Calgary Regional Women’s Committee meeting minutes. December 7, 2020
In Attendance:
Jennifer Jurca, UCTE 30318
Hazel Buchanan, USJE 70125 (recorder)
Dolly Ablitt, PSAC Regional Representative
Kirsten Stachey UTE30024
Alin Ibrahim UHEW 30704
Regrets – Deb Kosteniuk
The Meeting called to order at 6:10 p.m.
1. Agenda: Reviewed and accepted moved by Kirsten and seconded by Alin.
2. Minutes: Copy of Minutes previous meeting, September 28, 2020. Hazel moves to approve the minutes. Kirsten seconds. All in favour, minutes approved.
3. Financial Report: Actively searching for a Treasure, Alin is interested. Given that an election will be held in January 2021, the Treasurer position will remain vacant until then. Due to Covid-19, meetings in person to attend the bank has been problematic. Jennifer will look into TD Canada Trust to determine if signing authority can be dealt with virtually. Jennifer advised the last bank statement received was October 2020 and balance was $771.66. Deb owes a small reimbursement back to the committee.
4. Old Business:
a) Outstanding financial commitments. Jen will ensure payments are made out of the funds in the bank account for: Jen $30.50 for food at a meeting, Kirsten $132 for Bear Witness 2019, Dolly advised $60.04 with NSF fee amount.
b) The committee is happy to hear that Alin is interested in stepping forward to help with the Treasurer position.
c) Orange Shirt Day – Many people participated by wearing Orange Shirts and then posting pictures on social media
d) 16 day of Activism – A webinar was held by Marianne and attended by some members.
5. New Business:
a) Holiday Activity – The Committee was going to utilize the senior’s Secret Santa, but they were overwhelmed with volunteers and the list is closed. Typically, the RWC would help at the Women’s Centre Toy Room, but due to Covid-19, we are unable to do so in person. It was agreed that $200 would be donated to the cause in lieu of our attendance. In addition, Awo Taan has reached out for support for their women’s shelter and help with donations. Typically, the RWC would participate in the Sisters in Spirit walk and provide bag lunches, but due to Covid-19, we were unable to participate. It was agreed that $200 would be donated to the cause in lieu of our participation.
b) Holiday Social Activity – Dolly invited members and guest to attend her virtual paint night via zoom. It was decided that we could use this format for a future RWC event and send the invite broadly to all PSAC worksites to try to encourage more women to attend the RWC. Possibly for making valentines cards for seniors. This event would be in Feb 1st, 2021.
c) Clothing Drive – Hazel will contact Josie from Awo Taan to find out logistics of storage etc. It was agreed that this event would take place in May.
d) IWD online forum – Jennifer and Kirsten will connect on this. We agreed that instead of a full day event, make it a 2 hour session in the evening on March 8, 2021 with several local speakers from our Union membership that can share unique and meaningful insights with strong women sharing there experiences in male dominated professions (firefighting, aircraft mechanic, boarder agents, etc)
e) Housekeeping – Jennifer shared a memo regarding keeping our committee in good standing. There are some outstanding minutes to be loaded to the website. Hazel will forward the ones from June and September meetings and Jennifer will forward all other outstanding minutes.
6. Report from Regional Rep – Dolly Ablitt:
Dolly explained that the PSAC office is most likely to remain closed until June 2021 due to Covid-19.
Convention will be online and there will be some procedural changes as a result. Dolly will keep us posted. The local office held an Educational seminar recently and the feedback determined that future PSAC courses held locally should have a different delivery due to COVID. It was determined that as more and more employees spending so much time online, full day online courses are not favorable. Education Forums have been conducted across the Region and we will be looking forward to sharing the results in the near future.
7. Roundtable:
Discussions about keeping healthy and safe during Covid-19
Next meeting January 18, 2021 at 6pm
Adjourned at 8:09pm
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