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RE - Adoption of the Minutes of the AGM 2018

RE Group AGM Agenda

4 May 2018

Item Time
Title Speaker

1 09:00-9:45

Roll Call of the delegates
Chair

Executives: Eric Hortop, Mehran Alaee, Jean Bérubé, Andrew Billyard, Kathleen Emberson, John Fowler, John MacFaralne, Harold Mantel, Richard Winder, Matthew MacLeod, Khalid Rashid

Delegates: David Gray, Nathaniel Newlands, John Donohue, Sacha Nandlall, Steve Cui, Jidong Kang, Xiaolan Wang, Anthony Faust, Mohammad Khakbazan, Lateef Adewoye, Ed Chen, Chaowu Xiao

2 Approval of the Agenda
Chair

-Item 5 is postponed at the end of day

-meeting will end at 5PM

Proposed by Khalid Rashid and seconded by John Fowler. Adopted

3 Adoption of the Minutes of AGM 2017
Chair

Moved by Matt MacLeod, seconded by Jean Bérubé.

Typos and list of delegates were corrected.

4 Business Arising from the Minutes
Chair

-Item 1: Item 1 from 2016 AGM: door prize: done

-Item 2: Item 2 from 2016 AGM: box H: resolved.

-Item 3: The next Collective Agreement will have gender inclusive language. In progress.

-Item 4: The RE group will submit the Employment Equity data collection motion to the PIPSC AGM; last year it was referred to the BOD, but we will resubmit. Motion to resubmit moved by Matt MacLeod and Richard Winder. Carried. Motion to be sent to Human Right Committee along with to the BOD in case it does not making it to vote at PIPSC AGM 2018.

Motion for amendment :Eric Hortop, Amila De Silva: WHEREAS the Institute endorses the principle of employment equity; and

WHEREAS we do not currently have a quantitative mechanism in place to assess equity group participation within our volunteer positions; and

WHEREAS collecting data through self-identification could enable the Institute to better understand both its current state of equity group participation, and trends in that participation over time,

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Institute put in place a voluntary self-identification process for stewards and executives to identify as belonging to the equity groups defined by the Employment Equity Act, as well as the addition of a non-binary gender option, age group, dependents and LGBTQ2+ identity.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the techniques used by Statistics Canada to protect the confidentiality of small populations of persons be appropriately applied”.

Carried.

-Item 5:  Discussion is held on the content of a motion to be presented to PIPSC legal for possible submission to the 2018 RE group AGM. In progress

-Item 6: does PIPSC has a position on workplace 2.0 ? In progress. BOD is working on this issue.

9:45-10:15 Health Break

5 (end of day)

Presentation from DND ADM(S&T) I. Desmartis

Isabelle Desmartis (Lawyer, Ph.D. in International Security ) made a presentation as ADM(S&T) at DND, regarding her initial impression of science in government (having recently moved from the Policy world).

6 11:15-11:30

Annual Financial Report. Treasurer

Presentation of financial report done by Harold Mantel.  Expenses  around 3K for site visits last year came up too late to be in the financial report presented but will be in an amended report for the dossier. 

-Q: can we get a better yield for our money in bank account? Answer by Harold Mantel: PIPSC policy dictates the use of our current account.

-thanks to RE Exec for the work are done by John MacFarlane.

-questions and discussion and information about the PIPSC Legacy Fund. Rob Macdonald explained its purpose.

-Question: what is the approval process to give RE group money to the Fund? By whom and when is the vote taken? Answer by the chair: the executive generally sets the budget, but can be overridden by the delegates.  Chair decided that this item should be voted on, given several strong opinions from the floor (see motion below). 

Adoption of financial report is proposed by Eric Hortop and seconded by Harold Mantel. Adopted.

A notional budget presented by Harold Mantel, it is not up to date as 2017 numbers have changed. 

Questions:

-Can promotional items made available to Sub Groups?

Harold Mantel answer: please send us your request.

Motion to vote on putting RE group money into the PIPSC Legacy Fund.  Sacha Nandlall and Harold Mantel.

Comments:

-Legacy fund is not inclusive for those who do not have children.

-members have queries about the focus of the Fund and its usefulness for the society in general

-information: the Funds gives fellowships to the general public through the Boys and Girls Club, as well as to children and grandchild of PIPSC members.

Motion is not carried. Given the close vote and strong feelings, the chair suggested that the executive take the action to more carefully research the issue and present a new motion the following year. 

7 11:30-12:00

Employee Wellness Support Program

The state of the negotations on this time was presented by Adrienne Turnbull.  Deadline for agreement is September 2018, but it can be extended by both parties.  Parties still target agreement by September 2018.

A. Turnbull

12:00-13:00 Lunch

8 13:00-13:45

Effective Collaboration in Scientific Research in the Federal Government

Presentation by Dr Barbara. Waruszynski.  Dr. Waruszynski is a Defence Scientist who recently conducted this work as her Doctorate, using NRCan/FPInnovations as a case study.

B. Waruszynski

9 13:45-14:30
Science Advisory Committee/Science Survey/Scientific Integrity
Science Advisory Committee, PIPSC Research

Maxime Gingras presented an Update of the SAC strategic plan and the Defrosting Science report.

Michael Urminsky presented on the SI integrity policy  implementation. Members were encouraged to get involved with their consultation teams to work on their departmental/agency policies.

14:30-15:00 Health Break

10 15:00-15:30
Bargaining Update
President, Negotiator

Nick Pernal, PIPSC negotiator:

-Bargaining team work is confidential

- Updates for public consumption can be found on the PIPSC website

11 15:30-16:00
Report of the President
President

  • Extraordinary year – dividends of years of work by the RE Group and Science Advisory Committee being reaped
  • But there are still problems – RES increment implementation, lack of research funding, contracting out, travel and conference restraints
  • Scientific Integrity becoming more real – need to get the best we can in the model and in the departments/agency
  • Considering the impact of Defrosting Science, and how our work continues to be quoted in the press – impacting the government and the Chief Science Advisor. Note that President Daviau signed an open letter with Ministers Duncan and Brison reaffirming that the government needs to do more to unmuzzle scientists. Minister Duncan gave a TED talk on this the same week.
  • Building credibility with our members and within PIPSC through site visits, policy grievance, S.I. work, PIPSC Gold Medal nomination.
  • Need to keep focus on our unique incumbent-based system, as departments start to go their own way without formal consultation.  Need especially to get RES involved with this.
  • Executive needs revitalized RES participation, please consider applying to the election in the Fall.

Motion:  Matt MacLeod and Mehran Alaee. Be it resolved that the RE Group asks the President of PIPSC to assign staff resources to the RE Career Development Consultation Committee, with the aim of arranging a meeting with Treasury Board by September 30th.

Carried.

12 16:00-16:30
New Business
Chair

Adjournment
Proposed by Jean Bérubé and Matt MacLeod. Adopted. 17h08.