First Nations National Building Officers Association joins One Ontario coalition
TORONTO, Ontario, June 17, 2021
AECO Innovation Lab and the One Ontario coalition are delighted to welcome the First Nations National Building Officers Association (FNNBOA) as official supporters of the One Ontario initiative. FNNBOA represents people in First Nation communities who provide construction and renovation technical services.
The One Ontario initiative is exciting as it would give First Nations communities in the province an opportunity to have a process similar to municipalities.
More than thirty organizations have now joined the coalition, which supports One Ontario: a collaborative research and development initiative established by AECO Innovation Lab. One Ontario engages all levels of government, architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) companies, software providers and academics, with the aim of creating data exchange standards that will streamline the development application approval process. The resulting standards will be the first step towards a fully integrated system that enables data exchange between applicants, municipalities and provincial applicable law agencies. In addition to improving workflow efficiencies and compliance—and reducing costs—this approach will defragment the process and create a secure central source of reliable data for all permitting processes, analysis and reporting.
“First Nations communities in Ontario do not have building permit systems,” explains Keith Maracle, President of the FNNBOA. “Each community adheres to their own approach to approve new construction. The One Ontario initiative is exciting as it would give First Nations communities in the province an opportunity to have a process similar to municipalities. Ultimately, this will improve our housing conditions and establish a building permit system that everyone will understand. We strongly support the initiative.”
“We are looking forward to working with FNNBOA to share the One Ontario vision with First Nations communities,” says Arash Shahi, CEO of AECO. “This will give them the opportunity to add their voice to the program, and give them the choice to either adopt the One Ontario solution to approve housing construction or leverage One Ontario principles in developing their own strategy.”
FNNBOA and AECO look forward to working together on the One Ontario program, which has been presented to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and Treasury Board, for financing through the Ontario Onwards Acceleration Fund. The coalition hopes to be able to move forward with development of the data exchange standard in the very near future.
About First Nations National Building Officers Association (FNNBOA)
The First Nations National Building Officers Association (FNNBOA) represents people in First Nation communities who provide construction and renovation technical services. This includes plans review, inspections, recommending repairs, technical advocacy and advisory services assisting on reserve construction. The FNNBOA network is broken up into seven specific chapters covering British Columbia, the Territories, the Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba), Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador). The Association has wide ranging objectives in the First Nations building sector, but is primarily a professional association mandated to represent the best interests of members in the broad area of occupational development. The title First Nation Building Officer is a registered trademark of the association, and refers to a professional who uses their training and experience to assess plans and specifications related to the design and construction of all types of buildings and structures. To learn more visit – www.fnnboa.ca
About One Ontario
One Ontario is a collaborative initiative established by AECO Innovation Lab, with the aim of establishing a set of provincial guidelines for data and information exchange throughout the development approval process. The framework will be aligned with regulatory requirements set by the province and will be driven by technological tools and advancements within the AEC industries. To learn more visit – www.oneontario.ca and follow on LinkedIn
About AECO Innovation Lab
AECO Innovation Lab leads digital transformation of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries and governments through collaborative R&D projects. We are dedicated to breaking down silos and increasing the productivity of the AEC sector by providing a hub for collaboration, knowledge sharing and digital transformation. AECO R&D projects unite the private, public and academic sectors by building coalitions to investigate AEC industry operating practices and develop optimization solutions.
