At the last Council meeting in May, Council approved a policy on a Council and Committee Code of Conduct. It sets expectations for members on Council and committees to ensure they are acting in the public interest and sets a process for Council, committee, and member reviews.

This policy flows from recommendations by Richard Steinecke in his report last November on AOLS regulatory practices.

The policy is located on the Members’ website under: members.aols.org/splash/member-tools/policies/internal-policies. 

As a result of changes being made by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) in the way they are dealing with their systems, as of June 25, the orthophotography layers in the PSRI (under layers) will no longer be available. The Google imagery and street views will continue to be provided.

MPAC currently provides the PSRI services to the AOLS under contract and the AOLS was relying on data they were licensing that is no longer available to the AOLS.

Should your firm wish to retain the ability to activate historical imagery from the Map Layers control, FBS has agreed to make it available at a cost of $195.00 plus HST per firm per year. 

If interested, please contact the iLOOKABOUT Support Desk by phone (1-866-963-2015) or email (support@ilookabout.com) and request that your access to the imagery be retained. iLOOKABOUT will invoice your firm accordingly.

Council has recently approved a guideline in dealing with unauthorized practice, which is attached here. You can also find it on the AOLS members’ website at: members.aols.org/splash/member-tools/policies/internal-policies.

Unfortunately, staff at the AOLS office must deal with several of these cases every year. The Northeastern Regional Group asked Council to send out a survey related to unauthorized practice to gain a better sense of the extent of this.

Jim Hill visited the AOLS office and at long last received a citation for his dedicated service to the Educational Foundation over many years.

He continues to be involved and was at a meeting of the Archival and Historical Committee.

Thanks to Jim.

In February, the Association was contacted by Elysia DeLaurentis regarding the spelling of James Mackintosh's last name.

That fact pointed out that we had two Jameses in our database with different last names but the same registration date. The plan of the Town of Elora was a point in the right direction as it had been produced by a lithographer in Toronto and there was an obvious misspelling of his name.

We checked the original Oaths of Office undertaken and came up with the correct spelling.

Elysia was so impressed by our help she volunteered to supply us with a biographical sketch from the data we provided and of course from her research. Up and until her involvement, we had very little to report.

Please read her report and enjoy: lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/xOINiS9

The Archival and Historical Committee is looking for someone to help look after its collection of artifacts. If you have an interest in old equipment, this might be a great way to earn some CPD and contribute to the AOLS. The individual would manage the collection by dealing with loans of equipment, cataloguing and photographing it, and ensuring that it is stored properly.

Please let Brian Maloney (brian@aols.org) know if you are interested.

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought – June 17, 2022

Droughts are among the greatest threats to sustainable development, especially in developing countries, but increasingly so in developed nations too. In fact, forecasts estimate that by 2050 droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population.

The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29 percent since 2000, as compared to the two previous decades (WMO 2021). When more than 2.3 billion people already face water stress, this is a huge problem. More and more of us will be living in areas with extreme water shortages, including an estimated one in four children by 2040 (UNICEF). No country is immune to drought (UN-Water 2021).

This year, the theme of the International Day Against Desertification, and Drought "Rising up from drought together", emphasizes the need of an early action to avoid disastrous consequences for humanity and the planetary ecosystems.

Learn more: un.org/en/observances/desertification-day

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