Committee Reports

SELF GOVERNANCE Committee Report
May 5, 2016

Dear Members,
2015 did not find a lot of progress on the processes of Self Governance. This was not a result of our efforts but as we are now moving forward with discussions with the Board of Registration and the Registrar of Cemetery and Funeral Services.

We approached the Board of Registration, asking for their support in the initiatives. The presentation was made and it was clear that the Board was not going to take a positive or negative approach to our study. To date the Board of Registration has only agreed to gather more information from licensees and funeral homes and to begin the process of gathering information and to see what level of support provincially we have for this project.

The Registrar has assured us that our current sitting government is very much in favour of any programs or organizations that have direct relation with them and how they could become self-sufficient and removed from the expenses of government operations. However, they base decisions on support and therefore, it was necessary that we work on the gathering process of that information.

Since we are widely restricted to the ease of use of personal and company emails and contact information without written consent from the owners, we made a request to the Board of Registration, that if we submitted information regarding Self Governance to the Board, that the Board would circulate it on our behalf. This required the Board to devise a written statement of request which was sent out to all registered licensees and funeral homes in Nova Scotia. This was done with the hopes that a strong reply would be given by all. My latest inquiry with the administrator of the Board indicates there were a number of positive replies but there were a lot that have not replied at all. This will be our biggest challenge, is getting this information to all licensees and getting them to answer.
Our objective is to circulate a short 5 question survey so it is simply and easy and not time consuming to find out if there is interest. If the response is favourable, we are able to submit subsequent requests through the Board to circulate. It is a possibility that on our survey that we ask if they would give this Association use of their email for future correspondence. This would alleviate the issue of our Association work filtering through the Board of Registration office as it should not be necessary for that Administrator to work on our behalf.

It is our hope that within the next few weeks, all licensees will be received our first mailout via email and we will anxiously await their replies.

Once we have these replies, it will be possible for us to formulate the percentages of replies from all, percentages of interest and therefore, we can then decide the move forward plan.

Respectfully submitted,
Adam C. Tipert, CFSP
Chairman of Self Governance Committee