Susan Haddon; Wayne Braid.
COVER STORY:
Legal Education for
Fun and Profit
38
Understanding the Education
Credentials of a Financial Advisor
30
Bailey Jung
To Vietnam’s Children—with Love
32
Marvin Lamoureux
My Lifetime Education
Experience in East Africa
34
Rosario Kuhrt
The Splendid Lanterns of Taiwan
37
18
Josje Andmore
Camosun Career Course Builds
Skills and Confidence
19
Diana Glover
What’s Traditional about Libraries?
20
Maureen Witney
The Bluetooth Office
22
Akash Sablok
PROFILE OF A BC NOTARY: VANCOUVER’S WEST SIDE
It Takes Two to Tango . . .
Why I Became a BC Notary
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR 2005
The Little Hand that Could Webinar
23
Celebrating the Year of the Rooster!
44
24
Presidents of The Society of Notaries
Public of British Columbia 1926 – 2005
46
Akash Sablok
The Classroom Outside Four Walls
43
Filip de Sagher
Ann Coombs
The Learning Age
25
THE NOTARY FOUNDATION
Ann Coombs
MIT: Innovative Educational Program
26
Erik Snucins
Education in the Legal Profession
Rita Scott
4
The Scrivener
27
Meet the Board of
Governors: Laurie Salvador
47
Spotlight on Good Works
48
Board of Governors
49
Volume
14 13
Number
1 Spring
2005
Volume
Number
3 Fall 2004
COLUMNS
EDITOR’S
What Services Can
a BC Notary Provide?
21
• Affidavits for All Documents required at a Public Registry
within BC
STRESS MANAGEMENT
Relieve Stress Right at Your Desk! 50
Catherine D’Aoust
• Authorization of Minor Child Travel
• Business Purchase/Sale
FAMILY LAW
What is a Parent’s Legal Obligation
to Provide for a Child’s
Post-Graduate Education?
51
• Certified True Copies of Documents
• Commercial Leases & Assignment of Leases
• Contracts and Agreements
Grant C. Taylor
• Easements & Rights of Way
THE CAR COLUMN
• Estate Planning
Performance and Panache!
55
2006 Lexus GS Luxury Sport Sedans
• Execution/Authentications of International Documents
Val Wilson
• Insurance Loss Declarations
LAND REGISTRY
• Letters of Invitation for Foreign Travel
The Land Title Assurance Fund
—Illusory Remedy?
56
Jakob de Villiers
LETTERS
57
WILLS AND ESTATES
Missing Persons
60
Trevor Todd
• Manufactured Home Transfers
• Marine Bills of Sale & Mortgages
• Marine Protestations
• Mortgage Refinancing Documentation
• Notarizations/Attestations of Signatures
• Passport Application Documentation
• Personal Property Security Agreements
PRIVATE RECIPE
Breton® Brittle
• Health Care Declarations
63
• Powers of Attorney
Marilyn MacDonald
• Proof of Identity for Travel Purposes
MATURE ADULT HOUSING
• Purchaser’s Side of Foreclosures
Ageing in Place in
Sidney By The Sea
• Representation Agreements
64
• Residential & Commercial Real Estate Transfers
Laurie Salvador
• Restrictive Covenants & Builder’s Liens
ASSOCIATION OF BC LAND SURVEYORS
• Statutory Declarations
BC Land Surveyors’ 100th
Anniversary Celebration
66
Chuck Salmon
70
• Zoning Applications
Some BC Notaries provide these services.
HISTORY OF BC
Part 4A: 1858 to 1864
Establishing the Boundaries
• Wills Preparation
• Wills Searches
HUMOUR
Test Your HQ (Humour Quotient)
Carla Rieger
• Subdivisions & Statutory Building Schemes
• Marriage Licences
72
Bob Reid
• Mediation
• Real Estate Disclosure Statements
Over 260 locations to serve you
TECHNOLOGY
Hey, I Can See My House
from Here!
76
Timothy Perrin
PEOPLE
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
78
For the BC Notary office nearest you,
please call 1-800-663-0343
or visit www.notaries.bc.ca.
The Scrivener
5
Published Quarterly by
The Society of
Notaries Public
of British Columbia
Editor-in-Chief
Val Wilson
Legal Editors
Wayne Braid
Ken Sherk
Magazine
Committee
Akash Sablok, Chair
Leta Best, Vice Chair
Kathryn J. Greening
Alex Ning
George Tanco
Graphic Design
Graffiki Design
Printing
Quebecor World
Courier
Cheyenne Express
Webmaster
indesigns.ca
The Scrivener is published quarterly by
The Society of Notaries Public
of British Columbia.
Box 44, 1220 – 625 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2T6
Voice: 604 681-4516
Fax:
604 681-7258
NOTARIAL OPPORTUNITY
From Time to Time . . .
a BC Notary practice becomes available, perhaps
due to retirement plans or relocation.
Currently there are opportunities in
White Rock, West Vancouver, the Gulf Islands,
Burnaby/New Westminster, Lower Mainland, and
Kimberley.
For more information:
Voice 604 985-9250
Fax
604 985-0900
or email scrivener@notaries.bc.ca.
Website: www.notaries.bc.ca
Email: scrivener@notaries.bc.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 Society does not, in any sense,
endorse or accept responsibility for
opinions expressed by contributors.
CANADA POST: PUBLICATIONS
MAIL AGREEMENT No. 40010827
Postage Paid at Vancouver, BC
RETURN UNDELIVERABLE
CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO
CIRCULATION DEPT.:
THE SOCIETY OF NOTARIES
PUBLIC OF BC
SUITE 1220 – 625 HOWE ST.,
BOX 44,
VANCOUVER, BC V6C 2T6
SCRIVENER@NOTARIES.BC.CA
6
The Scrivener
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
SECRETARY/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Wayne Braid
Are You
Really Listening?
I
f you are a new reader to our
magazine: Welcome!
I believe you will all find this
issue entertaining, educational, and
downright interesting! Within our focus
on Education, our writers share their
experiences and knowledge on topics that
appeal to BC Notaries and to our business
partners and clients.
When we think of education, many
of us think “school.” Education is so much
more than that. Learning comes in different
forms for each of us at various times in
our lives. The traditional model is only the
beginning of our education. Most likely, on
the first day on the job in our chosen career,
we discovered there is a lot more to learn—
School did not prepare me for this!
Formal education provides us with a
tool—an intellectual tool—to enhance our
dreams and our ability to problem-solve,
to turn our creativity into practical uses
and actions. For example, Nolan Bushnell
founded Atari with $500 and sold the
company for $28 million, less than five
years later. Mr. Bushnell states that his best
video game ideas came to him while lazing
on beaches and sleeping and dreaming!
For some, like myself, completing
university training comes well into
middle age.
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
I always enjoy reading Trevor Todd’s
columns. He never stops learning! Each
article brings insight—a new experience and
new information that Trevor has gleaned
from his practice of law or his practical
experience. I know from my discussions
with Trevor that he also learns a great deal
by sharing his knowledge with others.
When we think of
education, many of us
think “school.”
We really never stop learning. Life
is a constant learning experience. One of
the skills I learned somewhere along my
journey is how to listen. When you really
allow yourself to listen, you can learn so
much. I learn new and exciting things
every day—from my co-workers, our
members, my children, grandchildren, and
especially my wife. It’s a great experience in
life when you can say, “I didn’t know that!”
Notaries by nature are eager to learn
and to keep on learning; they are always
attending various continuing legal training
courses offered around the province. Our
Society’s education seminars are so well
attended, it is a constant challenge to
come up with remarkable yet practical
presentations!
With the recent move by the Land Title
The Scrivener
Office to the electronic filing of documents,
more than 86 percent of BC Notaries have
taken some form of education regarding
the use of our new conveyancing software,
digital signatures, electronic filing, and the
electronic preparation of documents.
Our Notaries’ commitment to
education is impressive and the dialogue
in the Cover Story interview supports
that commitment. You will read how the
Notary Foundation is supporting students
who want to work in the legal business.
Not only are Notaries contributing
financially to colleges like Camosun in
Victoria and Capilano in North Vancouver,
Notaries are supporting the students’
endeavours by permitting them to test their
skills in BC Notaries’ offices and by hiring
them to work in Notarial businesses.
BC Notaries are dedicated to
continuing education—to enhance their
skills, learn new skills and technologies,
and grow as people—to perpetuate the
tradition of using our abilities to help our
clients with their day-to-day issues.
As I was preparing to write this article,
I was reminded of an article my predecessor
Stan Nicol wrote some time ago. In the
Summer Scrivener, June 1999, Stan said, “We
should not lose sight of the special abilities
that Notaries have…to deal effectively with
clients on a face-to-face basis.”
Happy learning! ▲
7
PRESIDENT
Chris Dupuis
Are You
Having Fun Yet?
H
e who dares to teach
must never cease to
learn.
Richard Henry Dann
This issue of The Scrivener salutes
education and those who are involved as
teachers and as learners.
It seems everyone has an opinion
on the subject of education. The reason
for this is quite simple: we have all been
exposed to education, through our own
schooling and that of our children.
More so in my case—my spouse is
a teacher. That makes for great debate
in our home—which has lead me to the
strong belief that we as professionals are
all educators at some level and begs the
question: what does make a great teacher?
This year our elder son has a very
interesting humanities teacher whom we
shall call Mr. R. It seems Mr. R has magical
abilities. He is part actor, part authoritarian,
part motivator, part comedian. Our son
regales us with stories of Mr. R’s classes—
how he makes school imitate life and the
8
real world—how he cajoles his students into
taking risks and working hard.
They all gave different answers and,
much to my shock, no one mentioned Mr. R.
When speaking with our son’s friends,
I often ask them to tell me about their
favourite subject and teacher. The two are
usually connected. I pose those questions
to gain insight into the youngsters with
whom our child is associating and I like to
compare their answers with our son’s. That
opener is also a great segue into expanded
conversation.
After my requisite follow-up questions
to each young man, I asked the group: “What
about Mr. R?” Was my son the only student
so positively affected by this educator?
Maybe we can take a
lesson from Mr. R:
Good teachers create
learning experiences that
are challenging, inspiring,
and fun.
Some weeks ago, my son had three
friends over for a Friday evening visit;
none had been previously exposed to
my inquisition. As they swilled pop and
ate—should I say inhaled—snack food at
the kitchen table, as only 13-year-olds can,
I asked, “So what’s your favourite subject
and who’s your favourite teacher?”
The Scrivener
In varying degrees of animation, the
boys said Mr. R’s class did not count—it
was not like school. They agreed it was hard
work, with the pressures of exams and term
papers and all, but Mr. R was in a category by
himself. Being in his class was just . . . fun.
Maybe we can take a lesson from Mr.
R: Good teachers create learning experiences
that are challenging, inspiring, and fun.
We know that ongoing education
helps us achieve higher levels of competence
in our work. Let‘s add a new dimension
. . . let’s improve the way we deliver our
professional services and agree to enjoy
ourselves more—by creating an environment
that encourages clients and staff to feel
great, too. The benefits will include
reduced levels of stress and better results.
Spring is the season of new
beginnings. Are you and the people around
you teaching, learning, and having fun? ▲
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
KEYNOTE
Val Wilson
Do You Yearn to Learn?
D
on’t tell the kids, but it
seems that later in life,
enthusiasm for education
and learning accelerates.
Valued Scrivener advertiser and
longtime friend Ozzie Kaban recently
earned a Master’s degree in Clinical
Hypnotherapy and is now certified
by the American Medical and Dental
Hypnotherapy Association as a clinical
hynotherapist.
Ozzie says, “Hypnosis has been used
in Europe for years to treat post-traumatic
stress, smoking, and control issues. And it
can enhance self-esteem, sports prowess,
and self-confidence.”
I was excited to hear of his latest
accomplishments. In the detective business
33 years, Ozzie has always been very
interested in psychology and human
behavioural patterns. By following his
passion, he has added a major component
to his already successful career.
Today’s hallowed halls of learning are
mobile. Your classroom can be anywhere
you open your laptop! Surrey Notary
Janice McMath is taking an online
course on synchronous and asynchronous
communication. “Will let you know more
later, when I know more,” she promises.
Some students have a special spark
that helps ignite learning. Josje Andmore
(page 18) says Diana Glover arrived at
Camosun College with “quite a wealth. She
came with a lovely attitude.”
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
Knowing your preferred learning style is
essential to enjoyable instruction. Learning
preferences include listening, reading,
watching, and doing. Teachers who use
a combination of styles can appeal to the
learning preferences of all their students.
The following is an excerpt from
the Learning Style Indicator, one of
16 assessments published by CRG
International, Inc. (To determine your
learning style preferences and strategies to
maximize your learning experience, visit
www.crgleader.com.)
The blended-learning
approach also helps
increase retention.
As lifelong learners, we must be aware
of our preferred and best learning
styles, so we can be intentional with
our current and future learning
experiences. That is why blended
learning—offering many different
ways to learn the same information—
is quickly becoming the new norm.
I was impressed by the blendedlearning process offered by Lexus Canada
to showcase new 2006 models. At a
mini-seminar, the company introduced
the new GS Series to journalists from all
over Canada through a series of skilled
presenters, film clips, slides, Q&A, and
hard copy support for all information and
The Scrivener
technical details. Our learning experience
included inspecting a new Lexus.
(Test-drive opportunities came the
following day. See The Car Column on
page 55.)
The blended-learning approach also
helps increase retention.
The Notary Foundation of British
Columbia is a strong supporter of students
and education. In accepting her award
(page 48), Langara College student
Gwenyth Yip said,
It is an honour to be recognized by
the people with whom I one day hope
to work. I have been fortunate to be
able to attend and to have support in
developing a career path that I look
forward to following. Thank you for
your encouragement of students.
The mandate of the Notary
Foundation includes public legal education.
Foundation Chair Leta Best says,
One of the best ways to educate
people is through a print publication.
The Scrivener magazine is not just for
BC Notaries. It’s an education tool for
our Allied Professionals and our clients
and we’re very proud of it. ▲
New Staff Member
We welcome Betsy Shimokura to the
Secretariat. Betsy is Assistant to Wayne
Braid, Secretary/Executive Director of The
Society of Notaries Public.
9
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Rick Evans
BC Notaries Enjoy
First-Class Education
I
n 1993, The Society of
Notaries Public of BC,
under the direction of the
University of British Columbia,
undertook an ambitious project
to completely rewrite the course
that all aspiring Notaries Public
are required to complete before
being commissioned as BC
Notaries.
After two years of intense coordination
and drafting by educators, Notaries, and
lawyers, the new Notary Preparatory
Course (NPC) was born.
The NPC is a fully integrated and
intensive distance education course
consisting of 40 units arranged in eight
modules, with in-house study sessions,
practical instruction, and an exam
component. Students enrolled in the
NPC are immersed in a comprehensive,
20-month course designed to give them an
in-depth understanding of the legal theory
and practicalities of the Notarial profession.
There is one thing constant in life
and that is change. Education—if it is to
reflect societal needs and expectations—is
10
no different. The Society of Notaries
Public of BC is well aware of the necessity
to constantly review the education of
its members and students. Revisions are
made regularly to ensure that the NPC is
kept current.
There is one thing
constant in life and that
is change. Education—if it
is to reflect societal needs
and expectations—is no
different.
In November 2004, a committee
consisting of members of The Society,
educators, and lawyers met in a retreat
for the sole purpose of considering a total
revision of the NPC. The result was a
completely new look to the course.
The NPC will continue to be
delivered over 20 months but the structure
of the course will be changed substantially.
The committee recommended that more
emphasis be placed on creating research
and team assignments throughout the
course, longer in-house and face-to-face
study sessions, and mandatory practicum
periods with established Notaries. Four
face-to-face sessions—from six days to two
The Scrivener
weeks in duration—will be added, with
practicums set up during those sessions.
In general, the committee agreed that
the theory part of the course content is first
class and that little needs to be changed in
that area.
At the end of the assignment portion
of the NPC, students are required to attend
a five-day intensive mediation workshop,
designed to provide a comprehensive
overview of interest-based mediation.
Six exams will cover all the material
included in the NPC. For students
successful in the examinations, the
culmination of the course is a five-day
post-exam session where students are given
a thorough review of the practicalities
of the Notarial profession by instructors
drawn from the legal profession.
The Society has long recognized that
first-class education of its members is key
to providing the public with the protection
and professionalism it deserves and that it
has come to recognize as the trade marks of
the trusted tradition of Notaries Public. ▲
Nanaimo Notary Rick Evans is the
Education Coordinator of The Society of
Notaries Public of British Columbia.
revans@notaries.bc.ca
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
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Susan Davis
Lifelong Learning:
the Path to Professional
and Personal Fulfillment
F
rom the time I was in
elementary school,
I delighted in opening my
textbooks at the beginning of
each school term and leafing
through them to see what
I was going to learn during the
ensuing term.
Even today, when taking a college
course or attending a day-long seminar,
I experience that little thrill of anticipation
about learning something new.
12
of opportunities is available to the adult
learner in community colleges, universities,
and even on the Internet.
In today’s society, higher education
facilities recognize that the adult learner
is a great market; the courses offered to us
are unlimited. If an adult doesn’t want to
physically attend a college or university, she
can continue her learning through myriad
distance education courses offered via the
Internet by accredited institutions.
…I experience that
little thrill of
anticipation about learning
something new.
I hope I never lose this feeling,
because I strongly believe life is meant to
be a platform for continuous learning,
such as improving skills and increasing
knowledge. A person needs to make a
personal commitment to continue to learn
throughout his or her lifetime because
lifelong learning helps contribute to
personal as well as professional fulfillment
and to positive social change.
Countless community centres, adult
centres, and recreation centres also offer
classes on everything from sports to
cooking to photography. The possibilities
are endless!
Learning should not end when you
are handed your diploma at the end of
your formal education; that is when
it should be starting! Once the formal
education is finished, a whole new world
A friend who recently reached the
magic “senior citizen” mark has enrolled in
a series of classes for the computer novice
at his local Silver Threads centre, because
he doesn’t want to be left behind.
The Scrivener
The world is constantly moving
forward at an ever-increasing speed. The
amount of information processed by a
person today is exponentially greater than
what our grandparents were required to
process. The need to continually take
steps to expand our knowledge base is
imperative.
For example, technology has made
it virtually impossible to carry on in
the business world without the aid of
computers. I remember the not-toodistant past, when electric typewriters
were a commonplace luxury in a business
office and then, when fax was introduced,
the business world changed radically!
Consumers started to expect services to
be delivered more quickly and efficiently
and professionals were forced to step up
to the plate. That meant learning how to
make the necessary changes in a way that
reflected positively on your business.
Particularly for professionals, our
very existence relies on our desire and
ability to learn. As we carry on through
our busy lives, we are constantly
encountering changes, new ideas, and
the latest in technology. Some of the
reasons that continuing professional
education has become such an important
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
part of our lives include the information
explosion, the need to remain competitive,
public demand for better service
and accountability, advancement of
technologies, and changes in legislation
and regulations.
Just when you think you have
mastered the latest changes required by
your business or practice, something new
comes along or another way of doing
things is introduced; to stay competitive,
it is essential to learn the ropes. For today’s
Notary, as well as for other professionals,
continuing professional education has
become a requirement rather than an
extravagance.
Part of the mandate of the Education
Committee of The Society of Notaries
Public of British Columbia is to ensure
that the public receives the very best
professional service from Notaries Public,
by developing and conducting continuing
education programs for Notaries on a
regular basis. Our Society strives to deliver
education on topics that are current and
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
relevant to our members through our
Spring Seminars and Fall Conferences, as
well as by publication of The Scrivener.
As well, our Society has developed
a members-only Website that keeps our
membership up-to-date on the latest issues
affecting our profession. Our members are
also encouraged to keep themselves current
by taking courses and seminars offered by
the Justice Institute of BC, the Continuing
Legal Education Society of BC, Dye
& Durham, and other institutions that
provide relevant professional courses.
As a Society, we are very proud
that our membership recognizes that
continuing their professional education is
important to them and to the public they
serve. This is proven time and again by
our membership’s strong attendance at the
Spring Educational Seminars and our Fall
Conferences.
Just as continuing professional
education is paramount to success in
today’s business world, it is also important
to our personal lives that we are current in
The Scrivener
whatever topic or skill set we are interested
in developing.
I wish to share two quotes I feel
summarize the importance of continuing
education throughout our lifetime. ▲
If you’re not learning while you’re
earning, you’re cheating yourself out of
the better portion of your compensation.
NAPOLEON HILL
Author of Think and Grow Rich
Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water
loses its purity and in cold weather,
becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap
the vigour of the mind.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Susan Davis, a Roving Notary on
Vancouver Island, is the Chair of the
Education Committee for The Society of
Notaries Public of BC.
sdavis@notaries.bc.ca
13
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Marny Morin
Book Smarts
OR
Street Smarts?
I
n a recent series of reality
TV’s The Apprentice, the
ultimate corporate job
interview, Donald Trump pitted
people with formal education
(book smarts) against people
lacking higher education but
with lots of business experience
(street smarts).
Many of the book-smart people were
lawyers; all had tons of education, as well
as a capacity for critical thinking acquired
through higher education. These young
bloods, however, were often disadvantaged
by their lack of practical experience in the
business world. The street-smart people,
by comparison, had only high school
education but had achieved success in their
own businesses. They often had the edge
because of their creativity and willingness
to take risks that their more educated
competitors would have never considered.
It seems to me that neither type of
apprentice really had the combination
of skills and experience sought by The
Donald for his corporate team.
This leads me to ask: What does it
take to be a successful Notary?
14
Some of us had formal university
education at the start of our careers
but not much in the way of practical
experience in the profession.
Others had less formal university
education, but had achieved a certain
business success before being accepted
as Notary candidates. Years of on-thejob training and experience in related
occupations helped prepare us to become
Notaries.
Today, it would be
foolhardy to underestimate
the importance of higher
education.
Today, it would be foolhardy to
underestimate the importance of higher
education. In our high-tech world—where
decisions and judgments need to be made
in a matter of minutes rather than hours or
days—critical thinking is an essential skill.
My view is that a Notary needs both
book smarts and street smarts to best serve
clients. Today, all candidates for a career
as a Notary Public must have university
degrees. There is a similar requirement
for other careers and callings—whether
you want to train as a journalist, an ESL
The Scrivener
teacher, an airline pilot, or a student of
theology.
My children are facing this now. For
them, the university degree has replaced
the high school diploma as the launching
point for a professional career. This
benchmark for starting a career as a Notary
Public will result in a better educated and
more effective generation of Notaries.
But we must, as a profession, be
careful not to think that “book smarts”
are a substitute for the “street smarts”
that come from years on the job. The
veteran Notary, even though he or she
may lack a degree in English literature
or commerce, still has a lot to teach the
next generation of Notaries. This is why I
think it is so important that new Notaries
avail themselves of all the mentoring
opportunities and continuing education
offered by The Society of Notaries Public.
The Education Committee and
the Board of Directors of The Society
recognize the value of giving our students
the practical experience that formal
education alone just can’t provide. Theory
is invaluable, but without the practical
knowledge to apply the theory, a Notary
doesn’t have all the tools necessary to be
effective in practice.
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
The Law Society of BC provides its
law students with this practical education
in the form of the Practical Legal Training
Course (PLTC). Through the PLTC, young
lawyers, fresh out of law school, learn
important practical lessons during their
articling period with seasoned lawyers.
The Society of Notaries Public has
recently approved a major revision to
the Notary Preparatory Course. The
emphasis in this revision will be on
program delivery, by bringing students
and successful practitioners together in
classroom and in practice environments
for more concentrated periods of time.
Mentoring will be a key element of the
new course. It will match practising
Notaries with Notary students so that the
students can learn the lessons that only
years of experience can teach.
The new course will expand the
mentor/student experience from its current
two weeks to as much as eight weeks.
Included will be a combination of inclass tutorials and one-on-one time spent
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
performing tasks with a Notary in practice.
In this way, Notary students will have much
greater exposure to the practical knowledge
that experienced Notaries can provide.
So, to anyone considering
a career as a Notary
Public, bring us your
book smarts and we’ll
add to your street smarts
by providing you with
a new and improved
education program.
like the Law Society’s PLTC, its success
will depend on the willingness of seasoned
Notaries to volunteer to share the wealth of
their knowledge with Notary students.
So, to anyone considering a career
as a Notary Public, bring us your book
smarts and we’ll add to your street smarts
by providing you with a new and improved
education program.
To my fellow Notaries, I thank all
who have given your time and expertise to
our students in the past. I’ll be knocking
on your door again, for more of the same
. . . and inviting other Notaries to give
something back. I encourage you to step
forward when asked. ▲
As well, Notary students will be
required to conduct mock interviews, do
role plays, and take on team and research
assignments as part of their preparatory
course, further equipping them to
effectively assess client needs.
Marny Morin was commissioned in
1989 and has practised in Richmond
and Vancouver. Marny is partnered with
Joan Letendre in her Kerrisdale practice
and assists the Secretary/Executive
Director at The Society as Staff Notary.
My task over the next year is to
develop this new preparatory course. Just
Voice: 604 263-9317
mmorin@notaries.bc.ca
The Scrivener
15
Business to Business
Rent This Space
Call: 604 985-9250 Fax: 604 985-0900
scrivener@notaries.bc.ca
Summer 2005 Deadline: May 15
16
The Scrivener
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
�
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Phil Saunders
Royal Roads’ Learning Models
Have Positive Global Impact
R
oyal Roads University
was established in 1995
as a public institution that would
reach out to the global community.
The challenge of educating thousands
of people on a campus equipped to handle
only a few hundred resulted in an online
learning environment. The Royal Roads
online learning platform is accessible
from anywhere on the planet. The
accompanying blended-learning model has
developed into a world-class innovation in
education that poses a great opportunity
for countries with emerging economies and
democracies.
For President and Vice Chancellor
Richard Skinner, RRU’s international
mandate is about the quality of education,
social responsibility, and the importance
of playing a role in nurturing British
Columbia’s and Canada’s opportunities in
the global marketplace. “We are providing
our learners a better quality of education
through opportunities to actually
experience international environments.”
As Dean of Business in the late ‘90s,
Dr. Eric West directed business programs
across Asia on behalf of Royal Roads
University. Today, more than 950 people
have earned Royal Roads degrees and
diplomas in China, 195 in Bangladesh,
186 in Taiwan, and 11 in Malaysia. A
newly launched MBA program in Iran
is completing its second residency and is
getting ready to launch a second cohort
in partnership with Sharif University of
Technology in Tehran.
West says, “Our best advertisers are our
graduates—over a thousand highly placed
business leaders promoting the benefits of
our learning model around the Pacific Rim.”
RRU’s new Dean of Business
Niraj Bhargava has been energized by
the opportunities presented by RRU’s
international MBA programs. “More than
half of our MBA learners are outside of
Canada,” he says.
Dean Niraj Bhargava (left) and Eric West (right) meeting RRU
representatives in China
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
The recent visit of a delegation from
Uganda to launch a new partnership with
the University of Makerere in Kampala
inspired a group of 26 Human Security
and Peacebuilding students to hold a final
residency in the war-torn East African
nation this spring. The class hopes to
contribute to building peace in a region
that has suffered more than two decades
of conflict and brutal violence. A newly
signed ceasefire agreement in the north has
presented a historic opportunity for some
real-world experience.
Royal Roads will continue to provide
its global partners with a leading-edge
learning environment to fill the gap that
many emerging economies are facing
and help make the university’s learning
platform even better. ▲
Phil Saunders is Communications
Officer for Royal Roads University,
Victoria, BC.
Voice: 250 391-2526
www.royalroads.ca
A team of MBA learners in Iran, where RRU began offering a program
this year in partnership with the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran
The Scrivener
17
�
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Josje Andmore
School Supports Student Success
I
f you think you can do a
thing or think you can’t do
a thing, you’re right.
Henry Ford
It may be an instructor cliché, but
in my mind’s eye, to this day, I can see
Diana Glover in my Legal Office Assistant
program. She sat in the back left corner of
my classroom, observing the class quietly
through lively eyes.
The most valuable part of the
experience, I suspect, was the chance for
Diana to develop confidence in her own
abilities and to make that great leap from
the world of the classroom and computer
lab to the constantly changing demands of
the workplace.
Diana was a good student; she arrived
prepped and she asked concrete, relevant
questions. Like many students, she was
trying to make the career shift from the
retail sector into the legal support field.
Like many students, she managed parttime work while attending our full-time
program. I know there were times she was
bone-tired. She was also persistent and gave
the best effort she could every day.
From a college instructor, these are
words of high—if understated—praise.
I was proud of Diana during the program,
proud because as I increased the level
of independence and problem-solving
required to succeed, Diana increased her
commitment and her abilities to meet
those gradually more difficult challenges.
In the latter part of the program, she
had the opportunity to spend a couple of
weeks working as a receptionist in a local
law firm. I remember she did very well
there and that the feedback from both
Diana and the employer was positive.
18
I ran into Diana around town and
learned she was really interested in real
estate and conveyancing as an area of
specialization, but she believed she was
really “too junior” in experience for the
positions she was seeing in the newspapers.
As it happened, within a few days I
got a call from Laurie Salvador. Laurie and
her Notary firm were looking for a junior
conveyancer and were quite happy to
consider hiring a new grad they could train
on their systems and ways of managing
conveyance files.
In response to Laurie’s call, I took
my usual steps. First, I spoke with Laurie
and her assistant; we created an email
posting describing the firm’s needs. Next,
I emailed this posting to the whole group
of students who had just graduated. Some
were actively seeking work; some were
undertaking the responsibilities of that very
first new job in the field.
Josje Andmore (standing), Program Leader
of Legal Support Programs in the School of
Business, Camosun College, with Diana
Glover, Conveyancer at Salvador Davis & Co.,
Sidney, BC.
After the program ended, Diana was
tired; she chose to return to her retail position
and let the job search wait a while. A few
months later, I heard she was still interested
in a career in the legal field but just wasn’t
sure she had “what it takes” to succeed.
The Scrivener
I was moved to write a separate
email to Diana, letting her know that this
particular position was right up her alley
and that this employer did not expect
her to already “know it all.” In fact, the
firm was looking for someone they could
continue training. On the basis that I was
pretty sure this might just be “her job,” I
encouraged her to apply.
The rest is history. Diana was hired
as junior conveyancer at Salvador Davis
& Co. The Notary firm was happy with
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
From my point of view, a
great student worked hard
in a good program and
landed a position with a
terrific employer.
Diana’s basic training and was willing to
invest in further hands-on learning.
Diana seems to have come into her
own without feeling overwhelmed. I’ve
been to the firm a few times since Diana
was hired and it is clear that the staff
members get on well with each other and
with their clients. Their systems are highly
automated and there is a focus on the
clients that is welcoming.
From my point of view, a great student
worked hard in a good program and
landed a position with a terrific employer.
A couple of years later, Diana seems really
happy in her role as a conveyancer in a
busy, people-oriented neighbourhood
Notary firm.
The credit for the hard work Diana
has done to create her success is hers alone.
She had a commitment to move forward in
her life and the role of our program was to
support her.
Diana has achieved the goals she
set at the beginning of her Camosun
College Legal Office Assistant program. I
couldn’t be more honoured than to have
contributed to her early training and entry
into the field. ▲
Josje (pronounced Yasha) Andmore
is Program Leader of the Legal Office
Assistant program in the School of
Business at Camosun College in Victoria.
A legal secretary who “jumped the desk”
and became a lawyer, she now shares
both those perspectives with her students.
As an instructor in Camosun College’s
School of Business, Josje teaches law
and conflict resolution courses within
the Business Administration and Applied
Business Technology departments.
Camosun Career Course
Builds Skills and Confidence
Diana Glover
P
rior to enrolling at
Camosun College, my highest
level of education was Grade 12.
My previous business experience
focused on customer service, inventory
control, and day-to-day operational duties.
My office experience included filing,
typing, and reception duties for a local
communications company on a casual,
on-call basis.
After spending several years working
for a major retailer, I decided that line of
work wasn’t where I saw my career heading
and began thinking about my choices.
I had always been interested in law, but
the thought of spending several years in
university to become a lawyer was scary,
so I began looking at other jobs within
a law office. I decided that being a legal
secretary would give me an opportunity to
work with a variety of people in an office
environment and the chance to determine
whether I was interested in pursuing a
higher-level legal career.
Returning to school was a huge step
for me. I had been out in the work world
for nearly four years. Although I was
unsure about leaving my dependable job,
co-workers, friends, and regular customers,
I felt secure in the knowledge that when
I completed the course, I would have the
necessary skills and confidence to obtain a
career in the legal field.
Voice: 250 370-4179
andmorej@camosun.bc.ca
www.bus.camosun.bc.ca/abt
My first big hurdle was passing the
required typing test, which took a lot
of practice, practice, and more practice.
Once that was accomplished, I was on my
way to becoming a student. And because
homework was a must every night, to
ensure I didn’t fall behind, being a full-time
student meant putting my social life on
hold for the next 10 months.
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
The Scrivener
Camosun College has great
instructors who are really there for you
when you need them. When the entire
class had a hard time understanding a
specific concept, Josje Andmore, a law
instructor from another class, came to our
rescue before the exam.
One of the skills I acquired was
understanding the importance of
teamwork, while collaborating with and
helping others maximize their strengths.
Looking for a job in my new career
field did not come easily to me, however.
The thought of trying to sell myself was
very difficult. Again I am grateful to Josje
Andmore for her help. She sent me up-todate information regarding legal secretary
postings. When the Salvador Davis &
Co. job became available, Josje helped me
realize they were a company willing to train
a junior employee.
Currently I look forward to going
into work each day and being greeted
by my amazing co-workers. Working
within the community of Sidney, I have
found myself more outgoing and friendly
because it makes me feel more fulfilled.
I love our regular clients and the many
opportunities and challenges that present
themselves daily.
Working at Salvador Davis & Co.
has enabled me to understand what it
feels like to have an extended family.
Throughout the year, the staff gets
together to find ways to support the
community through various events.
Outside of work, I take pleasure in
spending time with family and friends,
camping, and going to hockey and baseball
games. I am also enjoying my new house
and all the responsibilities that come with it.
The course at Camosun College has
given me the skills and confidence I needed
to secure and maintain a great job! ▲
19
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Maureen Witney
What’s Traditional about Libraries?
W
hen you go back
to pursue further
education, what
should you expect?
With the proliferation of online
information, what has become of libraries?
isn’t the case, especially when we are doing
any kind of serious research.
The Library continues to be the
gateway to all formats of information far
beyond what is freely available on the
Internet. Let’s look at some of the realities
of information on the Internet.
The role of the library has not
changed; the way the library goes
about fulfilling that role has expanded
enormously. If anything, the increase in
available information makes libraries more
necessary because, in the information
traffic jam, libraries are the traffic directors.
1. Not all information is available on the
Internet. Though the Internet is vast,
it is far from complete. Traditional
sources that libraries house—books,
periodicals, videos, tapes, and CDs—
are for the most part not available on
the Internet. Admittedly, sometimes
they are but the choice is limited.
This is the information age and the
expectations of information seekers have
risen exponentially. Not only do we expect
more information, we expect to be able to
find exactly what we need immediately and
at no cost. But for many things, this just
Librarians are trained
to find those hidden
resources.
2. Not all information on the Internet is
available for free. Often, you diligently
and victoriously track down what
you need, only to find there is a cost
associated if you actually want to read
the article.
3. Not all information is easy to find on
the Internet. The information you
need may, indeed, be online but not in
a format indexed by the search engines
and therefore it is not readily available.
Librarians are trained to find those
hidden resources.
4. Publishers still need to make money if
they are going to continue to publish.
The majority of published material,
even if available online, must be paid
for, either by charging the user for
individual items or through a licensed
product.
Yes, the Internet does have its
limitations. So, step into the library, either
through the front doors or from your
computer. Libraries now purchase licensed
electronic products and offer many of their
traditional resources online. Traditionally,
libraries have paid for a print subscription,
then allowed anyone to read the magazine.
Now libraries subscribe to individual
online magazines or to databases that house
a multitude of subscriptions and, just as
before, anyone can read these magazines,
even from home.
As long as you are a member of the
library, you have access to an unprecedented
amount of published material—material
simply not available on the Internet.
As well, many libraries have purchased
electronic books (ebooks). You can access
Maureen Witney confers with Cap College student
20
The Scrivener
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
Editor’s
Thanks to Betty Honsinger, Manager
of the Victoria office of Dye & Durham
Inc., for writing the Manufactured
Home Registry Update in our Winter
2004 issue. Betty is also President of
the British Columbia Association of
Professional Registry Agents.
Next Issue
Summer 2005
Allied Professionals:
BC Lawyers
www.franceslitman.com
Ralston Alexander, QC
2005 President of the Law Society of BC
Our focus on Allied Professionals
continues, with articles on the
Business of Law, City Solicitors, and
more. Our Cover Story personality is
Ralston Alexander, QC—his career,
his goals, and his hobby! Of course,
columns on a variety of timely topics
are always part of our editorial mix.
Display Advertising Opportunity
Showcase your business
to the thousands of
Allied Professionals in BC who
read The Scrivener, quarterly.
Summer Advertising Deadline:
May 15
scrivener@notaries.bc.ca
www.notaries.bc.ca
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
these from your library’s catalogue, just as
you would a printed book, but once you
find the title, you can actually read the
book online.
Most public libraries in the Lower
Mainland provide access to both ebooks
and online periodicals and databases. You
can test-drive all these from home if you
have an active membership. Go to http://
www.bcpl.gov.bc.ca/VRD/libraries/ for a
list of British Columbia public libraries,
then link to your public library to see
what’s available to you online. These are
usually listed under “Electronic Resources”
or a similar title.
If you are taking a course somewhere,
find out what online resources are available
to you as a student at that institution. Even
if they are not required for your course, there
may be a wealth of online resources you can
use. Better yet, contact the library to ask
what is available that best suits your needs.
Through a special agreement among
public libraries, if you are a member of any
public library in the Lower Mainland, you
can become a member of any other public
library. As with any collection, the larger
the library, the more extensive the electronic
resources will be. You might consider
becoming a member of the Vancouver
Public Library because it offers an extensive
and varied array of subscriptions, databases,
and online resources.
Perhaps you would be interested in
the Globe and Mail back to 1844, Business
Week, the Economist, the New York Times,
or Maclean’s. There is also a wealth of
government information and statistics not
released freely on the Internet.
Traditions continue. As they have always
done, libraries provide access to an expansive
array of resources that borrowers would
not be able to afford individually. Some
resources are only available in the library,
but many you can access from your desktop.
Discover what your library has for you. ▲
Maureen Witney is Librarian and
Library Coordinator of Capilano College,
North Vancouver, BC.
Voice: 604 984-4944, #2141
mwitney@capcollege.bc.ca
www.capcollege.bc.ca
The Scrivener
21
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Akash Sablok
The Bluetooth Office
C
ontrary to popular
belief, getting Bluetooth
will not require a trip to
the dentist.
Bluetooth is a standard developed by
a group of electronics manufacturers that
allows any sort of electronic equipment—
from computers and cell phones to
keyboards and headphones—to make its
own connections, without wires, cables, or
any direct action from a user. Currently,
more than 1000 companies are utilizing
the Bluetooth technology.
First, a quick history lesson. Harald
Bluetooth was King of Denmark in the
late AD 900s. He managed to unite
Denmark and part of Norway into a single
kingdom, then introduced Christianity
into Denmark. He left a large monument,
the Jelling rune stone, in memory of his
parents. He was killed in AD 986 during a
battle with his son Svend Forkbeard.
Choosing this name for the standard
indicates how important that companies
from the Baltic region—nations including
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and
Finland—are to the communications
22
industry, even if it says little about the
way the technology works.
Bluetooth devices use 1 milliwatt
(most cell phones use 3 watts of power).
This limits the range of a Bluetooth device
to about 10 metres: 33 feet. Some newer
versions can go up to 100 metres: 330 feet.
Even with the Bluetooth technology’s low
power, the walls in your office won’t stop a
Bluetooth signal, thus making the standard
useful for controlling several devices in
different rooms.
Harald Bluetooth was
King of Denmark in the
late AD 900s.
sitting anywhere in my office, I can go to
Websites and check email on my Tungsten
T5. And I don’t have to pay for an
expensive Internet air time package for my
PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).
My printer is connected to my office
Bluetooth network through the powerful
Belkin Bluetooth Access Point with USB
Print Server. The Access Point allows
me to transfer data from a Bluetoothenabled computer or PDA—or computers
connected to the LAN via the Access
Point—and print to a USB printer. My
particular device has a 100-metre range, to
work in larger offices.
I have several devices that use
Bluetooth to “talk” to one another. My
Palm Tungsten T5, currently the best PDA
device on the market, can hotsync
with my desktop computer through a
Bluetooth connection—transfer data
back and forth—with no annoying
wires running around my desk.
I can also use the Bluetooth
connection to access my desktop’s Internet
connection on my Tungsten T5. While
The Scrivener
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
Connections to all Bluetooth wireless devices are secure
through 128-bit encryption and user authentication.
The Little Hand that
Could Webinar
And last, but not least, my cell phone is connected to my
Bluetooth network. The Motorola V710, available on the Telus
Mobility network, is the first Bluetooth wireless phone available
in Canada that operates on the Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA) technology.
The Motorola V710 can be used with a Bluetooth Motorola
headset—or any other brand—giving you wireless handsfree calling
or you can link the phone with your computer to synchronize
contact lists and calendars, check email, or send text messages.
Having my phone exchange its contact list with my desktop
saves my having to enter numbers to the phone or vice versa.
W
Akash Sablok
hen you are asked to attend a
seminar, your first thought is
where is it, when is it, and will it be
worthwhile to attend.
Bluetooth has made connecting wirelessly an easy task.
At least one part of every office can be made simpler and more
efficient with the use of Bluetooth.
For the “when” part, you are subject to the date and
time chosen by the presenter. And what you gain from the
seminar is really up to you.
For more information, visit www.bluetooth.com and
www.motorola.ca, www.belkin.com. ▲
Now, thanks to technology, the challenge of “where” is
eliminated.
Webinars are taking over classroom-based seminars.
As we get busier and busier in our lives, spending time
travelling to a university or college is becoming more
difficult. And with traffic the way it is, who wants to spend
all day commuting!
Recently I was one of the instructors in a Webinar:
the Land Title Office’s Electronic Filing System (EFS), The
Practical Course, presented by Dye & Durham. We covered
requirements for setting up EFS for obtaining and using a
digital signature, for opening and managing the Property
Transfer Tax bank accounts, and for using Adobe Acrobat.
And we did it all from the comfort of the conference room
at their Downtown Vancouver office.
The true beauty of this process is that Webinar
attendees did not have to leave their office or home. Who
knows? Some might have been in their pyjamas. No matter.
You can attend the entire seminar online, sitting at your
computer. The only technical requirements are that you
have a fast Internet connection, a relatively fast computer,
and speakers.
Akash Sablok practises as a Notary Public with his father
at Sablok & Sablok, Notaries Public. Akash also writes a
technology and automotive column for several publications in
Canada.
Voice: 604 325-9200
asablok@notaries.bc.ca
www.sablok.com
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
We were able to speak to the participants, but we could
not hear them. In a regular seminar setting, participants
can raise their hand with a question. Technology has taken
care of this aspect, as well. Participants could click on a
button on their screen and a little hand would pop up on
our screen, indicating a question. They could also type a
question and send it in as an instant message.
The technology is improving on a daily basis and with
our schedules becoming more hectic, Webinars will grow
more popular.
The Scrivener
23
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Ann Coombs
The Classroom
Outside Four Walls
He would envision odd hypothetical
situations, then try to imagine their
possible outcomes.
For example, he wondered what would
happen to a pair of identical twins if one
left Earth to travel through space at the
speed of light, while the other stayed home.
Would one twin age faster than the other?
Raising challenging “what if ”
questions is a valuable tool in the
advancement of modern science. As a
social forecaster, I make good use of
thought experiments to comprehend the
future. What better place for some of those
discoveries than outside the classroom?
24
In my work, I have conducted
experiential learning sessions in Alcatraz,
USA; Grenada, Spain; and most recently
in Yellowknife—a breathtaking classroom.
The Northern Lights are best seen in
Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest
Territories. They seem like the handprint
of The Divine; their spectacular moving
displays run the colour spectrum from
green, yellow, and mauve, to red.
The Lights used to be seen over Japan,
but no longer, thus many residents travel
to witness the good luck of the Aurora
Borealis. The lowest fringes of the Northern
Lights are guessed to be 60 kilometres above
the Earth, with the top of these undulating
beauties extending to 900 kilometres.
The Northern Lights are
best seen in Yellowknife,
capital of the Northwest
Territories.
The Scrivener
The Northern culture has endless
gifts; the now highly valued works include
moose tufting, beadwork, and treasured
quillwork from porcupines. Today’s
artisans are using the more readily available
glass beads. A trip to the Gallery of the
Midnight Sun (www.gallerymidnightsun.
com) to meet with owner Lisa Seagrave is
an education that will leave you wanting
for more history, insights, and technical
appreciation of those works of art.
A trip into the Prince of Wales
Northern Heritage Centre is a walk through
100,000 items relating to the heritage and
history of the Northwest Territories. In
the feature Gallery is a large boat made of
moose skins, built by Shuhtaot’ine Dene
elders and youth. (www.pwnhc.ca)
The Legislative Assembly of the
Northwest Territories is now in its first
permanent home since the late 1880s,
when the Council sat in Regina. With its
dome-covered, circular shape, this building
is symbolic of the non-partisan consensus
system of government and cultural
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
Photo Credit: Tania Specer/GNWT
A
lbert Einstein, in his
never-ending attempts
to discover the mysteries
of the physical universe, would
perform “thought experiments.”
traditions of the northern people. It is full
of amazing art, including Inuit sculptures
and paintings by A. Y. Jackson of the
Group of Seven. (www.assembly.gov.nt.ca)
opportunities that surround us for learning
and continue to experience the cultures
and customs of others that can bring us
new perspectives.
Eating can be an education, too.
Musk ox and caribou, pickerel and arctic
char were on the menu at L’Heritage
—considered one of Canada’s finest
restaurants—and the Oldtown Landing,
both in Yellowknife.
Inside or outside the classroom? You
decide! ▲
We all need to keep aware of the
THE
Learning
Age
Thought Leader Ann Coombs conducts
experiential idea labs worldwide. She is
Chair of the International World Futurist
Conference in Toronto in 2006.
We are experiencing a
knowledge revolution,
www.thelivingworkplace.com
a shift from the Information Age to
the Learning Age that will bring its
own challenges to the traditional
classroom with the ever-growing
commercialization of the education
industry.
The key trend will be lifelong
learning. The future of education
will include direct education, home
schooling, and experiential schools
where the corporate/non-profit sectors
can come together and contribute.
Electronic textbooks will bring
about worldwide learning, given the
convergence of content that includes
video, sound, film, graphics, and
print along with the delivery media
including cell phones, digital radio, TV,
and the Internet. With the proposed
ELTIS (Electronic Learning Tutorial
Instrument System), students will have
personal avatars to obtain knowledge
from the “Cosmodpedia” of the evolving
worldwide information resources.
Photo Credit: T. Macintosh/NWTT
And the possibility of enhancing
a person’s intelligence artificially
through a “smart pill” raises interesting
ethical implications.
The Classroom in the Sky
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
The Scrivener
In this decade, there will be
radical shifts in the meaning of
“retirement.” As the demand for
knowledge and wisdom grows.
“Ageing to sageing” will become an
irreplaceable resource for educating
our young people. ▲
Source: Ann Coombs,
Futurist/Thought Leader
ann@thelivingworkplace.com
25
�
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Erik Snucins
MIT: Innovative
Educational Program
O
n February 15,
McElhanney Geomatics,
Professional Land
Surveyors in Fort St. John,
launched a progressive in-house
training program.
It is designed to address recruitment
challenges facing the oil patch by
advancing existing talent within the
company. The concept of a formal school
was initiated to meet the needs of an
industry in a labour-starved market. At
present, the number of graduates from
traditional universities and colleges does
not meet the demands of a booming
surveying sector.
Branch manager Walter Johnson
says, “We’re calling this school, partly
tongue in cheek, the McElhanney Institute
of Technology—MIT—because it will
adhere to the standards and requirements
of a formal educational institution but is
delivered locally, allowing our employees to
access education with minimal disruption.
Our people already possess valuable
skills. This program complements their
existing practical experience with formal
technical training and offers them more
opportunities for career advancement.”
Grant McBurney, retired professional
instructor from the College of Geographic
Sciences in Nova Scotia, has been hired
to develop and deliver the specialized
curriculum. McBurney is a Land Surveyor
and past-president of the Nova Scotia Land
26
Surveyors Association. An experienced
educator of more than 20 years, he is
described by former student and graduate
Daniel Dowe as “the best teacher I ever had.”
McBurney calls
the small class size
“a teacher’s dream.”
For two months McBurney will deliver
class and field instruction, with support
from McElhanney’s local project supervisors
in an on-site classroom. A benefit of this
arrangement is that students do not have
to relocate for a year or two to attend a
conventional surveying program elsewhere.
Says McBurney, “In these days
when traditional approaches to
education are being questioned, I think
it is commendable that the company is
implementing this novel approach to
upgrading their employees’ education and
doing so in a very short time frame.”
The first intake consists of five
students who underwent a formal
application process, which included a cover
letter, résumé and interview. McBurney
calls the small class size “a teacher’s dream.”
McElhanney is proud to be funding
this project independent of government
assistance and will continue to pay its
employees regular wages while they attend
class. According to Johnson, “it is important
that we appreciate the talents of the staff we
have. This school is one way to recognize
and encourage their potential.” ▲
Erik Snucins, BCLS, OLS, OLIP, is
Project Supervisor, McElhanney
Geomatics, Fort St. John, BC.
Voice: 250 787-0356
esnucins@mcelhanney.net
From left: Instructor Grant McBurney and students Andrew Munzel, Mike Doherty,
Zach Dowd, Garret Golhof, and Tim Mahood
The Scrivener
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
��
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Rita Scott
�������
Education
in the Legal Profession
E
ducation is quite a
hot topic in the Legal
Profession in 2005. Just as
we master a new process, more
changes come along. As legal
professionals, keeping up-tospeed on the latest practice and
procedures is a key priority to
running our business effectively.
The demand for learning is high. Never
have legal professionals and their staff had to
be so on-task as over the past year.
Let’s start with Land Title filings going
online. Although it is not mandatory to file
online, it is a now reality. Since April 1, 2004,
many Transfers, Mortgages, Discharges, and
Claims of Builder’s Liens are being filed via
the Electronic Filing System (EFS).
FAQs
How can I still use my Registry Agent? What is
Adobe Acrobat 6? Where do I get it? How does
it work? Where can I get a course on it? What
is a digital signature? How does it work?
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
Manufactured Home Registry
filings went online at the end of 2003.
The new forms introduced with the new
Manufactured Home Act, namely the Notice
to Transfer or Change Ownership, the Bill
of Sale, and the Application for Residential
Exemption forms, must all be filed online.
A person must be “qualified,“ however,
before affecting such filing.
The importance of
expert-led training cannot
be denied.
What is a Qualified Supplier and why do
they exist? Who is a Qualified Supplier? Can
I use them for my filing needs? What is the
difference between a Qualified Supplier and
a Qualified Service Provider?
There’s even an online registry for
your Wills, Powers of Attorney, and
Representation Agreements: Nidus
e-Registry.
In addition to that, you must keep
current on the updated versions of your
The Scrivener
Word Processing Package, your email, and
your Web browsers.
Over the last few years, it has become
increasingly evident that organizations
need to continually educate themselves to
keep up. Although traditional instructorled training appears to be the preferred
method of teaching, these changes have
forced organizations and the trainers
themselves to take a look at alternative
education methodologies.
Most training institutions offer the
written materials that accompany a certain
seminar. Some even offer video recordings
of a particular seminar. In addition, various
forms of self-paced learning such as CDROMs, e-learning, and online reference
materials have provided cost-effective
alternatives to the learning world.
The importance of expert-led training
cannot be denied. No matter what the
topic may be, there are times when people
simply need to “hear from the expert.”
Without a solid framework of principles
to guide the learning process, effective
knowledge transfer and retention cannot
27
take place. Training that does not produce
knowledge translates into wasted dollars,
time, and resources.
This has introduced the e-learning
vehicle, also referred to as Webinars—
virtual learning or the virtual classroom.
What is e-learning, really?
Simply put, e-learning is online
training delivered in real time: instructorled or in a self-paced format. While
e-learning’s roots are based in traditional
instructor-led training and computer-based
training, the eye of e-learning is on the
future, evolving to create training options
that didn’t even exist a few years ago.
Effective e-learning combines the
proven training methods of traditional
instructor-led training with the rich
resources of computer-based training to
create an engaging, online experience.
With the online flexibility, you can train
and retain the mission-critical information
needed whenever and wherever, without
ever having to leave the office or the people
who need you.
Engaging hands-on-lab simulations
allowed students to test their skills in
a perfectly simulated environment,
increasing the likelihood they’ll remember
what they’ve learned and be able to apply
it later on the job. Organizations are
beginning to realize the benefits, including
increased productivity, decreased help-desk
costs, improved business transformation,
and employee retention.
While the basics of e-learning are
simple, the differences among providers
are vast. Before choosing your e-learning
vendor, ensure there is the right blend of
expert-led content, proven technology,
and flexible service and support options.
E-learning can be a winning and effective
education solution! ▲
Rita Scott, Manager of Education
for Dye & Durham, is responsible
for the training programs in their BC
Operations. She is also a member of
the Canadian Society for Training and
Development.
rscott@dyedurhambc.com
http:\\www.dyedurhambc.com
28
The Scrivener
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
�
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Bailey Jung
Understanding the Education Credentials of a
Financial Advisor
P
eople are often surprised
to learn that the
educational requirements
to become a Financial Advisor
vary considerably.
Not so. Credentials, educational
training, and designations vary
considerably. For example, to obtain the
licence required to sell mutual funds, an
individual must complete only one of the
following courses:
Unlike a BC Notary, where uniform
educational standards exist, the financial
services industry is fragmented. It consists
of a number of associations, organizations,
self-regulating bodies, and educational
providers.
Unlike a BC Notary, where
uniform educational
standards exist, the
financial services industry
is fragmented.
The result is that Financial Advisor is a
loosely used term that can describe:
• the person who sold you a mutual
fund at your local bank;
• the insurance agent who sold you a
life insurance policy or investment
product through an insurance
company;
• the Investment Advisor who sold you
some stocks; or
• the Investment counsel who is
managing your portfolio.
Given the enormous responsibility
with which Financial Advisors are faced,
one would assume the level of formal
training is pretty consistent from one
advisor to the next.
30
1. the Canadian Investment Funds
Course, through the Investment Funds
Institute of Canada;
2. the Investment Funds in Canada
Course, through the Institute of
Canadian Bankers; or
3. the Canadian Securities Course,
through the Canadian Securities
Institute.
The level of difficulty of each of the
above courses is comparable to a firstyear university course; a course can be
completed in a few weeks.
On the other end of the spectrum
are advanced designations such as the
CFP (Certified Financial Planner), CLU
The Scrivener
(Chartered Life Underwriter), FMA
(Financial Management Advisor), and the
CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst).
Each of those designations focuses
on a particular area. The FMA and CFP
Advisor focuses on financial planning,
the CLU concentrates on life and health
insurance, and the CFA emphasizes stock
analysis and portfolio management.
Completion of the curriculum leading
to any one of these designations can take
anywhere from one to four years. The
CFP, for example, requires completion
of a comprehensive educational program
accredited by the Financial Planners
Standards Council. Completion of the
program is followed by a vigorous six-hour
CFP national examination. On average,
the pass rate for the nationwide exam is 55
percent.
Of the estimated 100,000 individuals
licensed to sell financial products in
Canada, only a small proportion have so
far completed the educational requirements
to hold the professional CFP or CLU
designation.
Investors need to understand there is
a big difference between someone who is
licensed to sell investment products and
someone who is licensed and qualified to
provide investment and financial advice.
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
While professional designations are
important, demonstrate a measure of
competence, and signify the professional
commitment that the advisor has made to
both himself and his clients, it is only one
of many important factors that need to
be considered when choosing a Financial
Advisor.
Here are other important factors you
may want to consider.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Is the Advisor committed to ongoing
professional development and
knowledge?
Does he or she adhere to a Code of
Professional Conduct?
Is he or she a member of a professional
association?
How much experience does he or she
have?
Has the Advisor ever been disciplined
or reprimanded for professional
misconduct?
Does he or she maintain appropriate
levels of liability insurance?
Does the Advisor disclose his or her
method of compensation and any
potential conflicts of interest?
Is the Advisor open and honest in his
or her communication?
At the end of the day, it’s all about
trust and feeling comfortable with the
person who is managing your financial
affairs. ▲
RBC Dominion Securities Inc. is a member
company under RBC Investments. RBC Dominion
Securities Inc.* and Royal Bank of Canada are
separate corporate entities, which are affiliated.
*Member of CIFP
The views and opinions of this article are those
of the author and not necessarily those of RBC
Dominion Securities Inc. Any opinion or advice
contained in this article should not be construed as
offering professional advice. Readers are advised to
consult their own professional advisors regarding
their own situation.
Bailey Jung, CFP, FMA, is an Investment
Advisor with RBC Dominion Securities
Inc. He provides wealth management
solutions and financial planning services
to his clients.
Voice: 604 665-0673
bailey.jung@rbc.com
www.rbcinvestments.com/bailey.jung
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
The Scrivener
31
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Marvin Lamoureux
To Vietnam’s Children—with Love
A
t the outset, I must tell
you that my present
life seems a bit unreal—
maybe surreal.
When I left the comfortable confines
of Vancouver Community College in
1991 and began my own education
and training consulting firm, it seemed
unalterably clear that with an MBA in
Urban Land Economics, a doctorate in
Adult Education, and over 20 years either
teaching business administration subjects
or as a campus Dean of Instruction, I was
destined to continue on this path.
I was tasked to lead a team to review and
restructure The Society’s traditional entrylevel education program, jointly offered
through the Open Learning Agency
and the UBC Commerce and Business
Administration Faculty.
who have little if any supplies. In this, I am
reviewing the initial or, as we call it, the
“baseline” of a primary education program
designed to deliver universal primary
education to very poor and disadvantaged
ethnic minority children.
Once that was accomplished, I then
moved on to numerous Canadian and
international assignments. To date, I have
had assignments in 26 countries in Asia,
Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean,
and central/eastern Europe. They have, as
I predicted, centred on topics that
concerned adult education and training.
I believe that Peter Drucker, one of
the world’s foremost organization and
management decision-making gurus, may
have described it best when he was asked
the following question by a reporter a few
years back. I paraphrase: Now that you
are in your early 70s, what type of decisionmaking process did you use to determine
which paths to take to get you to this point in
your life?
That is, in some manner or form,
I would continue participating in planning,
implementing, and evaluating programs
and projects that would be employmentrelated and adult-oriented.
So why, at the age of 65 and with all
this specialized background, am I in this
very remote northeast corner of Vietnam—
near the Laos border? I usually work in
urban centres, stay at nice hotels, and my
local counterparts are ministry officials.
True to form, one of the very first and
one of my most interesting adult education
program planning challenges was assigned
to me by The Society. In the early 1990s,
As I write this piece for The Society,
however, my present mission is to inspect
dilapidated schools that house impoverished
children being taught by dedicated teachers
Apparently, Drucker responded
immediately (using the same analogy of
the “path”) by saying the decision-making
process was very easy. A specific life path
that he was on normally took him in a
direction that led to a crossroads. From
that point he had many choices, all of
which looked interesting and sometimes
rather tantalizing.
How did he choose? He simply chose
one and considered this new path an
opportunity to explore. In other words,
don’t necessarily look too deeply or
review the decision as only a cost-benefit
calculation.
Maybe if I were younger I would
have been somewhat hesitant about this
philosophy of life, but in my early 60s—
heck, if it worked for Peter, it may just as
well work for Marvin!
Marvin with the children, their parents, and Vietnamese project team members in front of a
primary school classroom in the Mai Son District (Son La Province), a remote Lao-speaking village
32
The Scrivener
Thus, this personal (or career, if you
wish) decision-making process made rather
a lot of sense to me, especially in December
2001, when I received a call from a
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
to 1997, I had been given an opportunity
to work with the Asian Development Bank
on some (non-primary) education projects
in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
One of the young, mostly female primary
school teachers, in late November, in a very
cold shack-like classroom made of bamboo
Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA) Program Development
Officer, asking if I knew anything about
“Basic Education,” “Universal Primary
Education,” or “Education-For-All.” My
answer was quick:
• “a bit, if basic education only involved
upper secondary with a vocational
orientation, and
• nothing about the next two.”
He then said my response probably
ruled me out about having any in-depth
knowledge concerning primary education
or, in this instance, grades 1 to 5.
“Yup!” I said. I have found it is always
best to keep the answers short with these
individuals as they are always in a hurry
with telephone interviews—and it doesn’t
make any difference which international
agency they represent, e.g., the Asian
Development Bank, World Bank, or the
Caribbean Development Bank.
Wouldn’t you know it—there was
an apparent impasse. But the Drucker
philosophy, or “developmental life
expanding hypothesis” as I would like to
call it, had kicked in—a path had been
previously created. In the period from 1994
Pre-school and primary school children in
front of their village classroom in Moung La
District (Son La Province)
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
At that time, the region (the old
French Indo-China or Indochine) was not
considered really safe, but the path was
there. Who could not be tempted? That
experience—not only in the region but
with the various ministries of education,
especially the Vietnam Ministry of Education
and Training (MoET), along with an
introduction to the Vietnamese culture
and “ways of doing business” and working
with the MoET—tipped the balance in my
favour. Actually, CIDA probably couldn’t
find anyone else on such short notice.
Canada is in the thick of it,
but not working alone.
In any event, I am, after almost three
and a bit years (December 2001 to now),
considered somewhat of an expert in five
fields I knew little or nothing about—and
therefore five new paths have opened for
me . . . maybe until I am 75 years old, as
there is no mandatory retirement in this
business—but you have to like to travel on
relatively short notice and be prepared for
interesting times.
The new paths are: universal primary
education, basic education, education for
all, SWAps or sector-wide approaches to
funding education projects, and TBS or
targeted budget support program funding
mechanisms. Wow, has this been a midcourse change or what! My experience had
been higher education, national labour
force studies, technical education, and
vocational training occupational standards
and curriculum development.
What has it been all about and who
are my clientele? The pictures speak for
themselves. They are the children (and
their families) of Vietnam’s very poor. They
are the ethnic minorities (about 45 have
been identified) who are fundamentally
disadvantaged and who live in remote areas.
Over 40 percent of children are
considered “at-risk” because they do
The Scrivener
One of many bamboo suspension (and
swinging) bridges the project team had to
cross to visit remote village primary-school
classrooms that will be rehabilitated by a
project involving the Canadian International
Development Agency, United Kingdom,
Norway, Australia, and the World Bank.
not attend school at all or they receive
low-quality education. Those “at-risk”
include girl children, the very poor, ethnic
minorities, recent migrants, street children,
and the physically and intellectually
disabled.
I am proud that Canada, through
CIDA, has teamed-up with a number of
other countries and the World Bank to
become actively involved in four projects
that aim at poverty alleviation through the
primary education system. Canada is in the
thick of it, but not working alone.
Where to next? Western China for
three weeks in March to review another
CIDA-funded program to train primary
school teachers in student-centred
instructional techniques.
And then, I am going to Italy with
my wife Irma. She is giving me a new path
for my 65th birthday present in May—we
will be students (adult learners) at an
Italian gourmet cooking school. Look out,
Umberto! ▲
Marvin Lamoureux is an international
education and training consultant living
in West Vancouver, BC.
marvinlamoureux@yahoo.com
Marvin Lamoureux was one of three
educators featured in the Cover Story of
Vol. 8, No. 4 of The Scrivener in December
1999. www.notaries.bc.ca/scrivener.
Click on archives.
33
�
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Rosario Kuhrt
My Lifetime
Education Experience
in East Africa
I
wish to thank, from the
bottom of my heart and
on behalf of my group, all
the people who willingly gave
monetary donations to this
mission, especially my BC Notary
colleagues George Tanco, Cathy
Yong, Stella Davis, Devika and
Sanjay Mehta, and Esther Chiu,
and some of my clients. The
priests will use the donations for
their work in Igadene, Kionyo,
Meru, and Ussongo.
It is 9 hours to Amsterdam and
another 9 to Nairobi. There, we stayed
overnight at the Methodist Guest House
and although we arrived late at night, the
staff was helpful and courteous. At 7:30,
we were up for breakfast, Western style,
with lots of tropical fruit, then enjoyed a
quick tour of Nairobi.
At 7:30, we were up for
breakfast, Western style…
Then our two vehicles, loaded with
people, luggage, and lots of bottled water,
laboured along the narrow, bumpy, winding
roads and hills to Igadene, the parish of
Frère Ken, head of missionaries in Kenya.
Frère Ken shared his home and
prepared breakfast for us: fresh fruit—
including pineapples, bananas, papayas;
boiled or scrambled eggs; toast; coffee; and
hot milk. For dinner, the cooks—local
ladies and very beautiful—prepared ugale
The Adventure
From September 15, 2004, to October 9,
2004, the Pastor of St. Augustine’s Parish,
Vancouver, BC, and 10 parishioners spent
time in East Africa on a mission, organized
by Neysa Finnie, our leader in this adventure.
Neysa had previously been in Ussongo,
Tanzania, with Habitat Canada and had
helped build houses in a village in Ussongo.
Before we left, we had vaccinations,
bought medications to help keep us healthy
during our trip, and collected school,
medical, and religious supplies and toys.
34
Students in Meru, Kenya
The Scrivener
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
(mashed potatoes and corn) and marinated
beef and chicken.
We had our own comfortable beds
with blankets tucked tightly in. And we
had mosquito nets. Because their water is
scarce, we were told not to flush the toilet
unless it was essential. And hot water did
not come out of the taps very well so I
usually cold-showered. No complaints; this
was a mission.
The people are gorgeous,
courteous, and generous
and their generosity is
genuine.
The first time I saw the locals, I felt
safe and comfortable. The people are
gorgeous, courteous, and generous and
their generosity is genuine. They were eager
to shake hands and give us hugs.
Working from the Igadene and
Kionyo parishes, we visited people in
Catholic churches in various villages. In
two primary schools and a secondary
school, we learned about the Water
Shed Project that Frère Ken is working
on with CIDA [Canadian International
Development Agency] to bring water to
the area. Teachers and students walk to
school, some for an hour each way. The
students are ambitious and smart. One
primary school is top-ranked in Africa in
terms of student success.
In Africa, women do the hard work,
like farming, fetching water—miles and
miles away from their homes—and woodpicking for their huts and cooking. Men do
the sewing and build the huts. We saw men
gathered around smoking, while women in
the fields picked tea leaves for processing.
On our way to the tea factory, we
stopped where women were harvesting
tea; some had babies on their backs. The
work is labour-intensive. They pick a few
branches from each plant, then move to
the next plant, to the next row, up or down
the mountainside.
Later, we visited the women at the
baking co-op. Although doing well, the
bakery cannot go to full production because
they have no vehicle to transport their goods.
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
Students in Meru, Kenya
In a village in Kenya
Students from St. Thomas Aquinas secondary school in Ussongo, in front of a typical clay-brick
house with grass roof
The Scrivener
35
Delivery is made by a bicycle loaded with
crates of bread. All members of the co-op’s
Board of Directors are women. The general
manager is a man, but he must report to
two Board members for decision-making.
The Carnivore restaurant—a busy place
with both African and white patrons—
served us crocodile, gazelle, ostrich, chicken,
goat, beef, pork, and fish and vegetables.
1234
Two Cessnas from Missionary
Fellowship Airlines flew us to Tanzania. At
Ussongo, students from a boarding school
welcomed us and sang and danced. We
gave school supplies to the 600 students,
who practised their English through
question and answer sessions with us.
Because the doctor’s visits are very limited,
the nearby health centre is staffed by an
order of nuns and local women. As Sister
Mary thanked us for the medical supplies
and donations, she was close to tears.
At our final destination, a Serengeti
safari, our pilot buzzed the strip to get the
animals off the field. We stayed in Maasai
housing at E Unoto—round huts, but
quite luxurious inside. The main method of
survival for the Maasai people comes from
their cows, goats, and chickens. Maasai are
not allowed to plant anything because they
live in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
They get their water from the rain. Both
Kenya and Tanzania have three months of
rain from mid-October to December.
From our hot-air balloon and driving
through Serengeti National Park and the
Ngorongoro Crater, we saw large herds
of zebras and wildebeests numbering
thousands; elephants; gazelles—Thompson
and Grant; giraffes; hippos; water buffalos;
rhinos; storks; warrior eagles; cheetahs;
a leopard; vultures; hyenas; and many
varieties of birds, trees, and plant life.
On our way to the Arusha airport, we
saw Mount Kilimanjaro.
It was a very hectic and tiring trip, but
an excellent life experience! ▲
Maasai village family
Rosario in her tent on Safari in Serengeti, Tanzania
Many thanks to my roommate Geri Fujisawa
for helping me with this article.
Rosario Kuhrt is a Notary Public on
West Broadway in Vancouver, BC.
Voice: 604 732-5808
36
The Safari group
The Scrivener
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
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The Splendid Lanterns of Taiwan
T
wo cultures have met again.
The Village of Cumberland
recently hosted the
Splendid Lanterns of Taiwan,
a fantastic exhibit provided by
the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural
Society. Formerly made with
rice paper, the lanterns are
now made of a special cloth
stretched over a frame. Each
can take a year to make.
The Society of Notaries Public and
BC Notaries Kate Greening, Margot
Rutherford, Joanne Johnson, and Bruce
Rutherford were financial supporters of the
lantern display. ▲
This was a unique educational
experience for the children from the
Comox Valley and Campbell River School
Districts. In the first two days, more than
2000 people were awed by the artistic
lanterns; a total of 12,092 interested
individuals visited the display during
its week-long run. That is impressive,
considering that the population of the
Village of Cumberland is 2700.
This beautiful peacock is valued at over
$50,000.
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
The Scrivener
37
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From left:, Dr. Liz Ashton, Josje Andmore, Leta Best, Susan Haddon, and Wayne Braid
Legal Education for Fun and Profit
This interview took place at a delightful luncheon hosted by
Camosun College, Victoria, BC. Here are the participants.
Representing Camosun College:
•
Dr. Liz Ashton, President, Camosun College
•
Susan Haddon, Executive Director Camosun College
Foundation; Director, College & Community Relations
•
Kari Frazer, Development Officer, Camosun College
Foundation
•
Josje (pronounced Yasha) Andmore, Program Leader of
Legal Support Programs in the School of Business
Representing the Notary Foundation of BC:
•
•
Leta Best, Chair of the Notary Foundation of BC and
Immediate Past President of The Society of Notaries
Public of BC
Wayne Braid, Executive Officer of the Notary
Foundation and Secretary/Executive Director of The
Society of Notaries Public of BC
With Val Wilson, Editor-in-Chief, The Scrivener magazine
Thanks to Dye & Durham for helping arrange for Lisa
Vaughan Godfrey to serve as Official Reporter in the Province
of British Columbia for this discussion.
38
The Scrivener
Susan: So, I’ll ask it. What does The Scrivener mean?
Leta: It comes from the old world “scribe.” Notaries started out as
scribers, scriveners, the person who writes. The Notary was like a
secretary for the king or some other important person. Anything
the Notary wrote down was considered the Notary’s bond. In
England some Notaries are still called scriveners.
Wayne: About 50 Scrivener Notaries have been appointed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury. Some documents in England—and
certainly throughout Europe—must be signed by a Scrivener Notary.
Josje: In our office, we have a copy of a huge document—a very
old apprenticeship agreement for a young man of 15 and his father
and a master down in Bristol. It’s clearly been scribed. That’s how I
teach about a contract made under Seal.
Leta: Does the document have indents?
Josje: Yes.
Leta: You’ve heard of an indentured servant? Two parts of the
contract would physically fit together. When the servant finished
his or her indentured time, he or she would get back both parts of
the contract.
Val: That’s interesting. I’ll bet not many people know the origin
of “indentured” in that application. We are excited to learn about
your Legal Office Assistant Program, Josje. How long is the LOA?
Josje: It’s 12 months, from beginning to end; we compress the
Summer term to create two mini half-terms, with a three-week
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
window at the end of June, so students
can go on practicum, their work experience
component. They’ll all go out at once in
those three weeks and return to Camosun to
spend another five or six weeks with us, to
finish their course work.
Last year, toward the end of the
program, we had trouble getting students
to attend the final LOA classes because
they were already out working. And the
law firms were saying “More, please.”
Leta: How many students are enrolled in
your class?
Josje: We have just expanded. Our demand
was exceeding our ability to provide seats,
so we built a new lab last summer and
expanded to 35 seats.
We’ve developed “Earn to Learn” or
“Learn to Earn.” Last year we scheduled
classes four days a week, leaving Fridays
free in the Spring term. About a third
of the students got part-time jobs in law
firms one day a week, because real estate
is so busy here in Victoria. At work, the
students were learning about the local
processes, such as particular in-house
accounting procedures and the software
used for conveyancing. In class, they were
learning more general theory and phases of
typical files. That approach turned out very
well and we’re trying to encourage it again
this year.
It was an amazing experience for our
students and some of the local law firms.
One of our hardest challenges is how to
bring a sense of reality to a classroom
situation. Getting my students to work
with legal professionals has been an
incredible benefit. When they return, their
questions are based in reality.
Liz: Josje, please tell us about the changes
we have made to our Legal Office Assistant
Program here at Camosun.
Josje: We made a decision four years ago
to overhaul our program, to make it more
challenging. It is now longer and a bit
harder; the prerequisites are a bit tougher
and we added a couple of new areas of
law. We are also finding that seats in our
courses are being filled on a part-time basis
by people who are working in the field. I’m
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
not sure what the magic is. I think people
still prefer to learn in a live classroom.
The first legal course in the new
program is a general overview I call
“Foundations of Law.” We don’t put
pressure on the students to produce
documents and they receive a sense of the
lay of the legal field and how many areas are
actually involved. We trot them through 12
or 13 chapters in 14 weeks, each one dealing
with a different area of law.
The first legal course
in the new program is a
general overview I call
“Foundations of Law.”
All property law is done in one week.
And we added a half-course dealing with
criminal law and procedure, which satisfies
the general curiosity of many of our
students while still teaching them that, in
real life, criminal practice is really different
from what they see on TV.
Val: What type of students do you want to
attract to the LOA course?
Josje: We want independent thinkers
who are resourceful, but who have the
initiative to check back with you whenever
something is going off the rails.
I teach a series of critical incidents—
judgment calls—depending on the legal
meaning of “judgment.”
Let’s say you are new to the staff of a
legal office. You’re alone; everyone’s gone
off to court or is dealing with clients. You
get a call from someone who wants to
take original documents out of your firm.
What’s your first instinct . . .
Kari Frazer
Kari: You were telling me, Josje, that you
have more ideas than you have time to
apply—about bridging the community
of students with the law profession and
Notaries.
Josje: That’s true. It’s actually a wonderful
circumstance to be in. My students keep
bringing me back ideas and talking about
what would have been even more useful
for them. Laurie Salvador has offered to
have the whole class go to her offices on a
Saturday to see the BC Notaries’ software
package. We teach conveyancing as a
manual kind of procedure, so no matter
where students land or what the word
processing and conveyancing packages are,
they’re able to adapt.
We do the same thing with
accounting. In a survey last year, we found
that 18 different accounting packages
are being used in the Greater Victoria
area. Most of them are based on Simply
Accounting, so that is what we teach.
Wayne: Some BC Notaries use an online,
Internet-based and custom-designed suite
of conveyancing software.
c: Gently but politely say you don’t
have the authority to release original
documents without permission from
someone more senior in the firm?
Leta: BC Notaries are way more advanced
than some of the other professions, with
respect to the delivery of our education
program over the Internet. With our
Internet-based software package for
conveyancing, we’re able to work at
any computer, as long as it has enough
memory. We can go to our private site,
download the software, and actually do
our conveyancing from any computer in
the world. I could be in Toronto and still
access and work on my files.
In our classes, we nudge our students
along until they start to develop those
kinds of distant-early-warning signals.
Wayne: Our conveyancing program would
be of interest to your students, Josje,
because a lot of our Notaries’ paralegals
a: Run and hide?
b: Ask someone who knows?
The Scrivener
39
work from home. I can set up a system that
will permit you and your students to use
our test server.
Josje: That’s great, thank you. BC OnLine
allows us to practise on their site. They said,
“You can be virtual classroom users with a
fund of virtual money. If you goof, you pay.”
The students are learning by doing.
Kari: What are you doing for Law Day this
year?
Josje: We’re hoping to get involved with
local folks who have run Law Day in
the past. We plan to take our students
through the courthouse and spend a fair
bit of time there; we might participate in a
primary-level mock trial. Earlier this year,
our students attended the Person’s Day
breakfast. The theme focused on a case in
1929, when Canadian women weren’t yet
legal “persons.”
Our students were at the table
together with UVic law students. People
who were trained to be their bosses were
sitting together with the folks who are
training to support them.
Wayne: Do you have cooperative programs
with UVic law school?
Josje: I have stars in my eyes about
developing that. They have a business
clinic. A couple of years ago, I chatted
with their Dean of Law, who was very
receptive to the idea that we would have
their students come down and meet with
members of the public and our students.
We have a mock office facility, with a
front reception area and work stations for
support staff and a file area.
One of our suggestions is to make the
facility available for non-profits, to help
them with fundraising campaigns. If that
goes well, I would invite the UVic students
down and see if we could do a joint
venture—with the supervisors/instructors
from both institutions working with
students to help them work with members
of the public.
Wayne: Your course and the way it’s set up
is good for us. Some people who qualify
for our program have never done any
conveyancing. They may already have a
professional designation such as CA or
40
CGA and want to add “Notary” to their
practice. The Notary Preparatory Course
has a module on conveyancing but if the
student wishes to enhance his or her skills,
we can recommend your program.
Josje: Absolutely. They’d end up with
the kind of broad overview and general
flowchart way of thinking that happens
within the legal field. For my money, I think
law is basically 50 percent communication
and 50 percent basic logic . . . who did what
to whom and then what happened?
In October 2005, the
Notary Foundation
of BC and the Law
Foundation of BC are
jointly hosting the
Canadian Foundations
here in Victoria.
Liz: How many members are there in The
Society of Notaries Public of BC?
Wayne: We have 323 Seals in the province.
Each community is assigned a number of
Seals. Currently we have openings in urban
centres such as Vancouver and Victoria
and some of the small communities across
the province, such as Kimberley, Kitimat,
Prince George, and Prince Rupert.
Other provinces have Notaries, but
BC and Quebec are the only provinces
that have the legal ability to practise in
certain non-contentious areas of law, for
example, property law, Wills and estates,
representation agreements, and arbitration/
mediation.
The job of the Education Coordinator
of The Society of Notaries of BC is to
take calls from our Hot Line—give
advice to Notaries. We’re a small enough
organization that we can do that.
Josje: Do BC Notaries do pro bono work?
Wayne: Yes. There isn’t a global program
for all Notaries to do that, but every Notary
does it. We cooperate with a lot of law firms
across British Columbia and across America.
We belong to an organization called IOLTA:
Interest Lawyers Trust Accounts; we’re the
The Scrivener
only Notary Foundation that attends. All
the other foundations from the States, are
non-profit, except for Quebec.
Traditionally all the funding our
Foundations provide goes to law schools,
legal research, legal education, and law
libraries, ultimately providing better service
and a better product for the consumer.
Very little funding goes into
community colleges and university colleges
like yours. It doesn’t make sense to me that
we’re not helping to train and support the
people that are going to work in our offices.
Josje: Ultimately we’re probably looking
at some kind of a law office management,
kind of pay-as-you-play, learn the bits that
you need as you move forward.
Liz: Like in-service?
Josje: I would think so. Almost in-service
training. There’s an association for the
managers of the mid- and large-size firms
that is always defined by Vancouver’s
standards. A mid-size firm is 20 or more
lawyers. You don’t see those in Victoria,
but you have the same needs. You need
someone who understands the dead files
and the bad debts and how you can collect
your own bad debts as well as work for the
good of others.
Wayne: In October 2005, the Notary
Foundation of BC and the Law
Foundation of BC are jointly hosting the
Canadian Foundations here in Victoria.
Perhaps we can get the other Foundations
to look at your program.
Josje: That would be marvellous. It gives us
another opportunity to build strong links
with prospective employers of our students
and with our larger community.
Leta: In your School of Business, are you
responsible for students who would be
taking their CGA?
Josje: We are. That’s in the Accounting
Department within the school.
Leta: My bookkeeper went to Camosun to
get her CGA. She said it was an excellent
course.
Josje: My understanding is that our new
applied degree—the Bachelor of Business
Administration with an Accounting
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
major—has just been launched. Now,
students can spend four years with us
and complete the courses required by the
professional accounting bodies: CA, CMA,
and CGA. Up until now, students took
their degree elsewhere and still needed to
take some courses with us at Camosun. It’s
incredibly exciting. The first intake is in
May 2005.
Susan: It didn’t make any sense before,
because a student would have to first earn a
four-year degree, then take up to two years
of accounting courses and finally get CGA
or CMA accreditation.
Val: What is your overview of the LOA
program, Liz, and how does it complement
the college in general?
Liz: The program is very well suited to the
applied focus of the college. One of our
specialities at the community college level
is practitioners’ programs. Directly after
completing the program, students will
“hit the road running.” We pride ourselves
in the fact that our graduates provide an
immediate benefit to their employers upon
entering the workforce.
Josje was saying that being a student out
in the field while still immersed in college
training is an added benefit. We encourage
students to do workplace training. We also
get a large number of older students who
are interested in re-entering the workforce
or retraining for new career paths.
The average age of new students is
just under 22. I would imagine the age is
probably higher for your program, Josje?
Josje: Yes. We have three identifiable
streams. A very small group, maybe 5
students out of 30, will come to us straight
from high school. Another mid-size group,
who are 20-somethings, have usually been
in retail or service or hospitality—but at
the lower end, without credentials.
Then at the top end of that 20something group are the Criminal Justice
students who get to the end of their
training and think, You know what? I need
some skills. I’m actually toying with the idea
of becoming a Notary, lawyer, or a paralegal;
I need to earn money while I study and
observe people employed in the field.
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005
Our students have included a woman
who was the executive director of a nonprofit society provincially for 17 years and
a lady who has helped with fundraising
for both the Victoria and Vancouver
symphonies.
Chicago and working for an international
software company.
No more than 10 percent of the
students in this class are straight out of
high school. Maybe as many as 60 percent
would be in that 20-to-35 age range. Then
there’s a superior group of people who
come in, making a mid-life change. They
have run businesses and decided that’s not
what they want anymore. Legal secretaries
who last worked 15 years ago, before
computers, want to update. It’s a joy to
have that mixture in the room.
Wayne: That’s interesting. About 56
percent of the membership of The Society
of Notaries is female.
The broad range of
experience, background,
and age of the students
adds such richness to the
learning process.
Susan: Yesterday, at a tea, I sat next to a
man who graduated from Camosun in ‘76
and who has recently returned to study at
the College. For him, one of the benefits
of training at Camosun is the diversity
of the classroom. He says,“The broad
range of experience, background, and age
of the students adds such richness to the
learning process.”
Josje: Most firms have a range of ages
in their working group. The ability to
get along and work as a team to strict
deadlines—under quite a bit of pressure—
and to figure out the group dynamics
is very much a part of the experience.
Interpersonal skills are part of our focus.
Leta: In my daughter’s case, by the time
she got to Camosun College, she had
graduated with a BA in Economics of
International and Foreign Finance from the
University of Western Ontario. She came
back to Victoria, took her CA, and ended
up at Camosun College to get her diploma
in computer science; she used the co-op
program here. The work experience led to
an incredible career for Liz. She’s living in
The Scrivener
Kari: What is the ratio of students in your
course, male to female?
Josje: It’s over 95 percent female.
Leta: In 1976, I was one of only 17
women Notaries in BC. Being a Notary is
a wonderful profession for women because
it is detailed and it’s non-adversarial. A lot
of women who go into litigious law don’t
enjoy it because women are not adversarial
by nature. They are more mediators.
Josje: And problem-solvers, I agree. Do
you train your own Notaries?
Wayne: Yes, through UBC, but we provide
the course instructors and the material. We
use the UBC facilities and they do some of
the marking, supervise the course material,
and provide accreditation. It is a universitylevel course. Then at the end of the course,
in a totally a separate activity from our
Notary Preparatory Course education
program, the Attorney General’s threeperson examination board oversees the six
statutory exams. Our candidates must pass
those examinations.
Josje: That is almost parallel to PLTC
[Professional Legal Training Course]
portions of our admission portion.
Kari: What’s the total length of the Notary
Preparatory Course?
Wayne: It’s two years, from the time the
student is accepted into the program to
being sworn in the courts. It is set up so
that students can keep working while they
study to become a Notary.
Liz: Would a second language be a real
advantage for someone wanting to become
a Notary?
Wayne: Huge advantage. On our Website,
under “Find a Notary,” one of the ways
you can search is by language. People may
be looking to translate a document or
looking to send a Power of Attorney back
home to deal with their property. Our
Website has thousands of hits a month by
location and by language.
41
Josje: I understand that articling will soon
be part of the Notary Preparatory Course.
How long will the articling period be?
Wayne: It will be about 15 weeks.
Josje: Do you train your Notarial students
on how to run the business of being a
Notary?
Wayne: Yes.
Josje: To my mind, one of the real deficits
of the law school experience was that until
PLTC, that wasn’t offered.
Wayne: That’s one of the things we have
just changed in our program. Not only do
they go through the module, they present us
with a business plan as part of their course.
The plan forms part of their marks and their
assignments. Students have to do a research
paper on their business plan, as well.
Josje: When I was in practice, depending
on the profit margin, if there was a personal
injury file worth more than half-a-million,
I could do some pro bono and a little bit of
Wills and estates, but if Wills and estates
are your bread and butter, you need to
understand how to run a volume business
that requires detail and that has liability, do
it effectively, and go through that volume
every 15th and 30th, over and over again.
Leta: I find that the lawyers, either those
in litigation or matrimonial law, like to
use a Notary to provide the service their
client requires to sell or refinance the
real property. Lawyers practising in those
areas of law may not have the practical
experience to do the conveyancing. The
Notary is a safe person because we’re not
into litigation, we’re not into matrimonial
law. It works very, very well.
Josje: So, they won’t find you on the other
side of another file.
Leta: No. We simply act for the property.
If you have two lawyers looking after the
marriage breakdown or divorce, we make
sure the person retaining the matrimonial
property and the lender get what they
bargained for.
Josje: That’s a great combination. In a
mid-size company, that would end up
being a wonderful conduit for that area of
the business.
42
The Scrivener
Wayne: Certainly. I practised as a Notary
for a long time and that’s the relationship
that I had with the lawyers. They were not
going to get into the conveyancing business
and I wasn’t in the family law business. So
it worked.
Susan: A lawyer friend in the States had the
same experience Josje mentioned. He loved
law, yet when he opened his practice, he had
no idea he actually had to run a business;
he had no skill in that area. That was a
deficiency in his training. How insightful of
you to have identified business savvy as an
area that needs to be dealt with in training.
…what percentage of
the grads in this course
get jobs?
Kari: Josje, what percentage of the grads in
this course get jobs?
Josje: In the last two years, it has been over
95 percent. The remaining 5 percent aren’t
looking for jobs. They’ve perhaps decided
to travel and take a break or have discovered
they’re about to start a family or some other
interruption in the flow of life. At one point
last year, the job-placement figure was 103
percent, because some students who hadn’t
quite completed the course got highjacked
into working for law firms.
Wayne: My best support for the Notaries
who need staff is the Foundation funds that
we’ve presented to you. We’re not looking
for the student with the highest GPA. We
want the student who shows initiative.
Josje: An employer told me a story about
one of my grads last year who was asked
to do a bill of costs. She had never actually
done one outside the classroom. She
created a five-page draft that had a few
errors in it, then went to her employer.
“I got this far and I tried my best. Here are
the problem areas. I thought perhaps when
you get a moment, you could help me so I
wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes.”
The employer thought he had died and
gone to heaven! He said, “I didn’t have a
princess who simply put down her pen
and decided, ‘No. I don’t know how to do
that, so I can’t start.’ ” For me, that is a
real teacher moment. ▲
Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2005