BC-Yukon Region – Regional Executive Meeting #4

BC-Yukon Region – Regional Executive Meeting #4

Tuesday, August 25, 2026, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Penticton Lakeside Resort – 21 Lakeshore Drive West, Penticton, BC, V2A 7M5

Meeting ID: D6N6G963339 

MINUTES

Start 0908

Territorial Land Acknowledgement – (N. Gandhi)
Approval of Agenda – (All) – M/S/C
Approval of Minutes – (All) – M/S/C
June 4, 2026
Business Arising from Minutes – (All)
Review of action items – (T. D’Souza)
Steward Council 2026
Updates to the guests and speakers list still needed
ACTION ITEM: update list (T. D’Souza) [already an AI in the tracker]
Charity (A. Hong)
Narrowed it down to Covenant House or Kettle Friendship Society
Chose Covenant House as first option
Elder (A. Lunz)
Will continue with relationship built with Walter at CSC
ACTION ITEM: Inquire if 15 mins is sufficient (A. Lunz) [already an AI in the tracker]
Entertainment (M. Cranny)
Discussed entertainment options for meeting
ACTION ITEM: Look into magician (P. MacDougall) – Unavailable, but may look into bringing Pete for Regional Council. Morgan to look into comedian availability
Leadership training
The executive selected 20 members based on consensus, emails to be sent out
Selected will be asked, and waitlisted members will be contacted (N. Gandhi)
Visibility items (T. D’Souza)
Steward Council items
ACTION ITEM: Order more pens and tote bags [already an AI in the tracker]
Survey
To be done at steward council
RX order
ACTION ITEM: Portfolios for new stewards [already an AI in the tracker]
Storage locker (T. D’Souza)
ACTION ITEM: Add reminder sheet and QR code (T. D’Souza) [already an AI in the tracker]
ACTION ITEM: Add spreadsheet link to directions (T. D’Souza) [already an AI in the tracker]
AGM Delegate email (M. Cranny)
ACTION ITEM: Need to determine caucus date/time (M. Cranny)
ACTION ITEM: Email to go out a few weeks before AGM (B. Chen) [already an AI in the tracker]
2026/2027 meeting dates
In progress
Regional Director Report – (M. Cranny) M/S/C

The BOD visit to our Regional Council in June was really well received, they were impressed with how we run things and appreciated the site visits and Branch BBQ. I appreciate everyone who helped make it a really great experience and felt the RC was excellent.

I attended the joint Advisory Council/Board meeting in June and this is a great opportunity to hear the issues being faced by the groups. WFA and RTO were important topics at this meeting as expected. The website was also a well discussed topic as there is a long way to go to bring it to the level we would expect.

I attended more Board meetings in July and August. We have a lot to cover and have held a couple special meetings to tackle some specific important issues. There was also a regional directors meeting where we can discuss many issues that may come to the board but allow us the opportunity to collect and assess the needs of the regions.  

I was excited to attend Activate!, this a leadership/engagement conference held at Hollyhock on Cortes Island, BC. Attendees are all activists and organizers from labour, government and socially focused organizations to share ideas and learn strategies to aid our common goals. The biggest theme from Activate! is that successful progressive movements need to be bold, accessible, human, and built to last: campaigns should organize around concrete issues people actually feel—affordability, health care, wages, dignity and fairness—using simple, emotionally resonant language rather than jargon, while being willing to adapt messages as conditions change. Winning campaigns create a genuine sense of community and ownership, use authentic messengers, relational organizing and tangible actions to turn passive supporters into participants, and preserve the relationships, data and infrastructure they build after election day or a campaign ends. Digital strategy increasingly means competing for attention through entertaining, high-quality and frequent content—especially on YouTube—while recognizing the growing power of algorithms, misinformation and indirect persuasion. Technology and AI can strengthen organizing through better organizational memory, automation and campaigning tools, but organizations should retain control of sensitive data, build Canadian or independently owned infrastructure where possible, and keep humans responsible for public-facing decisions. Across issues from climate action and living wages to public services and youth organizing, a recurring lesson was to aim higher rather than pre-compromise: articulate ambitious goals, tell positive and specific stories about what is possible, create achievable wins worth celebrating along the way, and build permanent movement capacity rather than repeatedly starting from scratch.

Activities since last report:

Advisory Council with Board of Directors – Ottawa – June 8-9th

Board of Directors (special) – Virtual – June 15th

Executive Compensation Committee – Virtual – July 8th

Executive Compensation Committee – Ottawa – August 4th

Regional Directors – Ottawa – August 5th

Board of Directors – Ottawa – August 6-7th

Activate! Conference – Cortes Island – August 12-16th

Legacy Foundation – Virtual – August 20th

Coming up:

Board of Directors (special) – Virtual – August 31st

Northern BC Branch AGM – Prince George – September 3rd

BCFed Council Meeting – Virtual – September 10th

Okanagan Branch AGM – Summerland – September 16th

Board of Directors – Edmonton – September 21-23rd

Prairies NWT Steward Council – Edmonton – September 25-26th

In solidarity,

Morgan Cranny

Director, BC-Yukon Region

Office/Staff Report – (K. Hawkins) M/S/C
S. Campbell is still acting manager for the two regions
See attached report
Financial Report – Treasurer – (P. MacDougall) M/S/C
Financial update – see attached 
Labour Day funding to go straight to branch accounts
Regional Training Committee Report – (P. MacDougall) M/S/C
Upcoming training in BC-Yukon Region
Steward Council training in October
Leadership training in December
National training initiatives
Mentorship program coming out
Presentation and Mentor call out in October
TC to review Dec – Feb
Mentees to apply in Feb
Materials to be provided electronically now
Members will have to request for printed materials
Budget to be discussed
Awards Committee – (T. D’Souza [in place of A.Lunz])
ACTION ITEM: SOTY form to be sent out by Alex (M. Cranny)
Discussed potentially changing monetary gift to trophy/pin instead, or a combination of the two
ACTION ITEM: Look into the blank trophy and pin order for the next Regional Council (T. D’Souza)
Etsy/CorCan/etc
A. Hong is elected chair

Recess 1602

YPC Initiative – (E. Rahman) M/S/C
Penticton outreach 
Discussed how to reach out to YPC for collab events
Add blurb in upcoming newsletter about how to organize these (T. D’Souza/B. Chen)

The YPC has continued to build strong momentum through collaborative events across the region. Our recent dine outs with the Vancouver Branch and the SP Vancouver Subgroup were both very successful and well received. The Vancouver Branch event was particularly popular, with nearly 80 people on the waitlist.

This evening, we are hosting a collaborative dine out with the Okanagan Branch. Looking ahead, we are also planning further joint events, including a Prince George dine out, another Vancouver dine out, and a pickleball event.

We also held two productive in-person meetings during the Regional Council. The committee reviewed the Terms of Reference, which I am now working to finalize. There are also some outstanding YPC financial matters that need to be clarified and resolved.

At the national level, there will be a YPC meeting in Ottawa in September, followed by another meeting at the National AGM.

Finally, three committee terms ended in June. Two members are renewing, while one member has aged out. In addition, one committee member has been inactive and unresponsive, creating a second vacancy. We will be issuing a call for interest to fill these two open positions, including one position that must be filled by a representative from Yukon.

Emad Rahman

BC-Yukon YPC Chair

National initiatives
Legacy Fund & Del Dickson cup – (S. Auchoybur)
Reach out to Melody to bring Yukon-specific items to AGM
Legacy Foundation Scholarship (M. Cranny/T. D‘Souza)
Getting feedback at end of this year to revamp registration and selection system next year
Other standing items
Outreach location list – (M. Cranny)
Member map – to be updated for 2026
Corporate Calendar  – (B. Chen)
Will update with dates from this meeting
Bylaws Committee  – (N. Gandhi)
The current set of review has concluded
Will review the bylaws after a year given the new committee make-up
Partner Liaison update – (E. Rahman)
Reach out to PSAC about their weekly newsletter (E. Rahman)
PIPSC Committees of the Board reports – (All)
Science Advisory Committee – (T. D’Souza)
Next meeting Sept 4th
Discuss AGM booth set-up
Working on 2027 survey for science-related professions
By-Laws and Policy Committee – (N. Gandhi)
Complete review of by-laws and will be seeking more amendments this AGM
Mostly lots of clean-up, remove things out of by-laws that can be policies or SOPs
One example is the committee, moving it out of the by-laws allows Board to create/changing new ones
Changes to requirements for reporting post-event after Better Together
Clarifying by-laws that Group presidents can be invited to Steward Councils  if they are a steward, but that they would cover costs
Regional Newsletter – (M. Cranny)
Member spotlight (A. Hong)
Send event photos description to be added (all)
Quarterly Steward Call – (M. Cranny)
To be scheduled
Quarterly Branch President Meetings – (M. Cranny/B.Chen)
Rally kits (M. Cranny)
To order nine kits for branches around the region
Upcoming on September 8, N. Gandhi to attend and pass-over to B.Chen
New Business
Regional Council review – (M. Cranny)
Review of RC member follow-up notes
Request for information to be posted about regional liaison positions
Write up terms of reference/description  for committees and liaisons and bring up to the next Exec Meeting (N. Gandhi)
Request for financials to be posted prior to Regional Council
Request to provide consider specific outreach to new members to PIPSC that aren’t under the YPC
Potentially implement buddy system and continue orientation
Storage locker sharing  – (N. Gandhi)
Vancouver Branch would like to request sharing of the Regional Storage Locker
Purchase of sound system – (B. Chen)
Approved request to procure a speaker system that can be shared among the branches to be stored in storage lockers that can be used by speakers at events, to be kept to $200 or below M/S/C
Gifts for departed RX members – (S. Auchoybur)
Request to provide gifts for former RX members up to policy amount M/S/C
Institute awards – (T. D’Souza)
Discussed potential awards and nominee’s
Next Meeting(s)
October 22 (1PM start) & 23, 2026 – Coast Coal Harbour – Vancouver
December 3, 2026 – Vancouver
Jan 29, 2027 – Fraser Valley
Site visit and/or meet & greet using two half-days
Morgan to reach out to Aggasiz site for lunch engagement
April 20 – 21, 2027 – Civic Hotel in Surrey (Labour School set for April 21 – 24)
2027 Regional Council
RX Meeting either May 27 or June 10
August 6 – 7, 2027 – Location TBD (Whitehorse, Prince Rupert, or Kelowna)
Oct 14 – 15, 2027 Steward Council
Round table
M. Cranny
Request from Suzanne – YPC Champion/NCR Director sitting in at 2026 Steward Council
E. Rahman, B. Chen
Proposed AI recording subscription and Canva yearly subscription – M/S/C
Asked about travel policy for someone from a committee travelling to an engagement
Small branch funding up can be used once a year
P. MacDougall
Portfolio folders for new and existing stewards – M/S/C
A. Hong
Award Committee to review Steward of the Year applications after September 25
S. Auchoybur
Prizes for the Legacy Cup donations
T. D’Souza
YPC Collab on August 25
Legacy Scholarship Awards application review
P. Prabakaran
YPC Dine Out in Prince George
Potential YPC Dine Out in Fort St. John
Adjournment M/S/C