Benefits

The EMA of BC Meets the Last Thursday of the Month to conduct a monthly educational and networking session.  Through these monthly sessions, members have discussed numerous topics including: Regulatory Updates, Working In and Around Water, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Auditing, Risk Control and Environmental Insurance, Hazardous Waste Management, Energy Conservation and Management, What To Do If You Are Charged with an Offence Under the Waste Management Act.

  • Our monthly meetings focus on guest speakers and provide an interactive perspective,
  • Networking among members provides a platform for the sharing of vital communication and practical information, for example, “what worked and what didn’t work”.
  • We host one-day workshops on special issues, such as Risk Management, Greening your Business, Buildings and your Bank Account, and A Business Case for Energy Efficiency.
  • A few times during the year we take our monthly meetings on the road.  Tours have included the Vancouver International Airport (air-side), Britannia Mine, Clean Harbors Special Waste, Treatment Facility, and Fraser River Port Authority Lands.

Other membership benefits include the following:

  • Access to the EMA of BC newsletter that provides members with information on a range of environmental issues, EMA of BC events and activities.
  • Access to the members-only page of the EMA of BC web-site that includes recent and archive presentations.
  • A link on the EMA of BC web-site to your organizations web-site (optional).
  • Access to a list of current members.

Consider EMA of BC Speaker Sessions/Seminars and Workshops as Professional Development Credits:

APEGBC
APEGBC recognizes one contact hour as one professional development hour. APEGBC doesn’t provide pre-approval for external courses. Members who participate in any professional development activity they believe to be relevant to their practice will have their activity recognized as 1 contact hour being equivalent to 1 Professional Development Hour.
For more information, visit: www.apeg.bc.ca

BC Institute of Agrologists
BCIA members can self declare their Professional Development activities.  Thus, if the workshop/presentation fit within the area of expertise of the member or made them a better professional they should have no problem in claiming the hours spent in acquiring the information.  When a random audit is done the member is asked to indicate how the PD undertaken enhanced their abilities as a professional.  BCIA does not preclear courses, workshops, etc. as what is PD for one may not be PD for another.
For more information, visit: www.bcia.com

Law Society of BC.
The BC EMA is an approved provider for professional development with the Law Society of BC, but not a pre-approved provider. This means that if a lawyer attends, they make an individual credit approval on a course by course basis and claim any portion of a session as they see fit. General criteria should be considered:
1.        Significant intellectual, or practical content, with the primary objective of increasing lawyers’ professional competence;
2.        Material dealing primarily with substantive, procedural, ethical, or practice management (including client care and relations) matters relating to the practice of law;
3.        Material primary designed and focused for lawyers, not for other professionals (such as courses for business leaders, including leadership skills, management skills, project management, facilitation, how to run an effective meeting, marketing skills).
For more information, visit: http://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/licensing_membership/profdev/faq.html#Q1

Association of the Chemical Profession of BC
The association of Chemical Profession of BC allows for declaration of professional practice and professional development as active members of their profession.
For more information: http://www.pchembc.ca/PDCClaimForm2009.pdf

CSAP Society
Contaminated Sites Approved Professionals must maintain Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and achieve 150 hours of PDH over three years, with a minimum of 30 PDH per year. APs track professional development hours in six categories. EMA contact time may qualify for one of 5 categories depending on the activity, content and the level of participation. Examples which are potentially relevant to EMA are highlighted below. For details please visit the CSAP website or discuss details with the Society.
http://www.csapsociety.bc.ca/uploads/Professional%20Development/Continuing%20Professional%20Development.pdf

  • CPD Category 1: Formal Activities

Formal Activities are those activities provided as a structured course or program, often for credit, occasionally with an evaluation process. Delivery methods may include traditional classroom settings, and remote techniques such as written correspondence, video, or interactive electronic exchange. Formal activities could include:
attendance at conferences, technical sessions, talks, seminars and workshops.

  • CPD Category 2: Informal Activity

These are activities not normally captured by a course such as those described in CPD Category 1, but which nevertheless expand your knowledge, skills or judgment. Activities include:

    • Review of and familiarization with new or revised legislation or guidance issued by the Ministry of Environment, the Society or a like body;
    • Attendance at industry trade shows;
    • Attendance at meetings of technical, professional or managerial associations or societies;
  • CPD Category 4: Participation

Activities that promote peer interaction and provide exposure to new ideas and technologies that both enhance the profession and serve the public interest. These activities include:

    • Acting as a mentor to a less experienced or potential member of the Society;
    • Service on public bodies or volunteer organizations that draw on your professional expertise
    • Service on standing or ad-hoc committees of technical, professional or managerial associations, or societies (e.g. Science Advisory Board for Contaminated Sites).
  • CPD Category 5: Presentations

These are technical or professional presentations that you make outside your normal job functions. Both preparation and presentation of material would be expected. Presentations might occur at:

    • A conference or meeting;
    • A course, workshop or seminar.
  • CPD Category 6: Contributions to Knowledge

The Society acknowledges that activities that expand or develop the technical knowledge base of either Numerical Standard or Risk-based Standard Contaminated Sites practice should be recognized. Contributions could include:

  • Publication of articles in non-reviewed journals;
  • Editing papers for publication.