Northern Alberta RWC Mtg Minutes - Jul 6 2016

In Attendance:
Charmaine Nelson-Chair Deborah Basaraba
Darlene Lewis - Vice Chair
Kim Cardinal Kim Haynes - Treasurer Gulnar Dhalwani
Dragana Ristivojevic - Secretary Patty Jessome
Nina Babcook - A/Regional PSAC Rep
Karoline Klug - A/Regional PSAC Rep
Regrets: Chelsea Keys, Lorelei Noble

1. Call to Order: Meeting was called to order by Charmaine at 5:30 pm. All sisters introduced themselves and identified which component they represented.

2. Approval of Agenda: Agenda was approved.

3. Review and Approval of Previous Minutes: Minutes from the June 22, 2016 meeting were reviewed and approved.

Previous Business:
4.1A Gardening - Charmaine stated she called the school asking if they still wanted us to water the garden. They referred Charmaine to converse with the School’s janitorial staff. It appears that the school does not need our help this year as their janitorial staff will be responsible for watering of the garden during summer school break. Patty will be calling the school to see if they still want us to help in watering the garden.

4.1B Patty had contacted a teacher at the Spruce Avenue School who is very interested in our help. Even if we donate fruit treats. There will be no problem with media involvement as long as no pictures of the children are taken. The teacher is very interested in meeting with the members of the Women’s Committee. The school is also interested with the Tools for School. They will provide us a list closer to September. Patty volunteered to be the Chair of the Garden Sub-Committee and to write up a business proposal. The Sub-Committee would like to see the committee involved with more schools next year. We could provide both seeds and various plants as this would provide a wonderful teaching and learning opportunity for all involved. Kim suggested that the stores are now clearing their gardening stock and this would be an excellent time in buying supplies for next year’s planned gardening school events and stored at the PSAC office. The committee members could start the seeds early in their own homes. Dragana mentioned that Denise found that seed growing was not very successful and recommended purchasing grown plants for the school garden. Nina mentioned that the stickers would have to go to a graphic designer.

4.2 Treasurer’s Report – No Financial Report was presented to the Committee.

4.3 Other Committee Reports – There was nothing to report.

4.4 Signing Authority - Kim provided us the AGM Minutes from January 26, 2016. Dragana brought forward that there was no mention in the minutes indicating who would have signing authority and who needed to be removed. Both Carisa and Dragana had problems with the bank last year because the AGM did not reflect the authorization. Minutes were amended to include Charmaine Nelson (Chair); Darlene Lewis (Vice Chair) and Kim Haynes (Treasurer) to have signing authority. Minutes were also amended to remove Carm Chan, Carisa David and Dragana Ristivojevic who currently still have signing authority. The bank will require the AGM Meeting Minutes and two pieces of ID from each current designated signing authority individuals are required to bring to the bank in Namao. Dragana who was the acting chair at the AGM Meeting on January 26, 2016 reviewed these minutes and found that did not capture the full extent of what was discussed at this meeting.

4.5 Conference - Each committee member was provided with a “Setting up a Conference Handout” by Nina. Both Karoline and Nina stated that PSAC has set their priority when we hold a conference that if would be on Domestic Violence in the Workplace. Calgary and area will be holding their own conference. The financing will be coming through Marianne Hladun for 1 day and 45 women would be from Edmonton and the surrounding area including Cold Lake. The budget should include travel, hotel and meals. We could attach December 06 Violence Against Women as an action day. Budgets for Day 1 and Day 2 need to be submitted separately. Deborah wants the conference to include the safety of the children. Guest speakers at our conference could include Jan Reimer and Maria Fitzpatrick. Perry Garvin could also have suggestions on other strong speakers that we could also invite. An Elder should also be included to do the blessing. Darlene volunteered to get a list of speakers. We should investigate to see what AFL has organized to do on December 06, 2016. The conference would be held on December 03 & 04. We should be focusing on the economics of childcare as it only costs $7.00 per day in Quebec and it costs $15.00 per day in BC. Our conference should focus on what economics are needed in order to motivate people to vote on child care issues. There will be a selection committee where we would be asking what do you want of this conference and their involvement. On December 06th we could hold a vigil for the murdered women with candles and hot chocolate. Proposed budget for this event is $500. Darlene and Kim Cardinal will be organizing the December 06th event and will advise the committee of their plans.

Round Table: Nothing
Meeting Adjourned at 7:00 pm.