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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.
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