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local optometry practice is A‘launching a charter chalâ€" enge against the College of Optometrists of Ontario to fight a regulation that says optometrists cannot form a business partnerâ€" ship with opticians. The regulation goes against the right to free association as enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, said Daryan Angle, a partner in Iris the Visual Group. _ Iris is a Canadaâ€"wide chain with a branch in uptown Waterioo, which Angle owns. "By not allowing us to work with opticians, our position is that it takes away our right to freely assoâ€" ciate," he said. "Our model is for collaborative and integrative care where patients can get examined by both an optometrist and optician in the same facility," said Angle, who is also a vice president in the national Iris corporation. QOptometrists are licensed eye doctors who perform eye examinaâ€" tions and provide prescriptions, while opticians are professionals who provide glasses and contact lenses. There has been controversy over whether or not opticians should be allowed to do "simple" sight testing, a role that is not curâ€" rently ascribed to them, according to the college. Simple sight testing includes those performed when applying for a license. The trouble began for Angle and his partners last July when the colâ€" lege took disciplinary action against the Waterloo branch of Iris he University of Waterloo I announced a $12.5â€"million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will be used to help expand the university‘s highâ€"school math and computer science outreach proâ€" Gates Foundation donates $12.5 million to UW program The money will go to the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, which is a part of UW‘s faculty of mathematics. The centre offers math and computer workshops, seminars and contests for almost half a million students and teachers across the country, said David Johnston, the universiâ€" Local optometrist filing a charter challenge By Grzec MacDonain By Grzc MacDonaLp Chronicle Staff Chronicle Staff Dr. Daryan Angle, owner of the Iris optometry centre on King Street, is launching a charter challenge against the College of Optometrists of Ontario. Angle said that the college‘s regulation against an optometrist and an optiâ€" cian working together violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Gree macDonaLp rHoto for operating their business with dian Charter of Rights and Free an optician. â€" "Du mat altlaniner 116 ta doms are being violated â€" and Iris operates practices across the country with the same busiâ€" ness model and the Ontario college is the only organization that has taken issue with it, Angle said. The corpazation decided to take legal action against the college‘s regulations, which Angle said are outdated. They mounted a charter challenge â€" a legal action that claims rights outlined in the Canaâ€" ty‘s president, during a ceremony at Sir John A. Macdonald secondâ€" ary school last Thursday. "How fitting this announceâ€" ment is taking place at the school that bears the name of our first prime minister, the man who brought this country together," said Johnston. "This donation will further our goal of bringing the world together through informaâ€" tion and communications technolâ€" The donation stems from a visit from Microsoft founder Bill Gates to the university two years ago, said Thomas Coleman, dean of mathematics at UW. "We found that the (Bill and Melinda Gates) foundation and the CITY NEWS _ (university) share a common goal: to give young people the skills they need to achieve in this changing world," he said. Over the past few years, the uniâ€" versity has been working with the "By not allowing us to work with opticians, our position is that it takes away our right to freely associate." â€" David Johnston President of University of Waterloo "This donation will further our goal of bringing the world together through information and communications technology." â€"Dr. Daryan Angle Local optometrist HEASIWE dian Charter of Rights and Freeâ€" doms are being violated â€" and a court will decide whether or not the college‘s regulation is in violaâ€" tion. But while college regulations are clear on the matter, other offiâ€" cials are painting a different picâ€" ture of optometrists working with opticians. _ "We‘re getting mixed messages because the government of Ontario is actually in favour of colâ€" foundation to create a program to expand the centre‘s programs globâ€" ally, Coleman said. These proâ€" grams include the math contests, computer workshops for young women and online resources for teachers, said lan VanderBurgh, head of the centre. "Right now we reach at least 1,500 schools, including all of the schools in the local region," he said. He said he hopes that with the donation, the program will reach remote communities in Canada that the centre currently doesn‘t service, as well as schools across the world. The centre was officially opened in 1995, but it dates back more than 40 years when the WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, November 14, 2007 + 3 laborative care," Angle said. The regulation of which Iris is in violation is longstanding and has existed for more than 30 years, said Linda Bathe, the president of the College of Optometrists of Ontario who also runs a practice in Stratâ€" ford. "At the time the regulation was made, there was one corporation that was basically in control of the optical industry," Bathe said. _ "The regulation was made basiâ€" cally to distance optometry from commercialization." The situation has changed today, she said, but the college is obligated to discipline any memâ€" ber who violates the rules. "We don‘t have any options, we have to enforce the regulations that exist," Bathe said. The only way the college can stop action against offenders like Iris is for the Ontario Ministry of Health to amend the regulation or for the courts to strike it down, she And change might be on the way. The college submitted a revised regulation to the ministry that would allow opticians and optometrists to wark together about eight months ago. It is curâ€" rently going through government review, Bathe said. Until that review is completed, however, the college has to pursue discipline against Iris and fight the charter challenge, she said. If Iris loses the challenge, Angle is unsure of how it will affect the business. But he anticipates that the challenge will be won and that Iris will grow. “Our'perceplion is that we will continue to expand our operations throughout the province," he said. mathematics program at UW was in its infancy, Johnston said. â€" The students who first entered the program had a poor backâ€" ground in math and the departâ€" ment‘s professors saw a need to help high schools teach math. They worked with teachers across the province and started a math contest to encourage interest in math through competition, Johnston said. As the years wore on, the proâ€" gram grew into a nationwide effort and UW gained a reputation as a leader in mathematics. "This relationship with . . . schools in the country became a Continued on page 10