Report of GoOFY representative to the Organic Federation of Canada (= OFC) interim board

R= eport of GoOFY representative to the Organic Federation of Canada (OFC) interim boar= d.

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P= repared by: Claire Desmarais

D= ate: October 28^th, = 2007

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I= n November of 2006, I attended the CORC f= irst face to face meeting held in S= askatoon.

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A= ctivities for 2006-7:

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O= FC has been meeting every month by teleconference call, except for some of the sum= mer months when farming operations kept many of the representatives busy on the= ir farms.

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S= ome achievements:

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; -after our meeting in November of 2006, where the focus was to present a paper to = the CFIA with our concerns regarding the Organic Regulation, we were pleased to= see that all of our concerns were addressed. These are laid out in Paddy Doherty’s Progress Report which ca= n be found on the COABC website.

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-in January, the money to finance the next revision round of the Can= ada Organic Standard was approved and the Canadian General Standard Board start= ed work on this.

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; -in March 2007, we had to change our name from CORC= (Canadian Organic Regulation Council) to Organic Federation of Canada/Feder= ation biologique de Canada (OFC/FBC) because of some regulation regarding the use= of the word regulation. OFC was incorporated as a not-for-profit society in November of 2006, and it took some months to process the application.<= /o:p>

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<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; -to help OFC work with the Canada Organic Office (COO) to improve the Organic Products Regulation to meet the needs of the organic community, OFC develop= ed a committee to liaise with the COO. Other members were and are invited to join this committee, as the need may be, so all of the organic community feels i= t is recognized and heard. This committee meets with the COO weekly.<= /span>

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-OFC received a request from COABC that there should be a national B= rand Name List of approve inputs for organic production: a committee was formed = to work on this.

-In April, it was determined that the regulation would go through another gazetting process happening in November 2007, with a 90-day comment period. Most of the issues revolve around labelling.

-CFIA told the COO liaison committee that they would use the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act to enforce the Organic Products Regulation in provinces that do no enact an organic regulation.

-A stream of commerce policy paper was written.

-OFC wrote a letter to Consumer Protection Fair Labelling Practices Program, stating they do not support the use of Natural Sodium Nitrate (Chi= lean nitrate) in organic agriculture. Some Canadian importers maintain that impo= rted organic products grown using Chilean nitrate are needed to fill the demand = for organic produce.

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; -We recommended the following cities to COO for consultations on the Regulation= and Quality Management System: Truro, N.S., = Drummondville, Quebec,

G= uelp, Ont., Saskatoon or R= egina, Sask., Vancouver. We still haven’t heard where and when these will happen.

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<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; -National Brand Name input Directory: CB’s will be asked to support this with a per/certified member fee.

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O= FC hired a coordinator on October 1^st, Nicole Boudreau from Quebec. She will be working with implementing the plans stated in the ACAAF application. Main focus of the application was to get provinces to implement strong regional organizations to represent the organic industry, much like = SOD does in Sask, and COABC in BC.

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O= ur first AGM is on November 22^nd in Ottawa, to coincide with the second round of the CGSB meetings. Many of the OFC directors are also on this board. There, the interim directors will be appointing the members of OFC. GoOFY needs to fill out an application and a= ppoint their director and alternate. Also, the ex-officio government representative has to send a letter to ask to be on the board. Directors will be appointed for sta= ggered two year terms.

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