ARCC Annual General Meeting, Feb 6, 2017 

  • Agenda
  • Minutes
  • Fundraising Report
  • Regional Reports: New Brunswick, PEI, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta
  • Executive Director’s Report 
  • Financial Report (goes to PDF)

Note: Here are the minutes and reports from previous ARCC AGMS:

2008  •  2009  •  2010  •  2011  •  2012  •  2013  •  2014  •  2015  •  2016 

Agenda

  1. Welcome and Introduction
  2. Motion to appoint Executive Director as Chair of Meeting (instead of President)
  3. Adoption of 2016 AGM minutes
  4. Adoption of 2017 agenda
  5. Proposed Motion: “For fiscal year 2017, ARCC will not appoint a Public Accountant. We will use the Compilation method of producing financial statements.”
  6. Reports from the provinces / regions
    • NB – Allison Webster
    • PEI – Josie Baker
    • Quebec – Patrick Powers
    • Ottawa – Julie Lalonde
    • Toronto etc. – Carolyn Egan (and/or Peggy Cooke)
    • Alberta – Kathy Dawson
  7. Executive Director’s Report – Joyce Arthur
  8. Membership Report (Joyce)
  9. Fundraising Report (Lyndsey Butcher)
  10. Financial Report (Martina Zanetti)
  11. New Business (if any)
  12. Election of Directors to the Board – Prospective Board member Kathy Dawson (Edmonton) will be invited to say a few words to introduce herself. Then a vote or motion to elect her.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada / Coalition pour le droit à l’avortement au Canada (ARCC-CDAC)

Feb 6, 2017 (covering 2016)

Call to Order 4pm PT

Welcome and Introductions

In attendance:

Executive Director: Joyce ArthurBoard members: Allison Webster, Carolyn Egan, Lyndsey Butcher, Martina Zanetti, Patrick Powers, Peggy Cooke (Regrets: Julie Lalonde, Josie Baker)Members-at-large: Jennifer Burgess, Kaitlin Pelletier, John Bart, Helena Palmquist, Kathy Dawson, Alison Zimmer

Motion to appoint Executive Director as Chair of Meeting (instead of President)

Moved Carolyn; Seconded Pat; Passed unanimously.

Motion: adopt 2015 AGM minutes – Moved Carolyn; Seconded John.  Passed unanimously.

Motion: adopt agenda – By oversight, we did not have a motion to adopt the agenda. However, attendees were invited to add things or change things, as well as ask questions or make comments at various points. No changes or additions occurred to the agenda.

Motion: “For fiscal year 2017, ARCC will not appoint a Public Accountant. We will use the Compilation method of producing financial statements.”

Moved Martina; Seconded Allison W.; Passes unanimously.

Reports of Provinces: (see full reports later on this AGM page)

  • NB – Allison Webster – funded only in Moncton and Bathurst hospitals.  No GP referral needed anymore. Clinic 554 continues to provide excellent but unfunded abortions in Fredericton (also includes those that are too far along to meet 13 mo. gestational cut off at hospitals). RJNB Axe 8420 kick off event and campaign + activism outside the State of the Province Address.  Within a day, Gallant called RJNB to set up meeting with Health Minister and eventually the Premier.
  • PEI – Josie Baker – (read by Joyce) LEAF National assisted incorporation of Abortion Access Now (AAN) to start a charter challenge regarding lack of abortion services on the island. Province capitulated. Prince County hospital clinic to open and to provide abortions (only surgical and only up to 12 weeks, may increase to 13-14 wks).  Task force struck for these purposes. First abortions performed early 2017. AAN has had many socials.
  • Quebec – Patrick Powers – low anti-choice activity in Montreal!  Interview with a UofT PHD student doing research on abortion rights across the country. 
  • Ottawa – Julie Lalonde – (by Joyce) Things are quiet on the Hill.  Women’s March after US inauguration.
  • Toronto + Ontario etc. – Carolyn Egan – high school talks, escorting at clinic at Dufferin and Lawrence.  Supine Cobbler play hosted by OCAC at Buddies w talk after.  Stickering campaign on TTC vs. CPC ads. …. And much more!
  • Alberta – Kathy Dawson – AB Pro-Choice Coalition, first meeting this month.  CPCs are being funded significantly by the province; also opening a maternity home.  Provincial Conservative Leadership campaign with Jason Kenney running (extreme anti-choice). Wild Rose is also run by an anti-choicer currently.  Long to-do list will be attached to her report.

Executive Director’s Report – Joyce Arthur (national focus and BC) – See full report later on this AGM page.

Membership Report (Joyce)

  • 158 members as of Dec 31/16, including 66 monthly donors.
  • 41% of members are monthly donors.
  • 42% of members have been with us since 2010 or before.
  •  45 members expired in 2016; 31 new members joined.

 Fundraising Report (Lyndsey Butcher)

See full report later on this AGM page.

 Financial Report (Martina Zanetti)

  • See Financial Report here.
  • Motion by Martina to accept financial reports: Seconded Joyce; passed unanimously.

Election of Directors to the Board  

  • Jennifer Burgess of Calgary has resigned from Board.
  • Eight current Board members are entering the 2nd or 3rd year of their 4-year terms:
    • ◦ Allison Webster – Fredericton NB
    • ◦ Josie Baker – Charlottetown PE
    • ◦ Patrick Powers – Montreal QC
    • ◦ Julie Lalonde – Ottawa ON
    • ◦ Carolyn Egan – Toronto ON
    • ◦ Peggy Cooke – Toronto ON
    • ◦ Martina Zanetti – Vancouver BC
    • ◦ Lyndsey Butcher – Kitchener/Waterloo ON
  • Kathy Dawson of Edmonton was invited to be on Board, and introduced herself.
  • Motion by Joyce to appoint Kathy Dawson to ARCC Board. Seconded: Martina.  Passes unanimously.

Adjourned: 5:25pm PT

Fundraising Report

by Lyndsey Butcher

Members: Lyndsey Butcher, Martina Zanetti, Allison Webster, Ali Zimmer and Joyce Arthur

The ARCC Fundraising Committee has been meeting regularly over the past year. In the fall we created and mailed a newsletter and appeal letter to our supporters that raised $3,686 at a cost of $150. We plan to send another newsletter this Spring.
 
We redesigned the “Donate Now” page on our website to make it easier to navigate and have attracted $555 in donations and 4 new monthly donors since it was updated in late December. We also made fundraising posts on our social media feeds (please share ARCC’s posts!)

We submitted a letter of intent for a Global Fund for Women grant.

A reminder that all board members are asked to make a personally meaningful donation to support ARCC’s work and to sell ARCC memberships in order to grow our base of support. 

Regional Reports

Report from New Brunswick

by Allison Webster, Fredericton

Medicare funded abortion services continue to be provided only in Moncton and Bathurst in New Brunswick. Patients no longer need a referral from a family doctor to access these services, but many folks don’t know this. Anti-choice family doctors continue to be a huge issue for people accessing abortions in NB. The hospital requirement that folks accessing abortion care come to two separate appointments (sometimes a week or more apart) continues to be another major barrier to fair and accessible abortions in N.B.

Clinic 554 continues to provide excellent, but still unfunded, abortion care in Fredericton. Clinic 554 sees many patients from around the province, including international students, newcomers to the country, as well as patients too far along for the 13-week gestational cut-off at the hospitals. The hospital system continues to refer patients to Clinic 554 when they are too far along for hospital abortions.


The start of 2016 was slower in terms of momentum for Reproductive Justice in New Brunswick, but the past few months a lot has been happening.

RJNB kicked off our “Axe 8420” Campaign in the Fall of 2016 with a fantastic and well attended talk by Prof. Colleen MacQuarrie about the victory of grassroots activists to bring abortion services to PEI.  The Women’s March had a great turnout in Fredericton. Then, Premier Brian Gallant was quoted in Acadie-Nouvelle (a francophone newspaper in NB) that they are still planning to remove all barriers to abortion care and expand service.  RJNB protested the “State of the Province” address a few weeks ago – and we got noticed!

We will be attending a meeting with Health Minister Victor Boudreau next week, as well as the Health Critic for the P.C. party this week, and supposedly a meeting with Premier Gallant himself in the next few months.


Hopefully we can capitalize on this momentum and get rid of the anti-choice legislation 8420 to finally permit funded clinic abortions in New Brunswick.

Report from PEI

by Josie Baker, Charlottetown

2016 was a year of victory and vindication for pro-choice activists in PEI. With the support of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), a group of six longtime abortion rights advocates formed an incorporated organization called Abortion Access Now (AAN) for the purpose of becoming eligible to present a legal challenge to the provincial government. In January 2016, Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie served notice to the government of the lawsuit. The legal challenge was focused on PEI’s policy of not providing in-province access to abortion as a violation of women’s rights under the Charter.

In April 2016, the legal team, Nasha Nijhawan and Kelly McMillan, were contacted by provincial lawyers and notified that the provincial government would fully capitulate to the demands of the Lawsuit, and the following day, members of the pro-choice movement were invited to a press conference where the Premier, Wade McLaughlan, announced that by the end of 2016, abortion would be available in PEI, and a new women’s health clinic would be created in the Prince County Hospital to provide abortion, as well as a range of other reproductive and sexual health services. Following this announcement, a provincial government taskforce was struck to consult regarding the best ways to move forward.

AAN held its AGM in January 2017, with guest speakers from Health PEI and from the National Abortion Federation, who were able to answer questions. Everyone in attendance was satisfied with the answers, and we are pleased at the care and comprehensive sexual health services that we expect to become available in the coming months.

Although the renovations for a new clinic are expected to take place over the coming months, the province has made good on its promise, and the first abortions were performed in the Prince County Hospital at the beginning of February, 2017.

Although it was ultimately the legal challenge that forced the government’s hand, this degree of victory would not have been possible without the years of activism, research, public education, and national and international attention. The breadth of the work shifted the tide of public opinion and changed the culture of silence and fear in PEI.

Notably, in February 2016, a guerrilla art project gained national attention, in the form of the #IamKarats stenciled image of Ann of Green Gables-like character with her face covered by a bandana, proclaiming “Hey Wade, Access Now.” This art project was picked up and used across Canada. It inspired a well attended, tongue in cheek March, with participants dressed as the “Karats” caricature, singing an adapted version of a song from Ann of Green Gables, the Musical, and a Scream Choir. In the context of the very serious and somewhat inaccessible work surrounding the legal challenge, this event engaged many radical, queer youth who would not otherwise have been involved in some of the more subdued events.

AAN also held several social events: a Hot Chocolate Social in January, 2016, a victorious Ice Cream Social in July, and the Person’s Day Lunch in October.

In addition to this important work, emergency support for women having to travel out of province has continued to be the focus of ad-hoc fundraising initiatives, and this work is expected to continue, since PEI will only offer surgical abortion up to 12 weeks, after which women will have to travel out of province. There is hope that this may be increased to 14-16 weeks over time, as the physicians become more comfortable with the procedure.

All in all, we have had a very successful year in PEI, and true victories such as this one are rare in the work for social justice. We are proud of the strong and active feminist movement in PEI, and we imagine that the energy of this movement will be called upon in the months and years to come as human rights are under renewed threat in Canada and the USA.

Report from Quebec

by Patrick Powers, Montreal

Pat had some health issues but remained connected to the pro-choice community in Quebec through FQPN (Fédération du Québec pour le planning des naissances).

He recently did an interview with Jaime Nikolaou, a PhD candidate in Sociology at University of Toronto, who is conducting a study that explores what Dr. Henry Morgentaler means to the contemporary pro-choice movement, broadly looking at questions of nostalgia, legacy, and leadership within organized feminism; and centered on how differently situated people today remember Dr. Morgentaler and organize to prevent the erosion of abortion access in Canada. Jaime also interviewed Carolyn Egan in Toronto and activists in Fredericton.

Report from Ontario

By Carolyn Egan (Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics, OCAC)

[to come]

Report from Alberta

By Kathy Dawson

            2011-2015 $396.5K

LabourCA JOB GRANTS TRAININGMay 20161,233.33
Labour                CA JOB GRANTS TRAININGAugust 20161,233.34
Human Services Apr-Dec 201653,863
Human Services Year ending March 201671,817
Human Services Year ending March 201571,817
Culture Year ending March 201318,632

Action:
•  Wrote to Ministers of: Health, Human Services, Status of Women – no response
•  Family Services of Central Alberta – unapologeticTo Do:

  • Start prochoice campaign leading up to the next provincial election on or before May 2019.

Executive Director’s Report

By Joyce Arthur, Vancouver

ARCC work on provincial issues:

New Brunswick – ARCC continued to bring attention to the province’s restrictive regulation limiting funding of abortions to hospitals, and to support New Brunswick activists and Reproductive Justice New Brunswick RJNB) in the fight to repeal it and generally improve access in NB. The federal gov’t needs to intervene and persuade NB to repeal its regulation, or withhold federal transfer funds from the province. Although we were never able to get a meeting with the federal Health Minister Jane Philpott, we brought the issue to the attention of the NDP Health Critic Don Davies, who promised to raise it with Philpott. This still needs to happen as federal lobbying last year was more focused on easing the restrictions on Mifegymiso. We will continue to support RJNB by lobbying the New Brunswick and federal governments, until abortion services at Clinic 554 are fully funded.

Prince Edward Island – PEI enjoyed a huge and historic victory last year when the provincial government conceded they would not win a lawsuit against it, which was initiated by Abortion Access Now PEI (AAN PEI), supported by LEAF. ARCC issued a press release in Jan 2016 to support the lawsuit. In March, the government announced it would end its discriminatory and unlawful abortion policy and provide abortion services in a new women’s health clinic that would also offer many other reproductive and sexual health services, including pre- and post-natal care, post-partum mental health services, STI screening and testing, and support for Islanders seeking fertility treatment off-Island. Abortion services became available in January at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside, until the new Women’s Wellness Centre is ready to open probably later this year.

Saskatchewan – In May, we wrote to the City of Prince Albert, SK, asking the city to stop approving anti-choice flags and proclamations. The City has allowed an anti-choice flag to be flown at City Hall for the last seven years, as part of a “Celebrate Life Week” that the City has also officially proclaimed. We published our letter online, saying these discriminatory actions by the city must end. We also took the Mayor to task for making inappropriate and ill-informed comments defending the flag. As the flag was only up for a week, the City tabled the issue, so ARCC will follow up this spring to ensure that the City does not approve the flag again.

BC – We helped an activist in Kelowna file a complaint with Advertising Standards Canada against an offensive anti-choice billboard, which depicted how killing a puppy was cruelty but killing a full-term fetus is choice. Unfortunately, the ASC declined to review the complaint, saying they didn’t think the Council would uphold it. We strongly encouraged another activist in Winnipeg to make a complaint about a very similar but not identical ad that appeared on buses in Regina, but are not sure if that complaint was filed. ARCC may in future file our own complaints, now that Joyce has re-established a constructive relationship with the ASC due to the Peterborough ad issue.

ARCC Work on National Issues:

CPC project – In May, we released our study that reviewed all CPC websites in Canada. The study showed that most websites either present misinformation on abortion or sexual health issues, and/or fail to disclose their anti-choice or religious agenda or that they are not medical clinics. We had previously presented the study at the National Abortion Federation conference in April, in Austin Texas. We got coverage by Global News, but not a great deal more outside of some blogs and smaller alternative news. However, we used the study to start acting on some of the recommendations, in particular researching their funding and the government grants that CPCs get. Kathy Dawson and Fern Hill have worked hard on a volunteer basis to complete the research. We also hired an accountant to verify our data and answer many questions about what the data means, and if it showed any wrongdoing or other problems. We submitted complaints to CRA on 34 CPCs that had irregularities, and hope that audits will be carried out on all of them. We are now planning a letter-writing campaign to governments and foundations, alerting them to CPC funding and asking them to stop doing it.

CCBR ads – It came to light in Feb that the City of Peterborough had approved an offensive anti-choice bus ad by the Centre for Bio-ethical Reform, the “Going Going Gone” ad. ARCC has been working to prevent these ads from appearing since then. We contacted virtually every city in Canada that runs a bus system to help them with arguments against the ad, in case they had been approached. Our work uncovered that Grande Prairie and Hinton Alberta had been sued, as well as Toronto Transit Commission and Translink in BC. We ensured the issue got national publicity, including the December court victory for Grande Prairie, and Peterborough’s failure to take a strong stand against the ad. We wrote half a dozen letters to the Mayor and Council and Legal Dept., and we worked closely with Peterborough activists at every step to resist the ads appearing in their city, and continue to do so. At this writing, there is still a glimmer of hope that the ad can be stopped in Peterborough, despite a court order requiring the city to run the ad, which unfortunately the city never bothered opposing. Meanwhile, the Alberta ruling is promising news for the other jurisdictions being sued. ARCC has been working closely with the lawyers in the Grande Prairie and Translink cases, as well as a lawyer at the City of Calgary who has taken a strong interest in the cases.

Municipal bylaws against anti-choice material – Calgary is the home of CCBR, and the City passed a bylaw last fall prohibiting the distribution of non-commercial flyers to homes – this was in response to the CCBR graphic flyers delivered to homes during the federal election campaign in 2015. ARCC had sent letters to 15 city mayors, including Calgary, asking them to pass such a bylaw. This year, ARCC plans to capitalize on the new Calgary bylaw by recruiting a law student to encourage other cities to pass similar bylaws. We are also considering targeting the City of Guelph, which is running anti-choice bus ads from Guelph Right to Life, but less offensive ones that those by CCBR. 

Mifegymiso – The drug finally became available for dispensing in late January 2017, arriving at three clinics so far. There was much lobbying last year, mostly on the part of health professionals and the National Abortion Federation, to ease the restrictions, in particular the requirement that pharmacists must dispense to doctors, not patients directly. BC is now able to do this, after the Pharmacists’ and Physicians Colleges came to an agreement that it could be dispensed off-label. Manitoba is pursuing this option too. Also, BC health authorities have added Mifegymiso to their formulary, meaning that the drug is free to ambulatory and hospital in-patients. But the drug will still cost $270-300 outside these arrangements. We learned in Sept that the distributor Celopharma had withdrawn a submission to the Common Drug Review due to the $72,000 cost. This review (administered by CADTH, the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health), is required by provinces (except Quebec) before a drug may be added to the provincial formulary and covered by Pharmacare. In late September, ARCC called on the Prime Minister and the Health Minister to intervene and find a solution to the impasse regarding the cost, whether by funding it through Health Canada, or directing the provinces to pay themselves. It remains unclear how the cost issue was resolved, but thankfully it has been. Celopharma re-submitted its application to the Common Drug Review and the decision may come by spring 2017. Quebec’s counterpart is already reviewing Mifegymiso.

Bill C-225 – The bill was introduced by Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall in Feb. It would have made a fetus a separate victim of crime when a pregnant woman is attacked. It was called “Cassie and Molly’s law”, Cassie being a pregnant woman murdered in Windsor in 2014. ARCC did a careful analysis of the bill, and also a clause-by-clause comparison with Bill C484 from 2008 and found the bills were almost the same, except the new bill had an aggravating circumstance clause added to it. We lobbied all MPs, as well as the PMO to ensure Trudeau understood it was an abortion-related bill and he should whip the vote as per his campaign promise. We also started both paper and e-petitions, and collected a list of 60 organizations against the bill, representing a wide range of civil society, including violence against women groups. Because we opposed the bill, we endured a slanderous and hateful Facebook attack against us, led by the victim’s partner and family and their supporters. The bill was defeated on Oct 19 by a vote of 209 to 76. Trudeau whipped the vote and all Liberals present voted against the bill, including several MPs with anti-choice stances (including Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Kevin Lamoureux, and Francis Scarpaleggia. John McKay and Justin Trudeau did not vote.)

Tracking Anti-choice Conservative MPs – After the Bill C-225 vote, ARCC updated our list of anti-choice MPs. A shocking 87% of Conservatives are anti-choice, but 70% of all MPs are pro-choice. ARCC’s list has become a primary source for MP voting records and comments on abortion. Also, with the approaching 2017 Federal Conservative leadership election, we produced a list of the current candidates’ stances on abortion based on our records. Of the 14 candidates in the race, 8 are anti-choice, 2 are pro-choice, and 4 have an unknown stance. Two of the most extreme candidates on the abortion issue are Kellie Leitch and Brad Trost. 

National Lobbyist – ARCC also registered as a national lobbyist, allowing us to have direct advocacy contact with all MPs. There’s no cost to doing this, and we just have to file a brief report for each month we do lobbying work.

Criminal Code repeal – ARCC has been looking into the possibility of getting Canada’s abortion law repealed, as it’s still sitting in the Criminal Code, even though its inoperative. About 20 so-called zombie laws exist in Canada – laws struck down by the supreme Court but never repealed. This poses a danger because in one case a judge convicted someone of a crime but the law had been repealed and the judge didn’t realize it. By advocating to repeal all the zombie laws, it may avoid drawing unwanted anti-choice attention to the effort, and a repeal would eliminate the risk of any future prosecutions. We also want to target for repeal two orphan clauses on abortion were never struck down, which criminalize the procurement, sale, purchase, and advertising of abortion drugs and devices. ARCC is working with Health Critic Don Davies on this project, and he has said he will talk to the Justice Minister.

US Election – The election of President Donald Trump has many concerned about the future of safe and legal access to abortion, in the United States and beyond. Traffic to ARCC’s website increased by 7,200 percent in the days following the election, causing the site to temporarily crash. But American women travelling to Canada for abortion is not a workable solution as the cost of travel and care is prohibitively expensive for non-Canadians, and many Americans do not have passports. In the US., the National Network of Abortion Funds is calling for people to get involved to help increase investment in the over existing 70 grassroots abortion funds in 38 states. In Canada, there are two funds set up to assist those seeking abortion (by Action Canada and National Abortion Federation), but a need may exist for additional networks to provide assistance with rides and homestays, especially in regions where people must travel large distances to access care. Joyce reached out to clinics after the election, and a couple expressed interest in setting up such a service.

Foreign aid funding for safe abortion – ARCC signed onto a joint statement prepared by Action Canada to Prime Minister Trudeau and relevant Ministers, expressing grave concern regarding the reinstatement and expansion of the US Global Gag Rule. We also spoke to the press in an iPolitics story, calling on International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau to step and increase investments into safe abortion, and wrote her a letter as well asking her to join the Dutch initiative and take a global leadership role on the issue. Bibeau has since made some positive statements in support of the Dutch crowdsourcing initiative and the adoption of a comprehensive approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights, but additional pressure is required to ensure meaningful increased investment in safe abortion care and support for advocacy.

Global work – Joyce attended an international abortion conference in Lisbon Portugal in October, at the invitation of the organizers, the International Federation of Professional Abortion and Contraception Associates (FIAPAC). As the official “Congress Rapporteur”, Joyce gave a closing plenary address that reviewed and celebrated the conference, the theme of which was “Improving Women’s Journeys Through Abortion”. In December, Joyce attended a 2-day colloquium in Alexandria, Virginia at the invitation of Catholics for Choice, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, and Gynuity Health Projects. The purpose was to participate in a preliminary discussion on how to integrate abortion into the frameworks of global family planning initiatives, in particular FP2020, a United Nations family planning program that arose from an initiative largely funded by Melinda Gates. Because the Gates Foundation will not touch abortion, FP2020 is focused solely on contraception. This stigmatizes abortion and leads to less effective health outcomes.

Communications: ARCC continues to be active in disseminating information via its website, published articles, media releases, our Facebook page, Twitter page, and speaking engagements. In 2016, we issued 3 press releases (and already 2 so far in 2017). We maintain an up-to-date list of abortion clinics in Canada (and a few hospitals) to help people find abortion services, and this list seems to be widely used. Our Facebook page remains very active and now has almost 3,400 members. Joyce and other ARCC spokespersons carried out many media interviews and speaking engagements over the year. ARCC continues to operate two listservs for members only: Activist and News. Our website is being updated and revamped with the help of ARCC member and volunteer Mary Linville, and we will be moving to WordPress soon. We are recruiting volunteers to start revising our Position Papers. We restarted our regular newsletter in late 2016 and a second issue is due out in the next couple of weeks.  

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