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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 Board Meeting May 15, 2007
Douglas-Coldwell Foundation Board Meeting
March 15, 2007 Board meeting
300-279 Laurier Ave W
Ottawa, ON.
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9:08 a.m. Board Meeting declared open by Tessa Hebb
Attendance
Tessa Hebb
David Mackenzie
Anne Scotton
Pat Kerwin
Kealey Cummings
Fraser Green
Marion Dewar
Erin Armstrong (Guest)
Éric Hébert-Daly (Guest)
Phone:
Lynn Williams
Howard Pawley
Howard Leeson (Guest)
Dick Proctor (Guest)
Staff:
Doug Massey
Regrets:
Alexa McDonough
Frank Saptel
Agenda
1. Approval of Minutes of November 16th, 2006 Board Meeting
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2. Correspondence
3. President’s Report
Motion to carry President’s report, Secretary’s Report and Treasurer’s Report to the AGM immediately following this meeting.
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4. Secretary’s Report
see # 3 President’s Report
5. Treasurer’s Report
see # 3 President’s Report
6. By-laws Review and Updates
Reviewed by-laws
Suggestions were made to be brought forward to the membership for the 2008 AGM – membership will be notified by mail with their AGM notices
Immediate Administrative Changes to be brought forth to this year’s AGM:
Changes to “Rules and Regulations – as amended”
Fees and Dues:
1. Fees and Dues
1.1 An Individual Lifetime Member shall pay a one-time due of $1,000.00
1.2 An Individual Annual Member shall pay minimum annual membership dues of $60.00
1.3 A Youth (26 years of age and under) Individual Annual Member shall pay minimum annual membership dues of $12.00
1.4 An Association Annual Member shall pay minimum annual membership dues of $100.00
2. Head Office
2.1 The head office of the Corporation shall be located at 300-279 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON, K1P 5J9
3. Expenses
3.1 Each Director shall be paid the following expenses for attendance at Board Meetings and, if he or she is a member of the Executive or other Committee, at each meeting thereof:
3.1.1 The most economical return train, bus or airfare
3.1.2 Transportation as required to and from airport and for airport parking
3.1.3 If driving, kilometer reimbursement as per the Treasury Board guidelines
3.1.4 Single hotel room including taxes
3.1.5 Meals and personal expenses up to the daily maximum as per the Treasury Board guidelines
Motion: To bring forth the suggested changes to the members at the 2008 AGM and to bring forth the Administrative changes to the 2007 AGM for approval.
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7. New Project Requests
New Project committee in the past has been Tessa Hebb and Ted Jackson (who has stepped down from the Board)
Breakdown of applications:
Concordia University - Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
- They are doing a conference on distinguished lectures series
- Requesting $10,500
- We have supported them previously 3 years ago.
Saskatchewan Archaeological Society - The Zenon Pohorecky Memorial Fund
- looking for $8,000 to establish a yearly scholarship fund.
- very worthwhile project
- recommended to grant $500 (one time gift only) for this year while they establish the scholarship.
John Burton - Potash Publication
- looking for funds to assist him with his publication of a book on the potash industry
- request for funding was for assistance with research – our policy is to give grants to the “publisher” to assist with publishing not for honourariums, salaries, etc of the writers.
Daily Bread Food Bank
- request not directed towards our mandate of “promoting education and research in social democracy”
Youth Activist Retreat
- have applied several times now including the 2006 Douglas-Coldwell Foundation award
- when we revised our mission statement a few years ago – it was decided to get Youth more involved in our mandate.
- recommended to support this project for $3,000 (not to be used for honourariums) and ask to be in the branding of the program – send our posters for participants and ask that a member of the Board be asked to speak at one of the luncheons.
Community Ownership Solutions
- we have funded them in the past
- they also applied for the 2006 Douglas-Coldwell Foundation award
- when they applied last year it was very specific, this time the request is too broad.
The Elizabeth Wiebe Society for Orphan Children in Canada
- unfortunately not specific enough for us
The Alberta Métis Letters: 1930-1940 policy review and annotations
- unfortunately not targeted towards our mandate of promoting education and research in social democracy
Motion: Of the project requests we received, we will send letters of regret to Concordia University, John Burton, Daily Bread Food Bank, The Elizabeth Wiebe Society , Community Ownership Solutions and the Alberta Métis Letters - Letting them know we have expended our resources for 2007. We will support the Youth Activist Retreat for $3,000 and ask that we be listed as a sponsor and be invited to a luncheon and we will support the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society for a one time grant of $500 commending them on setting up this scholarship.
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8. Fund for Global Survival – George Crowell Presentation to the Board at 10 a.m.
George Crowell joined the Board Meeting to discuss his proposal
Discussion amongst the Board and George took place to fully understand the proposal.
Motion put forth by Anne: That the Officers of the DCF will convene a sub-committee to discuss further the Fund being proposed and its implications on the Foundation.
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Tessa thanked George for coming to the meeting.
9. Scholarship Report
All scholarships have been granted this year except for the University of Regina.
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10. Nomination Committee Report
Tessa indicated to the Board in November 2006 that she was going to step down as President of the DCF but would remain on the Board of Directors as Past-President.
Ted Jackson, Jill Marzetti and Robert Needham have also resigned from the DCF Board of Directors. Tessa would like to thank them all for their many years of service on the DCF Board of Directors.
Motion to send a letter of thanks to Ted, Jill and Robert for their many years of service.
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To replace these three positions the following names have been brought forth to give us more coverage across the country.
Dick Proctor – British Columbia
Howard Leeson – Saskatchewan
Erin Armstrong – Ottawa
In addition David Mackenzie has agreed to have his name go forward for President, Frank Saptel as Vice President, Anne Scotton as Executive Secretary and Pat Kerwin as Treasurer.
Motion by Anne Scotton: That this recommendation of the three new Board member positions be adopted at the AGM.
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In addition Ed Broadbent and Shirley Douglas have agreed to come on as Honorary Patrons.
11. New Business
Pat Kerwin discussed the success of the SOS Medicare 2 conference that we gave a grant of $25,000 to and let everyone know we’ll keep the results of the conference updated on our web site
Date of Thursday November 22, 2007 at 11:30 a.m. ET for the next Board Meeting.
Motion to Adjourn meeting at 11:15 am.
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Latest posts
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
