Thank You

By Connie Fair President & CEO, Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia

This Fall, I announced my intention to retire after serving five years as CEO of the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) and previously as CEO at BC Assessment for almost a decade. The decision was a tough one but it also feels like the right time for me to start the next stage of my life and spend more time with family and my already-retired husband.

The last five years have been an exciting time for the LTSA and I am very proud of what we have accomplished. My overarching goal has been to create a customer-centric, digital-forward organization that provides British Columbians with certainty and confidence in our land-related registries, systems and information. We adapted as a business to embrace innovation and change which meant a significant investment by everyone involved, starting with strong customer relationships and a deep understanding of what our customers need to run their business and serve their clients. Thank you for collaborating with us to continually develop innovative solutions in the public interest.

ParcelMap BC is one such collaboration which provides a unified view of all titled and Crown land parcels across BC, and the contributions of land surveyors to makes it a success. By submitting your datasets prior to plan registration, you are helping ensure everyone benefits from a comprehensive and accurate fabric in as timely a way as possible. Thank you for your diligence. We also continue to invest in new datasets, such as the 30,000 road parcels with active PIDs that form the Titled Roads Project. Together, we are ensuring ParcelMap BC remains a robust tool for governments and property professionals throughout our province.

Web Filing is part of another multiyear initiative to maintain the integrity and accuracy of our land-related systems while improving customer ease and efficiency. To prepare for the upcoming phase of the project known as Survey Plan Services Modernization, we consulted with land surveyors and used your feedback to update the design of the plan submission process. As a result, survey plans, its ongoing improvement is what

datasets and other associated data will soon shift to be assembled in the surveyor’s workspace in myLTSA. We are confident you will find the filing experience to be much improved.

Perhaps the least anticipated event of my career has been the remarkable changes created by the current COVID-19 pandemic. While there has been short-term uncertainty, the path forward has always been clear – we will continually leverage digital innovations to provide the flexibility and automation needed to weather any storm. We also have an opportunity to re-evaluate long-held business assumptions and imagine new possibilities. There are seismic changes occurring in many industries with compressed timeframes of days or weeks when previously they would have taken years to evolve. It is exciting to consider the possibilities ahead as technological advances help to make services more accessible to everyone.

I am leaving the LTSA in the strong hands of a supportive and knowledgeable Board of Directors and a very capable senior leadership team, guided by a sound strategy that is centered on customers. Thank you for your support over the past five years – I know land surveyors and the LTSA will continue to collaborate in the best interests of all British Columbians and I will be watching eagerly to see what’s next. ✥

EDITORS NOTE: The LTSA has since announced Al-Karim Kara as its next President and CEO effective December 7, 2020 with Connie Fair's retirement confirmed for December 11, 2020.