C-45 Quality Association - Fall Association Newsletter

Dear C45 Quality Association Members

The C45 Quality Association brings together the quality and regulatory leaders of Canadian Cannabis to assist in establishing the quality standards of the industry with the applicable regulations. The association is re-launching new initiatives to foster the expansion of our community and accelerate the opportunity to connect, share experiences and learn. We begin by providing the association membership up-to-date information on events, new structure of the Board of Directors, committees to engage participation, eLearning content, and social virtual networking event series “Quality Time” to stay connected. We hope to improve the value you may unlock as a member of the C45 Quality Association. Our short term objectives aim to invest in technical content, outreach to regulators, and communication tools while reducing membership fees to drive participation. To establish this robust framework, we thank you for membership and attendance in the Annual C45 Quality Summit which assembles the most current industry intelligence important to quality professionals and organizations that services the development of high quality, safe, product commercialization.

Together, the industry’s social recovery is best positioned with our collective industry knowledge in quality assurance and regulatory affairs accessible to our unique community. We present the following updates and framework for a vigorous C45 Quality Association.

May 2021 C45 Quality Summit Outcomes

The Quality Summit provided a virtual lecture series focusing on Science and Cannabis Research hosting topics such as: pest management, sanitation, laboratory testing, microbial sterilization, materials qualification, and regulatory policy and inspections. Our community forum welcomed 589 delegates for a total of 31 presentations, including inspection insights, voluntary recalls, from Health Canada, and the upcoming consultations to regulations spearheaded by the C45 Regulatory Committee.

We are pleased to relaunch the Quality Summit Presentation by Health Canada “Top 10 Virtual Inspection Findings and how to avoid them at your facility” for C45 Association members. clicking here. The questions posed by viewers at the end of the presentation were answered by Health Canada Associates and are available here for your reference.

You are encouraged to have your ideas and experiences heard by joining the C45 Association Regulatory Committee by reaching out to chairperson David Brown for opportunities to participate in upcoming meetings.

Next year, the C45 Quality Summit is planning a return to live conference with all public health safety precautions for showcasing networking and working groups. Scheduled for May 9-11, 2022 in Calgary, Alberta, the Summit will reflect theme “Through the Looking Glass” Creating Product Consistency and Process Efficiency. With aim to provide actionable practices for quality assurance departments and compliance professionals, the Quality Summit Planning Committee is requesting a call to all association members to submit a request for topics or an abstract to become a speaker.

Register at the early bird price available now till October 30th at www.c45summit.com & www.growingsummit.com

Click here or any question below to respond to the quick, 5-Q-Quality Summit 2022 Delegate Survey:

1. Please list your name or the name of a nominated speaker if you are interested in presenting content at the 2022 C45 Quality Summit.

2. What topics did you feel were missing from the last virtual Quality Summits and if included, would contribute valuable discussion?

3. What are the industry and regulatory information gaps that should be discussed and be a future subject of regulatory consultation with Health Canada?

4. What industry needs do you believe the C45 Quality Association should assist in providing?

5. Which committee and topic would you like to participate in? We encourage all members to get involved to build a stronger directory of knowledge and expertise.

Thank you for your feedback.

C45 Quality Association Announces New Board of Directions Structure and Financials

Tom Ulanowski

President

Tom is Vice President of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs at Nextleaf Labs, where he also holds the positions of Quality Assurance Person (QAP) and Responsible Person. At Nextleaf, Tom is intimately involved in day-to-day production/manufacturing activities, as well as research and product development, regulatory liaison, and licensing/permitting.

Tom is an advocate for education and societal change for accessing accurate information on cannabis. Passionate about safe product development and compliant practices, Tom is avidly in the media for prompting science-based discussion and healthy skeptism backing his expertise in concentrates and progressive commercialization of new products.

Tom is the ideation behind a new networking series called Quality Time where QAPs from across Canada can join into a Zoom virtual meeting for Q&A and to share experience with recent inspections.

Bradon Tate

Vice President

Brandon is Head of Regulatory Affairs/IT/Security, Director of Quality Assurance, QAP, and ARPIC for Thrive Cannabis as well as taking on the role of Director of Quality Assurance/AQAP for Canary RX (Venn Cannabis).

Most notable is Brandon’s pioneering endeavours have delivered the first Ontario Farmgate Retail Operators Licence for recreation cannabis. His out-of-the-box analytical mindset have also expanded Thrive’s medical sales with expertise in globalization and exports for cannabis trade agreements.

Brandon holds the relationships to liaise with all regulatory agents at federal and provincial levels to delivers benefits for all members with current information and audit readiness.

Karina Lahnakoski

Director

Karina is a Partner in Deloitte’s Risk Advisory Practice with a focus on the regulatory and compliance operations in the cannabis sector. Karina’s focus is in assisting mid-size and large cannabis businesses maintain and grow their businesses while maintaining operational compliance. Karina is recognized as a top Canadian consultant for GMP manufacturing operations with demonstrated project management in global product export risk management.

Karina has championed many responses to Health Canada’s Open Consultations and will continue to push for universal interpretations of the regulations that build systematic progress to cannabis manufacturing balancing risk & opportunities in the industry.

With the continued administrative support of Hempfest, Sacha Hockenhull and Stephanie Ostrander co-chair the committee for C45 Quality Summit events. Further, Dr. Brigitte Simons will resume another year term as treasurer and Brian Coutts will continue as secretary to complete the elected 2021-2022 Association Board of Directors.

The C45 Quality Association Financial News

The June 30, 2021 year-end Financial Statement (unaudited) presents a healthy stance towards innovation, increasing resources, and capabilities towards expanding membership-base. From the proceeds of past virtual summits and sparse cost controls, the Association‘s cash asset position (+$24,732) and excess revenues above expenditures (72% GM) have identified opportunities to improve value to membership holders.

Starting in Q4, the Association will motion a reduction of membership fees and affordable quarterly payment schedules to make membership more accessible to more segments of the industry, inclusive as retailers, consultants, multi-site corporations, and students young in career. The Voting-enabled membership tier is envisioned to expand under this new structure to nurture an active democratic process and deliver greater impact to activities of focus for our committees seeking resources and support to achieve their goals. There exists much opportunity to increase engagement with our regulators and government agents into forum as pandemic restrictions lift and face-to-face interactions widen scope of new licensing approvals for operations.

Investments in communication tools, purpose-built technical content, and reference guides are also value-add benefits that will be made available to all members in the upcoming months. At present, members can join the Association’s Slack Channel, Slack Connect, by reaching out to Sacha H. for more information. Please also enjoy the C45 Associations Youtube Channel for re-posted technical content from past digital C45 Summit and Growing Summit.

C45 Quality Time Presents…

Wondering about how to design approved product labels? Documentation standards for Materials intake? How to carry out risk analysis on sites’ your SOPs? The C-45 Quality Association will be hosting Quality Time, an interactive webinar series starting October. Our rotating group of QAP expert panellists will be available to answer your QA and regulatory affairs questions.

You are encouraged to sign up to join the monthly forums and be a knowledgeable and sharing socialite; https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sF5neK0aS6uDnu-RXakf8w