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Minutes From The DCF AGM - June 25, 2019
MINUTES OF THE DCF 2019 AGM
Held on June 25, 2019 at 7:00 PM ET
DCF Annual General Meeting August 16, 2009
Douglas-Coldwell Foundation Annual General Meeting
August 16, 2009 - Halifax, NS Annual General Meeting
In Attendance:
David Mackenzie
Pat Kerwin
Alexa McDonough
Michael Deraiche
Janine Bertolo
David Illman-White
Kevin Wright
Simon Strelchik
Doug Massey (staff)
By phone:
Howard Leeson
Erin Armstrong
Anne Scotton
Proxies:
10 proxies received
Guests:
Peter Clarke
Regrets:
Fraser Green
Tessa Hebb
Kealey Cummings
Dick Proctor
Lynn Williams
1. Adoption of Agenda
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2. Minutes of May 25 2008 Annual General Meeting
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3. President’s Report
David Mackenzie welcomed the members who have joined us at the meeting today and had everyone go around the room and introduce themselves.
Having the booth at the Federal NDP Convention in Halifax has been very effective.
Discussed the grant given to Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability and then explained how we will be returning to a range of grants in the future – the award of $25,000 now given out for the third time has been very effective in increasing the profile of the Foundation as well.
David encouraged our membership to recommend grant proposals to the Foundation.
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4. Secretary’s Report
Membership count
12 Lifetime (those giving a $1,000 one time donation)
93 Current members
137 members to renew
29 Association memberships
Plus the members signed up this weekend.
All membership donations receive a charitable tax receipt. For those giving $10 a month or more will receive a collector’s edition DVD of Speeches of Tommy Douglas.
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5. Treasurer’s Report
Pat covered the Audited Financial statements
Last year lost about $200,000 on investments and this year so far have regained about $100,000.
Pat Kerwin – we’ve made the award to the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (in 2009).
We’ve also received a $30,000 donation this year from a single donor which is greatly appreciated.
Pat also covered off the upcoming 3rd DVD project which will require greater funding to accomplish which will cover the War Measurers Act debates plus any other video footage we can get our hands on that would be appropriate to include.
Janine asked where our investments are. Pat explained they are done through ScotiaMcLeod in Ottawa in a balanced plan which historically has had a reasonable return. Pat also explained we are a member of SHARE who assists us with monitoring our portfolio.
Alexa offered to recruit the Nova Scotia Caucus into supporting the Foundation as individual memberships.
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6. Nomination of Board Members
There are 5 spaces available on the Board and we have 5 members who have shown interest and accepted the nomination for a three year term as per the by-laws.
David Illman-White
Phyllis Dietrich
Kevin Wright
Jesse Brady
Peter Stoffer, MP
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7. Other Business
Simon brought up that there is a collection from the Ontario Woodsworth Foundation (which merged with the DCF) that should be looked into. David asked Simon to contact Doug with more information for follow up.
Motion to adjourn at 5:00 pm AT
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DCF Board Meeting - February 27, 2020
DCF Board Meeting
Thursday, February 27th, 2020
19:00 ET
Location:
By Telephone
Attendance:
Karl Bélanger, Melissa Hunter, Mohammad Akbar, Rebecca Blaikie, Jon Weier, Derek De Vlieger, Diana Idibe, Chirs Markevich.
- Adoption of Agenda
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2. Adoption of minutes
Minutes of the July 23rd, 2019 meeting
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3. President’s report:
Hope everyone is well. Mayor of Ottawa has asked people to stay home because of the coronavirus, thankfully we can hold our meeting by phone.
Transition has been happening. Our new treasurer will give us an update.
The group “Nos Communes, Our Commons” appears to have gone dormant. We were wise to set conditions to go along with the grant approval.
Work has been done to update our registration with Industry Canada. No progress has been made on the Stokoe bequest. 4Executive
4. Secretary’s Report:
Anne Scotton is unable to join us and send her regrets.
5. Treasurer’s Report:
Transition has been happening. Priority now is on issuing tax receipts. We have to handle a few manually. We have a lot of different systems which are more or less
compatible with each other, but things seem under control. We are issuing cheques to catch up on some accounts due.
5. b) Fee structure at Scotia McLeod
Good discussions with Scotia McLeod about our assets. They remain healthy.
Their proposed new fee structure, SM would be much more nimble in the markets as there are no commission minimums on trades. Currently, the commission minimum is $175. That does limit profit taking opportunities and specific positions when considering weighting in the portfolio, which we must do as our assets are now stock-heavy.
Motion: BIRT the Board authorizes ScotiaMcLeod to move the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation wealth management account into a Partnership Plus account, which modifies the fee structure from a Per Transaction formula to an annual fee based on the DCF assets.
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5 c). Adoption of Treasurer’s report.
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6. Progress Summit
The Progress Summit will be held in Vancouver. We will have a booth. Looking for volunteers, so if anyone is attending, please let us know.
The next TDI Institute will be held in May. Theme is Our City & the Green New Deal. We have been invited to take part once again.
7. Office Space
Mohammad Akbar has raised the issue of the DCF securing a new permanent space by buying a building. The CFS building is no longer on the market. Board members express general interest in doing so sometime down the road.
8. DCF 50th Anniversary
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the DCF. It is a good opportunity to complete the reboot of the DCF and move forward with the plan adopted by AGM two years ago. We should have a year of activity of events, maybe a gala? Jon Weier volunteers to coordinate the DCF planning.
The Institute for Change Leaders (ICL)’s proposal to create a multimedia project that tells the story of progressive campaigns, driven by Olivia Chow, is moving forward, with Tim Harper on board. Another application will be forthcoming at the next board meeting. Board members expressed once again their support in principle for this proposal.
9. Next Meeting
Board members agreed to look for a suitable date in late April/early May.
10. Other business
The Institute for Change Leaders (ICL)’s proposal to create a multimedia project that tells the story of progressive campaigns, driven by Olivia Chow, is moving forward, with Tim Harper on board. We are still awaiting their next application.
We have received news from Beryl Young that Tommy's Dream, a children’s book that tells the story of how Tommy Douglas's childhood experience with his own health inspired him to work toward establishing universal health care, is now going to be published by Louis Anctil, the publisher of Midtown Press in Vancouver. Target is the spring of 2021. An update application will be forthcoming before the next meeting.
11. Adjournment
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DCF Board Meeting - July 23rd, 2019
DCF Board Meeting
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2019
6:00 ET
Location:
By Telephone
Attendance:
Karl Bélanger, Melissa Hunter, Mohammad Akbar, Rebecca Blaikie, Diane Idibe,
Jon Weier, Amy Boughner, Jay Ramasubramanyam, Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah.
Non-board member: Josh Bizjak
Adoption of Agenda
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2. Adoption of minutes
Minutes of the previous meeting are read and adopted.
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3. President’s report:
Karl mentions that there was a significant turnover of Board Members at the AGM, which is interesting and challenging.
The two committees charged by the previous AGM to review governance issues and the DCF by-laws made limited progress.
The DCF received a nice letter from a scholarship recipient and was read. The DCF needs to revisit its links with the different universities to strengthen the relationship and increase awareness.
4. Financial Report: No official report as the position is vacant, following the resignation of Emilie Taman. Karl gives a general overview of the financial situation. Our assets remain healthy. The DCF raised more money in the past year, thanks notably to a generous donation from the Flanagan Institute.
Minimal progress has been made on the transition. A full audit needs to be conducted before the end of the year.
Karl had a meeting with Scotia McLeod about our assets. They are proposing a new fee
structure, in essence moving to a fee-based structure from a per transaction cost. With the fee-based structure, our investors pledge to make himself available for board meetings and consult on the construction of a new investment policy statement. With a fee-based structure, we would be much more nimble in the markets as there are no commission minimums on trades.
Motion moved to ask the new treasurer to review, met with Scotia McLeod and report to the Board on a recommendation for the proposal.
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5. Election of officers
President: Karl Bélanger
Vice-President: Rebecca Blaikie, Derek DeVlieger
Executive Secretary: Anne Scotton in abstentia, pending her acceptance;
Mohammad Akbar as alternate.
Treasurer: Melissa Hunter
6. Staffing
Chris Markevich has moved on from his position but has been elected to the Board, which will be helpful for institutional memory. Josh Bizjak has been helping out on a volunteer basis.
Motion moved to regularize Josh Bizjak’s situation by compensating his work on a similar contract as previous assistant, to be negotiated with the President.
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7. Correspondence
