Ontario Member Update from Mike Whelan, Chair of the SCMA Board of Directors

September 19, 2023

Dear Ontario Member,

We are reaching out to you to provide clarity with regards to emails you may have been receiving from the Supply Chain Management Association Ontario (“Ontario Institute”) regarding their education programs and certification, membership, and other promotions, as well as some clarification regarding the Ontario Institute’s disassociation from Supply Chain Management Association (operating as Supply Chain Canada since 2019) (“SCMA”).

As of June 2, 2023, the Ontario Institute is no longer affiliated with SCMA.

Until June 1, 2023, your Ontario membership fees included membership with the Ontario Institute and SCMA. If you did not renew your SCMA membership, you no longer have access to your SCMA member portal, educational and professional development programs or member benefits. Unbeknownst to SCMA, many of our Ontario members went to their member portal to renew their 2023-2024 membership and inadvertently purchased a membership with the Ontario Institute as the link redirected them to the Ontario Institute website to offer members a less expensive, provincial membership. When it was realized, we removed the link immediately, but it caused significant confusion among members who thought they were renewing with SCMA. We have worked with those members who contacted SCMA toward a solution.

Further, the Ontario Institute was the previous administrator of SCMA’s online education platform (Brightspace), the disassociation also meant a transition in administrators of our online learning.

While we have continued to pursue options to work with the Ontario Institute to be one unified voice for Supply Chain Management across Canada, the following points require clarification.

  1. The Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP™) is the only nationally recognized trademarked supply chain designation in Canada. To comply with provincial legislative purposes, the Ontario Institute was required to add the prefix “C”, however, members in Ontario, were required to complete the SCMP national educational program consisting of eight modules and six workshops, attend the SCMP Leadership Residency and pass the SCMP Final Examination. Until June 2, 2023, the CSCMP was the same designation as the SCMP™. Following Ontario Institute disassociation on June 2, 2023, the Ontario Institute no longer have the rights to confer the national SCMP™ designation or use any of the proprietary SCMP™ educational program. The Ontario Institute has not presented any educational programs to SCMA for reciprocity consideration meaning anyone who takes CSCMP courses or has the CSCMP conferred after June 2, 2023, will not have courses or CSCMP designation accepted for advanced standing in the SCMP™ program
  2. Bill PR19, Supply Chain Management Association Ontario Act, 2015 does not prevent a member of the Ontario Institute from using the SCMP™ designation in Ontario, or from being a member of SCMA, or, if you choose, of both associations. The Act clearly identifies the Certified Supply Chain Management Professional (CSCMP) in the province of Ontario. If you are a member in good standing with SCMA and earned your CSCMP prior to June 2, 2023, your SCMP™ certificate was mailed out to you in July. If you have the CSCMP designation conferred by the Ontario Institute prior to June 2, 2023, and would like to retain your national designation, please contact membership services at [email protected].

Bill PR19, Supply Chain Management Association Ontario Act, 2015 provides that every member of the Ontario Institute who meets the academic, experience and continuing qualification requirements set out in the by-laws for the use of designations may use the designations “Certified Supply Chain Management Professional” or “CSCMP”, or both, and may use a seal in a form provided by the by-laws (PR19, Section 8 (1)). Further, the Act stipulates that in order to use the “Certified Supply Chain Management Professional” or “CSCMP” the individual must be a member of the Ontario Institute (PR19, Section 8 (3)). Members of SCMA who work or reside in Ontario that have the SCMP™ designation are no longer required to be a member of the Ontario Institute. For clarity, Bill PR19 does not state or imply that the CSCMP designation is recognized or endorsed by the Province of Ontario.

  1. SCMA does offer both the SCMP™ and SMT educational programs in an online self-study format supported by a team of experienced instructors (on Brightspace) and in a virtual instructor led program offered via Zoom. In response to member feedback, we have standardized pricing and increased the number of instructors supporting the programs. The SCMP™ program was enhanced in Fall 2022, to include new case studies, and SCMA has established a new academic integrity and plagiarism policy and late submission policy. For 2023, we are continuing to enhance the learning content and experience of our education programs. The SCMP™ and SMT programs are offered in both official languages. Participants in either the SCMP™ or the SMT should be aware that the Ontario Institute has not presented any educational and professional development programs for consideration for reciprocity; as such, educational and professional development programs offered by the Ontario Institute after June 2, 2023 are not recognized by SCMA.

  2. For more than 100 years, SCMA has been the country’s largest association for supply chain professionals. We are 4,500 members strong and growing, also representing the wider profession that includes the breadth of supply chain roles such as sourcing, procurement, logistics, inventory, transportation, distribution, operations, sustainability, replenishment, and contract management. SCMA’s membership includes over 2,300 SCMPs supporting supply chain teams in over 3,000 organizations across Canada and around the world. SCMA has accreditation agreements in place with more than 50 universities and colleges across Canada, and beyond. Additionally, SCMA is working with Human Resources professionals to continue building recognition of the SCMP™, and supporting the use of SCMA’s exclusive Competencies of Canadian Supply Chain Professionals report. Members can also use our proprietary Competency Benchmarking Tool to identify your strengths, analyze skill gaps and find where you stand in the industry.

  3. SCMA offers our members a variety of programs for individuals and teams. Watch the events section on our website for upcoming events. Members are also encouraged to explore the following SCMA information site:

On behalf of SCMA and our affiliated provincial Institutes, I want to thank you for your patience as we work through the transition of a disassociation of the Ontario Institute .

Please contact SCMA at [email protected] should you have any questions or concerns regarding this transition or your professional development.

Thank you,

Mike Whelan,

SCMP Chair,
SCMA Board of Directors

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