PIPSC SH NCR Sub-Group 1st Annual General Meeting (AGM) Minutes

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC)

SH NCR Sub-Group 1st Annual General Meeting (AGM) Minutes

Thursday, November 20, 2025

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm (1800-2000)

The Barley Mow Westboro

Meeting called to order by Denise Yates.

2. Welcome and Introductions: Land acknowledgement by Denise Yates. Attendees (nine members + one guest speaker) welcomed by Denise Yates. Interim Executive Team members introduced themselves (Denise Yates - President, Annie Tourangeau - Vice-President, Deborah Gaon - Treasurer, Heather Aitken - Secretary). Lynn Ohlson was introduced and thanked by Denise Yates for attending as the guest speaker and election facilitator.

3. Approval of the Agenda: Moved by Deborah Gaon and seconded by Richard Smith. Carried.

4. Report of the Interim President: Denise Yates provided an overview of this sub-group, as well as activities to date.

Members are Health Services (SH Group) professionals working in the National Capital Region (NCR) or those who have retired and remain in the NCR. The most recent records provided by PIPSC indicated: 742 regular and rand members across 15 departments and agencies, but updated records are anticipated in early 2026. Within this sub-group, there are six stewards. This is the first PIPSC SH NCR Sub-Group that has been established, and is one of 19 established SH sub-groups across Canada.

Our Interim Executive Team consists of members within the same profession from the same department. We wish to expand the elected executive team to include more members, and to include those with different professions and from different departments or agencies. We have had seven executive team meetings to date which have focused on learning how to establish and run a sub-group, building a good foundation for this sub-group, developing good relationships with other SH sub-group executive teams and the SH Bargaining Team, and planning this AGM (our first official sub-group event). Two members of the Interim Executive Team attended the SH AGM in June 2025 and will be attending the PIPSC AGM in December 2025.

Our goals are to:

Engage and support SH members in the NCR, and provide opportunities for members to learn about their union, and to meet fellow members.
Provide a more direct and regular line of communication between our members and the SH Group Executive Team and the SH Bargaining Team.

5. Constitution and By-Laws: Denise Yates gave an overview of the PIPSC SH NCR Sub-Group Constitution and By-Laws as the official document is not currently available to view online.

Given the membership of this sub-group, we may have up to 11 members on the executive team. However, for the first election, our Interim Executive Team decided to seek nominations for an executive team of six (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and two Members-at-Large).

Amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws can be proposed prior to the next AGM and the process is described in the current Constitution and By-Laws. No amendments were put forth for this AGM and there were no regulations to present.

6. Annual Financial Report & Budget: The Financial Statement 2025 & Budget 2026 document was made available to attendees. The Financial Statement 2025 was for the period ending October 31, 2025.

Deborah Gaon detailed revenues, expenditures, the current bank account balance, and the proposed budget for 2026.

Although we have a large membership and funds available for activities, we are seeking feedback for how to build more interest and engagement. It was suggested to all attendees to ask colleagues whether they are interested in becoming members and attending events, and to help them determine if they are a regular member or a rand member.

7. Approval of the Budget: Moved by Richard Smith and seconded by Genevieve Bouchard. All attendees voted in favour and no attendee abstained. Carried.

8. Guest Speaker - Lynn Ohlson, PIPSC SH Group President, NU-EMA Representative at Employment and Social Development Canada: Lynn Ohlson spoke to attendees about the importance of sub-groups, noting a significant increase in the number of sub-groups established over the past year and additional sub-groups in the process of being established.

Lynn also discussed various aspects of the bargaining process and highlighted anticipated differences between the most recent round of bargaining and the upcoming negotiation cycle. Town halls will be offered to help members understand the fundamentals of bargaining, what is covered under these negotiations, and to seek their input. Members are also encouraged to provide input to the SH Bargaining Team via their sub-group president and by completing a survey that the SH Bargaining Team will be sending to members.

Work Force Adjustment (WFA) has been ongoing and is concerning for many members. Lynn provided an overview of the WFA process, options available to affected members (such as alternation), and spoke to the tools and resources available on the PIPSC website. She mentioned that although there is a lot of information available on the current PIPSC website, that the website is being updated to be more user-friendly, and the new website is expected to be released in early 2026.

9. New Business / Question Period: No new business or questions were raised.

10. Report of the Elections Committee: Lynn Ohlson conducted the election of the SH NCR Sub-Group Executive Team. The attendees agreed on voting by a show of hands, so no scrutineer was required.

Nominations were called for the following positions and were made from the floor of the AGM:

President (2 year term): Denise Yates (nominated)
Vice-President (1 year term): Micheline Bégin (nominated)
Treasurer (2 year term): Deborah Gaon (nominated)
Secretary (1 year term): Heather Aitken (nominated)
Member-at-Large (1 year term): Ivan Gorea (nominated)
Member-at-Large (2 year term): Genevieve Bouchard (nominated)

Calls to the floor for further nominations were made three times by Lynn; no additional nominations were received. All nominees were elected by acclamation.

Outgoing Interim Executive Team member Annie Tourangeau was thanked for her contributions.

Closing Remarks and Adjournment: Denise Yates thanked all attendees for their participation in the AGM and will look forward to working with and seeing members at more events in the future. She encouraged attendees to complete the short online survey that was prepared to gather input for future events and promotional (“PIPSC swag”) items.

Deborah Gaon conducted a draw for prizes for attendees and distributed a gift card or PIPSC SH mug to the winners.

Denise Yates moved to adjourn the meeting and was seconded by Heather Aitken. Carried.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm (2000).