In Attendance:
Charmaine Nelson - Chair
Dragana Ristivojevic - Secretary
Darlene Lewis - Vice Chair
Kim Cardinal
Karoline Klug - A/Regional PSAC Rep
Regrets:
Kim Haynes - Treasurer
Patty Jessome
Nina Babcook - A/Regional PSAC Rep
Chelsea Keys
Deborah Basaraba
Lorelei Noble
Gulnar Dhalwani
8.1 Call to Order: Meeting was called to order by Charmaine at 5:40 pm. Charmaine welcomed everyone to the meeting.
8.2 Agenda: Additions were made to the agenda and all were in agreement.
8.3 Approval of Previous Minutes: Minutes from October 13, 2016 under 7.4a should read November 24, 2016. Minutes from October 13, 2016 were accepted.
8.4 Follow Up on Previous Business:
8.4a. Update for Tools for School – We are still waiting for the teacher’s response for a presentation date. Marianne Hladun authorized 15 paid work hours which would allow 3 hours for 5 sisters or 2 ½ hours for 6 sisters to attend the presentation. We should schedule the presentation closer to the end of the day.
8.4b. Remembrance Day – Darlene Lewis and Deborah Basaraba are to lay the wreath. Dragana will not be available. Charmaine will be the back up. A cheque for the wreath for $154.12 was submitted.
8.4c. Women’s Seminar:
i. Speakers. All five speakers have been confirmed and each speaker has an understanding on what topic they will be presenting. A handout was provided by Karoline. Marianne Hladun will start on how the union needs to be educated in violence against women. Jan Reimer’s presentation will be on how the community needs to rally around this topic of domestic violence. Jennifer from LEAF will speak about the law and the women lawyers who volunteer with LEAF. Maria Fitzpatrick will discuss about legislation and Harriet Tinka will be our motivational speaker and speak to women’s economic empowerment. A provincial minister from the Status of Women may be attending and may need to be rescheduled.
ii. Programme and Agenda for the Day of. A world café will be set up. Each of these five tables will be assigned a specific topic with the speaker present at the table. There will be a small group at each of these tables. Once discussion is complete, the speaker will move to another table. Each table will have a starter question in an envelope which will help initiate conversation. One reporter will be assigned at each table.
An Elder has been contacted and we are currently waiting for a response. Darlene will contact Heather Poitras as a backup. Kim Cardinal will introduce the Elder both on Saturday and Sunday. Kim will present the Elder with tobacco, a red cloth and she will receive a biography of the elder.
Patty Jessome expressed an interest in introducing the theme of the seminar and the five topics.
Darlene Lewis volunteered to read the biographies of each speaker.
Karoline and Nina will be responsible for the speaking notes.
A Statement of Harassment will be read from two participants from the audience.
The Scent Policy will be read from two participants from the audience.
Charmaine Nelson will welcome everyone as well as the housekeeping and the layout (i.e. lunch, breaks and to summarize the program.
iii. Report on Swag. An acknowledgment of thanks to all that donated swag items. We will also have two pieces of information to put in the swag bags: “Responding Safely to Situations of Relationship Violence” and “Network to Eliminate Violence in Relationships”.
iv. Who wants to Take Lead on the Silent Auction? An acknowledgement of thanks to all that donated to the silent auction. A handout was provided to each sister in attendance of what Patty Jessome has obtained. At the October 13, 2016 meeting, Charmaine had volunteered to take the lead on the silent auction.
The committee will meet on November 29, 2016, to pack swag bags and to prepare silent auction items. From Ottawa, we will be receiving different bags used in different previous conventions.
Charmaine reached out to Marianne Hladun to see if she had any touques, mittens and/or scarfs that we could put in the swag bags.
The silent auction tickets will be selling for 40 tickets for $20.00 and 15 tickets for $10.00. We should be requesting from our components to donate i.e. premade baskets. We could possibly have some door prizes where the name is picked from a hat. All money raised will be going to a non-profit women’s shelter. Nina and Karoline will investigate and will forward the names of the advocacy groups to us.
v. Budget for Candles and Henna. We will be practicing Henna on the candles on November 29, 2016.
vi. Recruitment for the Women’s Seminar. We as a committee need to register ourselves. By next week we should have numbers of how many sisters will be attending.
8.5 Prairie Regional Convention.
a. Continued Discussion Re: Voting for a Delegate on Dec 8th. Both Charmaine and Dragana are interested in attending this Convention. Voting will take place on November 29, 2016 on who will be representing the Edmonton Women’s Committee as a delegate at this Convention. We as a committee need to submit a resolution on December 08th.
8.6 New Business:
a. December 08 AGM. All three committees will be holding elections for all positions (Women’s Committee, Human Rights and the Edmonton Area Council).
b. Jan 21st Planning Strategy Meeting. Each committee will plan for the following year and then the three committees will come together to discuss the events planned.
c. Dec 06. Darlene will coordinate an outdoor candle vigil at Churchill Square. We need to register with the City of Edmonton. The contract with the City of Edmonton requires a cup under the lit candles. Nina and Karoline will provide the City a copy of the PSAC insurance certificate. A table will be set up with a purple tablecloth with 14 roses (either donated or purchased by the Committee) along with pictures of the murdered women. The candle vigil will start at 5:00 pm. We will acknowledge the importance of Dec 06 and read out each of the women’s names that were killed. Karoline will draft up speaking notes and Charmaine volunteered to read out the women’s names.
8.7 Varia.
Karoline. – A series of films will be shown on Thursday November 17, 2016 @ 5:30 pm. “Hooray for Cliff” “Canadian Labour International Film Festival”. PSAC is hosting a movie night where a series of films will be showed. The festivities will be held at the PSAC Edmonton Regional Officer @ 10665 Jasper Avenue Suite 670. Bring friends as snacks and popcorn will be provided. RSVP to (780) 423 1290. It is open to 30 to 40 people.
8.8 Treasurer’s Report: No Financial Report was presented to the Committee.
8.9 Round Table: Nothing
Next scheduled Meeting: Thursday November 29, 2016
Meeting Adjourned at 7:08 pm.