Skip to Main Content

March 02, 2020

March 2020 Issue

We Are OPPI


LAST CALL FOR COUNCIL NOMINATIONS - THE DEADLINE IS APRIL 1ST

This is a last call for interested members to join OPPI Council as Directors. Full Members who are interested in making a contribution to the planning profession have until April 1st to put their names forward as potential Directors. 
Nomination Information


APRIL COUNCIL MEETING PREVIEW
In the upcoming April Council meeting, on April 3, OPPI Council will discuss a variety of strategic issues, including:
  • 2019 Financial Audit
  • Executive Director search
  • OPPI white paper
  • Debrief on the staff Indigenous competency training day
OPPI Council meets four times a year. Council approved agendas and minutes are available upon request to the OPPI office. The goal is to engage members in shaping the direction and initiatives of OPPI and continue to deliver on our INSPIRE OPPI Strategic Plan 2020. Members are encouraged to speak up and get involved and stay in touch throughout the year through OPPI's many communications channels.

GET READY FOR OPPI'S STUDENT CASE COMPETITION

OPPI's Student Liaison Committee (SLC) is organizing a day-long student case competition on March 7, 2020 at Ryerson University. Teams of five to six students from accredited planning programs will work on a case study project provided by the City of London and present their recommendations to a panel of Registered Professional Planners (RPPs).
 
The winning team is profiled in OPPI's Planning Exchange Blog, receives complimentary registration, and is invited to make a presentation at the 2020 Conference at RBC Place London on October 7-8, 2020.
 
Thank you to the City of London for providing the case project and again to Ryerson University
for providing the venue for the event. For more information and to register a team, please contact your SLC reps or OPPI's Student Delegate, Catherine Tran.
 

THE FIRST COMMEMORATIVE BENCH HAS BEEN APPROVED!

Last year, to celebrate 25 years of RPP, OPPI worked with Toronto District members on the placement of the first in a series of commemorative benches in OPPI Districts. OPPI received word from the City of Toronto in early February that the first bench will be placed in Riverdale Park
 
Thank you to the Toronto District Leadership team, and to former Chair Meghan Bratt and Vice Chair Caroline Samuel for their assistance and leadership on this initiative. Over the next several years, OPPI will be working with the remaining districts to place similar commemorative benches in their districts.
 

Your Professional Journey


VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY: OPPI'S PLANNING KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE (PKE) COMMITTEE
 
OPPI is looking for a Registered Professional Planner from Eastern District to share their expertise as a member of the PKE Committee for a three-year term. The PKE is an active group of volunteers who act as advisors to OPPI on the development of programming for the annual Conference, as well as other educational platforms, to facilitate the exchange of knowledge for the betterment of planning in Ontario.
 
Members are selected and cultivated for their insight, knowledge, best practices and opinion. A regular call for content, best practices and tools is anticipated and the resulting proposals with be considered by this committee. Subject matter experts will help curate the incoming content, source useful knowledge elsewhere and coordinate programming in a variety of mediums. 
 
If you are an RPP interested in volunteering for this opportunity and live or work in Eastern District, please submit your application.
 
Questions on this opportunity may be directed to OPPI's Education Manager, Ryan Des Roches
 

CHECK OUT OPPI'S FEATURED INDIGENOUS RESOURCE

Communication is an essential tool for professional planners. With growing awareness of Indigenous cultures and acknowledgement of Indigenous planning practices, it is important to ensure that non-Indigenous planners and other related professions are able to communicate respectfully and effectively to, with and about Indigenous Peoples and communities they work with, and on whose traditional territory they live, work and play. 
 
This month, we are featuring The Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by the late Gregory Younging, an academic and First Nations copyright expert, from Opsakwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba. The Style Guide includes 22 important principles for writing about Indigenous Peoples, as well as contextual information critical to understanding why these principles are so important. 
 
This, and several other helpful resources, can be found on OPPI's Indigenous Planning Perspectives Resource List. For more information on OPPI's IPPTF Report, or to suggest a resource for OPPI's expanding resource list, please contact Education Manager Ryan Des Roches.
 

HIRE A PLANNING STUDENT FOR THE SUMMER

Spring is almost upon us and we urge you to consider hiring a student member planner this summer. Here is a testimonial from the Municipality of Meaford:
 
"The Municipality of Meaford had the pleasure of employing an OPPI student member. The position was project based, focusing around the research and preparation of a brand new Economic Community Improvement Plan for the commercial and agricultural areas of the Municipality. In addition to the successful completion of her project for the summer, our student made a concise and confident presentation to Council, participated in interagency networking meetings, contributed to municipal social and outreach events and was even interviewed by the local news media about her experiences she made the front page! We were very pleased with our OPPI student member and would happily hire another."
 
Contribute to the future of the planning profession by supporting student planners along their
professional journey. One of the places to post summer planning jobs is OPPI's job board - have you considered posting there? Please visit OPPI's website for more information and to post your summer student job.
 

Building RPP

 
FIVE-YEAR REVIEW OF PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS UPDATE
 
The Professional Standards Committee continues its work on the five-year review of standards. 
 
Several new draft sections of the Membership Standards Policy Manual have been circulated informally to OPPI and the other provincial planning institutes. 
 
OPPI's Professional Standards & Registration Committee has reviewed these materials and made comments; this spring, formal proposals should be coming from the PSC to OPPI Council.
 

Knowledge Exchange


PLANNERS ABROAD... IN INDIA

Our March Planning Exchange blog post comes from eight students from the Queen's University Master of Urban and Regional Planning program who travelled to Auroville, India for their second-year project course. The 14-day trip was the culmination of three months' worth of background research in Kingston, interviews with experts, planners and local residents. Learn more about this trip and some of the lessons learned that can be applied to planning in Ontario.  
Click here to read more


OPPI INDIGENOUS COMPETENCY TRAINING
 
Recommendation 4 of OPPI's Indigenous Planning Perspectives Task Force (IPPTF) Report calls upon OPPI Council and staff "strengthen, and regularly renew their competency and leadership capacity" by increasing their knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in Ontario, their understanding of history and truth in reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action, Indigenous perspectives, and more. 
 
Early next month, OPPI Council, Staff and District Leadership Team Chairs will participate in an Indigenous-lead cultural competency training session, which serves to educate participants on Indigenous cultures and history through a variety of experiential opportunities including storytelling, discussions with Indigenous facilitators on language, terminology and treaties, participation in a version of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, and much more.
 
Participation in this training will represent an important starting point for OPPI's leadership, who over the course of their professional careers, will seek to regularly renew their competency in understanding and acknowledging Indigenous cultures and history. 
 

What You Need to Know


2020 City Building Expo
OPPI is a promotional partner of the 2020 City Building Expo taking place on March 14 and co-hosted by students from Ryerson University School of Urban & Regional Planning and the University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. This is an OPPI accredited event bringing together practicing and future city builders. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with each other in a collaborative setting among peers from many diverse backgrounds such as architects, planners, engineers, urban designers, landscape architects, land economists and policy makers. The focus of this year's expo is 'Development in Toronto.' Toronto is one of the fastest growing cities in North America, which means its identity and shape are in continuous flux. The City Building Expo will include panel discussions that investigate the real of development, design charrettes that enable participants to collaborate, and a keynote presentation. Save your seat and register for this event.
 

Career Opportunities


ARE YOU IN THE CONSULTANT'S DIRECTORY?
Are you listed in OPPI's Consultant's Directory? If you're not in, it's time to get in! If you're looking to do some consulting on the side or looking for RPPs to work with for that big project you're leading, and everything in between, OPPI's Consultant's Directory is for you. Sign up today and get listed!
LEARN MORE

ARE YOU AN EMPLOYER?
Advertise your available planning positions with OPPI's Job Postings. There is no better way to reach qualified planning professionals.


 
LEARN MORE

SEARCHING FOR A JOB?
Targeted to planners, search the OPPI Job Ads to save you time and effort when looking for a new position.
SEARCH NOW

Please see the current active postings below:
  • Rural Land Use Planner - Sault Ste. Marie North Planning Board (full time)
  • Intermediate Planner - Polocorp Inc. (full time)
  • Land Use Planner - Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP (full time)
  • Planning Technician - Township of Adjala-Tosorontio (full time)
  • Planner - Toronto - ERA Architects Inc. (full time)
  • Heritage Planner - Ottawa - ERA Architects Inc. (full time)
  • Planner, Intermediate Planner and Senior Planning Positions - WSP (full time)
  • Manager of Development Approvals - The Corporation of the Municipality of Leamington (full time)
  • Senior Planner - MBTW Group (full time)
  • Planner - MBTW Group (full time)
  • Senior Urban Planner - DIALOG (full time)
  • ...and many more!

Upcoming Events and Courses