2024 Special General Meeting

The constitution should be amended to allow members to propose and pass new motions on an ongoing basis, not dependent on the arrival of an annual general meeting. As things stand, while motions concerning GPC policies do not have to be approved at a general meeting, Directives and Constitutional Amendments do. Removing this requirement from our constitution will make it easier for members to amend bylaws and constitution and remove processing bottlenecks associated with general meetings. This proposal specifically aims to amend sections 10.1.3, 10.1.4, and 10.1.5 of the constitution, as well as bylaws 10.2.3 and 10.3.1 to make amendments less dependent on general meetings, and thus more accessible to all members. 

Proposal text

Article Article 10 Amendments to Constitution and Bylaws

Proposed changes in capital letters: 

10.1 Constitution

"10.1.3 Amendments shall be adopted by a majority of the votes cast by Members in good standing at a General Meeting OR THROUGH AN ONLINE CONTINUOUS MOTION DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, and shall only become effective upon Members in good standing passing an identically worded amendment by a vote of greater than 1/2 (50%) of the votes cast in a Members' vote conducted at a GM, by mail-in ballot OR ONLINE PLATFORM, with a MAIL-IN ballot return date of no later than one-hundred-twenty (120) days following the DATE at which the amendment was passed. IN ALL CASES, THE VOTE MUST MEET GENERAL MEETING QUORUM REQUIREMENTS.

"10.1.4 Notwithstanding any other provision concerning an amendment of the present Constitution, all proposed amendments concerning Article 10, Article 11, or Bylaw 1.2.3 will be adopted if: 

10.1.4.1 more than 3/4 (75%) of the votes cast by Members in good standing at two (2) consecutive General Meetings OR DURING TWO (2) ITERATIONS OF AN ONLINE MOTION DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OR VIA A COMBINATION OF ONLINE PROCESS AND GENERAL MEETING are in favour of an identically worded resolution to enact the amendment ; and 

10.1.4.2 an identically worded resolution to enact the amendment is passed by a vote of greater than 1/2 (50%) of the votes cast by Members in good standing AT A SECOND ITERATION OF AN ONLINE MOTION DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, OR in a Members' vote conducted by mail-in OR ONLINE ballot, with a MAIL-IN ballot return date of no later than one-hundred-twenty (120) days following the second General Meeting at which the amendment was passed. IN BOTH CASES, THE MEMBERS VOTE MUST MEET GENERAL MEETING QUORUM REQUIREMENTS.

10.1.5 After each General Meeting OR ITERATION OF AN ONLINE CONTINUOUS MOTION DEVELOPMENT PROCESS at which this Constitution is amended, the Constitution Committee and any legal advisers must oversee the publication of this Constitution as amended and may, in so doing, and subject to the ratification of the Federal Council:" 

10.2 Bylaws:

"10.2.3 Amendments shall be adopted by a majority of the votes cast by Members in good standing at a General Meeting OR THE SAME MAJORITY CAST THROUGH AN ONLINE PLATFORM. IN BOTH CASES, THE VOTES CAST BY MEMBERS MUST MEET GENERAL MEETING QUORUM REQUIREMENTS.

"10.3.1 After each General Meeting OR ITERATION OF AN ONLINE CONTINUOUS MOTION DEVELOPMENT PROCESS at which this Constitution or the Bylaws are amended, Federal Council shall ensure the publication of the amended Constitution and Bylaws, and at that time may:"

Submitter: Jean-Charles Pelland

Sponsors: Samuel Moisan-Domm, John Willson, Michael MacLean, Constantine Kritsonis, Peter Royle, Derek Menard, Natalie Odd, Emerald Gibson, James M Ker, Derek Thompson, Tyler Beaulac, Jean-Charles Pelland, Stephen Warwick, Jesse Stuart, Stacy Neilson, Charles Eyton-Jones, Bruce Gunn, Colin Creasey, Catherine Jones, Anne Lavender, Evelyn Tanaka

Note from staff: This proposal is for consideration at the 19th Annual General Meeting. A second copy, with additional background information, has been posted in the Workshop to allow you to collaborate on amendments. You can access the workshop version of this proposal here, which the submitter is still able to edit.