Types of Membership

Types of Membership

The Association of Ontario Land Surveyors has several classes of membership:

• Licensed members that can practice cadastral (legal) surveying,
   
• Holders of Certificates of Registration that practice disciplines of surveying other than cadastral surveys (see below),
   
• Retired members; they can continue to use OLS or OLIP designations with "(Ret)" behind their designation and
   
• Associate members (see below)

Certificate of Registration

Members may hold Certificates of Registration (C of R) in other branches of professional land surveying, namely Geodesy, Geographic Information Management, Hydrography and Photogrammetry. 

Although the Certificate of Registration branches of surveying are not regulated by law, practitioners in these branches who are members of the AOLS belong to a professional organization and are governed by a Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.

Certificate of Registration applicants must comply with the academic requirements, the term of articles, and pass the professional examinations set out by the Academic and Experience Requirements Committee for their particular branch. All members are entitled to use the professional designations OLS (Ontario Land Surveyor) and/or OLIP (Ontario Land Information Professional).

Associate Memberships

A person who applies to be an Associate Member, pays the annual fee prescribed by the by-laws for Associates and,

1. is enrolled in a post-secondary school course in professional surveying;
    
2. is a party to Articles of Agreement with a member of the Association; or
    
3. is employed in, retired from or aligned with the practice of professional surveying.
    

Associates are entitled to receive general information issued by the Association and to attend meetings of the Association, but are not entitled to vote at meetings.