Recommendation 9 (Uncertain)
That Procedure 2.B.14 be amended as follows:
That at the BCTF Annual General Meeting, campaign brochures, and paraphernalia (i.e., party favours) for Executive Committee elections be limited to the following items:
1. Buttons indicating the name of a candidate(s) running for an Executive Committee position;
2. A Special Edition of Teacher BCTF-produced booklet to be provided for each Annual General Meeting delegate on the convention floor with each candidate offered the same amount of space in the publication to articulate a platform and provide links to their own personal campaign materials, webpages, and/or social media accounts.
I realize that the Teacher Magazine has been in essence the vehicle to deliver the booklet to delegates. The intention was to reduce paper and other waste.
What problem is this trying to solve? The BCTF produces the Teacher and the booklet.
Are there drawbacks to the special edition?
Has it taken too much staff time?
Would the booklet be just their statements?
Would there be reason to expand candidates word count or space to include photos and infographics?
Recommendation 10 (Support)
That Annual General Meeting Standing Rules of Order 13.3 be amended as follows: 13.3 That the election be conducted in the following order:
a. President
b. First Vice-President
c. Second Vice-President
d. Member-at-Large designated for an Aboriginal member
e. Member-at-Large designated for a racialized member member of colour.
f. Members-at-Large.
If the Bylaw terminology changes, then this needs to as well.
Recommendation 11 (Support)
That Annual General Meeting Standing Rules Order 13.11 be amended as follows:
Candidates defeated in an election for any office shall be deemed to have been nominated for the office next to be filled, provided they meet the equity criteria. If they do not meet the equity criteria for a specific position or they choose not to run for a designated Member-at-Large position, they will be deemed to have been nominated for the next office to be filled for which they meet the criteria. At any time prior to the conducting of a ballot any candidate may, by giving notice to the meeting, withdraw from the election any or all position
This fits with the concept of declaring all positions you are eligible or willing to run for up front.
Recommendation 12 (Likely Not-Support)
That Annual General Meeting Standing Rule of Order 13 be amended to add a new 13.13 as follows and be renumbered accordingly:
The election for the non-designated Member-at-Large positions must be conducted in accordance with the representation established in By-law 5.1(g) and take into account the numbers of members who do not self-identify as women not up for election that particular year. At any stage of the balloting process, in order to meet the ratio, candidates may be declared as ineligible to continue or be declared as elected. If the ratio cannot be met with the candidates remaining, the remaining positions will be declared vacant.
Not only will men be limited in some years from running, if a male colleague gets elected, it can make another man ineligible. Not only is that member excluded from being voted for, the position could stay vacant and they couldn't run for that position too.
Resolution 106. (Uncertain)
That the AGM schedule be changed so that there is no longer a 90-minute question period for election candidates and that questions and answers be available online.
This is very hard as the AGM costs over $500 per minute of actual meeting time. First we want to have dialogue, debate, and make decisions; however, deciding on our next executive is very important as well. I am not sure how to change this time to be more effective.
I was one that used to stay to listen to the question and answers before it was moved into the official agenda so feel it is worth investing my time into. There may be more efficient ways to ensure that all candidates are visible and known by those who will elect them. Perhaps there could even be a quiz for candidates that answer with a clicker and have the result displayed.
Resolution 107. (Likely Support)
That the BCTF investigate how to make space for Indigenous cultural meeting practices on the stage for a portion of the BCTF Annual General Meeting.
Having been a chairperson for the meeting, it is an interesting proposition. I would like to hear more about this. If adopted, I know that there will need to be lots of work to bring this to fruition. We do need to make space and this investigation would review existing practices and what cultural meeting practices would be considered.
We have started progress with Acknowledgments and Welcoming that both occur on stage. I am conscious that this motion almost contradicts the previous motion that aims to have more time for debate; however, I am willing to support adapting our practices. We need to accept that if time is added, we either have to pay for a longer AGM, or remove something else. Both are reasonable solutions. Previous AGMs have had extensive guest speakers and more recently that was reduced because members want to get the 'business' done. If we are going to make changes to the agenda, that would demonstrate that this 'business' is equally or more valuable despite the cost of motions, or extending the hours.
I look forward to the dialogue and hope to see a plan that helps us do our meetings better.