The meeting they did not want.
By Stephen Donahue, Parkdale resident
On this past Wednesday the 29th of October 2014, Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS) held Part II of their Annual General Meeting (AGM). Word of this meeting was spread solely by word of mouth and by the internet. There was no official notice of the meeting given by PCLS. Members received no notice. The PCLS web page‘s “Upcoming Events” column said, “There are no events at this time.” Nevertheless the word was that this AGM was to take place on the 29th beginning at 6PM. Those who arrived at 6PM found the place quiet. They rang the doorbell. The person who answered the door asked what they wanted. They said they were there for the AGM. They were told to come back at 7PM.
Why was there intrigue and why the interest in this meeting? One reason is that each community legal clinic board of directors in the Greater Toronto Area is being pressured by Legal Aid Ontario to endorse a major restructuring of the clinic system here. It’s called the Transformation Project and it would replace the 14 clinics presently in place with three large clinics. Needless to say this Transformation Project is troubling for many people. Those attending the Parkdale Community Legal Services, AGM part II on Wednesday were hoping to elect to the board of directors some people who would not be inclined to endorse Transformation Project report in its present form. These directors would support PCLS remaining rooted in the neighbourhood.
At 7PM the door to the PCLS was unlocked and about 40 people entered and registered for the meeting. First thing noticed was that those who had 10 days earlier submitted membership applications were not members and no new applications had been acted on by PCLS. All in attendance were then given the “Notice of Annual General Meeting” to be held on 25 June 2014, four months earlier. The meeting was held in the clinic waiting room, which had been hastily set up with some extra chairs. Clearly the Board and management at PCLS did not expect people to be at this meeting. When the meeting began this was confirmed by one of the meeting chairpersons, who told us that they did not expect a turn out. The attendees were then told that the Board was aware of why people were there, that any discussion of the Transformation Project would not be allowed but that in a couple of weeks the Board would be happy to meet with “five to ten” representatives of the presently assembled group.
The chair of the meeting then informed us that we were at part II of the AGM convened on 25 June. Attendees were told that the June meeting had been adjourned because of issues with the financial report and lack of quorum. The chair then informed the meeting that the PCLS had received nominations for Directors to fill board vacancies, but that these were all out of order, because they would have had to have been submitted two days prior to the start of the AGM, which was on 25 June, not 29 October. There was however a Board selected slate of three candidates, which the meeting would vote on.
By this time the meeting became rather heated and angry. Amazingly the financial report most likely in show of willingness to be reasonable was seconded and passed, but after that all attempts by the chair to move the meeting agenda were stymied. The presented slate of Board chosen candidates could not get a second. Repeated motions made by the assembled members to have their nominees to the board approved for election were ruled out of order by the chair. There were strong condemnations of the whole proceeding by meeting attendees, regarding the legality of holding over a meeting for four months and then without notice resuming the meeting. The PCLS director at this point intervened to inform those in attendance that if they did not like this they could sue the corporation. It should also be noted that there were frequent objections as well to the chair of the meeting constantly getting directions from the PCLS director.
Seeing that the agenda could not move, the chair declared a 15 minute recess. After about 30 minutes the board members, this time without the PCLS director returned, and the chair declared the meeting adjourned. This announcement accomplished nothing. Many questions and objections were raised. The chair announced that in about a month the AGM would resume again. Asked if the Board of Directors would be meeting before that, the answer given was yes in two weeks. This raised much alarm. Would the Board meet, and give its endorsement to the Transformation Project before the AGM part III was held? Another question that remained unanswered was whether the nominations to the board ruled out of order at this meeting would still be out of order at AGM part III.
The board left the room, leaving only the attendees, which included a fair number of members in good standing of PCLS. It was decided to continue the AGM without the Board. This motion from the floor was second and approved by the members. The members then elected a chairperson. Discussion of the board election was held. Motions regarding the manner of conducting the election were taken, seconded, and voted on. The members would vote on each candidate individually, including those the Board had picked. Candidates in attendance were invited to say a few words.
About half way through this election, the board and a corporation director suddenly appeared from another room. They interrupted the meeting in progress to declare it illegal. The clinic Academic Director assumed leadership at this point. Those assembled were told that after consideration the PCLS Board admitted to some looseness in its by-law interpretation, but that those who came to the meeting were hostile. Those in attendance were told that they did not behave in the “Parkdale way.” The academic director then made a deeply disingenuous comment that the assembled group did not look like Parkdale. Perhaps this is because PCLS made no attempt to inform their members by way of a public notice of this meeting.
However the Academic Director also announced that:
- on Monday the 17th of November 2014 at 7PM a meeting of the PCLS will be held at a place to be announced,
- that a proper Notice for this meeting will be given in a timely manner,
- that those board nominations ruled out of order earlier in the evening would be accepted for candidacy and that more nominations would be accepted up to two (business) days prior to this meeting,
- that those membership applications that had not been acted on would be, and
- that the PCLS Board of Directors would not meet prior to this meeting on 17 November.
This announcement was met with general approval; however, some members at this point still wanted to press ahead with the election that had been interrupted. It was decided to continue this outside of the building because by this time it was made very clear that all had to get out. Outside the elections were completed. Just what this means remains to be seen.
It seems clear that on the 29th of October the PCLS Board of Directors was hoping to quickly and quietly finish the AGM they began in June. They certainly wanted few if any members or Parkdale residents present. What they got however was the meeting they did not want. The membership and neighbourhood however forced their hand. There are two weeks to organize a nice neighbourhood showing at the meeting of Monday the 17th of November.
Concerned Parkdale 