Vision & Values

We contribute to specification best practices in Canada by actively participating in key conferences and industry initiatives. We are members of and contribute to the work undertaken by the following organizations:

• A current member, David Organ has been a continuous member of Construction Specifications Canada (CSC) for over 25 years, has taught certification courses, participated in Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) storyboarding processes for new courses, and provided financial support to its flagship Directory through advertising dollars.
• Scientext is a “RAIC Affiliate Organization”.
• Individual and corporate memberships also includes the following organizations:
  • International Living Future Institute. The International Living Future Institute is premised on the belief that providing a compelling vision for the future is a fundamental requirement for reconciling humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Our beautiful planet is capable of supporting vast diverse ecosystems, allowing human communities to thrive, and we are capable as a species of living in balance with ecosystems and in balance with each other. The International Living Future Institute envisions a future where our planet and humanity are thriving, and we work towards that future every day. We refer to this future as the Living Future.
  • International Code Council. The International Code Council is the leading global source of model codes and standards and building safety solutions that include product evaluation, accreditation, technology, training, and certification. The Code Council’s codes, standards, and solutions are used to ensure safe, affordable, and sustainable communities and buildings worldwide.
  • Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce. The Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce is a politically independent, membership-based, not-for-profit organization serving the local business community. The Chamber is the Sarnie-Lambton’s premier networking organization, offering members a variety of opportunities to promote their business, as well as numerous opportunities for professional education and development. The Chamber represents Sarnia-Lambton’s businesses and supports them at all levels of government.
  • Better Business Bureau (BBB), maintaining an A+ rating. BBB’s mission is to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust. They do this by:
    • Setting standards for marketplace trust.
    • Encouraging and supporting best practices by engaging with and educating consumers and businesses.
    • Celebrating marketplace role models.
    • Calling out and addressing substandard marketplace behaviour.
    • Creating a community of trustworthy businesses and charities

    As part of our commitment to sharing best practices, we regularly attend and contribute to industry conferences and presentations, and feedback sessions with our current and prospective clients.

Specifying Green

“Sustainability implies considering intertemporal decisions, decisions relating and balancing flows of responses occuring at different times. We do something in the near future, in anticipation of someone receiving some benefit in the more distant future, or at least not having their future well-being undermined.”

– Ian Ellingham, PhD, PLE, FRAIC, from “Assessing Tough Sustainability Decisions: Informing Expert Intuition”, Construction Canada, October 2018, Vol. 60 No.7, p.73.

We believe investment in environmentally-sustainable construction is not only a responsible investment but also a smart investment.

As well as being socially responsible by reducing carbon emissions, energy-efficient construction saves owners, governments and operators money by reducing total energy and lifecycle costs.

Whenever our client’s design and program permit, we specify identified aspects of the Canadian Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) standards, or the Green Building Initiative (GBI) Green Globes® standards, either of which result in more environmentally sustainable construction of which our communities can be proud. We ensure that our client’s desired environmental objectives are clearly identified and expressed in the requirements specified.

We also provide supporting documentation and technical specifications for Core Green Building (Core), Zero Energy, Zero Carbon and Passive House certified projects, and specify eco-friendly materials and processes whenever the design permits. There is a profusion of green building certifications and rating systems available to the environmentally conscious owner and designer – Green Building Canada lists nineteen systems currently in play – and we are committed to meeting and specifying any environmentally-conscious design objective that the project sponsors and design team elect for their project and that falls within our scope of services.

Scientext® works with a wide variety of clients across diverse jurisdictions. Conflicts of interest may occur and a conflict of interest policy is important to have in place to guide assessment and resolution.

The Law Society of Ontario has noted online a series of steps to help lawyers identify and resolve conflicts of interest. While Scientext® is not a law firm or legal or paralegal service, Scientext® commits to these general steps as sensible practice. The series of steps noted online by the Law Society of Ontario are as follows:

“Is there a conflict of interest?  

1. Determine who your client is.
2. Consider the nature of your assignment and the duties to your client arising from your assignment.
3. Determine whether the duties that you owe to current clients, former clients and any third persons might affect the duties owed to your client. Similarly, determine whether you have any personal interests that might affect the duties owed to your client.
4. Determine if there is a substantial risk that your duty of loyalty to the client or the representation of the client would be materially and adversely affected by your own interest or your duties to another client (current, former or joint clients) or a third person. If so, there is a conflict of interest.

If there is a conflict of interest, can you act despite the conflict of interest?  

1. Determine if you are being asked to represent both sides of a dispute. If so, you cannot act or continue to act.
2. If you are not being asked to represent both sides of a dispute, determine whether you reasonably believe that you are able to represent each client without having a material adverse effect on the duties owed to the other client.
3. If you do not reasonably believe that you are able to represent each client without having a material adverse effect on the duties owed to the other client, then you cannot act.
4. Alternatively, if you reasonably believe that you are able to represent each client without having a material adverse effect on the duties owed to the other client, then you may act if there is consent from all of the affected clients, which consent must be fully informed and voluntary after disclosure.” – Law Society of Ontario.