For decades, all seven of our organizations — CSGA national and the six regional branches — have enjoyed a strong relationship built on mutual understanding and trust. Our branches bring different views and expertise to the table.
With their grassroots understanding of members’ needs and issues, CSGA national stays connected and can better work on behalf of Canadian agriculture. Interestingly, our partnership was based on a handshake alone.
We all recognized that we needed to formalize our relationship to continue to succeed in the modern business landscape. Formalizing this handshake into an affiliation agreement would protect what we’ve worked so hard over the decades to develop and signal our intent to continue to work jointly and support each other.
Coming together from across Canada in Winnipeg, Man., on Nov. 16, 2022, representatives from each CSGA organization signed a formal affiliation agreement that symbolizes our joint values of collaboration, truth and respect.
Of course, developing this agreement did not happen overnight. But it brought everyone to the table for valuable discussions on our functions — what worked and what didn’t. CSGA national and each regional branch is an independent organization.
We celebrate our differences and recognize that the diversity of opinions around the table makes us stronger. So, sitting down together to define how we work was valuable. To ensure a strong seed certification system in Canada, we work at two levels — CSGA national at the federal and international levels and the branches leading on the provincial level.
Board Director
and Interbranch
Coordination
Committee Chair
The Affiliation Agreement preserves this by outlining our various roles and responsibilities. CSGA national continues to assume the lead role on national interest issues and work related to national and international seed bodies and other national associations aligned with CSGA’s mandate.
The branches will continue to develop and strengthen relationships with their relevant provincial governments and regulatory bodies, provincial value chain associations, and other regional stakeholder groups to create and promote a forum of exchange on relevant issues and policies. The agreement demonstrates that CSGA is an organization that knows how to lead.
It aims to ensure grassroots participation from every seed-producing province and stakeholder engagement in a next-generation seed certification system that is professional, resilient and meets the diverse needs of Canada’s agri-food economy. We wanted to point out that our national and regional boards are volunteer organizations.
There was a lot of time put into this agreement, so a huge thank-you goes out to the branch executive directors, presidents, and members of the boards for their dedication and cooperation in getting this historic agreement across the line.
