none
Minutes From The DCF AGM - June 25, 2019
MINUTES OF THE DCF 2019 AGM
Held on June 25, 2019 at 7:00 PM ET
none
Douglas-Coldwell Foundation Board Meeting
Dec 1, 2009
11:00 am ET Board Meeting
Boardroom
300-279 Laurier Ave W
Ottawa, ON
Present:
David Mackenzie
Pat Kerwin
Erin Armstrong
Kealey Cummings
Phyllis Dietrich
Jesse Brady
David Illman-White
Tessa Hebb
Doug Massey (Staff)
On the Phone:
Dick Proctor
Howard Leeson
Kevin Wright
Anne Scotton
Regrets:
Fraser Green
Peter Stoffer, MP
Alexa McDonough
Agenda
1. Adoption of Agenda
m/s/c
2. Minutes of Aug 16th 2009 Board Meeting
m/s/c
3. Correspondence
David was sorry to report that Frank Saptel, the current Vice President has decided to step down from the Board. David wanted the minutes to reflect the tremendous contribution that Frank Saptel made to the Board of the DCF.
Motion to thank Frank Saptel for his contributions to the DCF.
m/s/c
No other correspondence.
4. President’s Report
David reviewed the minutes of the very first meeting of the DCF on Monday July 31, 1972 and paid special attention to the following:
Tommy’s opening remarks – he noted that the political and social climate in North America was demonstrating many similarities to the populist period of the 1930’s -- this was based on discontent, a lack of confidence in the “establishment” and a manifestation of the frustration and alienation on the part of many citizens. He stated that it was particularly important that, at this time, there be clear thinking on social and economic questions. He felt that a role that the Foundation could play in such a context was to provide educational directions in the field of social economic questions.
David stated that this is just as relevant now as it was then.
David spoke of the grants for this year and mentioned we have to manage our funds wisely so for 2010 the grants at this time will be limited to $10,000 to be divided up as per the Board decisions based on the submissions received.
David covered the continued efforts of the CNCA and the grant we gave them.
David asked Doug Massey to talk about CLiFF in Ottawa.
Doug – Frank Saptel, the Founder of CLiFF – Canadian Labour International Film Festival successfully took on the challenge of not only starting a Labour Film Festival but a Labour Film Festival that went country wide in it’s founding year. We hosted a venue for Ottawa at the National Archives --- it was well received by those that attended and there was a genuine interest in the DCF continuing to host the Ottawa venue of CLiFF in the years to come – it is a great opportunity to promote education of different aspects of the world of labour.
Motion to move David’s report
m/s/c
Pat proposed a motion that the DCF continues to host the Ottawa venue of CLiFF in 2010 seeking the support of local unions to support any costs that would be incurred.
m/s/c
Pat also mentioned the great content of films that we had in Ottawa (which can be found on the DCF web site). David Illman-White also commented on the interview that Doug did on Michael Bhardwaj’s CBC Saturday morning radio show was well done. Phyllis also commented on how exciting this type of event is for not only the DCF but the country as a whole.
5. Secretary’s Report
281 members overall
31 members that Alexa signed up in Nova Scotia
125 members of the 281 still need to be renewed
32 Affiliation memberships in various stages of involvement
m/s/c
Pat asked that all the Board members take a part of the renewal list to personally call and ask people to renew. Everyone is to contact Doug with people they know on the list and then Doug will send out lists to all the Board members of people to call to reduce the duplication of calling.
6. Treasurer’s Report
Pat reviewed the YTD financial statements noting that we’ve made some progress on gaining on the lost investment money due to the market conditions at the end of 2008.
Kevin brought up his concerns about the investments we have as it pertains to certain organizations and their involvement in the Tar Sands for example.
Anne suggested that Tessa and Pat start a committee to discuss an investment directive statement.
Tessa wanted to ensure that we were still continuing our affiliation membership with SHARE. Tessa discussed that we have always explained to ScotiaMcleod to keep our investments in the areas of best in sector respecting the different aspects of responsible investing.
m/s/c
7. Scholarship Report
All 3 at Woodsworth College given out
The 2 at Carleton University were given out
Initial at University of Regina handed out.
Also two final University of Regina scholarships were submitted for payment.
Tessa asked that we ask the different scholarship venues for contact information so we can continue to communicate with these scholarship recipients in the future.
m/s/c
8. 2010 Grant Discussion
David covered the grant requests we have received. Once again a great group of grant requests but due to our investment rebuilding -- funds are limited this year.
After much discussion the Board recommended and agreed on the following:
$5,000 for Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting
$4,000 for the Knowles-Woodsworth Centre for Theology and Public Policy
$1,000 for CCPA in Saskatchewan for a book on the Regina Manifesto.
Tessa, Anne and Erin mentioned that we should confirm the percentage of the endowment fund that must be dispensed each year to ensure we are on target. Doug to follow up with the Auditor and communicate with the Board for the next meeting.
m/s/c
Pat put forth a motion that all future grant requests must be received 4 weeks prior to a Board Meeting to be included for discussion in order to ensure the Board has time to review the submissions in their entirety.
m/s/c
9. Other Business
Tessa brought up the Responsible Investment Policy mentioned under the Treasurer’s report.
Motion to set up a Responsible Investment Committee comprised of members of the Board who want to participate to discuss a proposal to be brought forth to the Board for our next meeting.
m/s/c
Howard brought up that most of these meetings are done by phone and it would be great to come up with little projects in each region of the country that different Board Members could help with in conjunction with other Board members (Education events, member drives, etc). Phyllis agreed.
David Mackenzie encourage all the Board Members to think about what events the DCF could support/hold in their different regions across the country.
Doug mentioned that for the future we’re investigating cost efficient web conferencing that will keep all Board members more in touch during meetings.
Next Board Meeting – Thursday May 27th, 2010 at 11 AM ET.
Motion to adjourn at 12:42 pm
m/s/c
MINUTES OF THE DCF 2019 AGM
Held on June 25, 2019 at 7:00 PM ET
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.
m/s/c
2. Adoption of minutes
Minutes of the July 23rd, 2019 meeting
m/s/c
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.
m/s/c
5 c). Adoption of Treasurer’s report.
m/s/c
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
m/s/c
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
m/s/c
2. Adoption of minutes
Minutes of the previous meeting are read and adopted.
m/s/c
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.
m/s/c
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.
m/s/c
7. Correspondence