PIPSC Victoria SP Subgroup Annual General Meeting

2025.02.27, at PGC/IOS, at PFC, & via Zoom

In Attendance:

Executive:

Kaz Shimamura – President Katrina Johnson – Vice President Michelle Côté – Treasurer

Alison Bird – Secretary

Rob Price – Member-at-Large (M-a-L) Benny Wong – M-a-L

Cory Lagasse – M-a-L Georgine Pastershank – M-a-L Chengdong Fang – M-a-L

Guests:

Jeannette Bedard Elise Brodie David Dunn

John Esmee

Felicia Green Andrea Hilborn Nicole Lafarge Zhen Li

Brian Low Roger MacLeod

Lisa Nykolaishen Collin Paul Rannon Peery Brindley Smith Greg Smith Pramod Thupaki Ryan Visser Vince Waring

Regrets:

Rowshyra Castaneda – M-a-L

12:07 – Call to order & welcome (Kaz) Roll call – Executive (see above) Approval agenda

Moved by Greg Smith, seconded by Georgine Pastershank, & carried.

Adoption of the Minutes of the previous AGM

Moved by Katrina Johnson, seconded by Andrea Filborne, & carried.
No edits suggested.
Minutes will be posted to website.

Report from President (Kaz)

Victoria SP Subgroup

SP group has 215 Regular Members from Greater Victoria plus 20 Rand members; total of 235 in 9 departments: DFO (89); NRCan (66); ECCC (39); PSPC (18); DND (15); Health (4); Transport (2);

ISEDC (1); AGCAN (1)

Major work sites: Institute of Ocean Sciences; Pacific Geoscience Center; Pacific Forestry Centre; CFB Esquimalt; Procurement at 1230 Government St; Queenswood facility at 2474 Arbutus Road
This is one of 32 SP Subgroups across Canada.

Belong to the Victoria Branch and the BC Yukon Region; various meetings throughout year & training opportunities
Current Executive:

Kaz Shimamura – President

Katrina Johnson – VP from PSPC (term ends today)

Michelle Côté – Treasurer

Alison Bird – Secretary (term ends today)

Robert Price – M-a-L (term ends today) Benny Wong – M-a-L

Cory Lagasse – M-a-L Rowshyra Castaneda – M-a-L Georgine Pastershank – M-a-L Chengdong Fang – M-a-L

Kaz is retiring next year and there are opportunities for various group’s Presidents to meet and share ideas/experiences; also room for two more executives
Minimum of four meetings per year – not onerous

2024 – 2025 Highlights

Meetings and events that I attended this past year:
• SP Victoria Sub-Group Executive met: 2024-02-16 (Zoom), 2024-05-03 (Tandoori Flavour), 2024-10-25 (Tandoori Flavour), 2024-01-31 (Tandoori Flavour), 2024-02-21 (Zoom)
• SP Sub-Group Presidents and Vice-Presidents Zoom Meetings: 2024-03-14, 2024-6-13, 2024-11-14, 2024-12-19, 2025-01-16
• 2024 BC/Yukon Region Steward Council, Victoria, BC: 2024-10-20 – 2024-10-21
• PIPSC AGM Convention 2024, Toronto, Ontario: 2024-11-08 – 2024-11-09
• IOS/PGC Open House 2024, SP Victoria Group supplied drinks and snacks for volunteers: 2024-06-06 – 2024-06-08 – let us know of similar opportunities un the future
• PSAC/PIPSC Information Picket at IOS/PGC on Return to Work: 2024-10-09 (PSAC National President: Sharon DeSousa there, too)
• SP Presentation from SP National Executive – Chief Steward, Kevin Jacobs 2024-10-10 (at PGC/IOS) – let us know of other lunch’n’learn ideas; food provided
PIPSC SP Victoria Family Skate at Panorama: 2024-12-29 – well attended & successful
Changes:
November 2024: delegates and stewards voted on tabled motions (e.g. dues increase, constraining number of delegates at main AGM to 400); better financially due to dues increase as it hadn’t been done since 2017; indexed inflation voted down
Upcoming events:
• BC/Yukon Regional Executive Meeting, New Westminster, BC: 2025-02-20 – 2025-02-21
• SP Vancouver Sub-Group Understand & Maximize Your Leave – Lunch and Learn on Zoom: SP Victoria Sub-Group host pizza viewing party: 2025-04-02
• SP AGM 2025, Montreal, Quebec: 2024-04-05
• BC/Yukon Labour School 2025, Victoria, BC: 2025-04-09 – 2025-04-12
• BC/Yukon Basic Steward Training – Spring 2025, Vancouver, BC: 2025-05-01 – 2024-05-03; Michelle, Alison, and Pramod attending – transportation, food, & hotel are all covered, plus time via special form
• BC/Yukon Regional Council 2025, Parksville, BC: 2025-06-13 – 2025-06-14
• BC/Yukon Region Steward Council, Whistler, BC: 2025-10-17 – 2025-10-18
BC/Yukon Basic Steward Training – Fall 2025, Vancouver, BC: 2025-11-20 – 2025-11-22

BC/Yukon OHS Training: Vancouver, BC: 2025-12-05
• Executive Leadership Training, Vancouver, BC: 2024-11-29 – 2024-11-30
2025 PIPSC Convention, Toronto, Ontario: 2025: 2025-12-12 – 2025-12-13
Motion to approve report, with edits: Robert Price; Brian Low; all in favour

Report from Treasurer (Michelle)

Budget presented and reviewed to members.

Q&A:
• Suggestion of Panorama Passes for union members; unlikely to have budget for that
• Should support members in all locations
Lunch’n’learn
• for Collective Agreement
• for professional development (rather than union-specific; e.g. how AI can be used in everyday work) is less likely
• PIPSC initiative called NAVIGAR – build profile w.r.t. where you want to go in career (TB funded)
IT group has additional access to Plural Site – could open it up to others
Motion to approve report: Katrina ; Robert Price; all in favour

Elections

Sub-Group Executive entitled to a maximum of 11 members
President: Kaz Shimamura, NRCan-PGC (2026)
Vice-President: Katrina Johnstone, PSPC (at term end)
• Open for re-election
• No other nominations
Katrina re-elected
Treasurer: Michelle Côté, NRCan-PGC (1y) – re-elected (2026)
Secretary: Alison Bird, NRCan-PGC (at term end)
• Happy to stay on, but welcome anyone else to take on the role
• No other nominations
Alison re-elected
Members-at-Large:
• Robert Price, PSPC (at term end); willing to continue
• Benny Wong, retired member (2026)
• Georgine Pastershank, ECCC (2026)
• Chengdong Fang, NRCan-PFC (2026)
• Cory Lagasse, DFO (2026)
• Rowshyra Castaneda, DFO (2026)
• Two other vacant spaces; would be helpful to have representation from Esquimalt & PFC
Elected Members-at-Large:
• Collin Paul, PGC
Pramod Thupaki, IOS

New Business, Including By-Law Amendments

Lunch’n’learn opportunities mentioned above
Bargaining team being formed – upcoming surveys & activities
If know any members that are not here, let them know about PIPSC SP group – Kaz can answer questions (e.g. types of leave, pro dev, CA)
If rec’d PIPSC messages to work e-mail, please update PIPSC profile to personal account, especially before survey comes out; or, if go on website, can have @pipsc.ca account

Round Table

Huge thanks and congratulations to Michelle for organising a successful & fun skating party
Idea of Star Wars movie screening

Door Prizes

4 x $50 gift certificates for Red Barn:
• David Dunn
• Rhiannon Peery
• Andrea Hilborn
Zhen Li

~12:57 – Motion to adjourn:

Moved by Katrina Johnson, seconded by Robert, & carried.