Regional Executive Meeting #5 – Thursday, October 16, 2025

BC/Yukon Region – Regional Executive Meeting #5

Thursday, October 16, 2025, 1:00 – 5:00 pm, Friday, October 17, 2025, 9:00 am – 12:00pm

Westin Whistler Resort & Spa, 4090 Whistler Way, Whistler, BC, V8E 1J3

Meeting ID: JVNCQ5ZQ8T6

MINUTES

START: 1312 (Thurs Oct 16)

RECESS: 1617 Thurs Oct 16)

RESTART: 0910 (Fri Oct 17)

Regional Executive Meeting – October 16 & 17, 2025

Approval of Agenda – (All) M/S/C
Approval of Minutes – (All) M/S/C
August 22, 2025
Business Arising from Minutes – (All)
Review of action items – (T. D’Souza)
Terri restructured the RX Google Drive for a more streamlined approach
Steward Council update
Charity/Land Acknowledgement/Elder – (C.Drummond/A.Lunz)
Elder has been paid for by PIPSC Finance
Swag – (T.D’Souza)
Sandals, LED headlamp toques, pens, and stickers to be handed out at registration
Entertainment – (M.Cranny)
Family Feud will be done by SC Emcee, Roger Haskett during the dinner
EROs will be in attendance on Saturday morning
Swag for Regional Executive – (T. D’Souza)
New RX members have been polled for pink/charcoal polo sizes
RX dress shirts to be polled for sizes and ordered along with polos [already an AI in the tracker]
Still looking into options for name badges. Poll to be sent out
Disposable name tags for outreach events to be ordered from a Canadian company/Union Proud
Staff appreciation dinner – (N.Gandhi/M.Cranny)
Kris confirmed that 3 staff will be in attendance so far, waiting on confirmation from others
Staff and RX can bring their partners
Nikhil to suggest a restaurant in Vancouver [already an AI in the tracker]
Fall Newsletter – (M.Cranny)
Morgan has drafted the Fall 2025 newsletter
Terri to review and also format a PDF version [already an AI in the tracker]
Regional Director Report – (M. Cranny) M/S/C

I attended the BOD meetings Sept 4-5 in Ottawa. We got an introduction to the new CEO Stan McLellan and I was impressed with his composure and his attitude towards working with PIPSC to achieve our goals. Later in the month he also met with staff where he faced some challenging questions and again, I was impressed with how he answered and presented his vision. 

A motion was passed to bring the fiscal year of all constituent bodies (CB’s) in line with PIPSC national by July 1, 2027. Finance will work with CB’s to make this happen and while it may seem like a big struggle it should be relatively straightforward and will make finances much easier in the future. 

The directors have all been given corporate ChatGPT accounts to assist with their work and there has been an orientation to remind all of the limitations of AI and protocols for protecting information. Part of our agreement with ChatGPT is that they can’t use our data to feed their system but we are still being cautious as we know data breaches are possible. We will trial this for a year. It is quite low cost and has a lots of potential uses.

Several motions were brought to the BOD from the HRDC for support at the AGM, 2 were accepted. One tackles outdated language in 17.7 to bring it in line with the Employment Equity Act and the other speaks to the selection of members to the committee to make it less regional and focused on members who represent equity deserving groups (but regionality is also considered).  

The BOD is also bringing a motion to the AGM to reduce the size of the AGM by proposing a change to the formula from 1/200 members to 1/400 members for each category. This year’s delegation is well over 800 and will cost ~$4M. There are other proposals for reduction being brought to the AGM. 

There will also be a motion brought forward to the AGM to have PIPSC purchase carbon offset credits from a reputable vendor. I really support this personally. It was raised by the SP group and if we have to travel for the AGM (which I support), trying to offset that effect is a worthy endeavor.  

There were a few updates from the ECC that I chair brought to the BOD and several other members. I encourage folks to read the minutes when they are available. That’s a general note, not just this time!

In terms of Director outreach, I was delighted to attend the Victoria CRA Branch AGM on Sept 16th. The following day I travelled to the Okanagan Branch AGM in Summerland. I also got to have a brief tour of the Summerland Research station on Friday the 18th before heading to Vancouver to attend the Vancouver CRA sub-group AGM.  The common themes at all these AGM’s were Work Force Adjustment, Return to Office and upcoming bargaining. There is a WFA “kit” available on the website. RTO continues to be a problem for many members and for some it is not a primary concern. Heading into bargaining there is a lot of concern regarding cuts that are happening and unresolved strikes such as CUPW and the BCGEU and how that may impact our efforts. President O’Reilly attended the Okanagan AGM and answered with the information he has. Unfortunately there is so much unknown especially with no official budget released yet. The union is working to be prepared for all eventualities. Oct 2nd I travelled to Prince George to attend the Northern BC Branch AGM where similar issues were discussed. Each event had a good turnout and that speaks to peoples desire to know what is going especially as things become more uncertain.

I am excited about the Steward Council this weekend. Next up I will be heading to Halifax. The BOD is attending the Atlantic Steward Council and then having our BOD and RD meetings. I am looking forward to seeing another Steward Council in action.

Finally, the fall newsletter is pretty close to being ready to go!

In Solidarity,
Morgan Cranny – Director, BC-Yukon Region

Office/Staff Report – (K. Hawkins) M/S/C

The Regional Office has seen an increase in adjudication hearings for this fall but as of just an hour ago, two that were set for this month have been resolved, with excellent outcomes for our members. Due to confidentiality, I can’t share any specific details. Caseloads are sitting at a median of 58 per person, which is finally within the realm of a reasonable caseload. This hasn’t been the case for several years so I’m hoping for ongoing stability with workloads. Human rights cases continue to be the highest contributor of cases, volume wise, but there are a wide array of case types. 

I will be acting in the LR Director role for four weeks starting mid-November and there is a larger volume of work for that role during the fall. Given that, two Team Leads will be acting at separate times and I’ve shared their contact info with Morgan. I will be at your December meeting though as that was an existing commitment. 

Kris Hawkins (she/her)
PIPSC Regional Manager – BC/Yukon and Prairies/NWT

Financial Report – Treasurer – (P. MacDougall) M/S/C
Financial update provided
Regional Training Committee Report – (P. MacDougall) M/S/C
Upcoming training in BC/Yukon Region
OHS training
Will be 2 days (Dec 5-6 2025)
This year’s theme is “Leveraging union power for health and safety”
Training to be lead by Sunny and Priya
Registration will go out soon
National training initiatives
National steward portal is almost complete
New truth and reconciliation training – delivery TBD, may be online or attached to labour school
NSO is doing a training on PIPSC org structure
National BST in Ottawa was successful, networking was valuable
TEAM is reviewing PIPSC’s training policy
TEAM to review the financial training course
NCR and Prairies have a new TEAM rep
Interest on the Committees of the Board email went out last month
Next year – targeted leadership training
Awards Committee – (A. Lunz) M/S/C
Steward of the Year
SOTY and 2 Stewards of Distinction were chosen for 2025
We received many nominations and over half were young workers
Review of Steward/Executive of the Year form and criteria
To be reviewed in time for Dec RX [already an AI in the tracker]
YPC Initiative – (C.Drummond)
No updates
Emadur to take over the roles of YPC chair from Davy Chiu and YPC Liaison from Crystal
Next meeting is Nov 28
Surrey White Rock Branch is having a Discord event in late-November
National initiatives
Legacy Fund & Del Dickson cup – (S. Auchoybur)
Raffle prizes for tomorrow’s Steward Council still need to be purchased
ACTION ITEM: Purchase raffle items for Saturday (Soodittee)
ACTION ITEM: Create form + QR code for collecting donor information (Emadur)
8 total Legacy scholarship recipients from BC-Y this year. Morgan to present awards at lunch on Saturday
BC-Y will have a spot at the Legacy donation table at the 2025 PIPSC AGM
ACTION ITEM: Create a gift basket for the Legacy Cup raffle (Soodittee)
ACTION ITEM: Create a rotating schedule for running the BC-Y Legacy Cup booth (Morgan)
PIPSC National is coming up with a new way to count Legacy donation tickets and divide the donations by region for the Legacy Cup
Constituent body policy
Constituent body funds used to be $50 per person for an event, and a recent change to the policy now reads $50 per member, which excludes spouses and family from attending
Morgan is motioning to change the wording back to “per person” as this policy change is more likely to help participation than hinder it
Other standing items
Outreach location list – (A. Lunz, M. Cranny)
Still a work in progress, more updates to be included [already an AI in the tracker]
PSAC Liaison update – (K. Johnston)
Morgan updated that he met with Jamey Mills at the BCFED convention
PIPSC Committees of the Board reports
SAC – (T.D’Souza)
Terri attended an in-person meeting in September. The committee is working on putting together the results from the 2024 Survey of Federal Scientists and continues to discuss issues affecting PIPSC science members. The committee is also working on their booth for the AGM, spearheaded by Terri and the chair of the SAC. Terri continues to reach out to BC-Y group executives, stewards, and branch presidents for input into the regional report.
HRDC – (M.Choudhry)
Madeeha attended a meeting in September. The caucuses provided updates. The Black, LGBTQ+, and Indigenous caucus chairs weren’t present, and the Workers of Colour caucus hadn’t met. The Women’s caucus’ last meeting hosted an educational session on menopause and was very well attended. The committee discussed the unofficial PIPSC 4 Palestine caucus, which is a grassroots group formed within the union that has grown through word of mouth and is the highest attended caucus, despite not being an official caucus. The chair provided an update on the resolutions the committee had drafted and that were presented to the BoD. HRDC doesn’t have a Terms of Reference, so the committee will work towards creating one. The committee discussed the Junior Black Achievement Award’s request for a $1,000 donation from the Legacy fund. The committee was generally in favour, but felt that more information may be needed. The committee discussed training and education for stewards related to issues faced by marginalized groups, including training related to issues faced by black employees and Palestine. The draft CRA accessibility policy was reviewed in order to provide feedback to the AFS President. The equity statement was discussed and the committee will make recommendations on changes to the statement. The committee watched a webinar on Palestine and would like to put out a stronger statement since the situation has evolved and many members are feeling like PIPSC’s stance is not strong enough, especially given the stronger stance put out by other unions and the CLC. The committee will draft a statement to be presented to BoD.
BLPC– (N.Gandhi)
Nikhil attended meetings in June and August
BC/Y Constituent Body Bylaws reviewed: Reviewed amendments to Vancouver Branch bylaws to better reflect executive election process. Nikhil will work with the Branch to have these amendments adopted at their AGM this year.
PIPSC Policies reviewed: Policy on Representational Services, Policy on Better Together Funding Program, Policy on Constituent Body Allocations, Policy on Financial Support for Member Participation, Policy on Institute Rewards, Policy on Accessing PIPSC IT Equipment, Policy on Board of Directors, Policy on Membership List, Draft Policy on Liberation, Draft Policy on Steward Mentorship
PIPSC Bylaws reviewed: Bylaws 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 27
ITSP – (O.Cosma)
Oracle shutdown – Allan and Dritan presented the evolution of the milestones. The project is underway.
Allan mentioned that they have discussed (internally) what constitutes a project and what doesn’t. Non-projects won’t be reported on anymore, as they are outside of the purview of ITSP. We (ITSP members) mentioned that we’d like to be involved earlier-on, rather than when things are done.
The AGM election system – they’ve informed us that they’ve achieved enough to stop reporting on it as a project.
PIPSC Alteration application – OC asked about details, as this was the first time ITSP heard about it. Allan said the initial one pager became a series of meetings. Allan to provide info on requirements and what the ambitions of the app are. OC suggested more integration between PIPSC member databases, the member’s status in the context of WFA, and the obligation of the employer to inform PIPSC 2 days before informing the employee of their WFA status change. ITSP members chimed in, recommending we are involved more in the evolution of the app, as this might get us multiple desirable outcomes achieved “with one stone”. Focus on user experience, ease of use, etc.
Ryan asked about presence at elections and the options of using various technologies. Allan replied that it’s always mandatory to confirm quorum (rather than presence). It was mentioned that a better accounting of members is necessary, as sometimes there are big gaps between the numbers of attendants and the number of votes received.
Website/portal evolution. Janice, the PM has shown us some slides, but no live demo. We have asked to see a live demo (even if a restricted one) at the next opportunity (meeting), but before the AGM. PIPSC to organize that.
Mandate of ITSP – on the agenda; to be further refined at the next meeting.
It was overall a good meeting, where existing experienced ITSP members asked pertinent questions, and reiterated the need to get pertinent information, before the AGM.
Finance – (S.Auchoybur)
Approval of the Meeting from August.
Matters Arising / Review of Tracking Report
Member Appeals
Review of Proposed Budget
Review of the Institute Financial Statements with BDO (September 25 at 10:00 am)
Final Report to the Finance Committee
Constituent body reviews update
BOD reviews update
AGM resolution costing
Board of Directors Hospitality Expenses Policy
November meeting
Official languages committee [ad-hoc, not a BoD committee] – (A.Lunz)
Discussed if PIPSC executives should get English/French training to be able to attend bilingual meetings, meetings in bilingual regions, and/or meetings with unilingual members
Discussed how to improve PIPSC’s French translation, as there have been complaints and issues due to errors and inaccuracies
Will have a booth at the 2026 PIPSC AGM
New Business
Steward Council 2026
Location still TBD (somewhere in the Lower Mainland)
Potential ideas for training: Steward mental health and wellness, compensation and benefits, leveraging technology for connectivity, proper/innovative uses of AI for stewards
BF to Dec RX for further discussion [already an AI in the tracker]
Storage locker
Considering upgrading to a bigger locker as most of the shared Vancouver Branch/BC-Y locker is being occupied by BC-Y
Discussed locations – current location is the most convenient due to Skytrain access and proximity to the highway
Morgan motioned for BC-Yukon to rent our own 5’x10” storage locker at Public Storage, 2650 Rupert Street in Vancouver, to commence December 1, 2025 (M/S/C)
ACTION ITEM: Look into rental contract for a BC-Y locker (Morgan)
Constituent body policy (discussion continued from previous day)
Morgan and the RX worked on preparing a briefing note to the board to amend the policy to “person” instead of “member” 
Morgan motioned to present the proposed change to the policy to the BoD on behalf of the BC-Yukon region (M/S/C)
Next Meeting(s)
December 4, 2025, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, Delta Inn & Suites, Vancouver, BC, Regional Executive Meeting (TEAM meeting Dec 3, OHS training Dec 5-6)
February 2, 2026 – Pinnacle Hotel at the Pier, North Vancouver, BC (includes member event and potentially TEAM)
April 14 – 15, 2026, Civic Hotel, Surrey (2 half days)
June 4, 2026, Laurel Point Inn, Victoria (RC to follow)
Aug or Sept 2026 – TBD (Regional Executive meeting & Strategic Planning Meeting)
Round table
Morgan
Has many events and AGM invites for the remainder of 2025
The hospitality suite for the PIPSC AGM will be attached to Morgan’s room
ACTION ITEM: Purchase drinks and snacks for the hospitality suite (Terri)
Crystal – no update
Amanda – no update
Pete – no update
Phil – no update
Soodittee – no update
Emadur
Created a Google form and QR code to track Legacy/charity donor information for tax receipts
Surrey-White Rock will be hosting a Discord event at the end of November
Terri
Elected to the CFIA S&A group executive for a 3-year term as a Member-at-Large. There were 5 candidates and 3 positions available.
Invited Morgan to the Fraser Valley AGM on November 25
Fraser Valley is having a Fall pumpkin patch family event on Oct 20
Alicia – no update
No updates from Nikhil and Katrina as they were not present
Adjournment M/S/C

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