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December 3, 2024
PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release
As we move closer to 2025 the Ontario Opticians Association and the Opticians Association of Canada will discontinue the blended membership program.
In light of changes being made to how Ontario Members could access services in 2025, your executive board has determined that it would not be in the best interest of Ontario to continue the partnership with the OAC.
Our Associations have not had a true agreement in place since January 23 2023, when our unrestricted access to the database was revoked. We were told that the OAC could no longer allow the OOA access on recommendation from their legal department, however the document has never been provided. We accepted this change in good faith and continued working in the spirit of the original agreement.
Since then we have worked on initiatives throughout the province autonomously, using our own cyber-infrastructure, both online and in person. The reintroduction of in person conferences, student events, working with MCCSS in launching their new payment portal, public facing campaigns with Instant Weather Ontario, outreach to opticians in areas beyond the GTA, PLI issuance and Con Ed certificate dispersion were all successfully implemented and performed independently by the OOA.
If the OOA/OAC blended membership had continued in 2025 the membership would have been required to sign up exclusively through the OAC database, which the OOA has zero access to. Your Ontario Association would not be able to help the members with any digital tasks, from reissuing PLI to unlocking your account, updating your personal information to releasing your CE credits to you.
We were also expected to redirect all Ontario Opticians to the OAC office for membership renewal and to accept no phone in renewals, as they wanted to create an online only model. You, as a member, would have no choice as to how you access and interface with either Association.
We were informed that the OAC would not accept membership lists from any province if they had members sign up in any method other than through their online portal. This would have excluded a number of our members who prefer to sign up directly via phone, mail and fax.
As for PLI, the OOA was informed that the OAC had taken it upon themselves to search out new providers for PLI. We were informed of the decision at our initial discussion on November 4th with the OAC. We were only provided the information about the alternative broker on request and given 9 days to make a change that would directly impact the members in Ontario after the College of Opticians renewal portal had already been open for one month.
The OAC also wanted to increase the membership fee by 4.2% for this year, when we had already determined that increasing the membership fee in Ontario would not be in the best interest of Ontario Members and would actually bring the membership fees closer to the rest of Canada's fees. When we told them that we wanted no increase the OAC responded that they “would try to honour our wishes”, and ultimately denied.
All of these changes were made by the OAC without negotiation or collaboration between the Associations, then presented to the OOA executive board on November 4th 2024, and thus leaving the Ontario Opticians Association with the option to “get on board” with their changes with no room for compromise.
If we had continued the blended membership, this would have meant that the Ontario Opticians Association would have existed in name only. The OOA would have ceased to exist as a sovereign association and through administrative confiscation we would have become a chapter of the OAC.
Prior to our official press release, the OAC undercut our membership fee by $9, had been telling members directly that they have to sign up with their office or their PLI won't be valid, as well as declaring that there is no partnership between the Associations.
We received confirmation from their Executive Board, that "At present, there is no blended membership agreement."
And so, moving forward, we will be strictly a Sovereign Provincial Association.
This means we will be fully autonomous, administratively and financially.
The Ontario Opticians Association has been working on behalf of Ontario Opticians for 78 years as advocates, ambassadors and continuing education providers.
As we move forward as your Provincial association we confirm our commitment to our members to work in the best interest of all Opticians living and working in Ontario.
To maintain the integrity of the OOA we will be adding new initiatives to bridge the gap between the services that were provided by the OAC to OOA members. We will continue to offer In person conferences and trade shows throughout Ontario, with discounts for early bird tickets, and the OOAcademy for asynchronous CE. We will continue to offer Venngo MemberPerks as a member benefit for your everyday purchases.
Beginning in 2025 we will be adding free monthly webinars for members of the OOA in a series we call OOAccess.
The most important change for our members is that The Ontario Opticians Association will be issuing PLI directly from our Ontario office. We will continue our partnership exclusively with Brokerlink as our PLI provider to ensure that our members have what they need to maintain their license in Ontario.
The OOA feels that because you are receiving membership to your Provincial Association only in 2025 that our prices should reflect this change. Beginning this year, our price will be $100 per year. This price includes all of the benefits listed above and includes $1,000,000 PLI.
The Ontario Opticians Association thanks you for continued support and we look forward to serving the Opticians in Ontario.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Wicks RO
Executive Director
The Ontario Opticians Association
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