July
24, 2012, Toronto, ON – The Aggregate Forum of Ontario (AFO) and Socially and
Environmentally Responsible Aggregate Canada (SERA-Canada) announced the merger
of the two not-for-profit organizations – both focused to date on developing
voluntary social and environmental certification systems for the aggregate
industry in Ontario.
July
24, 2012, Toronto, ON – The Aggregate Forum of Ontario (AFO) and Socially and
Environmentally Responsible Aggregate Canada (SERA-Canada) announced the merger
of the two not-for-profit organizations – both focused to date on developing
voluntary social and environmental certification systems for the aggregate
industry in Ontario. In what Bill Galloway, Senior Vice-President at Holcim
Canada Inc. and a SERA-Canada Board Member calls “the right thing to do at the
right time” the two organizations will merge their boards to establish a single
world-class environmental and social certification system for responsible
aggregate extraction, siting and operations in Ontario.
The new organization
will bring together the strengths of SERA’s draft standards and standards
development process with that of AFO’s sector knowledge and previous work on
the design of a credible certification system. The merged organization will
continue to work collaboratively with industry leaders, environmental
organizations, community groups, municipalities and provincial government as
well as aggregate purchasers to create certification standards that will
achieve measurable environmental, social and economic benefits.
“The merger of AFO and
SERA speaks to the high value these organizations place on collaboration,” says
Ron Reid, Program Coordinator for the Couchiching Conservancy and Co-Chair of
the Aggregate Forum of Ontario. “Our number one priority is a certification
system that has the support of progressive industry companies, environmental
NGOs and local community organizations. Bringing these voices together and
sorting through their differences of opinion is the only way we will establish
durable and usable voluntary standards for siting and operations. ”
The Standards
Development Panel and its work to date will be carried forward by the merged
organization with early consultation principles being released shortly. Up to four additional participants will be
added to the panel to fill gaps in the panel representation. Recent research
completed by Deloitte on the details of a certification program will be
reviewed in detail by the new board.
“Today’s announcement is
a critical and logical step in the consensus-building process” says Lorne
Johnson, Executive Director for the merged organization. “The details of the
merger will be confirmed over the next few weeks, but it is clear that having
two competing standards setting bodies for the sector was not an optimal model and
I am very pleased to lead a newly invigorated merged organization.”
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