77^th British Columbia / Yukon Regional Council 

Minutes 

Fri, May 27 - Sat, May 28 2022

Whistler BC
 

 

Friday, May 27, 2022

1. Welcome and Introductions

The 77^th BC/Yukon Regional Council meeting began at 1:00 pm Pacific Time. Regional Director, Kal Sahota welcomed delegates to this year’s Council:

This is BC/Yukon’s first in-person Regional Council since the pandemic/COVID-19 restrictions. Excited to be meeting again in-person, a feeling that is reflected by the high attendance and delegate waitlist for the event. 

Introductions

Introduction of Richard Barkwill, Chair. Introduction of members of the Regional Executive and notice of resignation of Ken Antao. Introduction of Jennifer Car, President. 

The Chair, Richard Barkwill, provided introductory comments. He also indicated Philip Mantler as the Parliamentarian for Council who would be monitoring proceedings and could be referred to for any questions regarding general rules of order. 

Equity Statement/Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

Phil Mantler read the Indigenous Land acknowledgement, followed by the statement on equity, encompassing the principle that all union members are equal and deserve mutual respect.

2.Call to Order 

Chair convened the 77th Regional Council to order at 1:17 pm Pacific Time. 

3. Regional Executive Election

Approval of Procedures for Regional Executive Election

m/s Peter MacDougall/Morgan Cranny

THAT the Regional Executive election process be accepted.

      CARRIED

Approval of Elections Committee

The Chair identified the need for 3 volunteers for the Elections Committee:

Rob MacDonald 

Jose Jimenez

Karen Hall

THAT the aforementioned members be accepted as volunteers of the elections committee.

      CARRIED

Call for Nominations (first call from the floor)

There are five (5) positions available, four (4) for a three (3) year term and one (1) for a one (1) year term. 

Procedure - Of the top five (5) candidates, the four (4) with the most votes get the long term positions, the final candidate gets the short term position. 

Nominations from the floor:

Phil Manter (accepted nomination)

Pete McDougall (accepted nomination)

Carl Cahoon (accepted nomination)

Dean Corda (accepted nomination)

4. Guest Speaker - Jen Carr PIPSC President

PIPSC Update

President Carr introduced herself, detailing her background and journey to becoming PIPSC’s new president. She advised the new board’s direction to shift focus to members as owners. A history of PIPSC - Founded in 1920 as an association of engineers and becoming a bargaining agent in 1967. We represent 60,000 members from 47 professional groups, mostly at the Federal level. Our focus as an organization: Collective bargaining, representation, legal defense, government relations.

Our top current issues include vaccination policies, frontline healthcare burn out, public science funding and integrity, Phoenix pay and the next gen pay system, contracting out, diversity and inclusiveness and organizing and growing our union. Informed members are engaged members and amplifying our message is key. This can be achieved through mobilization and digital engagement, government relations, civil society partners and media relations.

A Question and Answer Session held.

5. Local Charity

Representative for the Whistler Food Bank spoke about the growing problem of food insecurity. 1200 people being served locally a month since the pandemic. 

Morgan Cranny provided information on how participants can support the food bank.

6. Guest Speaker - Sean O’Reilly, PIPSC Vice-President 

Sean detailed the various standing committees of the board, their make-up, their main function and committee mandates also; providing advice on the interpretation, scrutinizing constitutions of constituent bodies and proposed amendments and drafting new policies and amendments to existing policies and their submission. 

Sean then discussed terms of reference for each individual committee with a focus on: purpose, accountability, authority, staff support, committee membership, and references. 

A Question and Answer Session held.

7. Guest Speaker – Josh Bizjak Douglas Coldwell and Layton Foundation

Josh thanked PIPSC for their hard work defending public science, protecting pensions and tax fairness. He gave a background of the foundation and how it’s evolved over time. It’s mission is to promote the principles of social democracy while reclaiming the legacies of its founders and other social-democratic thinkers, writers and leaders, while also contributing to public policy dialogue, provoking discussion through research and education.

The foundation is a democratic institution with an elected Board of Directors, is 100% non-partisan, non-political and exclusively funded by donations from individuals and unions. 

The main focus of the DCL is education through stories of success and triumph, community-based leadership training, partnership grants to develop new projects and original peer reviewed research and publications. These are achieved through their three pillars of activism, governance and education. 

The Regional Council adjourned at 17:11 on May 27, 2022.
 

Saturday, Nay 28, 2022

8. Call to Order 

The Chair reconvened the 77^th Regional Council at 9:03.

9. Guest Speaker – Candace Jazvak – PIPSC Acting Team Lead, Political Action and Engagement

Candice spoke about using our personal stories to engage and recruit volunteers. How we connect to our union and to an issue, communicating our shared values, motivating/empowering through emotion, and helping members identify and connect with you, your group or union.

Candice then opened up the floor to let members tell some of their stories and how they became involved in union activity. 

10. PIPSC Legacy Fund 

Morgan Cranny introduced the Legacy Cup Challenge, a friendly competition between the regions and scholarship program investing in the next generation of professionals and youth. To date, over 1 million dollars in scholarship awarded to 542 students.

This year two legacy cups will be awarded – one to the region and one to the group that raises the most donations per capita. The winning team will be given an additional scholarship to award.
 

11. Adoption of Agenda  

m/s Karen Hall/Curtis Blackburn

THAT the agenda be approved.

    CARRIED

12. Adoption of Minutes from 2019 75th BC/Yukon Regional Council

m/s Rob Macdonald/Zoran Ljusic

THAT the minutes of the 2021 BC/Yukon Regional Council be approved.

      CARRIED

13. Business Arising from 2021 76th BC/Yukon Regional Council

The Chair noted there is no outstanding business arising from the 2021 Council.

14. Nominations

Rob Macdonald, Chair of the Elections Committee reminded the council of the open positions and their terms. There are five (5) positions available, four (4) for a three (3) year term and one (1) for a one (1) year term. 

He then detailed the procedure by which an election would take place. Before that election would take place, there would be speeches by each of the candidates, each to a maximum of 2 minutes as per procedures with no questions and answers.

Second call from the floor

Soodittee Auchoybur - Nominated by Angela Cowie 

Lauren Kunimoto - Nominated by Mohan Grewal

Davy Chiu – Nominated by Ted Molyneux

All nominees accepted their nomination

Third and Final call from the floor

Nominations closed. 

Nominees for the Regional Executive

Phil Manter 

Pete McDougall 

Carl Cahoon 

Dean Corda 

Soodittee Auchoybur

Lauren Kunimoto

Davy Chiu

15.Guest Speaker – Jennifer Carr, PIPSC President

Jennifer Carr returns to speak about return to the workplace. She remarked on the importance of work/life balance, future hybrid models of work, using the current situation as an opportunity to test innovative flexible work solutions, mental health injuries and the concern for workplace injuries when working from home. 

A Question and Answer Session held.

16. Elections

Speeches were given by nominees in alphabetical order. 

Ballots are handed out to members. Ballots are then collected by the Election Committee. 

17. Guest Presentor – Didier Paultre, PIPSC Finance Manager

Didier attended virtually and delivered a step-by-step tutorial on the Concur system. He then answered questions regarding expenses, claims, salary replacement and other financial policies. 

18. Director’s Report – Kal Sahota, PIPSC Regional Director

Kal stated that he is looking forward to advocating for and representing the interests of PIPSC, all PIPSC members, and in particular PIPSC members in the BC Yukon Region as a member of the PIPSC Board of Directors (BoD).

He thanked our stewards and labour leaders for their effort and commitment to PIPSC, this region and its members. He then thanked the Regional Executive for their contribution and their time, for the strong decisions, planning, and the passion behind it all. He praised the region and how it functioned on an operational level. He praised the regional office as well as Kris Hawkins, Regional Manager on her great communication, responsiveness and care given to all interactions with both members and staff alike.

There was a very significant change at the BoD level resulting from some previous members of the BoD choosing not to run for elected office and others being unsuccessful in their bids for election or re-election. As a result, a majority of the people elected to the current Board, like Kal are new to the position. This change will bring new perspectives, opportunities as well as challenges to bear on the direction we move forward as a union. Based on the initial BoD meetings and discussions amongst individual directors, the changes at the BoD level bode well for our members and PIPSC. 

In preparation to meet some of the current challenges facing PIPSC and the labour movement in Canada as a whole, the BoD has scheduled joint meetings with Advisory Council, and PIPSC will be conducting member and public surveys. There is also a strategic planning session currently in the works. 

The BoD has moved to select and appoint the Chairs and Committee members to all Committees of the Board (CoB). All CoBs have either held their first meetings or have plans to do so very soon.

The Pandemic and the restrictions that came with it brought many challenges including cancellations and delays in organizing training for new stewards, in fact new steward training was delayed several times due to restrictions on in person gatherings, health concerns for our members, and PIPSC staff. We will be putting on the Advanced Labour school in April and basic steward training in May.  The latter will be in conjunction with the Prairies Region but held in BC.

m/s Angela Cowie/Morgan Cranny

THAT the Regional Director’s Report be received.

      CARRIED

19. BC/Yukon Treasurer’s Report – Peter MacDougall

Peter MacDougall presented the financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2021 and the budget for the year ending December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2023.

m/s Karen Hall/Phil Mantler

THAT the Budget ending December 31, 2023 be approved.

      CARRIED

m/s Lauren Kunimoto/Alan Mesner

THAT the Financial Statements for the Year Ending December 31, 2021 be received as presented.

      CARRIED

20. Regional Manager’s Report – Kris Hawkins, PIPSC Regional Manager

Kris began by noting the region’s most pressing focus has been to protect our members throughout the pandemic. Many of our members cared for others in their workplaces and all of our members kept Canada running smoothly. We were grateful to you for your perseverance and support for our country and communities.

Turning to representational matters, we have seen an increase in cases over the past year in particular. This is explained by numerous factors: return to workplaces, a return to performance assessments in some employers, vaccine-related inquiries, accommodation requests and related 699 inquiries, illness caused by Covid-19 and unfortunately workplace harassment. We’ve also noticed mental health impacts on members, commensurate with those noted in the general public. 

We’re proud to share that the BC/Yukon Region recently hosted one of the first Advanced Labour Schools of the year. We also completed the brand new Basic Steward Training course with a group of eleven new BC/Yukon stewards.

The steward population in the Region has decreased some, primarily due to retirements and members leaving for other roles. We currently have 169 stewards; however, we are eager to see more come on board. Once our new stewards in waiting are approved, we will have 180 within the region. 

m/s Rob MacDonald/Curtis Blackburn

THAT the Regional Manager’s Report be received.

      CARRIED

21. Standing Committee Reports 

m/s Karim Chaggani/Mike Langlet

THAT the Standing Committee reports (Finance, Science and Advisory and Training) be accepted as received.

       CARRIED

22. Election Results

Elections Committee Chair, Rob MacDonald confirmed we have met the provisions of by-law 8.3.4 and 8.3.5.

59 ballots were counted, the results are as follows:

42 votes - Dean Corda (3 year)

40 votes - Davy Chiu (3 year)

37 votes - Pete McDougall (3 year)

32 votes - Lauren Kunimoto (3 year)

37 votes - Peter McDougall (3 year)

31 votes - Phil Manter (1 year)

26 votes - Carl Cahoon (not elected)

24 votes -  Soodittee Auchoybur (not elected)
 

23. Call for Potential Appeal

The Chair made a formal call for any appeals to the election results.

m/s Morgan Cranny/Karim Chaggani

THAT the election results be accepted

    CARRIED

m/s Rob MacDonald/Karen Hall

THAT the election ballots be destroyed at the end of the Regional Council

    CARRIED

24. Legacy Foundation

Morgan Cranny thanked Ken Antao for his hard work with the Legacy Foundation over the years. Before the end of Council we had already raised over $1000.

25. Branch Reports

m/s Phil Mantler/Karim Chaggani

THAT the Branch President’s Reports be accepted as received.            

    CARRIED

26. New Business

Jennifer Carr notes a mandatory anti-racism training will be circulated to all members on an executive and stewards. 

27, Closing Remarks

Kal Sahota provided closing remarks. Thank you to all the delegates who attended today. He then thanked staff for their hard work, the Elections Committee, the Regional Executive and President Car, also. 

28. Adjournment 

m/s Karim Chaggani/Mike Langlet

THAT the 2022 Regional Council be adjourned.

      CARRIED

The 77^th Regional Council adjourned on May 28, 2022 at 4:52 pm Pacific Time.