2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
To: Members of Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians - British Columbia
Affiliate (AEBC-BC).
From: Denise Sanders, Secretary
Subject: 2011 Annual General Meeting
The third Annual General Meeting of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians - British Columbia Affiliate will take place on June 4, 2011 at 2:00 pm at the White Spot Restaurant in Vancouver, BC.
Location: White Spot Restaurant Vancouver Downtown
(Just west of the intersection of Georgia & Cardero, on the south side)
Address: 1616 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC
V6G 2V5
Phone: (604) 681-8034
We have the room booked from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Members are invited to come for lunch and to socialize at 11:00 am. (Note: The cost of the lunch is not covered by the Affiliate). The BC Affiliate General Meeting will begin at 2:00 pm. After the business meeting, we will share stories for the humour booklet.
The agenda will include:
* President's Report
* Minutes of Annual General Meeting - June 26, 2010
* Treasurer's report
* Elections for president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and one or more directors for one-year terms
Members are invited to raise any other items of business that may be considered at an Annual General Meeting of the AEBC-BC as prescribed in the AEBC-BC's bylaws.
The bylaws provide that members may vote by proxy in elections and on some other matters of organizational policy. Anyone wishing to vote by proxy should complete the form below, and return it to National Office, to arrive not later than May 20, 2011.
Forms may be sent by regular post to:
PO Box 20262, Town Centre,Kelowna, BCV1Y 2H9, or from your home email .
Any member who cannot attend the AGM may still run for any office; however, we must be clear that you wish to run and for which office(s).Please send a note to Denise Sanders indicating your interest in standing, and for which office. You will be responsible for findingyour own nominator.
We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meeting.
PROXY FORM
This form should be completed and sent, to arrive not later than May 20, 2011, from your home email address to AEBC-BC’s Secretary at or by regular post to PO Box 20262, RPO Town Centre, Kelowna, BC V1Y 9H2.
I, (your name) ______appoint (“the proxy holder”), ______to be my proxy at the Annual General Meeting of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians British Columbia Affiliate on June 4, 2011, in Vancouver, British Columbia. In doing so, I authorize the proxy holder to vote on my behalf on all matters on which proxy votes may be cast under the bylaws of the Society.
I further warrant that:
- I have spoken to the proxy holder and have confirmed that the proxy holder is an active member of AEBC-BC Affiliate; and
- The proxy holder will be attending the Annual General Meeting.
I reserve the right to cancel this proxy at any time prior to the end of the Annual General Meeting by expressing my intentions in writing to the Secretary of the Society.
Signature: ______
Date: ______
AEBC-BC Affiliate
Minutes - Annual General Meeting
June 26, 2010
Present: Barbara Amberstone, Lynn, Carolyn, Shirley, Lisa, Charles Bailey, Rita
Dilek, Susan Gallagher, Tami Grenon, Jen Jesso, Louise Johnson,
Ryan Jopling, Richard Marion, Peg Mercer, Christine Nieder, Barb Schuster, Denise Sanders, Cathy Stukenberg, Tom Teranishi, Paul Thiele, Elmer Thiesan
Meeting called to order at 2:14 PM.
Paul moved to approve the agenda. Charles second. Motion carried.
President’s Report
Richard welcomed everyone to the 2ndannual AGM for the BG Affiliate and thanks everyone for coming. Five out of the six BC chapters came. Richard thanks Denise Sanders and all the chapter members for being active in their communities, as well as the BC Affiliate board. Board meetings and Chapter Presidents meetings have helped increase lines of communication between the chapters.
The BC Affiliate has engaged in some fundraising over the past year to offset the costs of the AGMs, including putting in gaming applications in November and heard back in March; unfortunately the application was denied, partly because of limited gaming funds and being a new charity, and partly because our programs are focused on organizational development rather than community activities. All chapters have been quite active this year; all have been involved in bus stop announcements, increasing membership, and social activities.
Due to lack of acquiring gaming money, the Board of Directors and Chapter Presidents have discussed the future of the BC Affiliate and have decided that keeping it going for at least another year is crucial. The costs of operating the BC Affiliate are minimal, and it is useful for facilitating communication between chapters, as BC has the most number of chapters of any province. The BC Affiliate is an organization that requires a level of involvement from each individual member and support among members. In future we may look into hiring a staff member who could help facilitate this process. It's not a matter of what the organization can do for us but what we can do for the organization to help improve the lives of people who are blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind in the community.
Richard moves that his President’s report be accepted as read. Charles seconds. Carried.
Rita moves that the minutes from the AGM on May 2nd, 2009 be accepted. Charlie seconds. Susan notes a correction that she did not nominate Peg Mercer. Motion carried.
Ryan moves to approve the minutes of the Special Meeting held on September 19, 2009. Peg seconds. Motion carried.
Peg reads the Treasurer’s Report. The BC Affiliate financial report covers the period from January 1st, 2009 to May 31st, 2010. The opening balance on January 9 was $28.74. Income during 2009: donations--$1,800.00; national funding--$17,000.00; total income: $18,800. Expenses: AGM and conference for 2009--$16,360.74; annual summary--$30.00; bank charges--$4.00; transfer back to national (occurred in 2010)--$636.00. Total expenses: $17,030.74. Income/expenses of $1,769.26. The bank balance for May 31st, 2010 is $1,798.00.
Peg moves that her report be accepted as read. Louise seconds. Carried.
Richard turns the floor to Paul for elections. Positions being elected are President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Director, all for one-year terms.
Nominations for President:
- Christine nominates Richard Marion
- Tom nominates Charles Bailey
- Peg nominates Denise Sanders
Nominations for President are closed.
- Richard Marion declines
- Charles Bailey stands
- Denise Sanders declines
Charles Bailey is acclaimed as President.
Nominations for Vice President:
- Elmer nominates Denise Sanders
- Denise nominates Richard Marion
- Susan nominates Ryan Jopling
- Ryan nominates Christine Nieder
Nominations are closed for Vice President.
- Denise declines
- Richard stands
- Ryan declines
- Christine declines
Richard Marion is acclaimed as Vice President.
Nominations for Secretary:
- Richard nominates Denise Sanders
- Susan nominates Barbara Amberstone
- Christine nominates Jennifer Jesso
Nominations for Secretary are closed.
- Denise stands
- Barbara declines
- Jennifer stands
Denise Sanders is elected as Secretary.
Nominations for Treasurer:
- Ryan nominates Jennifer Jesso
- Louise nominates Peg Mercer
- Peg nominates Paul Thiele
Nominations for Treasurer are closed.
- Jennifer declines
- Peg declines
- Paul stands
Paul is acclaimed as Treasurer.
Nominations for Director:
- Peg nominates Elmer Thiesan
- Barb nominates Susan Gallagher
- Denise nominates Jennifer Jesso
- Jennifer nominates Christine Nieder
- Lisa nominates Ryan Jopling
Nominations for Director are closed.
- Elmer stands
- Susan stands
- Jennifer stands
- Christine stands
- Ryan declines
Susan is elected as Director.
Paul turns the floor back over to Richard.
Future of BC Affiliate
There is a discussion about the future of the BC Affiliate. The board of directors and chapter presidents thought it would be worth continuing with the BC Affiliate for the foreseeable future to submit another gaming application and then evaluating things at that point.
Elmer makes a motion that the BC Affiliate continue. Louise seconds. Paul suggests that there be a sunset clause so that if the BC Affiliate is not successful securing gaming funds two years in a row we reconsider in a year whether it is worth continuing, which the new board will take under consideration. Tami suggests that in addition to gaming we think about whether there are any other activities the BC Affiliate would be useful for facilitating. Others suggest the BC Affiliate is useful for keeping chapters across the province connected with one another. Motion carried unanimously.
National Committees
A number of national committees are looking for members, including the Library and Copyright Committee, Household Products and Point-of-Sales committee, Accessible Website committee. Elmer and Rita expressed interest in the Website committee, and Peg, Cathy, and Louise expressed interest in the Household Devices committee. These names will be circulated to committee chairs.
Transportation Concerns
Transportation is a universal concern among chapters, so we can consider the formation of a Transportation committee.
Chapter Activities
Kelowna is organizing a social activity of a boat cruise and Mardi gras and invites interested members from other chapters. Nanaimo was planning kayaking but had to cancel due to the weather and is considering rescheduling. Vancouver is planning a pub night as a fundraiser, as well as a membership drive dinner.
Members List
AEBC National has a members list which is available to members to exchange information between AEBC members. More information is on
CBM Committee
The CBM committee is looking for personal success stories from AEBC members. It doesn't have to be a big story, but something simple that you feel successful about. If anyone is interested, they can write their own or can have an interview with someone from the CMB who can write up a story.
ADP Program
CCB has written a proposal to facilitate the EATI program. AEBC had asked for a proposal but has been asked to write one instead of receiving one. There was a threat of funding being cut but that is no longer the case. There has been a change so that applicants to EATI must now have an employment goal rather than a volunteer or employment goal. There were many questions about training, follow-up, and eligibility criteria that are not answered. If anyone has any questions or concerns they are encouraged to contact the EATI program directly or Sue Gallagher ().
2012 AGM
There’s been some interest of holding the 2012 AGM back in British Columbia because this will be the 20th anniversary of AEBC and it was started here in BC. There’s been interest expressed in either Vancouver or Kelowna. Whichever chapter would like to work on the conference, needs to act fairly quickly to get a proposal into National (by early fall at the very latest). Louise suggests that if one chapter cannot do it, two chapters could combine to put on a joint conference.
Proxy Votes
Susan would like to see proxies go out several months before the meeting so that members who are not on e-mail have time to get a proxy vote in. All members should have gotten a notice at the beginning of May when the national second AGM call went out, but this will be double-checked. CDs and e-mails went out separately this year and there were some issues with e-mail.
SPARC BC
Susan and Barbara also brought up concerns that SPARC (the Social Planning and Research Council of BC) is doing disability assessment of accessibility in some community areas, including advocating for the access needs of persons with visual impairments, and there is concern that they are not doing a good job of putting forth the needs of people with visual impairments. It’s suggested that the BC Affiliate write a letter to SPARC and offer to give some presentations/orientations about the needs of the visually impaired population.
Tami moves to adjourn the meeting. Louise seconds. Carried. Meeting adjourned at 4:02 PM.
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