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Calgary Regional Women’s Committee Minutes – April 03, 2019

In Attendance:

Deb Kosteniuk, UTE 30024

Tabassom Javadi Doudaranie, UNE 30040

Jennifer Jurca, UCTE 30318 (recorder)

Eileen Ibrahim, CEIU 30856

Kirsten Strachey, UTE 30024

Dolly Abliltt, PSAC Regional Representative

Regrets:

Shohreh Movahedi, CEIU 30856

The Meeting was called to order at 6:12 p.m.

1. Agenda: Reviewed and adopted, with no amendments: Jenn moved, Tabassom seconded.

2. Minutes: from previous meeting Mar 14. Minutes were approved by all this week, Jenn needs to send to Tom for posting.

3. New Business:

a) Bear Witness Day: Friday May 10. Event planned for lunch time at Harry Hayes. We need volunteers from 11-2 for set up/running the booth/take down. Our budget includes LOS for 3 people. Kirsten, Deb/Tabassom, are interested. Eileen is also interested if she is finished her training by then. We were hoping that Vicky would be here tonight and potentially able to attend.

We plan to hand out literature on Jordan’s principle, serve cake and get members to pose for photos with the teddy bears and paddles, and tweet them out for support. (see attached photo for bear/paddle)

Deb to reserve the atrium space. Jenn got a quote from Co-op. Cupcakes are expensive, ($7.99 for 6, and a full slab cake is $90 plus $8 for a photo image) As the Union has had trouble with Co-op before, Jenn was requested to get another quote from Safeway.

b) Movie Night: We want to do one more event before the summer. We agreed to do the movie “Pride” about the Labour strike in England. Tentatively set for Friday June 14th. Deb will make the poster and organize it. We would be happy to invite the Human Rights Committee members to attend the event as well.

c) Sisters In Spirit vigil: This highlights/honours Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Children. The Day includes a march, speakers, and bagged lunches. The planning committee will start at the end of June or beginning of July for the October 4 event. Deb would like another sister to attend the sessions to shadow her and learn about what planning involves/be involved just in case Deb isn’t able to be, as well as for succession planning. Eileen is interested in attending.

d) Annual Reports:

Jenn: Pretty basic report: I type up the minutes, send them out, and ensure they get submitted to PSAC for posting.

Tabassom: Our bank balance as of Dec 31, 2018 is $3006.62. Total Revenue is $3334.76, Funding came from IWD ($1634.76) and Prairie Region Allocation ($1700). There are still some outstanding cheques to Awo Taan. These should be cashed now, but we haven’t got our statements yet to verify it.

Deb: 2018 was a good year with some great projects and a lot of fun. IWD was really great and women loved the fruit and vegetable vases! Movie Night was great, and Sisters in Spirit went on, although Deb couldn’t attend due to family issues. The Toy Drive, was excellent; we got great donations, valued at about $1500 and had a great night volunteering at the Women’s Centre. Components brought toys to the Regional Office to donate and while doing so, it was a nice opportunity to connect with the locals on a personal level.

Audits: Area Council audited us and we audited Area Council. There were a few small discrepancies with our statements, including not having a few vouchers filled out, or missing a few receipts for parking. Alec also indicated that he believes there is a potential need to have a voucher for deposits, although we had the donation letter, so that should have been enough. To be discussed at PRC... for a resolution and guidance for future.

4. Election:

Dolly explained the positions, and the back ground for each of the positions.

Chair: Tabassom nominated Deb, Kirsten seconded, Jenn nominated Eileen, Tabassom seconded.

Deb was elected as the chair.

Treasurer: Jenn nominated Tabassom, Deb seconded, Deb nominated Eileen, Kirsten seconded.

Tabassom was elected as the Treasurer.

Secretary: Tabassom nominated Jenn, seconded by Deb. Jenn nominated in Eileen, seconded by Deb.

Jenn was elected as the Secretary.

5. Roundtable:

Kirsten – Looking forward to meeting Chris and Magali at lunch on Friday. She wants to get the Speaker’s Notes from Dolly in preparation for her planned meeting with her MP.

Eileen – Nothing to report... She is set to start back at work on April 15: location to be determined.

Dolly: The Woman’s Place is in her Union course will be held again at the end of May, (the 24th) and in Lethbridge on the second weekend in June.

Deb – On Wednesday, Deb, as the PRC Rep for Women and Alec Goertzen, the PRC Calgary Area Council Rep, along with PSAC staff, Dolly and Diane attended a ‘sit -in’ lobby session to discuss Treasury Board Collective Bargaining and get a pledge of support from the MP, Kent Hehr. They were successful. She recommends that RWCs urge people to get out and visit your MP/MLA, take a small group and ensure that one of you is a constituent. There will be a mailout from the Area Council coming up. They are already printed, folded and stuffed, so we won’t need assistance with the preparation.

Tabassom – Thank you for trusting me for 5 years.

Jenn – nothing to add.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 p.m.

Next meeting to be held Wednesday May 1 at 5:30.