{"id":459,"date":"2024-05-10T10:57:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T15:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/?p=459"},"modified":"2024-05-14T20:29:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T01:29:15","slug":"request-for-community-feedback-bhca-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/2024\/05\/request-for-community-feedback-bhca-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Request for Community Feedback \u2013 BHCA Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

– le fran\u00e7ais suit –<\/em><\/p>\n

The Board of the BHCA has been hard at work amending the Constitution, and as we\u2019re nearing the finish line, we\u2019d like to provide you an opportunity to review the new document and provide your feedback. The draft of the new document can be downloaded below for your reference, and you can find more information about the reasons for these changes as well as the process we\u2019ve gone through below. Please note that only members in good standing are invited to participate in the feedback process.<\/p>\n

You can send your comments on the document to constitution@bhca.ca. We ask that you submit any feedback you may have by May 24, 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to download the Draft Beacon Hill Community Association Constitution<\/a><\/p>\n

Why are we updating the Constitution?<\/strong>
\nWhen the current Constitution was drafted, the BHCA was a small association being established primarily to deal with a specific issue facing the community at the time (potential shutdown of Colonel By). The Constitution was drafted by the members of the association at the time and has gradually been updated piece by piece over the years, with the last amendment happening in 2018. The result of all these minor changes is that several of the clauses in the current document are unclear, or contradict each other. This became apparent at last year\u2019s Annual General Meeting, when there was significant confusion regarding notice periods, as well as the process of being nominated to serve on the Board. To reflect the current needs of the Association and our community, and to clean up any inconsistencies,<\/span> the document needed a rewrite.<\/p>\n

What process did we follow?<\/strong>
\nThe Board appointed a subcommittee tasked with overseeing the update of the Constitution. This subcommittee reviewed the existing document to identify concerns, and then met to discuss the best path forward. Given the scope of the document and its legal nature, we decided to solicit advice from lawyers specializing in the nonprofit sector. We sought multiple quotes, before deciding to engage Heather Dawe, from the law firm, BLG to assist us with the project. Based on Heather\u2019s advice, we opted to draft a completely new Constitution document, as opposed to trying to make incremental changes to the existing one. This would allow us to ensure that the document complies with current best practices for nonprofit constitutions, and to ensure that we didn\u2019t inadvertently create new contradictions within the existing document by trying to make selective changes.<\/p>\n

What are the main differences worth noting?<\/strong>
\nAs this is a completely new document, almost every point throughout is slightly different than previously presented. Given the length of the document, we want to highlight some of the key changes that have been made during this process.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The financial year has been confirmed as January 1 \u2013 December 31. Historically, the Association has presented its financials based on the timing of the AGM, but going forward they will be prepared in line with the fiscal year.<\/li>\n
  2. The timeline to hold the Annual General Meeting has been updated to reflect standard industry practices. It is now to be held within 6 months of the fiscal year-end, and no longer than 15 months following the date of the previous AGM.<\/li>\n
  3. The notice periods for meetings have been updated to reflect industry standards, and to eliminate any inconsistencies.<\/li>\n
  4. Election process \u2013 Under the new Constitution, the members of the BHCA will vote to elect Directors to the Board, but will not vote on specific positions. After being elected, the members of the Board shall decide on Executive appointments internally. This is consistent with industry standard practices for the election of nonprofit boards. Note that there are no longer specific positions for key areas of interest (e.g. Civics, Eco, Education, etc.). Rather than having specific Board positions allocated to these initiatives, Directors will elect to create the necessary subcommittees to address these needs of the community.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Note that this list is by no means exhaustive, and there may be other changes throughout the document that you consider to be important.<\/p>\n

    Our ask of the community<\/strong>
    \nNow that we have drafted the new Constitution document, we want to share it with you and solicit your feedback. You can send your comments on the document to constitution@bhca.ca. We ask that you submit any feedback you may have by May 24, 2024. <\/strong><\/p>\n

    As you\u2019re reviewing the document, we would ask that you focus your comments on the policies contained therein and avoid commenting on specific language or grammar within the document. The structure of the document and legalese throughout have been prepared by an independent lawyer who is an expert in these matters, and we have to trust to her expertise in drafting this language.<\/p>\n

    Next steps<\/strong>
    \nWe have provided two weeks for the community to submit feedback on the current draft of the document. Once received, we will work with our lawyer to review the feedback and to make any
    \nnecessary changes resulting from this process. Once this feedback has been incorporated, the Board will meet to formally approve the new Constitution. Following the approval of the new Constitution, the Board will schedule the Annual General Meeting, and will send notice of said meeting to the members of the BHCA, pursuant to the timelines and rules outlined in the new Constitution.<\/p>\n

    Thank you all for your patience as we\u2019ve finalized this important initiative. We look forward to receiving your feedback, and seeing you all shortly at the AGM!
    \n– Your BHCA Board<\/p>\n

    Click here to download the Draft Beacon Hill Community Association Constitution<\/a><\/p>\n

    Update: If there\u2019s lots of community feedback on the topic, we\u2019d be more than happy to set up a special meeting and invite the lawyer who drafted the Constitution to walk folks through it. We discussed this, but opted against because it would push out the AGM further. We\u2019ve heard that the AGM is a priority, and we really want to conduct before summer vacations impact people\u2019s ability to show up, represent, and be represented. If this is something you feel strongly about, please email constitution@bhca.ca<\/a> and let us know!<\/p>\n

    \n

    Demande de commentaires de la communaut\u00e9 – Constitution de la BHCA
    \n<\/strong>Le Conseil d’administration de la BHCA a travaill\u00e9 d’arrache-pied pour modifier la Constitution et, comme nous approchons de la ligne d’arriv\u00e9e, nous aimerions vous donner l’occasion d’examiner le nouveau document et de nous faire part de vos commentaires. L\u2019\u00e9bauche du nouveau document peut \u00eatre t\u00e9l\u00e9charg\u00e9e ci-dessous \u00e0 titre de r\u00e9f\u00e9rence et vous trouverez ci-apr\u00e8s plus d’informations sur les raisons de ces changements, ainsi que sur le processus que nous avons suivi. Veuillez noter que seuls les membres en r\u00e8gle sont invit\u00e9s \u00e0 participer au processus de consultation.<\/p>\n

    Vous pouvez envoyer vos commentaires sur le document \u00e0 l\u2019adresse constitution@bhca.ca. Nous vous demandons de nous faire part de vos commentaires d\u2019ici le 24 mai 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Cliquez ici pour t\u00e9l\u00e9charger l\u2019\u00e9bauche de la Constitution de l\u2019Association communautaire de Beacon Hill<\/a><\/p>\n

    Pourquoi mettre \u00e0 jour la Constitution?
    \n<\/strong>Lorsque la Constitution actuelle a \u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9dig\u00e9e, la BHCA \u00e9tait une petite association principalement cr\u00e9\u00e9e pour faire face \u00e0 un probl\u00e8me sp\u00e9cifique auquel la communaut\u00e9 \u00e9tait confront\u00e9e \u00e0 l’\u00e9poque (fermeture potentielle de Colonel By). La Constitution a \u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9dig\u00e9e par les membres de l’Association \u00e0 l’\u00e9poque et a \u00e9t\u00e9 progressivement mise \u00e0 jour au fil des ans, le dernier amendement datant de 2018. Le r\u00e9sultat de toutes ces modifications mineures indique que plusieurs clauses du document actuel ne sont pas claires ou se contredisent. Cela est apparu clairement lors de l’Assembl\u00e9e g\u00e9n\u00e9rale annuelle de l’ann\u00e9e derni\u00e8re, avec une grande confusion concernant les d\u00e9lais de convocation ainsi que le processus de mise en candidature pour si\u00e9ger au Conseil d’administration. Pour refl\u00e9ter les besoins actuels de l’Association et de notre communaut\u00e9 et pour \u00e9liminer toutes les incoh\u00e9rences, le document devait \u00eatre r\u00e9\u00e9crit.<\/p>\n

    Quel processus avons-nous suivi ?
    \n<\/strong>Le Conseil d’administration a nomm\u00e9 un sous-comit\u00e9 charg\u00e9 de superviser la mise \u00e0 jour de la Constitution. Ce sous-comit\u00e9 a examin\u00e9 le document existant afin d’identifier les probl\u00e8mes, puis s’est r\u00e9uni pour discuter de la meilleure marche \u00e0 suivre. Compte tenu de la port\u00e9e du document et de sa nature juridique, nous avons d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de solliciter l’avis de juristes sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9s dans le secteur \u00e0 but non lucratif. Nous avons demand\u00e9 plusieurs devis avant de d\u00e9cider d’engager Heather Dawe, du cabinet d’avocats BLG, pour nous aider avec ce projet. Suivant ses conseils, nous avons opt\u00e9 pour la r\u00e9daction d’une Constitution enti\u00e8rement nouvelle, plut\u00f4t que d’essayer d’apporter des changements progressifs au document existant. Cela nous a permis de nous assurer que le document est conforme aux meilleures pratiques actuelles pour les constitutions d’organismes \u00e0 but non lucratif et de veiller \u00e0 ne pas cr\u00e9er par inadvertance de nouvelles contradictions dans le document existant en essayant d’y apporter des changements s\u00e9lectifs.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong>Quelles sont les principales diff\u00e9rences dignes de mention?
    \n<\/strong>Comme il s’agit d’un document enti\u00e8rement nouveau, presque tous les points sont l\u00e9g\u00e8rement diff\u00e9rents de ceux pr\u00e9sent\u00e9s pr\u00e9c\u00e9demment. Compte tenu de la longueur du document, nous souhaitons mettre en \u00e9vidence certains des principaux changements qui ont \u00e9t\u00e9 apport\u00e9s au cours de ce processus.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. L’exercice financier a \u00e9t\u00e9 confirm\u00e9 du 1er<\/sup> janvier au 31 d\u00e9cembre. Historiquement, l’Association a pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 ses comptes financiers en fonction de la date de l’AGA mais, \u00e0 l’avenir, ils seront pr\u00e9par\u00e9s en fonction de l’exercice financier.<\/li>\n
    2. Le calendrier de l’Assembl\u00e9e g\u00e9n\u00e9rale annuelle a \u00e9t\u00e9 mis \u00e0 jour pour refl\u00e9ter les pratiques courantes du secteur. Elle doit d\u00e9sormais se tenir dans les six mois suivant la fin de l’exercice financier et pas plus de 15 mois apr\u00e8s la date de l’AGA pr\u00e9c\u00e9dente.<\/li>\n
    3. Les d\u00e9lais de convocation pour les r\u00e9unions ont \u00e9t\u00e9 mis \u00e0 jour afin de refl\u00e9ter les normes du secteur et d’\u00e9liminer toute incoh\u00e9rence.<\/li>\n
    4. Processus \u00e9lectoral – En vertu de la nouvelle Constitution, les membres de la BHCA voteront pour \u00e9lire les administrateurs, mais pas \u00e0 des postes sp\u00e9cifiques. Une fois \u00e9lus, les administrateurs d\u00e9cideront entre eux des postes \u00e0 pourvoir au sein de l’Ex\u00e9cutif. Cette proc\u00e9dure est conforme aux pratiques courantes du secteur en mati\u00e8re d’\u00e9lection des conseils d’administration d’organismes \u00e0 but non lucratif. Il convient de noter qu’il n’y a plus de postes sp\u00e9cifiques pour les principaux domaines d’int\u00e9r\u00eat (par ex. le civisme, l’\u00e9cologie, l’\u00e9ducation, etc.) Plut\u00f4t que d’affecter des postes sp\u00e9cifiques du Conseil d’administration \u00e0 ces initiatives, les administrateurs choisiront de cr\u00e9er les sous-comit\u00e9s n\u00e9cessaires pour r\u00e9pondre aux besoins de la communaut\u00e9.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Notez que cette liste n’est nullement exhaustive et qu’il pourra y avoir d’autres changements dans le document si vous les jugez importants.<\/p>\n

      Notre demande aux membres de la BHAC
      \n<\/strong>Maintenant que nous avons r\u00e9dig\u00e9 l\u2019\u00e9bauche de la nouvelle Constitution, nous souhaitons la partager avec vous et solliciter vos commentaires. Veuillez noter que seuls les membres en r\u00e8gle sont invit\u00e9s \u00e0 participer au processus de consultation. Vous pouvez envoyer vos commentaires sur le document \u00e0 l\u2019adresse constitution@bhca.ca. Nous vous demandons de nous faire part de vos commentaires d\u2019ici le 24 mai 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Lors de l’examen du document, nous vous demandons de concentrer vos commentaires sur les politiques qu’il contient et d’\u00e9viter de commenter la langue ou la grammaire sp\u00e9cifique du document. La structure du document et le jargon juridique ont \u00e9t\u00e9 pr\u00e9par\u00e9s par une avocate ind\u00e9pendante, experte en la mati\u00e8re, et nous avons d\u00fb nous fier \u00e0 son expertise pour r\u00e9diger ce texte.<\/p>\n

      Prochaines \u00e9tapes
      \n<\/strong>Nous accordons environ deux semaines \u00e0 la communaut\u00e9 pour qu’elle nous fasse part de ses commentaires sur la version actuelle du document. Une fois les commentaires re\u00e7us, nous travaillerons avec notre avocate afin de les examiner et d’apporter les modifications n\u00e9cessaires r\u00e9sultant de ce processus. Une fois ces commentaires int\u00e9gr\u00e9s, le Conseil d’administration se r\u00e9unira pour approuver officiellement la nouvelle Constitution. Apr\u00e8s l’approbation de la nouvelle Constitution, le Conseil d’administration organisera l’Assembl\u00e9e g\u00e9n\u00e9rale annuelle et enverra un avis de convocation aux membres de la BHCA, conform\u00e9ment aux d\u00e9lais et aux r\u00e8gles \u00e9nonc\u00e9s dans la nouvelle Constitution.<\/p>\n

      Nous vous remercions toutes et tous pour votre patience pendant que nous finalisons cette importante initiative. Nous avons h\u00e2te de recevoir vos commentaires et de vous voir bient\u00f4t \u00e0 l’AGA!<\/p>\n

      – Le Conseil d’administration de la BHCA<\/p>\n

      Cliquez ici pour t\u00e9l\u00e9charger l\u2019\u00e9bauche de la Constitution de l\u2019Association communautaire de Beacon Hill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      – le fran\u00e7ais suit – The Board of the BHCA has been hard at work amending the Constitution, and as we\u2019re nearing the finish line, we\u2019d like to provide you an opportunity to review the new Continue reading Request for Community Feedback \u2013 BHCA Constitution<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465,"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions\/465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhca.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}