By Stephen Donahue
After a nice meal and celebrations for those receiving the PCLS Community Partner Award and the Dorothy Leatch Award it was time to get down to the business of the Parkdale Community Legal Services AGM for 2015. A relaxed spirit that had permeated the assembly room at Bonar Presbyterian Church up to that time gave way to a confrontational tone. The AGM began with the chair making reference to a letter received by the PCLS board from Concerned Parkdale. The chair said that the contents of the letter would not be discussed and that it would be ignored. After making a few thinly veiled disparaging remarks about whoever this person or persons called Concerned Parkdale are, those assembled were reminded that order and decorum would be enforced and that the chair had the authority to close the meeting should these not be observed. The same message and confrontational tone began the 17 November 2014 AGM.
The first order of business of course is usually the agenda, approval of the agenda, any additions etc. The chair however advised the assembly that the agenda as presented was concrete. Any motions for additions to it or discussion would be ruled out of order. This immediately began some exchange between some PCLS members and the chair. Questions from the membership concerning the agenda were given short shrift by the chair.
The next agenda item was adoption of the minutes from the 2014 AGM, which took place in with 3 separate meetings over a five month period, and after that the adoption of the financial statement dated 31 March 2015. Both were adopted. There was a question from a member concerning the accuracy of the 2014 AGM minutes. It was not answered. Regarding the fiscal report, a $100,000.00 increase in spending under Professional Services was noted by members. Questions concerning how this happened were ruled out of order.
Missing from the concrete agenda was 2014/2015 Annual Report. It was a typo. The chair called the Annual Report to the attention of the assembly. He moved to have the Annual Report accepted, but then withdrew his motion, such that the Annual Report was not approved at the AGM.
At this point one member asked a question about how or if PCLS invites clients to membership in PCLS. The answer given was that clients are told about membership towards the end of their case. An informal poll after the meeting suggested that this is not actually done.
The final item on the agenda was the election of board of directors. Members raised questions about the two tiered election process, and questioned the affirmation by any positive vote of a PCLS board selected slate. The chair acknowledged that members’ concerns about this process had merit, but stated that as corporate law allows the process, it will continue. A question was asked about how many positions for the board of directors were open. The answer given was that the reappointment of one board member via the affirmation of the board slate and the election of one board member from either an additional board nominee or the membership nominated candidate would fill the seats, after Osgoode Law School got done filling the PCLS board seats they appoint. One other comment from a member concerned the heavy lawyer makeup of the PCLS board. The member recalled that some years past, nominations for community members to the board did not include lawyers.
The results of the election were as follows:
Desiree Warner was reaffirmed for another term on the board. Then, two candidates ran for one open seat. One was nominated by the Board and the other was Parkdale resident Ashleigh Engle, who was nominated by PCLS members. Ashleigh was elected as a board member. The meeting was then adjourned.
Concerned Parkdale 