The OAA’s governing Council met in Toronto on December 6 for its final meeting of the year. The group discussed a variety of topics, from approving the budgets and confirming Committee appointments and Conference programming to updating policies and enabling Society tours to be eligible for Structured Learning. The meeting also served as a goodbye to Councillors Christina Karney and Greg Redden, who have completed their three-year terms.
As always, the agendas, minutes, and meeting packages for past Council meetings can be found of the OAA Website.
Operating and Capital Budgets
Council approved the OAA’s draft 2025 operating and capital budgets for the new fiscal year. This included a 2.7% fee increase for annual renewals, as well as a nominal $3 increase to registration for the OAA Continuing Education Webinars, which had not experienced any changes in cost since their inception.
Schedule A of the OAA Bylaws has now been amended to reflect the increase in renewal fees. Section 7 of the Bylaws was also amended in relation to the responsibilities of members of Council. Updates to the Bylaws and Schedule A are now in force, but are subject to ratification by the members at the next Annual General Meeting of Members (AGM), which will be held virtually in March.
Committee Appointments
Council approved the reappointment or appointment of individuals to OAA Committees and task groups, including:
- Complaints Committee;
- Discipline Committee;
- Experience Requirements Committee (ERC);
- Registration Committee; and
- Policy Advisory Coordination Team (PACT).
OAA staff are now contacting those who put their names forth to volunteer on these groups. The OAA Website will be updated in the new year, once all Committee chairs are also confirmed after the January Council meeting.
New Longstanding and Life Members
A Life Member is a person who has resigned their OAA membership in good standing, currently holds the status of Retired Member, has reached the age of 75, and has been appointed as such by OAA Council. (They do not pay the Retired Member fee.) Similarly, Members of Long Standing are individuals who have reached the milestone of 50 years of membership with the OAA as part of Ontario’s architecture profession.
At the meeting, Council approved all the new candidates for the coming year. They are now being contacted by OAA staff and will be celebrated at the upcoming virtual Annual General Meeting of Members (AGM) in March.
OAA Conference 2025, Reshaping Communities
A full roster of experts has been approved for the 2025 OAA Conference, which will be held in Ottawa in May. Council agreed to all recommendations from the Association’s Continuing Education Advisory Committee, subject to minor changes based on speaker availability and budget.
As in recent years past, the OAA’s educational programming for its flagship annual event includes both traditional classroom lectures, panels, and workshops, as well as experiential learning outside the Conference venue. More information on sessions and speakers will be shared in the new year on the OAA Website, through social media, and in Conference Bulletin e-newsletters.
In related Conference news, Council approved the OAA’s Communications and Public Education Committee’s (CPEC’s) recommendation of Larry Beasley as the virtual keynote speaker. Co-author of Ecodesign for Cities and Suburbs and retired co-director of planning for the City of Vancouver, Beasley teaches, writes, and advises on urbanism around the world, focusing on community planning, downtown planning and development management. A member of the Order of Canada and recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, he is the founding principal of Beasley and Associates and the ‘Distinguished Practice’ Professor of Planning at the University of British Columbia.
For 16 years, Beasley served on the National Capital Commission’s (NCC’s) Advisory Committee on Planning, Design and Realty in Ottawa. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners, an Honorary Member of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, and has been recognized as an “Advocate for Architecture” by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).
Additional news will be shared regarding this free event that will be held over Zoom in late March. The virtual keynote also serves as the date that registration opens for the Conference itself.
Updated Policies and Regulatory Notices
Council approved a trio of updated policies, which can now be found on the OAA Website:
Council also approved updates made by the Office of the Registrar to the series of OAA Regulatory Notices. These will be published and issued on the OAA Website for January 2025.
Structured Learning for Society Tours
Tours offered by the 14 OAA Local Architectural Societies now qualify for in-person Structural Learning. This change came about after Toronto Society of Architects (TSA) executive came before Council in September, explaining such tours offer tailored on-site technical learning and that the content and format meet the requirements of the OAA's Structured Learning criteria. They noted Society-run tours achieve the eligibility parameters because they are relevant to the business and/or practice of architecture, exceed the one-hour minimum, and include accurate recording of participation as the attendees are checked in and required to remain for the whole visit.
This change is retroactive to the start of the current Continuing Education reporting cycle, which began in July 2024. (Participants can make the revision in their transcripts.) Note: Only tours offered by OAA Societies are eligible; all other architectural tours remain considered Unstructured Learning.
Next Council Meeting
The first Council meeting of the new year will take place on Thursday, January 23 at the OAA Headquarters in Toronto. This will include the election of officers for 2025, including vice presidents and the naming of a new OAA president.
For those interested in attending the open session virtually, contact the Association’s Tina Carfa for more information.