ARCC Annual General Meeting, February 10, 2015
- Agenda
- Minutes
- Regional Reports: PEI, New Brunswick , Quebec , Ottawa, Toronto / Ontario,
- Executive Director’s Report
- Financial Report (goes to PDF)
- Election of Board of Directors
Note: Here are the minutes and reports from previous ARCC AGMS:
2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014
Agenda
- Welcome and Introduction
- Motion to appoint Executive Director as Chair of Meeting (instead of President)
- Adoption of 2014 AGM minutes
- Adoption of 2015 agenda
- Proposed change to our new bylaws: Due to a small misinterpretation we made of the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (NFP Act), we propose changing our new bylaws.
- The current bylaw reads: Section 4(b), Board of Directors: “Directors shall be elected for a term of two years by the members at an annual meeting of members. Current directors are able to run again for office for an additional two years, up to a maximum of four consecutive years. Former directors may run for office again after one year of being out of office. Director terms may be staggered, that is, they need not all hold office for the same term.”
- The proposed change is: “Directors shall be elected for a term of four years by the members at an annual meeting of members. Current directors are able to run again for office after a four-year term. Director terms may be staggered, that is, they need not all hold office for the same term. Directors may resign or be removed from office during their term, following the Canada NFP Act requirements.”
- Proposed Motion: “For fiscal year 2015, ARCC will not appoint a Public Accountant. We will use the Compilation method of producing financial statements.”
- Reports from the regions: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto/Ontario.
- Executive Director’s Report (and BC report)
- Membership Report
- Financial Report
- New Business
- Election of Directors to the Board
- Adjourn meeting
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada / Coalition pour le droit à l’avortement au Canada (ARCC-CDAC)
Tuesday, February 10, 2015, Via teleconference (Skype)
Call to Order 5:30pm PST
Welcome and Introduction. Present: Joyce Arthur (Executive Director). Board: Allison Webster, Jennie Donovan, Patrick Powers, Peggy Cooke, Julie Lalonde, Carolyn Egan, Martina Zanetti (Regrets: Josie Baker, Tamara Underwood). Members at Large: Thelma Bogante, Jennifer Burgess, Rosemary Ganley, Cheryl Gaster.
Motion to appoint Executive Director as Chair of Meeting (instead of President). Moved: Carolyn; Seconded: Thelma. Passed unanimously.
Adoption of 2015 agenda: Motion to adopt ARCC’s 2015 AGM agenda with no additions. Moved Joyce, seconded Cheryl Gaster. Passed unanimously.
Adoption of 2014 AGM Minutes: : Motion to adopt the 2014 AGM minutes. Moved Joyce, seconded Allison. Passed unanimously.
Revised bylaws: Motion to adopt revised bylaws (Clause 4b) changing director’s terms of office. Moved: Joyce; seconded: Rosemary. Passed unanimously.
- Current bylaw reads: Section 4(b), Board of Directors: “Directors shall be elected for a term of two years by the members at an annual meeting of members. Current directors are able to run again for office for an additional two years, up to a maximum of four consecutive years. Former directors may run for office again after one year of being out of office. Director terms may be staggered, that is, they need not all hold office for the same term.”
- Approved change is: “Directors shall be elected for a term of four years by the members at an annual meeting of members. Current directors are able to run again for office after a four-year term. Director terms may be staggered, that is, they need not all hold office for the same term. Directors may resign or be removed from office during their term, following the Canada NFP Act requirements.”
Public Accountant Motion: “For fiscal year 2015, ARCC will not appoint a Public Accountant. We will use the Compilation method of producing financial statements.” Moved: Joyce. Seconded: Martina. Passed unanimously.
Provincial Reports:
- Report from Nova Scotia, prepared and read by Jennie Donovan.
- Report from PEI prepared by Josie, read by Joyce.
- Report from New Brunswick prepared and read by Allison.
- Report from Quebec prepared by Pat (not read, as he had to leave call early).
- Report from Ottawa prepared and read by Julie.
- Report from Toronto prepared by and read by Carolyn.
Executive Director’s Report (and BC report): prepared and read by Joyce.
Membership Report by Joyce. We have 164 paid up members as of Feb 9, 2014. 60 are monthly donors.
Financial Report: Motion to accept financial reports as presented by Martina. Moved: Joyce, seconded Peggy, passed unanimously.
New Business:
- Peggy: MMIW Memorial Day in Toronto – Shall ARCC put its name down as a group in support? Accepted unanimously.
- Joyce: Note about the Board currently revising ARCC’s mandate to maintain our focus on abortion rights, but also endorse a more holistic approach to Reproductive Justice and anti-oppression. Will write new position papers to support new framework.
Election of Directors to the Board:
- A few words from new nominee Jennifer Burgess, and from new Board member appointed in Nov, Martina Zanetti.
- Motion to re-elect as a slate all current Board members and new nominees for a 4-year term Moved: Joyce, seconded: Rosemary. Passed unanimously.
Meeting Adjourned: 6:02 pm PST.
Regional Reports
Report from Nova Scotia
By Jennie Donovan
Media stories of anti-choice tactics and the closure of the Morgentaler clinic in Fredericton meant a lot of public support for pro-choice and reproductive justice-related events and campaigns throughout 2014.
Beginning in 2013, South House Sexual and Gender Resource Centre partnered with the Halifax Sexual Health Centre to advertise “yourchoicehalifax” on Halifax buses in response to anti-choice “Signs4Life”. The $4000 goal was met through crowd funding in early 2014 and the ads made it onto buses. The group has since started a “share your stories” campaign, seeking stories related to reproductive health care in the Maritimes.
On April 19th, a group of former New Brunswick residents organized a solidarity gathering for our right to accessible abortion in response to the announcement of the Fredericton Morgentaler Clinic closure. We were able to raise awareness about the barriers to access in NB, as well as spread information on how to support the RJNB fundraising campaign.
The May 29 National Day of Action event organized by the Nova Scotia branch of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund honoured Dr. Morgentaler. A number of speakers called for improvements to reproductive health care everywhere, especially in the Maritimes. There was a focus on pressuring the New Brunswick government to repeal regulation 84-20.
On August 12th and 14th, in response to anti-choice demonstrations that targeted the Victoria General hospital and major intersections in the city, yourchoicehalifax and Support Choice Halifax organized rallies full of pro-choice signs and sidewalk chalk art that warned pedestrians about the demonstrations and pointed to alternate walking routes.
As part of a series of rallies across Canada on September 20th, members of Support Choice Halifax held a National Day of Action-Equal Access Now event to stand in solidarity with NB and PEI and show support for access to reproductive health services everywhere. This was a smaller gathering than previous related events, but we worked to raise awareness and put further pressure on the New Brunswick government prior to the provincial election.
Report from PEI
by Josie Baker, Charlottetown
This year in PEI had seen a lot of work, and a lot of frustration with the undemocratic political process.
Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie released her research report in January 2014 of this year following four years of research, showing the harms caused by PEI women from restricting access to Abortion. She sent it to policy makers and to Health PEI, but neither policy makers nor Health PEI CEO Richard Wedge acknowledged the validity of her findings.
In May 2014 a press conference was held in Charlottetown to discuss the business case that had been developed by Health PEI in consultation with Dawn Fowler of the National Abortion Federation. The business case would have saved the province money, and several doctors had been identified who were willing to provide abortion care on PEI. The full implication of these announcements were not fully understood by the public until October, when CBC reporter Laura Chapin published the results of an access to information request showing political interference on the part of Health Minister Doug Currie.
In June, Minister Currie and Minister Docherty met with some representatives of the Abortion Rights Network, the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, and the National Abortion Federation. At this meeting both Ministers demonstrated that – despite years of correspondence, research, and awareness building, these policy makers were completely ignorant of the basic mechanisms in place for referral out of province, they were unaware of the contents of Dr. MacQuarrie’s research, and they completely absolved themselves of responsibility for the current restrictions. At this meeting, Minister Currie also refused to discuss the business case that would have saved the department money.
This Summer, the Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton closed, leaving PEI Women with even more limited and restricted options. Another blow to PEI women’s access came when the doctor who had been providing access to medical abortion stopped accepting patients for this purpose. This doctor said that the demand was too high and his patient load was overwhelming as well.
Justin Trudeau’s announcement that all Federal Liberal MPs would have to vote Pro Choice caused some flip flops by PEI politicians. Premier Robert Ghiz publicly claimed to be pro-choice, while continuing to defend the status quo. Anti-Choice MP Laurence MacAuley also was forced to agree to vote pro-choice.
In August, UPEI hosted an international conference on Abortion and Reproductive Justice, called “Abortion: The unfinished Revolution,” thanks to the work of Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie. Academics from all over the world arrived in Charlottetown to present papers and take part in discussions on a range of issues related to abortion and reproductive justice. The local PEI and UPEI feminist community were present volunteering to help the conference run smoothly.
During this time, the Ontario-based Show-the-Truth campaign showed up and spent the week terrorising locals and tourists by displaying their gruesome pictures at major thoroughfares. The response from the local community was outrage, and some new people came out to peacefully counter protest.
This Fall, Ghiz finally agreed, for the first time to meet with Dr. McQuarrie and the PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Although he has since resigned as Premier, there is hope that there are plans to start providing access in PEI.
This year has also included pro-choice rallies and new people entering our movement and offering their talents through viral videos and other events. The PEI Abortion Rights Network also has a website now, thanks to a donation for this purpose. We are looking forward to the upcoming provincial election this spring, in which access to abortion in PEI can be expected to be an issue.
Report from New Brunswick
by Allison Webster, Fredericton
In some ways, 2014 brought many changes to New Brunswick. Most of you know that after struggling financially for many years, the maritime provinces’ only abortion clinic announced its closure in the spring and shut its doors in July.
Once the announcement was made, a grass roots movement really started to take hold on the ground in New Brunswick. What started as an ad hoc committee evolved and has grown into a true feminist collective named Reproductive Justice New Brunswick.
During the provincial election, RJNB succeeded in bringing the abortion access issue to the forefront of the campaign.
RJNB met with a doctor who was living in Vancouver but originally from NB. He was working as a general practitioner and also doing therapeutic abortions in BC. After meeting with him and his wife, RJNB started an online crowd-funding campaign to raise money in order to help purchase a clinic and bring them to NB.
RJNB’s campaign was very successful, thanks to donations from people and organizations from across North America, and we raised about $125 000 to put towards the purchase of a clinic. The doctor and his wife moved to Fredericton, and purchased the former Morgentaler clinic. They did look around at other properties, but knowing that the clinic was still sitting empty, and already had features like bullet proof glass, bomb proof foundations, a fully set up OR, etc., the doctor negotiated with the owners of the former clinic and purchased it.
The doctor reached out many times to government, and did have a meeting prior to the clinic opening, but the government delegates made it clear they would not be interested in taking part in the opening of the clinic.
In the late fall, the new Liberal government made an announcement that they were changing the regulation 8420 which required two doctors to sign off on any person’s hospital abortion, and requiring it be done by a specialist. It was exciting to know that the government was finally talking about abortion, and trying to make changes, but we have found that really, on the ground, this change in the regulation has not made much difference. People are still having problems accessing hospital abortions. We have heard that there is still a 6 week waiting list at the hospital. Also, they are still only doing procedures under 14week gestation.
Clinic 554 opened its doors a few weeks ago. The doctor is running his family practice there 4 days a week. He has taken on 600 patients without family doctors, but is also accepting LGBTQ patients, as well as HIV+ and Hep C+ patients. I have been working part-time with the doctor and his wife, the new clinic manager, helping them get the clinic organized and running. We have seen about 15 patients so far for therapeutic abortions, including multiple women who were over the 14 week cutoff date for the hospital.
In the last week of January, we had a meeting with Health Minister Victor Boudreau and assistant deputy minister Lyne St-Pierre. RJNB brought a list of concerns, and we were able to speak to all of them. The minister took lots of notes and promised to meet with us again, hopefully with someone from the Horizon Health Network, to continue the dialogue. This has become even more important since the recent announcement that Horizon won’t be announcing where abortion services will be expanded and offered in the hospital system.
There have been a lot of changes in NB in the last year, even though we are still lobbying the government to support clinic abortions. We are still looking into different ways of assisting patients to pay for clinic abortions until then. Although some people may not see that we have moved forward at all, I do believe we are, slowly, moving forward. We now have a Reproductive Health clinic seeing patients from across the province, which specializes in LGBTQ health and abortion services! This is a step forward. We also have a committed grassroots organization on the ground in NB lobbying and fighting for better access and less stigma for abortion services.
Report from Quebec
by Patrick Powers, Montreal
We held three Abortion Watch Committee meetings over the 2014 year. (One each in May, September, and November.) In general, the situation is calm here in « la belle province ». There are no « horror stories ». What is most encouraging in terms of the overview is the level of interest and cooperation expressed in our exchanges over the year regarding the concern our colleagues in Québec on the Committee have expressed for their « sisters » in Canada.
They have willingly jumped on board to help with the study of the « Pregnancy in Crisis Centres ». And there is considerable interest and attention given to the evolving state of affairs in the Maritimes in general. From this point on, I am happy to report that I will be working with Thelma Bogante (a new ARCC-CDAC member who resides here).
Report from Ottawa
by Julie Lalonde
Things have been fairly quiet in the nation’s capital in terms of local organizing. It’s really difficult to separate local organizing from organizing that happens locally but is meant for a national scale.
For example, I think part of the reason why things have been fairly quiet locally is that a few national organizations (with Ottawa headquarters) were laying low publicly as they organized to re-launch as Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights.
As part of their re-launch, Action Canada organized the Ottawa premiere of ‘Vessel’, which I wasn’t able to attend but I hear was a great turnout!
Otherwise, people seem to be (im)patiently waiting for the upcoming federal election. I think once election season really kicks in, we’ll see more visible organizing by local activists.
Report from Ontario
By Carolyn Egan (Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics, OCAC)
The Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics (OCAC), which is a member organization of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, meets monthly with a mix of younger and older activists. It has an office at Trinity St Paul’s centre in Toronto.
We provide escorts every Saturday to the Women’s Care Clinic which is picketed by the anti-choice.
Carolyn Egan and Linda Lee Gardner have an article coming out in a pro-choice anthology edited by Shannon Stettner as does Nick Van der Graaf.
OCAC presented along with Sandeep Prasad, Michelle Landsberg and Niki Ashton, NDP MP at an alternative meeting to the International Maternal Health Summit held by the federal government in Toronto. It was well attended by delegates to the official summit and many others. OCAC also did a picket at the summit, which was held at the Royal York Hotel, holding banners saying “Maternal Health Includes Abortion” and leafleting passersby and delegates.
We did a very successful picket at Dundas Square in August in downtown Toronto in support of the women of New Brunswick in their fight for reproductive justice.
Michelle Robidoux presented a paper on behalf of OCAC at the PEI conference, “Abortion the Unfinished Revolution” in August as did Jamie Nikalau.
OCAC participated in the Pan Canadian Day of Action for Reproductive Justice and Equal Access Now in September. The rally included speakers such as Wanda Whitebird from “No More Silence”, Marie Clarke Walker executive vice president of the Canadian Labour Congress and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Melissa Graham from the Disibility Pride March, Andria Babbington vice president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Rathika Sitsabaiesan NDP MP from Scarborough Rouge River, and Anjali Kulkarni from Medial Students for Choice.
We did a film showing with Medical Students for Choice at the University of Toronto of the film “After Tiller”. We are having another film showing of “the Vessel” in March also co-sponsored with Medical Students for Choice.
We are working on International Women’s Day organizing for a rally and march on Saturday March 7th in solidarity with the World March of Women. The theme is “Our Bodies, Our Territories, Our Communities”.
Executive Director’s Report (and BC Report)
By Joyce Arthur, Vancouver
New Brunswick – ARCC worked with New Brunswick activists to repeal the province’s discriminatory payment regulation and help them fundraise to re-open the new clinic. That was a great success, although NB only repealed the regulation requiring women to get permission from two doctors and that an Ob/Gyn must perform the abortion. ARCC wrote two letters to NB Health Minister Victor Boudreau urging him to repeal the second regulation that limits funded abortions to hospitals, as that is illegal under the Canada Health Act. There’s been no response except for a brief letter restating the law and that the government has no plans to repeal it. ARCC will continue working with RJNB until this regulation is repealed. ARCC also created a new website dedicated to the NB abortion issue, complete with all the history. This site was recently updated to include the news of the regulation repeal and the new clinic, and the key articles have all been translated into French.
Prince Edward Island – ARCC continued to assist with lobbying for abortion access on Prince Edward Island. In addition, we sent a student from Vancouver to the Charlottetown conference in August, using money donated from CUPE-SCFP in Ottawa. We also funded board members Peggy Cooke and Jennie Donovan to go to the conference, and Peggy spoke there.
Sept 20 National day of action – We had a successful National day of Action for Reproductive Justice on Sept 20, to stand in solidarity with NB and PEI. Despite generally low turnouts, media coverage was pretty good. Events were held in Halifax, Charlottetown, several cities in New Brunswick, Montreal, Toronto, Guelph, Peterborough, and Vancouver. About 35 people came out to the Vancouver event, which featured some great and diverse speakers, including a transgender man and a childcare advocate, among others. We were almost outnumbered by a group of 26 anti-choice protesters, mostly men, who stood about 20 meters away from us with their aborted fetus photos. They did not disrupt our rally.
Health hotlines – When it was revealed in June that the government-run health hotlines in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were referring women to CPCs, ARCC put together a little survey, and asked volunteers call their provincial hotlines to see if they referred appropriately for abortion. Four provinces were called (Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and BC), and the results were mostly reassuring. We described the results in a July article (titled “Does your Provincial Health Hotline Refer for Abortion Services Appropriately?” http://www.arcc-cdac.ca/action/health-hotlines-survey.pdf), which also included info on where to go for accurate information and help. (ARCC also wrote to Telecare Nova Scotia to complain, but they replied that they could only act on a complaint from the person who received the bad info, and needed details on the specific call, which we were unable to provide.)
CPC website review project: In August, we undertook a comprehensive review of the website of every “crisis pregnancy centre” in Canada. We created a national list of all 182 CPCs. We recruited volunteers who are currently reviewing CPC websites to determine which misleading or problematic tactics they are engaging in. Volunteers follow a 9-question Review Worksheet that ask them to look for specific things. The goal is to have the reviews done by late spring, then we will analyze and publicize the results, and target specific municipalities in a campaign to regulate CPCs in some way, such as requiring them to post notices that they don’t refer for abortion or birth control. There’s about 100 websites in total, about two-thirds of them are assigned so far, and one-third have been completed.
Saskatchewan anti-choice parental consent campaign– ARCC successfully stopped an anti-choice campaign to pass a law in Saskatchewan requiring parental consent for teens seeking an abortion. Two anti-choice groups (“We need a law” and Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association) were urging Saskatchewan to enact a law requiring parental consent before a minor can have an abortion. ARCC prepared a comprehensive, evidence-based position paper (titled “The Injustice and Harms of Parental Consent Laws for Abortion”, available here http://www.arcc-cdac.ca/postionpapers/58-Parental-Consent.pdf), which showed that a parental consent law for abortion would contravene and reverse current medical policies and ethics around the consent of minors to healthcare, violate their constitutional rights to bodily security and privacy, and increase risks to their health and safety. We sent the paper and a cover letter to all Sask MLAs. The Health Minister responded on behalf of the gov’t and basically agreed with our position. He said that treatment of minors without parental consent is up to the discretion of doctors, and that minors can be deemed “mature minors” if they are capable of making their own decisions.
Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons in Alberta and Ontario – ARCC lobbied the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons in Alberta and in Ontario to limit so-called “conscientious objection” by doctors who object to providing or referring for birth control or abortion. We made a detailed submission to Ontario when they opened a public consultation on their old human rights policy. We also filed a partially successful complaint against an Ottawa doctor who refused to prescribe or refer for birth control. He is no longer allowed to refuse to refer in all cases, but must help at least the more vulnerable patients find alternate services. The Ontario College came out with a new draft policy requiring objecting doctors to refer appropriately as well as provide emergency treatment if necessary. ARCC will make another submission to the Ontario College on their new draft policy. ARCC also corresponded with the Alberta College, asking them to require physicians to prescribe birth control, but they refused and would not even reprimand a Calgary physician who was refusing to refer for birth control.
Williams Lake Proclamation: The city of Williams Lake BC declared “Celebrate Life” week from Sep 28 to Oct 5, after approving a proclamation request from an anti-choice group. This approval had been going on for years, until it came to the attention of a local activist there, Carrie Julius. She approached ARCC for help, and ARCC sent a letter to the city asking them to rescind, as well as issued a press release. ARCC’s help was instrumental in gaining significant media attention. As a result of Carrie’s actions and ARCC’s help, the City now has a policy on how proclamations are approved; the topic was the subject of two sociology classes at the local university, TRU Williams Lake; a student chose to write a paper on the subject for her post-secondary classes; at least one council member has pledged not to vote in favour of the proclamation again; and overall it is unlikely that the proclamation will be approved in the future.
CCBR graphic photos – The Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform took their offensive graphic imagery to several cities last year – Calgary in June, Charlottetown in August, and Fredericton in September. ARCC talked to the Calgary police who said they couldn’t do anything about the large banner displayed over Deerfoot Trail, which caused an accident, even though the banner violated the “Stunting” law under the provincial highways act. ARCC also sent a letter to the Mayor of Calgary in October with our model bylaw, but there was no response even after a follow-up. Allison adapted that letter to send to the Fredericton mayor in November, as CCBR distributed postcards there in September just before the election. ARCC also sent a letter to the mayor of Charlottetown, Clifford Lee. He expressed interest in our bylaw and wanted to know who else had passed one, so we responded with info on Hamilton’s bylaw and motion (Lee was going to refer the matter to his lawyers). ARCC had worked with the city of Hamilton in 2013, and the city finally passed a bylaw in May 2014 prohibiting the display of banners on overpasses. They also used some of our info to present a motion to the province of Ontario and federal government asking for legislation to ban any advertising of “graphic, gruesome, and distributing images of aborted fetuses … at least to the extent that such images are shielded from children and other vulnerable persons.” (The full text of the City’s motion can be read here.)
Niki Ashton’s Oct 30 Ottawa forum / NDP – Joyce participated in the Planning Committee to help decide on topics and format. Joyce tried to get someone for RJNB or Fredericton Youth Feminists to go, but no-one from NB or ARCC ended up going. We also shared our “top political asks” with the NDP at their request, regarding issues for their platform and for lobbying in Parliament. We chose four things: enforcing the Canada Health Act, funding abortion in developing countries, national leadership to improve the healthcare system and SRH in particular, and global advocacy for the repeal of abortion laws.
$10,000 donation: In December, ARCC was thrilled to receive a $10,000 donation from Shirley Greenberg, a philanthropist and women’s right activist in Ottawa. ARCC member Wendy Miller of Ottawa was instrumental in securing this donation for us.
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 2014, we issued 5 press releases and published several articles and statements on our website and in the media. Joyce continues her monthly column at Rabble.ca, which she often uses to write about reproductive rights-related issues for ARCC. Our Facebook page is active and successful and now has almost 2,400 members. ARCC’s spokespersons also carried out many media interviews and speaking engagements over the year. ARCC continues to operate its website, as well as two listservs for members only: Activist and News. Although we were unable to publish our newsletter this year, we will try to publish a more casual newsletter with short updates a few times a year.
Election of Board of Directors
The following were elected to a new four-year term:
- Newly Nominated: Jennifer Burgess, Calgary
- Newly Elected (prev appointed by board): Martina Zanetti, Vancouver – Treasurer/Secretary
- Jennie Donovan, Halifax
- Allison Webster, Fredericton NB
- Josie Baker, Charlottetown PEI
- Patrick Powers, Montreal
- Julie Lalonde, Ottawa
- Carolyn Egan, Toronto
- Peggy Cooke, Toronto
- Tamara Underwood, Vancouver