An open letter to the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT)

Today, I got an invoice from the Ontario College of Teachers (hereafter denoted OCT) reminding me that I have not paid my 2013 annual membership fee of $138.

I paid my fee and I also sent the following letter to info@oct.ca.  Of course, I do not expect a response, since in the past, similar inquiries were not answered.

The letter is found below:

To whom it may concern,

I just paid my membership fee for the OCT for 2013 and I was bombarded with a whole bunch of questions about where I am working and the like.

I am not working in Ontario at the present moment.  Why does the OCT require to know where I am working and for whom?  Why is this a bylaw?

I continue to pay my fee, so I can be a member in good standing.  You get your money.  Why do you need to be "big brother"?

Personally, in my opinion, the college can create such silly bylaws if it has helped me in my teaching profession.  What has the college done for me lately?

The teaching profession was under attack by the provincial government.  What did the OCT do?  Nothing.  The teachers' unions had to defend teachers' reputations.

The teaching profession in Ontario is overflowing with qualified candidates and not enough vacant positions for its members.  What has the OCT done?  Nothing.

The discounts that my membership are only for Ontario merchants.  I don't shop in Ontario since I spend much of my time in Quebec.  How is this useful to me?  It is not.

Last year, it was decided that the fee for teachers be adjusted from $120 to $138.  The reason for this was never made public, to my knowledge, to the members of OCT, faithful members who continue paying the membership fee.  Where is the transparency?  There is none.

As a member in good standing who pays his membership fees every year.  I expect accountability and transparency from my College of Teachers, who by the way has done nothing to assist me in any way, shape or form in the past couple of years.

It also seems like any time I send an e-mail to the info@oct.ca address, my questions just get lost in the void and I never get acceptable responses.  Is this how a professional body treats its fee paying members?

A timely response would be highly appreciated on all these questions, but of course, since my past experiences with the college is that it will just be lost in the void, I actually do not believe I will have an answer from ANYONE at the OCT.