Letter from the President, February 2002

IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS THE members of the board and our various committees have been hard at work keeping things moving forward for the OHA and for herbalism in Canada. These are very exciting times.

To begin with, our Professional Committee has spent many hours drafting the new OHA Code of Ethics and Code of Practice for professional herbalists in Ontario. The final version will be published in the next issue of The Canadian Journal of Herbalism and on the OHA website, www.herbalists.on.ca.

The Professional Committee has also been devoting a great amount of time to creating educational standards for professional members. At the very beginning of this process, the committee recognized the need to have educational standards that fulfill our mandate to preserve the diversity of herbalism in all its ethnic, cultural, and philosophical traditions, and that it would not be acceptable to create standards that exclude any of our valuable healing traditions by focusing on too narrow a vision of herbalism. In order to accomplish this, it was decided that the educational standards should be implemented in a number of stages over the next few years. The board has discussed and approved three categories of professional membership, which would allow for all those practicing herbalism in Ontario to become professional members at the discretion of the board. These categories will be in effect until January 2003 at which time revised professional standards will be implemented. (See the OHA web site, www.herbalists.on.ca, for the educational standards, which will also be printed in the Spring issue of the Journal.)

This is an ongoing process that will be thoroughly debated, and herbalists from all traditions who are interested in participating in this process and contributing their own unique perspective are strongly encouraged to join the Professional Committee.

The committee has also changed the designation of professional herbalists. Past professional members of the OHA had been using the designation P.Herb (Professional Herbalist), whereas members of the CCHPA had been using C.H.P. (Certified Herbal Practitioner). After considerable debate and in the spirit of compromise the professional committee changed the designation for professional members to R.H. (Registered Herbalist).

I would like to thank the members of the Professional Committee who have worked hard thrashing out these very complex issues until the wee hours of the morning for the numerous hours spent firing ideas back and forth across the virtual landscape. Although everyone has made very important contributions, I would specifically like to thank Monika Ghent for her dedication to keeping our efforts coordinated and on schedule, Peter Laker for doing a great job laying out our new professional membership brochure, and Darryl Burgwin for his work designing events pages in the Journal, and promotional flyers and pamphlets for the Association.

Work has also begun on a number of other fronts and our volunteer committees are already up and running. In order for the OHA to continue working on all of our many important issues, it is essential that we have the necessary human and financial resources. To accomplish this, we must increase both our general and professional membership significantly. Carol Little has begun to coordinate the efforts of our membership committee and is currently initiating a membership drive. Anyone out there who has a passion for herbs and herbalism, please join. We need your help and enthusiasm!

Victoria Foulger has taken on the role of media liaison. She will be helping to raise
awareness about the OHA and our work
through media exposure, which will have an important part to play in getting our message out there and expanding our membership.

Our web site is another important vehicle
of communication. Thank you Lori MacLaren for all your work with the OHA web site. Penny MacKay is currently coordinating the updating and upgrading of our web site as we begin to use it more regularly as a means of providing our membership with important OHA information. Val Kirton has volunteered to join Lori and Penny on the Web Site Committee. Check out the OHA site in the New Year for current developments such as the new Code of Ethics and Practice, Educational Standards, and the OHA Calendar of Events.

Speaking of OHA Events, Celina Ainsworth has been working hard putting together another great series of events for 2002. Our second annual Herbal Medicine Seminar, which is being organized by Diane Tait, will be held on May 18th. This year our featured speaker is wise woman healer Susun Weed. Christine Dennis will be hosting our first Herbal Fun Weekend on her beautiful farm, Little Nettle Herb Farm, near Port Burwell. And of course we look forward to another successful Herb Fair at Harbourfront June 2nd. For more information on these and other events, check out the OHA Calendar of Events in this issue of the CJH and on our web site.

Past board member, Daria Nedilsky, is spearheading the development of regional branches or "satellites" of the OHA. These regional branches will adopt and maintain the goals and objectives of the OHA while providing a local support group for members outside the GTA allowing them to actively participate in our association. Our first regional branch will be in London.

I would like to thank the Journal team for all their amazing work and dedication. They have been doing an incredible job. They are currently in urgent need of volunteers with publishing and/or editing skills. If you would like to contribute your talents, please contact the CJH at cjh@herbalists.on.ca. Speaking of help, I'd like to welcome Jane Schmidt to our Journal team who will be taking over the role of advertising sales, and Peter Wetton, Cindy Rumble, Susan Elliotson, Brenna Radcliffe, who have recently joined Rosemarie Mart, Linda Harvey and Una Hutchings in the proofreading task.

This has been a major time of transition for the OHA. We have been moving forward at quite a pace. None of this would be possible without the help of our many volunteers who have devoted their time and effort to making our association strong. I sincerely thank everyone who has contributed, and encourage others to volunteer. Let's take advantage of the many doors open to herbalism at this time to build an even stronger OHA that will continue to represent the interests of herbalists and herbal enthusiasts in Ontario and Canada.