Over the course of the spring and summer this year the team of staff and Directors at CASI-ACMS underwent a review of our Strategic Plan in an effort to ensure the association remains relevant to the snowsports industry, continues to serve our members to the highest standards, and has a clear direction for the future.

We engaged with a consultant who has extensive experience in the snowsports industry to help guide us through the process. Initially planned as an in person workshop in the spring of 2020 we obviously had to adapt and instead opted for a series of online sessions engaging staff and directors from all regions across the country.

After 27 years in existence during which CASI-ACMS experienced a period of exponential growth followed by a settling of membership numbers into many years of stability, it was time to review our Mission and Vision statements.

The outgoing Mission Statement which served exceptionally well for many years read as follows:

• To promote the sport of snowboarding, snowboard instruction and the profession of snowboard teaching in Canada by training and certifying snowboard instructors to ensure that a national standard of safe and efficient snowboard instruction is maintained.

After lots of brainstorming, discussion, debate, and tweaking this is what the team created.

Our new Mission Statement to help guide our daily decisions and operations:

• To champion the sport of snowboarding and snowboard instruction by providing an inclusive educational community while maintaining a leading international standard of snowboard instruction through innovative, relevant, and effective techniques.

We were pleased to see that the new Mission Statement shares a common theme with the outgoing Mission. This shows that CASI-ACMS is in a good place and has not veered dramatically off course since our humble beginnings

There are some key differences of note though:

• The use of the word “inclusive” indicates that CASI-ACMS strives to create a community and certification pathway that provides a welcoming environment and equal opportunity for everyone to become, and stay involved.
• The term “educational” speaks to a renewed focus on the fact that first and foremost we are instructors.  We train our members to provide amazing and memorable instructional experiences for their students.  While we take great pride in our technique and will not lose focus on that, it is critical to our success that we are amazing teachers.
• We also now recognize that we truly operate in a global market and hence the word “international” now features as a focus in our Mission. This speaks not only to the programs that we run outside of Canada but also to the role we play in establishing CASI-ACMS as a certification of choice in this global market. We feel we can play a significant role in reinforcing Canada as a leader in the snowports landscape as well as attracting both instructors and visitors to Canadian resorts.

Our new Vision Statement aims to provide an aspirational direction for our longer term planning and fills a void that existed in our decision making process:

• CASI-ACMS aspires to be a global leader in snowsports instructor certification and training by sharing our passion for providing innovative and inclusive educational opportunities and community engagement with our members, the snow sports industry, and like minded partners. We strive to make snowsports more diverse and accessible winter activities in Canada and abroad.

While we are very pleased with the outcome of this process and are excited to announce it to the membership we also recognize that this is a document that needs to be revisited regularly to ensure it remains relevant and continues to serve the needs of the association and its members. Each of us plays a role in the future direction of CASI-ACMS and we encourage you to engage in the discussion through your regional board representatives and the staff.

We very much believe that every member of CASI-ACMS plays a role in our success and we hope that you will join the staff and Directors in embracing, promoting, and embodying our new Mission and Vision.