The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
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Ontario Region Executive -  March 23, 2024

Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto

Present: J. Purdie, C. L’Estrange, T. Yantsis, B. Brawley, T. MacDonald, S. Labbé, M. Chan, A. Stone, D. Kamaldin, R. Kaura

Regrets: T. Zaharopoulos

Meeting called to order at 9:20 am

  1. Opening remarks 

Director acknowledged land that we meet on and welcomed ORE.  

  1. Approval of Agenda 

Motion to approve Agenda as presented. Consensus

  1. Approval of Minutes 

Motion to approve November 18, 2023 ORE meeting minutes. Consensus

Motion to approve Zoom January 8, 2024 virtual ORE meeting minutes. Consensus

Motion to approve Zoom February 8, 2024 virtual ORE meeting minutes. Consensus

Discussion on posting Zoom meeting approved minutes. 

Motion: That the ORE vote that all approved minutes of the ORE be posted to the Ontario region website.

Moved: Anthony Stone

2nd: Bridget Brawley Withdrawn

Amended: That the ORE vote that all approved minutes of meetings outside regularly scheduled meetings of the ORE be posted to the Ontario region website.

Moved: Chris L’Estrange

2nd: Anthony Stone Withdrawn

Motion: That the ORE vote that all approved minutes of the ORE may be posted to the Ontario region website.

Moved: Anthony Stone

2nd: Bridget Brawley Passed

Motion: that the minutes of the Jan 8 Zoom meeting minutes be posted to the Ontario Region website.

Moved: Bridget Brawley

2nd: Anthony Stone Passed

Motion: that the minutes of the Feb 8 Zoom meeting minutes be posted to the Ontario Region website.

Moved: Bridget Brawley

2nd: Anthony Stone Passed

Action: Finance rep to confirm budget implications

Action: BLPC rep to contact governance officer and confirm policy on posting minutes

  1. Matters arising / tracking report – John 

Discussion surrounding each action item. Board has appointed officer for steward renewal process, Din requests that item be removed from tracking. Bingo activity during OSC has been accepted by chair.

  1. Treasurer’s report – Tom Y. 

Treasurer reviewed financial situation and current expenditures in his Treasurer’s report. Report accepted as presented. Promotional item selection for ORC has been purchased.

Motion to approve the financials as presented by the treasurer. Consensus

  1. Committee Reports 
    1. BOD COMMITTEES 
      1. PRQC – Fatima Hashmi – none requested, none provided
      2. BLPC – Mandy C. 

First meeting occurred March 16 and committee is finding it difficult to get virtual meetings set-up as the different time zones causing issue. Along with number of meetings reduction may cause slowdown in procedures. Hopeful that this will correct over time.

  1. Finance – Tom Y. 

First meeting occurred March 4. A member joined as she was in a +13-hour time zone. Went over an appeal. Were told that PIPSC hired a new finance director. Hopes that consultant has finally been removed, as work did not provide value to the Institute. Meetings scheduled as follows: May 21 virtual, July in-person (Toronto), Sept & Nov in Ottawa. Finance Director is a CPA and application seems to have been verified. Asking for an RFP to go out. AGM wants a new auditor, although the auditor (individual) has been changed within the same group.

  1. HRDC – Sabrina Labbé 

First meeting was March 1&2. Meetings for HRDC are always 1.5 days long so have schedule 4 meetings. Are a combination of in-person and virtual. Wish of committee is to pursue the good work done in 2022 and 2023. Will be looking to bring resolution to AGM to prolong terms from 1-year to 3-year. Next meeting was supposed to be in-person in Toronto in April but will be held virtually. Meetings are set: April 5-6 (virtual), May 31-1 (TBD – virtual), Sept 6-7 (Ottawa), Nov 7 or 10 (TBC) & Dec 6 & 7 (Montreal). Provided Heather with annual HRDC report highlighting various HRDC successes.

  1. ITSP – Dora Scarling – none requested, none provided
  2. SA – Tina M. - secretarially
  3. National Training – Bridget B. 

Working on budget for July 2025 to June 2026. Open to receiving requests for training opportunities. Provide an approximate budget of training would be helpful to expedite approval process. TEAM discussed how 4 in-person meetings are insufficient to maintain productivity. 6 meetings is really important. Bridget will work on bringing forth an AGM resolution to ORC floor for body support to bring number of sessions back to 6.

  1. Election – Tim Azab – none requested, none provided
  2. Election Appeal – Patrick Mudenyo – committee is not yet operational. 
  1. ORE COMMITTEES / Liaison 
    1. Training Committee – Bridget 

Promotional item for new stewards’ update: 20 items left. Heather will look into 2025 venues and will provide estimates. Pricing for: Basic Feb & fall 2025, Labour May & fall 2025 and Standalone (H&S, Mental Health, Exec) 2025. Discussion around 2 branch presidents reaching out about stewards not accomplishing the work expected of them. Stewards and members sign up for numerous events and activities yet are not giving back to PIPSC. ORE cannot intervene in such matters, it falls within member rights and steward renewal procedures. ORE abstains from action at this time.

Motion: that the ORE use the attendee list to distribute promotional items at all Ontario region events.

Moved: Chris L’Estrange

2nd: Bridget Brawley Passed

Bridget mentions that Labour school sessions will offer 3 types of training topics, one of them being Core Executive training. Discussion around locations to be provided to Heather for quotes:

Basic Feb in Toronto at Harbour Castle, Sheraton & Hyatt

Basic Oct in White Oaks, Kingston, London

Labour May in White Oaks, Kingston, London

Labour Fall in White Oaks, Kingston, Windsor

Standalone in Toronto at Harbour Castle, Sheraton & Hyatt

Action: Bridget will obtain quotes for training events from Heather as per the discussed locations.

  1. Bylaw & policy – Mandy 

Sabrina updates the document with our latest motions. Evergreen document.

  1. Visibility Mobilization – Mandy 

Game planned for ORC. Details will be brought forth during ORC discussion.

  1. Ontario Provincial Group – Tina 

Very happy with the decrease in workload as many items have been resolved. Meeting with Marcia and presidents are more formal and minutes are being taken. EROs are attending and involvement has greatly increased. Well supported within PIPSC, by head office especially. Increased funding to be allocated to support provincial. Attendance and participation is increasing. Multiple AGMs held where John has been invited and spoke. 3 seats at ORC were confirmed for provincial members to participate. Has contacted people to set up negotiation meetings and disability, pension and benefits meetings. Received negotiation training.

  1. Young Professionals – Rachit 

Was approached in January about website redesign and recommended that YPN area be added and made more user-friendly. Planning to have next in-person YPN in May. Committee focused on building 2 communication platforms: Discord & WhatsApp. Local outreach is ongoing. Will provide resources and updates. Topics of interest to date are: collective agreement changes, structure of PIPSC, what does a union do for me, return to the workplace, how to get involved in the union, what does a steward do. Committee would like to see formal union onboarding. Host ongoing lunch and learns events. Planning an engagement event in late April. Some venue ideas have been brainstormed. Ad hoc advisory committee has been launched, first meeting on April 13. Broadbent is 11-13 April, YPN rep will be sent.  

  1. Branch Liaison – Tina 

Nothing come up yet. During ORC, will be holding president meeting April 12 morning.  

  1. Legacy Foundation – Chris 

Looking at playing bingo at OSC. Mandy would like to add pie in the face game. Members would buy tickets and the person that earns the most tickets will receive a pie in the face. Brainstorm during training committee meeting.

  1. Regional Council – Anthony 

Changes to agenda, president will attend Friday, so switch between director’s report and president’s report timings. Food & beverage ideas discussed for hospitality. Consult with Heather for hospitality holding rules.

Action: ORE must provide ideas by April 4th, 2024. 

President. guest speaker and group presidents confirmed to attend. Election nomination forms are being sent to Bridget. Bridget will send receipt confirmation emails out. Resolutions are being accepted on the floor of ORC. Promotional items will be given through tickets or list, control how they are being distributed. Opening remarks contains food and swag comments to address concerns. 130 items were ordered. We will get a delegate list confirmation soon. Resolution submitted will be reviewed by Sean O’Reily and will be dealt with by him. 

  1. Steward council – Bridget 

Meet with training committee and present draft agenda of OSC at April meeting. We have blueprints for Steward and Executive of the Year. Discussion around award procedures.

Action: find out if we will have treasurer training at OSC.

  1. Director’s Report – John 

Motion to go in camera. 

Motion to come out of camera.

Branch AGMs coming up and John needs to attend. Future stewards and mobilizers are often found during these events. Members often question the difference between group/subgroup and branch. Has been appointed on the AGM taskforce. There will be a financial forum for AGM Nov 7th at 7pm. Hospitality & caucus room scheduling will be coming soon. New director of finance is Tommy Baron. New executive director (COO) is Tania Lafrenière. Foresees John, Tommy and Tanya being the ones to write the financial statements. Already, all in agreement of various best practices being brainstormed and will be implemented. Budget is projected to be $6M deficit. Course correction on budgetary deficits is being redressed. This year is national election. John is running for Ontario director again, would appreciate support. Branch of the year nominations deadline will be April 5th. Will organize a zoom meeting before ORC.

  1. New Business 
    1. Tina:
      1. Provincial delegate to ORC – has been dealt with and resolved
      2. “Past president” role recognition – role or fulfilment of past presidents to have some sort of role to sit on an executive. A past president can be voted into the executive unless a position is vacant, that executive can appoint to fill a vacancy. BLPC has seen a bylaw that speaks to specifically “a president will automatically hold a 1-year term MAL following end of term.” Ensure that the retired member registered and remains a member in good standing.
      3. SoY nominees be informed & eligibility/ineligibility – contact the candidate and nominator to be recognized, as it can be seen as an honour. John mentions that SoY will become a national process
      4. Tina needs letter of official OFL role – explains work requirement, will email Jenn C. and CC John. Only needs a signature.
    2. ORE Meet & Greet feedback loop

  even with weather conditions.

  1. Decorum - removed
  2. PIPSC Culture - removed
  1. Round Table 

Rachit wishes everyone a good ORC and asks that we support his candidacy.

Anthony answers questions: 127 registered and registration is closed, resolutions can be brought to the floor up till Saturday at noon, Hunder cup is April 5, no deadline for elections (on the floor).

Sabrina has nothing more to add

Mandy answered the Zoom meeting minutes question and stated that these minutes follow the same rules, with no distinction.

Tom Y would like ORE to think about promotional items for OSC and AGM.

Bridget covered everything and will see everyone in 3 weeks.

Tina has nothing to add.

Chris has nothing to add.

John appreciates the current ORE and how involved we are.

Din has nothing further to add, reminds all that Rachit, Din, Tom Y and Tom Z are running for ORE.

Meeting adjourned at 4:18 pm

Published on 10 May 2024