Colleen Stansfield is a voracious learner with an “active mind” who always likes to try something new. She found perhaps the perfect employer for her in the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA). “There’s probably no end to the amount I could learn here,” says Stansfield, acting manager of customer service. “We do end up with a lot of people who are naturally curious at the organization.”
LTSA, formed in 2005, is a publicly accountable non-governmental organization that operates the province’s land title and survey system. It has offices in Victoria, New Westminster and Kamloops.
After joining LTSA’s technology-focused subsidiary, LandSure, in 2017, Stansfield moved over to the authority and spent three years as a customer service representative, working directly with the public. She then took LTSA’s two-year examiner trainee program and became an examiner of title. Even though there were no immediate promotion or advancement opportunities, Stansfield says she was able to take advantage of learning opportunities around specialized or complex streams of title examination. She was also encouraged to respond to an “expression of interest” for a liaison examiner role and to take it part-time.
“It allowed me to keep my role as an examiner of title and not make that full commitment to the liaison examiner role which was extremely valuable for me,” says Stansfield, whose current role involves filling in on a parental leave contract. “Lots of people here have encouraged me along this journey of trying out different things. It gave me the confidence that I could apply and learn through that process.”
Gregory Steves, vice-president of policy and legal services, says that for a small employer, internal mobility can be “pretty tricky,” but LTSA intentionally looks internally first for promotion and growth opportunities. The organization also made a corporate commitment to continuous improvement and supporting its employees in pursuing educational opportunities.
The organization budgets for training opportunities, which employees can access through an application process. It also has a six-month leadership development program, available to people leaders and employees who demonstrate leadership traits or would benefit from developing leadership skills. “It opens up opportunities for growth,” Steves says.
LTSA itself is in the middle of an evolution. It is currently developing BC Property Connect, a new digital service that creates a secure connection between owners and their property. Property owners will receive notifications of pending title changes and access to property-related insights and deadline reminders, all in one centralized space.
“We want to ensure British Columbians continue to have confidence in the land title system and that the system continues to evolve to provide the services and security that property owners want,” he says.
It has also embarked on a project to digitize the historic records in its care (dating back to the 1850s) to make them more readily accessible to the public. These records are typically used to support land use decisions and treaties and to gain a better understanding of early settlement in what is now known as British Columbia. This information is of interest to historians and to support land use claims by First Nations. “Some of the earliest observations of Indigenous settlements in B.C. were made by land surveyors and they were meticulous record-keepers,” Steves says.
Over the next few years, LTSA will be digitizing these records and making them more accessible electronically. “I wanted to be part of a culture that was tech-enabled, forward-thinking and really organized and constituted in a way that it could make these innovation decisions quickly,” says Steves.
This story was produced by Mediacorp in partnership with Postmedia, on behalf of the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia. Originally published here.