By Stéphane Niles, Chair of the Board of Directors (stephane.niles@skipatrol.ca)
As winter winds down in across the country, I hope you all had a great patrol season. While COVID-19 still presented some challenges, we all pulled together and adapted to the various situations – and that is one of the strengths of the CSP. We seized the opportunity to further leverage technology and find new ways of delivering services, in many cases more efficiently and more adapted to today’s realities.
One of the roles of the board of directors is to set the direction for the organization. As such, the board has developed a new strategic plan to guide the organization for the next few years. Here are some of the high-level elements of the new plan:
Our mission: To provide relevant, credible and accredited education, support and operational structures that make it possible for our members to excel.
Our vision: That we are globally recognized as the certifying body of patrollers in Canada, offering modern, relevant first aid training and response techniques.
Our core values, which are the basis of everything we do and strive for: professional, inclusive, dependable, esprit de corps and integrity.
A key focus of the plan is Canadian Standards Association (CSA) certification of our advanced first aid (AFA) course and the modernization of the content and delivery of our courses and services. A committee has begun working on this multi-year initiative, which will in time engage members from various portfolios and levels of the organization.
I invite you to view a video presentation of our new strategic plan here. If you have any questions or comments regarding the plan, please contact your zone president who can help you get the information to or from the right place.
While winter patrol operations wind down, the board’s work typically picks up as we prepare for the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM). This year’s AGM will be held virtually on September 24, 2022 at 1 p.m. EDT and will include simultaneous translation services to make the meeting accessible to all members. A call for member proposals is forthcoming.
This year’s call for nominations for the board of directors is open until May 28, 2022. There will be an election for three directors this year, each to serve a three-year term. Please refer to the call for nominations published here. If you are interested in learning more about the role of a director, I encourage you to speak with any current or past board members.
On behalf of the board of directors, thank you for your time and commitment to the Canadian Ski Patrol. Stay safe, enjoy the upcoming summer, and we hope to see you again when training resumes.
This post is also available in: French