Dear members,

Like every other year, we have hit the ground running trying to adapt to the everchanging industry we find ourselves working in. This past year has been a very interesting and challenging year which brought many new initiatives to our industry. As such we have been forced to regroup and refocus in an effort to continue to provide our members with the necessary resources, guidance and tools.

We have convened to discuss, develop and implement the many new training needs, legislative changes, proposed regulation amendments and certification processes that we have been seeing in the Province during this Pandemic. This work has been done in conjunction with the OAFC Fire Prevention and Public Education Committee. These changes have an impact on how we make our communities safer and it is our goal to help the membership in any way we can while promoting the objectives of the Association.

As you know the 2020 Annual Symposium was cancelled, we have also cancelled the 2021 symposium but will be replacing it with virtual training starting January 28th. Based on your feedback, we have planned the first few sessions. We’ve also left plenty of room for unforeseen changes in our profession and to allow the membership to submit their training priorities as we continue through the year. See attached 2021 draft training outline.

Our Annual OMFPOA General Meeting and Elections will be virtual on June 24th and will allow the opportunity for our members to speak and discuss proposed changes to our industry and best practices and ongoing training opportunities. We would encourage all our members to attend the meeting and if you can’t attend please forward us any questions and or concerns you may have, and we will address them at our meeting. If you would like to seek a position on our executive, please visit our website to obtain a nomination form.

For our first Virtual Training on January 28th we will provide an update on OMFPOA initiatives and collaborations that we’ve been working on with our partner organizations. I hope you will take the time to join us and learn first hand what we are working on, have achieved, and what we are continuing to develop on behalf of the OMFPOA membership.

We’ll be rolling out 2021 Membership renewal notices throughout the month of January.

We look forward to engaging with as many of you as possible on January 28th. Please share this communication with all your colleagues.

Warmest wishes and stay safe.

Gwen Lewis,
President, OMFPOA

For an electronic Copy of this Communication click here.