by Elser Lee Archer, C.Med, Member
Elser Lee Archer
The ADRIC Government Relations (GR) Committee commenced work in spring 2016. In less than 4 years we have covered a lot of ground! Most notably, during the ADRIC conference in Victoria BC the ADRIC GR Committee coordinated our first Advocacy day to engage members of a provincial legislature. As a result, on November 20th, 2019 we were recognized by the Honorable D. Eby in the BC Legislature for ADR Institute of Canada’s 45th annual general meeting and national conference. “It’s my pleasure to introduce to the House Andrew Butt, president of the ADR Institute of Canada; Elton Simoes, president of the ADR Institute of British Columbia; Barbara McNeil, president of the ADR Institute of Alberta; Viki Scott, representing the ADR Institute of Ontario; Andrew Wychnenka, representing the ADR Institute of Manitoba; and Janet McKay, executive director, ADR Institute of Canada. Will the House please welcome these very necessary dispute resolution experts to this House here today.” Hansard, BC Legislative Assembly https://www.leg.bc.ca/documents-data/debate-transcripts/41st-parliament/4th-session/20191120pm-House-Blues.
The Government Relations Committee is a standing committee, dedicated to promoting and advancing the goals of ADRIC and to inform and influence our elected officials to establish regulations and policies that will promote a positive, pro-active economic environment with social progress and enhanced quality of life. Initial focus for the GR Committee involved volunteer recruitment to secure representation from the provincial affiliates and discussions centred on developing a white paper that established terms of reference, included an environmental scan, outlined our mandate, strategized alliances, and strategies for achieving our mandate.
Some accomplishments in 2018 include committee cross-national presentations to the Canadian Transportation Agency’s (CTA) Air Passenger Protection Regulations Hearings, a written submission to the CTA Rail consultations and adoption of our White Paper by the ADRIC board of directors and developing contacts with federal government to facilitate committee priorities. 2019 highlights include developing a non-partisan pre-election project. Our initial support to ADRIA, the Alberta affiliate, in lieu of their provincial election assisted in building pre-election tools to utilize in the committee’s federal election project.
ADRIC’s GR Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank all the affiliate volunteers who participated in the 2019 non-partisan pre-election projects. Reaching out to all of the electoral candidates through a survey and informing them of ADRIC’s goals and the expertise of its members is critical to our mandate. Next steps include evaluating survey results and building new relationships with elected federal officials. If you are interested in joining ADRIC’s GR Committee or have any interest in becoming involved in government relations work in your region please email executivedirector@adric.ca.
