POLICY COMMITTEE (Continued from page 2)
Board Liaison: Harry Fine
Chair: Paula Callaghan
Secretary: Anna Boudria
Memebers: Michael Benoit, Celine Broadhagan , Pat Kelly, Samantha Glass ,Joseph Kippax,
Angela Browne
The Policy Committee is a standing committee of the Board of Directors. The Committee is an integral part of the internal responsibility system to ensure that all parties work in consultation towards the establishment of internal and public policy which will be the position of the PSO (OPA) on a variety of issues.
The goal of the Policy Committee is to ensure that policy positions are in place as required, either initiated by outside groups calling for policy input, or as initiated by the PSO (OPA) to influence outside groups. The Committee is responsible for advising the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities relating to strategic planning, governance, governance structure, governing documents, government relations, LSUC relations and relations with Community Colleges.
The Policy Committee has been hard at work these last few months. In January a proposal paper, written by Celine Broadhagen and Paula Callaghan was submitted to the Law Commission of Ontario. The committee put forward the potential benefits on Access to Justice for all Ontarians with proposed amendments to the Legal Aid Services Act to include paralegals. This would allow paralegals access to certificates within our permitted scope of practice.
This past April a position paper, written by Michael Benoit and Harry Fine was submitted to the Attorney General’s office on the proposed amendments to the O. Reg. 74 of the Collection Agencies Act (Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act).
The committee is currently in the process of drafting letters to individual court offices regarding inconsistencies in court practices in POA matters.
Members of the Policy Committee have donated many hours of their free time for the betterment of our profession.
If you have a suggestion for a future paper for Committee consideration, please contact;
Chair Paula Callaghan: [email protected]
Invited by Samantha F Glass Paralegal
OPA's First Meeting
Join us for OPAs first meeting Saturday May 31, 2014 at 948 Sheppard Avenue West, Toronto 9am-12:30pm. We will be having a CPD presentation on Small Claims by Lisa Nadon. This will be accredited for 3 CPD hours for our members. You Can be a PSO or LPA member to attend as this gives you membership in OPA.