The CSSE Advocacy committee met face to face for the first time in Toronto in February and I attended that meeting. I was very impressed with the committee, but more so with the individuals around the table and their commitment to the project. The set up of the committee is like that of other CSSE Strategic focus committees – Regional with Staff support. The committee members are: Ed Dyna – Chair, Andrew Smith, Bob Westhaver, Dawn Turner, Dorothy Beckett, Frank O’Rourke, Grazyna Momot, Spenser MacPherson and Wayne Glover. Congrats group for all of your hard work that was evident at the meeting and for the engagement that you have with this new adventure that the CSSE is going on.
The committee has outlined a 3 pronged approach and is putting together how each of these look and how each will roll out going forward: supporting the profession, supporting an issue/position, and representation on boards/councils.
At this meeting they discussed and initiated principles that will guide the committee in the future. They identified the need to understand just what a safety professional is and that fits with our other strategic focus areas within the education portfolio and the competency study. They further discussed options for and mapped out the process for our members to bring forth issues/positions and how the committee will deal with them.
The Advocacy Committee has outlined and implemented the process to select members to represent the Society on boards and technical committees, which is working well and they are now starting to explore opportunities where our members can do this. If you are interested in sitting on a committee keep your eye on the job posting area of the web site – posting and application processes and forms are there. You can contact Wayne at the CSSE office or Ed Dyna if you have a board or council you feel the CSSE should be participating on.
The Committee is going to conduct a survey so that they and the society as a whole can understand what our membership feels about Advocacy. So keep your eye out for it, and when it comes to you… please fill it out. It is short, to the point and full of info that we feel we need to have to represent you – the CSSE member appropriately.
Communication between the committee, people selected for the committees and the general CSSE membership was discussed and will be an item that will be addressed. As within the definition of Advocacy – communication is the foundation piece.
To find out more about the Advocacy Committee or the Plan they have, go to the Advocacy tab under the members area on the web site.
CSSE Advocacy Committee
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