Calgary Human Rights Committee Meeting Minutes May 28, 2019

Calgary Human Rights Committee, Meeting Minutes, May 28, 2019

In Attendance:

Call to Order at 6:27 PM

Adoption of Agenda

Tabassom added one item to the Agenda. Deb Kosteniuk (President of the Regional Women’s Committee), invited all attendees to the Regional Women’s Committee Movie Night taking place in June 14th, 2019.

Agenda moved by Kathy Ajram, seconded by Shanon Hicks.

Approval of March 28, 2019 Meeting Minutes

Moved by Shanon Hicks, seconded by Alin (Eileen) Ibrahim.

Old Business

Both Tabassom and Shanon have completed the necessary paperwork to have their names on the Human Rights bank account. Kathy will do so within the next week.

A financial update was provided. Based on the last financial statement provided by the bank, the Calgary Human Rights Committee has an approximate account balance of $2475.80 as of December 31, 2018.

There was one cheque that was not recorded, which was to cover the food costs from the AGM in March - $87.11.

Another cheque will be written to cover the costs of the light meal from today’s meeting. Bank fees are also charged monthly, so the account balance will be less than quoted on The December 31st statement. .

Regarding parking reimbursement, it was agreed that parking will be paid for, however, payment will not be made at every meeting. We ask that receipts be compiled and combined to issue a cheque to each Committee participant once per annum.We will collect the receipts and place them in envelopes for each individual and come year end will issue payment. We were asked about the possibility of e-transfers, and e-transfers are not allowed within the PSAC.

Shanon has been diligently working on the paperwork to reconcile the financial transactions from 2017-present. Once completed, the paperwork will be audited by a member of another committee, and then forwarded to REVP Prairies, Marianne Hladun for review.

New Business

The executive met last week and we scheduled tentative meetings for the remainder of the year. The meetings are planned for the following dates:

1. September 10, 2019 &
2. November 20, 2019

The HRC meetings are intended for PSAC members who self-identify as an individual within one of the equity seeking groups: Indigenous Persons, LGBTQ2+, Persons with Disabilities, and the Racially Visible. Meetings are exclusively safe places for those who identify within those groups. Allies are welcome to attend meetings as Observers when an invitation is received from the Committee, and may help with events when asked.

We had a discussion surrounding what defines a disability. There is no real definition as disabilities have a huge range and can fall under different spectrums. We discussed the CRA definition of what constitute a person with a disability: a severe and prolonged condition that impacts one or more the necessary aspects of daily living (i.e feeding, dressing, walking, hearing, etc.). A disability can include a physical disability, but can also include (but not limited to) invisible disabilities such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, diabetes, and the list continues. Although you may not be able to see it, it may exist. The self identification process requires the individual to identify their disability to themselves and to their union authorities. The employer does not need to be aware that the individual self identifies as having a disability in this instance if the employee is not comfortable with doing so.

ORANGE SHIRT DAY

The meeting on September 10 will primarily focus on planning an event that we consider to be of significant importance – Orange Shirt Day, September 30.

Orange Shirt Day is a day dedicated to raising awareness of the Residential School System after a young girl, Phyllis Webstad, had her brand new orange shirt taken from her on her first day of school at Saint Joseph Mission residential school in Williams Lake, BC. Orange Shirt Day is an important path towards Truth and Reconciliation, to acknowledge the pain and suffering inflicted on first and subsequent generations of Indigenous Peoples and to learn from those mistakes, never to be repeated.

The HRC is looking to have 2 events on Sept 30, one at HHB and one at the Airport for our members. We would be looking at serving bannock and jam during majority coffee breaks, along with creating an Orange Shirt with placard explaining what the day means.

Both Shanon and Kathy will look in to the costing of creating the Orange Shirts.  We agreed that it would be beneficial to create some of the Orange Shirts and placards to send to our Brothers, Sisters and Friends of smaller non-centralized locals within our Region.

Budgeting approximately $600 per location- $1200 total for the bannock, jam, supplies, and loss of salary to run the event. .

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

The second event we intend to celebrate is December 10 – Human Rights Day.

Human Rights Day was created in 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; citing that all humans are born free and equal.

The plan will be have an International Potluck at the PSAC Regional Office and hold either a movie night or find a guest speaker that advocates for Human Rights.

We are budgeting $300 for this event and currently looking at different movie options.

PRIDE

Another event that we are interested in being involved in includes promoting the local Pride parade. The Pride Parade has long been celebrated in Calgary the weekend of the Labour Day long weekend to support and celebrate those within the LGBTQ2+ community.. This is a great way to show support to the community by having Family, Friends and Allies be there to watch the Parade.

This will not cost anything, but we will encourage and ask members to participate in the parade taking place in early September.

Next meeting:

September 10, 2019 @ 6:00 PM

Meeting Adjourned

@ approximately 7:40 PM