Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce Awarded Reaccreditation

Iqaluit Nunavut – February 5, 2010 The Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce has been granted reaccreditation status. 

"We are proud to recognize the Baffin Regional chamber as an effective, responsible and well-managed organization, that is making a difference in its community and keeping ‘The Voice of Business’ loud and strong,” said Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. 

To achieve accreditation, a chamber must satisfy stringent performance requirements in the key areas of governance, operations, membership programming, policy and advocacy activities and strategic planning.  

“We are extremely proud that our chamber has been awarded this prestigious distinction” stated Chris West. “It demonstrates that we provide true value to our members and the Baffin Region and that we operate our business with the same rigor, focus, and conviction as do our members”  

Developed by a team of seasoned local chamber executives, in conjunction with leaders of provincial and territorial chambers and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber Accreditation Program is managed by the Chamber Accreditation Council of Canada (CACC).   

The accreditation program was created to protect, reinforce and elevate the chamber of commerce brand by signalling to members and the community at large, as well as to competing organizations, that chambers of commerce are professionally run businesses meeting high standards that are uniform across an extensive network.  

Chambers of commerce and boards of trade that are successful in achieving the requirements for accreditation are recognized each year at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting.  

For more information on this program contact:

Hal Timar, Executive Director, Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce

(867) 979-4654

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 ‘Buy American’ agreement is a positive step forward:

Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce

<Iqaluit>, February 5, 2010:  The Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce commends the governments of Canada and the United States on reaching a productive and forward-looking agreement on Buy American provisions.

 “This represents an important step forward in our continued engagement with our largest trading partner,” said Chris West, President of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce.  

“While more work needs to be done to counter protectionism in the United States, this agreement has placed us in a better position than our main competitors to receive U.S. stimulus funding,” added Mr. West.  “It has also resulted in greater co-operation between provinces, territories and the federal government – a long-awaited, but very welcomed accomplishment.  The depth of the federal/provincial offer and the speed at which it was put forth is an important precedent which puts us in a good position for the negotiation of future agreements.”  

“We must continue to work with the United States to strengthen our ties and to develop solutions that are beneficial to both parties,” concluded Mr. West. 

Contact:

Hal Timar

Executive Director

Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce (BRCC)

(867) 979-4654

execdir@baffinchamber.ca

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The 2009/2010 Community Economic Development (CED) Trade, Service and Career Fair season is upon us and the schedule for this year’s trips is as follows:

November 19  – Arctic Bay

December 10   – Pond Inlet

February 17 – Sanikiluaq

March 22         – Pangnirtung

March 31         – Kimmirut

These CED – Trade, Service and Career Fairs are made possible thanks to the funding and support from the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Economic Development and Transportation.

As you see on the schedule, most of these events only require one day trips into the community.  The BRCC would like to encourage businesses and organizations to extend their time in the communities and will work with you to coordinate travel on a one way basis if necessary.

Between September 2010 and March of 2011, The CED Week – Trade, Service and Career Fairs will be visiting the Resolute Bay, Grise Fiord, Pangnirtung, Cape Dorset, Igloolik, Hall Beach and Qiqiktarjuaq.

Please contact us with any questions or concerns and we hope to see you on our stops around Baffin this year.

Good day,

It has come to our attention that there is a new competitor out in the marketplace who is aggressively targetting businesses with programs and service. This new group is called the Canadian Merchants Association.

In gathering information about this group since being notified, it has become apparent that part of this group's sales pitch is to ask merchants to submit statements and other documentation as a form of validation for review. In any situation, this is never a wise practice – providing information to an unknown party.

Further investigation indicates that this is a "third party" processor working on behalf of a US-based provider operating out of a call centre in the Montreal area.

If you find that your members are calling you about this, we would advise you to warn any merchant about submission of any documents (merchant or bank statements) to an entity that is unknown to them.

Also, besides varying rate offers which appear on this group's payment processing information, a merchant should be cautious about service and support from a provider with limited hours of operation (Mon to Fri, 9-5 - rather poor hours for retailers who work significantly more hours than that) and are foreign (US) based (all Canadian merchants are governed by domestic regulations).

And finally, forewarn anyone against dealing with an entity that does not have a physical presence or cannot represent themselves in person.