DCF Board Meeting April 20, 2004

Douglas-Coldwell Foundation Board Meeting
Tues, April 20, 2004
NDP Caucus Services, Ottawa

In Attendance:
Tessa Hebb
Nanci Morrison
Fraser Green
Ted Jackson
Marion Dewar
Anne Scotton
David Mackenzie (by phone)

Staff: Audrey Moey

Guests: Dave McGrane

Regrets:
Lynn Williams
Keally Cummings
David Woodbury

Call to Order

Meeting called to order

1. Approval of Minutes from last meeting
M/S/Carried Marion Dewar/Fraser Green

TH officially welcomed Audrey Moey as the administrator, replacing Adam Hodgins.

2. New Projects
At the time the meeting notice went out, we were in receipt of only one proposal, from ETAG.

So far, we have given $5,000 to the John Polanyi conference at Concordia University (Nov. 2003) and $5,000 to the Centre for Social Justice for their Defence Roundtable (March 22, 2004) out of our $20,000 discretionary awards fund.

Thus $10,000 remains from this fund to be awarded before the fall meeting.
Projects approved at the fall meeting will have funds dispersed in January.

1. COARRS request - although a worthy project, it does not fall within our mandate, and is not recommended for funding.

2. Woodsworth College request for contribution that will be matched. Not recommended because we are already giving a significant amount through 3 different bursaries, whose amounts have recently been augmented.

3. Phantom Poets - a play about Tommy Douglas. Another worthy project, but as there has been no lobbying from Saskatchewan MLA's or MP's - not recommended for funding.

4. Centre for Social Justice - a worthwhile project, but as we have just funded their defence roundtable, it was recommended that this request be deferred to the fall meeting.

5. ETAG/antisweatshop campaign - Tessa noted that this project is worthy of ongoing support, as there have been major successes in the past year. Dave Mackenzie noted that along with Oxfam and the Canadian Labour Congress, ETAG has been focusing on persuading Roots (the official clothing supplier for the Canadian & American Olympic teams) to NOT use sweatshop labour in the manufacture of their clothing.

ETAG is a shoestring project which manages to have a disproportionate impact. It is successful in linking NGO's, labour groups and university students, and is now picking up support from schools.

TH suggested contributing $7500 out of the discretionary fund, leaving $2500 for something else that may emerge before November.

M/S/C Fraser Green/Ted Jackson

The Projects report be approved
M/S/C Fraser Green/Ted Jackson

Ted Jackson described the discussion he had with Carl Nicholson at the Catholic Immigration Centre with regard to outreach efforts to the black community in Ottawa. Carl Nicholson will think about potential projects/possibilities and come back with proposals.

Ted reiterates that whatever we do should also be educational for the Board as well.
Marion reported that she has also talked to Carl and bounced around some ideas.
She noted that the black community is quite divided - not a homogenous community.

One issue that is a possibility is that of child soldiers from places like Sudan - these immigrants coming in from violent backgrounds need more support rather than just being deported.

Fraser asked if we shouldn't be looking at the Greater Toronto Ted responded that we can think about working in both areas; it would be more educational for the Board if there was a local project.

We'll also have to find out who's doing what in the GTA, and that may take some work.

Marion agreed that a local Ottawa project would be beneficial.

Tessa agrees that Ottawa is a practical starting point to build links to the community.

Our 5-year plan is drawing to a close, and we'll need to come up with another cycle. This project could be a part of the new strategic direction.

Fraser related that it is still a pretty white bread audience in the room whenever he goes to give pro-bono workshops - perhaps we can look at providing scholarships for delegates.

Marion noted that we'll need to provide at least 1/3 of the delegates to any workshop or they become mere tokens.

Anne suggested that a way around this would be to bring someone in to speak to the delegates as a "witness" to their experience.

Tessa suggested that we give it some time, and earmark some money now for projects in November. Thus the recommendation to the committee will be to
1. work on a new strategic plan
2. earmark some new dollars to allocate in November.

Ted added that we should be ready to act before November if a worthy project comes up.

M/S/C TJ/TH

3. Scholarship Update

Tessa reported the Woodsworth College bursaries have now increased as per the approved amounts from 2 years ago.

We have not heard of anything in Regina.from the University of Regina as to new scholarship recipients for this year. We will contact U of R. if we do not hear anything from tyhem by the end of 2004.

It was suggested that Ted could assist from within departments at Carleton to publicize the scholarships there, as nothing has yet been handed out. We would like to "promote" the Beverlee Bell bursary in particular.

4. Membership Drive

Tessa reported that the website is ready to go. Audrey will coordinate lists of names, set up web and phone donations with our banks and remind Board members to send in their lists of 20 names each.

Anne suggested that donations made "in memory of" a deceased person can go to our endowment fund.

Audrey will call Fraser once the lists are ready. There will be a Membership Drive page on the website, with links to projects that have benefited. The phone drive will happen first.

This concludes the Board meeting.