Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
Edmonton Regional Women’s Committee
Theme: “BUILDING OUR VOICES TOGETHER”
General Meeting November 7, 2019
PSAC Edmonton RO
In attendance:
Kim Cardinal, Chair
Charmaine Nelson, Co-chair
Denise Gugel, Treasurer
Patty Jessome, Secretary
Corie McGaughey, Member
Denise Davey, Member
April Lalonde, Member
Caitlyn Fortier, Member
Deb Basaraba, Member
Darlene Lewis, Member
Jana Abdulrazzak, Member
Nancy Issa, Member
Regrets:
Corrie Barkley
1. Call to Order – Welcome to all – Kim called the meeting to order at 5:43 pm
2. Approval of this Agenda and introductions: Approved
3. Confirmation that the September 3, 2019, meeting minutes have been approved and posted to PSAC website:
4. Treasurer’s Report: Presented by Denise Gugel:
The account balance is $962.21 updated with a cheque from the HRC for $139. The committee is still waiting on money from the Regional Vice President, Marianne Hladun.
5. Events/ Projects updates:
5.1 Child Care Campaign – “The Game of Life” (GOF). The second sub-committee will be working on the GOF to get ready for the public preview, hopefully for International Women’s Day. Sister Caitlyn is an amateur game maker so she will create an agenda for the sub-committee meeting. This meeting will be held at Kim’s place. Nina will do a call out for interest. Meeting date to be announced. Tentative for mid December.
5.2 Child Care Lobbying Sub-committee: Denise made as many appointments as she could. They are as follows:
David Shepherd
Deron Bilous
Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk
Jordan Walker
Thomas Dang
Garth Rosewell
Janice Erwin
Route: Denise is currently working on the route and will update the committee once completed.
Contact Kim: All members must let Kim know what day or days they will be participating in the lobbying so the appropriate leave can be created. She has requested the following in your email to her: In the subject line please indicate: Childcare Lobbying. In the body of the text: your name, email and phone number so Kim can contact you.
5.3 Empowerment of women and the Visual Artistic Journal:
Last event is November 30th. Poster was updated for the membership and Kim confirmed Heather Poitras will be doing the closing event. Tracy Bear will try to attend the final closing. The event will start at 10 am with participants working on their journals and then concluding with discussions. We talked about an international theme with a variety of international exotic food as well as a potluck. In the end, we agreed to have an indigenous feast of stew, bannock and berries. Denise knows a catering company that she will reach out to.
7. New Business:
7.1 Team building group outings: Corie suggested a couple of outings for the committee. The first is the free event, Canadian Labour International film Festival, presented by the Alberta Federation of Labour on Nov. 28th from 6:30 to 8:30. There will be 12 short films regarding union history / stories with some addressing women and the impact we’ve had in our unions. Visit the following link to see the list of films being shown: http://labourfilms.ca/ . Corie also suggested an affordable place to have dinner prior to the event—she will research and send out a suggestion. The second is the Women’s Art Museum of Canada: the hours are a little odd. Corie will look into a time where we can visit as another team building event.
7.2 One note idea: Shared Drive for ongoing projects: Deferred till next meeting.
8. Actions: Action Items – listed in the applicable places above. Summary is below:
|
Who |
What |
When |
|
Nina / Carm |
Send out invitation for interest in lobbying |
ASAP |
|
Patty |
Patty sent postal codes to Denise.
|
Done |
|
Caitlyn |
Will create agenda for sub-committee on childcare (5.1) |
Nov. 11 |
|
Kim |
Kim will arrange LWOP for lobbying. Subject line: Childcare lobbying: your name, and email and phone number to Kim (5.2) |
ASAP |
|
All lobbyers |
Send Kim an email (5.2) |
ASAP |
|
Patty |
Patty will put speaking notes together for lobbying. |
Nov. 12/13 |
|
Corie |
Will research restaurants for dinner prior to the film festival |
ASAP |
|
Corie |
Look into an exhibit we can attend at the Women’s Art Museum of Canada |
Later |
9. Next meeting date, time and location:
Dec. 5th: 5:30 pm at the PSAC Office
10. Round table:
Mildred: Unfortunately, I was unable to hear what she said as she was on the phone and cutting in and out.
Deb: Glad to be part of the committee and getting to participate in the Visual Artistic Journal (VAJ)
Charmaine: I’m very glad to be attending lobbying.
Darlene: I want to talk about the VAJ. I thought it was phenomenal and I walked away feeling Tracy’s energy and kindness. I really thought, what if we were all so kind? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to attend other VAJ events and so I hope I can run with it at the closing. She also asked the RWC if anyone would like to attend the ButterDome with me to lay the wreath for Remembrance Day. Deb Basaraba volunteered to join her.
Denise: I enjoy the committee and it’s been great to see how participation has grown.
Corie: Asked if anyone wanted to volunteer their time to a women’s cause over the holidays. Corie will get information together and then send out to everyone to make a decision.
April: thankful to be part of this group. I believe we are undervalued and this work is important.
Nancy: Nice to get my toes wet and look forward to more involvement.
Jana: Heard about this at the racialized conference and am glad to be here.
Kim: I’m thrilled to see how it has grown; I enjoy sharing the positive energy of the RWC.
Kim adjourned the meeting at 7:30 pm