For the record: the DSWAC has always organized, promoted and facilitated the training and testing of individuals since our organisation was formed, in continued recognition of the need for proper certification and accreditation here in Canada.
The DSWA of UK gave us their approval when we explained the direction and policy which we wanted to adopt when we first began thinking about the format of a Canadian association nearly 10 years ago.
Like other students who took and passed their DSWA tests at previous festivals, Sean Donnelly is seen here being observed by DSWA examiners Dan Snow and Norman Haddow as he completes his intermediate certification at the 2010 Thanksgiving 'Roctoberfest' run by the DSWAC last year in Grand Valley.
Since that time, we have arranged to always have testers come over from England, Scotland and the United States on a regular basis, to supervise formal DSWA testing for students in Canada around October at our annual Canadian Dry Stone Festivals and thus we have consistently supported the standards and principles that the DSWA has successfully established and maintained, instead of reinventing the wheel here in Canada.
Our organization however has never claimed in any way to have any formal affiliation with the DSWA of UK. We neither compete with them nor seek to 'ride' on their achievements in any way, except by acknowledging the enthusiasm we have in common with the DSWA for proper dry stone walling everywhere the craft is practiced.
In keeping with this policy, all testing in Canada which is organized by our association is done so with the compete cooperation and supervision of accredited DSWA of UK testers. Testing is offered in response to requests from Canadians who contact us to say they are interested, and those inquiries are simply forwarded to the British organisation. Most walling enthusiasts in Canada however are not even aware of the British association or the facility they present for walling testing. In addition to informing wallers of this testing option, we provide the site and stone and in some cases cover extra costs for the students wishing to be tested by the DSWA of UK , and it is run exactly the same way their testing is done in Britain and in any other countries who adopt their testing standards.
This was the policy started by John Shaw-Rimmington when he founded the DSWAC realizing that it was the most sensible and fairest solution for a country with a fledgling dry stone walling populace and a fairly insignificant dry stone heritage, compared to other countries. His decision from the beginning, to try to encourage people wanting to get their certification, had been contested from within the DSWAC, based on a worry that such a certificate would merely become something that opportunist landscapers and other masons unsympathetic to the dry stone cause, would only try to get so they could wave it in front of prospective clients, an inevitable consequence of any formal certification system, the one bad apple spoiling the crop concept, etc.. We agreed to a compromise solution whereby it was decided that no Canadian calling himself a waller, (with or without their certification, professional or amateur) would be individually promoted by the DSWAC, nor did we think it was fair to provide a links page on our web site as it would be then showing favoritism.
Up until just prior to the our 6th dry stone wall festival in Grand Valley Ontario, (when international wallers and visitors attended an event where the building of a full-scale Scottish 'blackhouse' in Canada was the main event) we were not aware that there was any need to change any of these policies.
We are saddened by the knowledge that there may be individuals who perhaps think we are running this organization contrary to what has been described above. Again, to make it clear, it has been the policy of the DSWAC from the beginning to support and encourage wallers of all skill levels to attain the highest level of instruction and accreditation available to them.
As a footnote. In a genuine desire to listen to, and accommodate the requests of our members and Canadian wallers alike, we have now recently seen fit to post useful stone resources and make various wallers names and contact info available to the general public. For reasons stated above, this list does not and can not constitute any official promotion, by the DSWAC, of any individual waller, nor does it guarantee the workmanship or reliability of any wallers on this list.
The list can be found here A List of Wallers and Quarries or by clicking the first menu item under the 'Main site links' in the upper right corner.
We will be adding to this page regularly.