BC/Yukon Region – Regional Executive Meeting #2
April 8, 2025, 1:00 am – 5:00 pm, April 9, 2025, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Marriott Victoria Inner Harbour Hotel, 728 Humbolt St., Victoria, BC, V8W 3Z5
Meeting ID HRNC32Q2VPM
Meeting Minutes
Regional Executive Meeting – April 8 & 9, 2025
- Approval of Agenda – (All) Consensus
- Approval of Minutes – (All) Consensus
- February 21, 2025
- Business Arising from Minutes – (All)
- Review of action items
- Subcommittee for bylaws review – (K. Johnston) AI: Dean - Bylaws - 5.9 Filing of documents ask Tony if this is required. AI: Crystal – Bylaw 10 Regional Council and BOD Committees Revamp the regional executive new member handbook. BF Bylaw 10 to Strategic Planning.
- Regional Executive swag – (T. D’Souza) Grey backpacks from Union Proud.
- Review and approval of Chief Steward solicitation letter – (D. Corda) Discussion and review. Motion: Approve Chief Steward solicitation letter. m/s/c Target to submit letter by end of April.
- Langley joining Fraser Valley Branch – (T. D’Souza) Motion: RX support Langley members joining Fraser Valley Branch. Accept. m/s/c
- Regional Director Report - (M. Cranny)
Since our last meeting there has been one BOD meeting which included strategic planning. The most pressing concern is the election and what that might mean to the public service. There has been a shift but the reality is that some WFA is happening and may continue to happen to greater or lesser degree depending on who is elected. You will have seen the email from the president regarding the election. This includes an election toolkit. I have suggested we do ads similar to the 2015 election (thanks Karen Hall) but haven’t had traction on that yet. RTO remains an important issue for many of our members but not all. The messaging needs to acknowledge that it is about the unrealized promise of consultation that affects all members. The BOD is also very keen to get the steward portal up and running and pushing for that amongst the IT projects. There was a lot put on hold last year awaiting news on dues. The dues increase was a huge relief. That, plus some good news with investments, has left us in a good position for now. We are still striving for efficiency so that we remain strong and can serve the members.
The strategic planning session is building on the one from last year but with so many new folks there is some catching up to speed and concern that we make sure we have actionable goals. We did an environmental scan and identified that the organization faces a range of external and internal challenges. Externally, rapid technological changes, including AI and the spread of misinformation through social media, are intersecting with political instability, economic stress, and declining media literacy. Internally, the organization struggles with member engagement, particularly among younger members, and a sense of apathy and distrust. Potential changes in government lead to worries about job security. We need to tackle these issues to rebuild trust, ensure sustainability, and adapt to emerging challenges. We developed a Vision, Mission and Strategic Pillars last year and they have all but been finalized (I think).
In terms of my activities, I was glad to be able to attend a PIPSC Black History month event hosted by the NCR in Ottawa when I was there. There was singing, poetry, some crafts and food not to mention many of our black NCR colleagues. A really nice event. I took 2 weeks off and travelled to Japan to see my daughter, what a great trip. I just got back from Whitehorse where I attended the joint Yukon Hospital Corporation/Yukon Branch AGM. it was an OK turnout but sadly no TBS folks attended. There may have been some confusion with the invitation so I will work with Kathleen Chapman to help improve that and get our TBS folks more involved. I also met with Shelaine Chapple and a few of her colleagues at CANNOR for coffee and then had lunch hosted by Andrea Hoyt at their ECCC office. It was great to meet with these folks and I think Andrea will become a steward. The YPC hosted a glass blowing event that was really cool. I recommend trying that if you’re up there. On Sunday there was a bowling event that was also really fun and allowed folks to bring their families. I will say the hard part of these events is finding moments to connect with members about union matters but getting them out and seeing the union is really valuable.
I’m excited about our meeting and the labour school this week. Up next, I will be attending the following:
April 15th - Victoria RE Subgroup AGM
April 22nd - Election presentation
April 24th - Vancouver RMG AGM (noon) and the Victoria Branch Meet ‘n Greet (5-7)
May 1st - CFIA-VM AGM in Vancouver
May 4-6th - RD and BOD
May 8th - Vancouver CRA Branch AGM
May 22nd - BCFed Meeting
May 31st - Vancouver Branch Movie Event
June 11-14th - RX and Regional Council
Discussion of steward and finance portals. AI: Morgan – address BOD priority of finance portal for budget reports.
Accept and approve Morgan’s oral report. m/s/c
- Office/Staff Report – (K. Hawkins)
The BC Regional Office is thrilled to welcome a new term ERO effective April 14, 2025. Kevin Jacobs, previous Prairie/NWT Steward of the Year, SP chief steward and executive member, DFO consultation president and Prairie Executive Vice-Chair, is taking on the ERO role. It's not often that we find a member who is able to transition to the ERO role and we are all excited to see Kevin make this change. He will be with us until April 2025. Kevin will remain in Winnipeg and work remotely for the BC Regional Office. He will not be taking on any Prairie work. This will mean some shifting of portfolios and work within the office but I hope that this will result in longer term stability. Our workloads continue to be high and the issues at CSC are an ongoing challenge for the team, but they continue to persevere.
I'm also a gap in RCMP stewardship across the country. We would benefit from more steward recruitment in this group. That's more of a group and/or regional piece but I wanted to flag it for you in case there are outreach opportunities in the region.
Accept and approve Kris’ oral report. m/s/c
- Financial Report – Treasurer - (P. MacDougall)
- Financial update – allocation increased from increase in number of members.
Accept and approve Pete’s oral report. m/s/c
- Regional Training Committee Report – (P. MacDougall)
The TEAM met on March 8th. This was our first meeting with the new Chair in place.
We had a very long discussion on budgets and the process. Not a lot of movement as we have very little to no control on what finance presents to the agm. Regions are all having problems with staying in budgets for individual events. Discussed next steps in getting the budgets in for finance to add to the AGM budget. Some question on if we want to expand the budgets to more attendees that the standard 20/40 no resolution on the matter.
A fair discussion on how to tackle the stewards in waiting lists. Some questions on the ones who sign up to be stewards but never sign up for the training. The national steward officer will reach out the ones who have been on the list for a while. Another recommendation was to consider a national training session to help with the backlog.
Some discussion on courses available:
Empowering Stewards: Taking action against workplace harassment and violence (2 Day)
JLP Courses are available for us to use/adapt for labour schools.
ATL has 2 streams at Labour school - one for less experienced stewards and one more advanced, it seems to work well for them.
A mental health course was developed last year that should be available shortly.
WFA courses are nearly ready - a 1 day in person course and a 1 hour online course.
Working on a Navigating Conflict course.
Fair discussion on labour schools and getting feedback forms - no real solution decided on.
Discussed priorities for the year - getting the mentorship program going and renewing the policy on training. Need to add something in the policy for the member facilitated training program.
Accept and approve Pete’s oral report. m/s/c
- Awards Committee – (D. Corda)
- Executive of the Year
- Steward of the Year
- YPN Initiative – (D. Chiu)
Two events were held over the weekend on April 5-6. A glass-blowing event exclusive for Young Professionals and an event at the local bowling lane for a more family-oriented event that was co-hosted with the Whitehorse branch. Attendees were approximately 25 and 8 respectively.
The YPC will be co-hosting a series of Dine-Out events with various branches in the region. This series of rather exclusive events aim to attract members with food at sought-after venues. First time participants will get preference and half of the seating will be prioritized for Young Professionals. Several branches have already passed motions committing funds - Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Victoria and Surrey.
Meeting minutes and engagement content have been finalized and are now waiting on IT to update the webpage with that information.
The national ad-hoc committee met in March. Suzanne O’Brien is now the new YPC board liaison; however she had conflicting travel and wasn’t able to attend. VP Katie Francis was in attendance. A business case is being developed for a YP symposium in spring of 2026. A resolution is drafted to formalize the national YPC in the upcoming national AGM.
A call-out for members for the YPC was sent out in March and will be closing on April 25th. Timing allowing, new members may be selected and invited to the meeting at Regional Council.
Accept and approve Davy’s oral report. m/s/c
- National initiatives
- Legacy Fund & challenge cup – (S. Auchoybur) Kris making arrangements to bring Legacy cup to Regional Council.
- Other Standing items
- Outreach location list – (P. Mantler)
- PSAC Liaison update – (T. D’Souza) Contacted PSAC and waiting for response.
- New Business
- 2025 Regional Council update
- Nature Walk – (T. D’Souza) Sat evening at 6:00 pm after the Regional Council.
- Regional Council swag – (T. D’Souza) blue fanny packs, screen cleaning and electronic organizer.
- 80s Music Bingo – (A. Lunz)
- Charity – (L. Kunimoto) Parksville charity is Inclusion Parksville.
- PIPSC Committee Reports - AI: Morgan – request reports from Committees for Regional Council
- PIPSC Committees of the Board – discussion – (All)
- Hotel toiletries collected for charity – (All)
- 2025 Regional Council update
- Next Meeting(s)
- June 11, 2025, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, Tigh-Na-Ma-Ra Resort, Parksville, Training Committee
- June 11, 2025, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, Tigh-Na-Ma-Ra Resort, Parksville, YPC
- June 12, 2025, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, Tigh-Na-Ma-Ra Resort, Parksville, Regional Executive
- June 13 – 14, 2025, Regional Council – Tigh-Na-Ma-Ra Resort, Parksville
- August 21-22, 2025, Civic Hotel in Surrey (includes strategic planning day) tentative
- October 16, 2025, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, October 17, 2025, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, Westin Hotel, Whistler
- October 17 – 18, 2025, Steward Council, Westin Hotel Whistler
- December 4, 2025, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, Delta Inn & Suites, Vancouver
- Roundtable
Terri – science advisory meeting in March.
Lauren – reports to be informative to include issues discussed (if possible) as this was brought up during Vancouver CRA Branch executive meeting.
- Adjournment - To adjourn. m/s/c