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p; APPENDIX
E
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p; REPORT
OF THE CEIU WOMEN’S COMMITTEE
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nbsp; SEPTEMBER
25-26, 2003
Were
present: Carlotta
Fennimore, NVP, East
Christine Walker, NVP, W=
est
France Vézina,
Québec
Lise Lévesque, VP=
N,
N-B
Ex
officio member: &nbs=
p; Janet
Letwinka, NEVP
Note: The election process has not been completed =
in
Ontario.
Sister Lévesque chaired the meeting.
The meeting started with a regular meeting session=
and
continued with a National Conference planning session.
1)&n= bsp; = ; The following items were added to the agenda<= /u>
8 &= nbsp; a) = Women’s History Month
b) = Resolution submitted by brother Purcell
c) = CEIU website section
d) = Life membership for sister Malinosky
e) = Paid time off for Women’s Issues NVPs
f) &= nbsp; December 6th bookmark
g)&n= bsp; = ; Resolutions from the 2001 National Women’s Conference
2) = Issues arising from the previous minutes
Dependent care - After conducting research and = making various contacts, the Committee made the following recommendation:
Recommendation # 1
That CEIU lodge a complaint with the Human Rights Commission with respect to the TB policy on dependent care because it constitutes discrimination based on family status.
The Committee asked the National President to follow u= p on its request to call the situation to the attention of the NJC. The Committee also asked the National President to follow up, in writing, with the PSAC on resolutions submitted during the 2000 National Women’s Conference.
The other issues arising from the previous meeting wil= l be dealt with within the agenda.
3) = Terms of reference
The Committee’s reviewed the draft terms of refe= rence prepared by sister Lévesque for the Women’s Committee and adop= ted them as amended (see attached).
4) = Regional Conferences
Québec: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; April 17th and 18th, Québec City
Atlantic: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; June 5th and 6th, Charlottetown, PEI
West: &= nbsp; Planning is continuing for a conference in 2004
Ontario: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Once results of the election to the position of= Ontario NVP for Women’ Issues held on October 9th a= re known, the Committee will indicate if a conference call is required to corr= ect the situation.
5) = National Conference translation
After consulting the National President, the decision = was made that translation costs will be charged to the conference budget item. = By the same token, a decision was made that the part of simultaneous translati= on paid for Atlantic conferences, including women’s conferences, in the = past would no longer be paid. In view of this situation and of the fact that the Committee must also absorb the deficit from the 2001 conference, the Commit= tee must make difficult choices which will have a definite impact on the number= of participants and on the quality of conferences and guests. The Committee wi= ll discuss the issue further during the planning of the national conference.
6) = Review of the dependent care policy – resolution by brother Purcell<= /p>
The Committee reviewed the resolution submitted by bro= ther Purcell and fully supported its implementation.
7) = Election of Committee chairperson
Sister Lévesque, having completed her acting te= rm, asked that the Committee appoint a new chairperson although the elections h= ave not been completed in Ontario. The Committee chose sister Fennimore, who wi= ll take office after the September 2003 National Executive meeting.
8a)
Sister Fennimore had prepared a bulletin and submitted excellent documentation on Women’s History Month. The Committee agreed that the bulletin should be sent to the RAN e-mail list next week in order = to highlight the issue.
8b) Broth= er Purcell’s resolution was discussed under agenda item 6.
8c) CEIU website section (reviewed in the March 2004 report)
The Committee discussed this issue and agreed that the Women’s Committee should have a section on the CEIU website. This sec= tion should include the annual reports of the CEIU NVPs for Women’s Issues, the CEIU policies on women’s issues, a quarterly report on activities within the regions, minutes of the National Women’s Committee and an upcoming events calendar.
Sister Fennimore will coordinate the information from = the other NVPs. Each NVP will coordinate the information from her region and forward information from the members, Locals and women’s committees to sister Fennimore. Communications between the members of the Committee will = be sent for translation by sister Letwinka.
8d) Life membership for sister Malinosky
Sister Walker submitted a proposal to nominate sister Malinosky. The Committee discussed a process to refer such proposals to the By-Laws Committee for a criteria check before they are submitted to the National Executive.
8e) Paid = time off for Women’s Issues NVPs
This issue was discussed at length and it appears that= it is a problem for some Women̵= 7;s Issues NVPs and for all NVPs with national responsibilities. The Committee = was informed that all steps taken by the National President have failed. Since = the issue will be discussed during the National Executive meeting, the Committee decided to wait until this debate has occurred before taking a final positi= on.
8f) December 6th bookmark
After a discussion and a review of the costs and budge= t, the Committee decided to go ahead with the bookmark project. The message will undoubtedly be revised to address increased violence.
8g) Natio= nal Conference
In view of the difficult financial situation, the Comm= ittee decided to give priority to regional conferences over the national conferen= ce in order to reach as many women as possible. The Committee greatly deplored= the present financial situation, which requires organizing five conferences wit= h a budget of $217,872, of which $13 ,209 must be applied to the deficit of the previous meeting and $18,500 must be spent on translation, leaving a net bu= dget of $186,162 to organize and hold five conferences. After a lengthy discussi= on, the budget was divided between the regions and an amount of $62,350 plus $10,000 for translation was set aside for a national conference to be atten= ded by 32 delegates (8 per region) including the Alternate NVPs for Women’= ;s Issues. The extreme financial situation requires that NVPs for Women’s Issues and the liaison NVP use their own NVP budgets to attend the conferen= ce.
There will also be a $50 registration fee and we ask a= ll NVPs to encourage Locals to support the attendance of their female members.=
The issue of administrative support for the Moncton of= fice was discussed since the long-term staffing of this position is of the utmost importance for the success of the Atlantic Regional Conference which will be held in PEI and of the National Conference to be held in Moncton, New Brunswick, the tentative dates being February 20th and 21st= , 2005. According to sister Letwinka, this will be discussed during the administrative session of the National Executive. It should be noted that t= he administrative support position in Moncton is scheduled to end in late Octo= ber, which will leave the office without administrative support.
After further discussion on budgets and costs, the Com= mittee maintained its decision to hold the conference in Moncton, NB. After two da= ys of discussions, the Committee is also convinced that it will need an extra meeting day in the Spring of 2004 in order to pursue its work on the Nation= al Conference. The Committee therefore wishes that the CEIU boardroom be booked for this additional day of its Spring meeting and the Committee submits the following recommendation to the National Executive:
Recommendation # 2
That the National Executive approve the cost of the additional day of translation required to hold this Women’s Committee planning meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m. on September 26