On September 16, 2020, a letter was sent out to CALL members on behalf of CALL President, Wassim Garzouzi, to provide notice of proposed amendments, pursuant to section 11.2 of the Constitution. You can view this letter and the proposed amendments here.
News
August 25, 2020
A letter was sent out on August 25, 2020 to CALL members on behalf of CALL President, Wassim Garzouzi, to provide formal notice of the Membership Meeting, which will be held virtually on September 26, 2020. You can view this letter here.
July 31, 2020
Please see the following update from CALL Council.
1. We regret to advise that Kate Hughes has resigned as President. Kate notes her term of President should have been over in June of this year, the same time as she was retiring from the full time practice of law and moving back to BC. Of course COVID intervened and the election to be held did not occur when the Conference scheduled for Halifax was cancelled. In light of all the circumstances, Kate felt it made sense to remove herself from the Executive Committee and Council effective July 27, 2020. Council passed a motion thanking Kate for her service at its meeting that day.
2. Under the Constitution (Art. 6.7), the Executive Committee is tasked with filling vacancies on Council or the Executive Committee for the balance of the term of the vacant office. The Executive Committee was of the view that the Interim President should come from the present Council given the anticipated short term remaining prior to an election and need to move forward quickly in organizing a virtual Membership Meeting (see the Motion passed by Council below). As such, the Executive Committee canvassed for volunteers from Council and at its meeting on July 29th voted unanimously to appoint Wassim Garzouzi, subject to ratification by Council. Council has now ratified Wassim's appointment.
3. Finally, Council unanimously passed the following motion at its July 27th meeting in order to provide a process to address the issues raised in the BIPOC Caucus communication sent to the membership on July 24th. Further information from Council, along with the formal Notice for a virtual Membership Meeting will follow shortly.
COUNCIL MOTION JULY 27, 2020
WHEREAS the correspondence of the BIPOC Caucus of July 17, 2020, including the Memorandum of Wassim Garzouzi, dated June 4, 2019, sent to the membership on July 24, 2020, sets out demands for action, some of which would require Constitutional Amendment, but all of which would require discussion and debate by the CALL/ACAMS membership prior to adoption or implementation; and
WHEREAS, given the cancellation of the 2020 Halifax Conference due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, unless action is taken by Council otherwise a Membership Meeting of the CALL Membership pursuant to Article 7.1 of the Constitution would not be held until the next conference scheduled for 2021 Regina; and
WHEREAS scheduling a virtual Membership Meeting this year with enough time for regular members to submit any desired Constitutional Amendments consistent with the one month submission process set out in Article 11.1 and 11.2 of the Constitution, would also allow for the forum opportunity to discuss and debate all demands for action set out in the BIPOC Caucus communication; and
WHEREAS a delay in the elections for the Executive Committee and Council until after the Membership Meeting will allow for any Constitutional amendments adopted at the Membership Meeting that might impact on the governance structure of CALL/ACAMS and thus the nature and scope of the elections;
NOW THEREFORE, Council adopts the following motion:
1. That Council directs that pursuant to Article 7.1 of the Constitution notice be given to the membership for a virtual Membership Meeting to be held on Saturday, September 26, 2020 between the hours of 11AM-5PM Eastern Daylight Time.
2. That the Notice of Membership Meeting subsequently sent to the Membership includes a copy of the Constitution and a summary of the constitutional amendment process set out under Article 11;
3. That a Committee of Council investigate and report back to Council by the end of August on a recommended platform, or possibly multiple platforms, and a proposed set of procedures for which the virtual Membership Meeting may be conducted;
4. That the elections required to be held by the end of 2020 for President, Treasurer, Recording Secretary and Vice-Presidents, pursuant to Articles 5.2 and 5.7, be held in abeyance pending the conclusion of theMembership Meeting; and
5. That Council immediately subsequent to the Membership Meeting determine and initiate an election process, including an electronic voting process in which elections would be conducted, to allow for completion of elections by October 31, 2020.
M/S Barnacle/Garzouzi
On behalf of Council
July 31, 2020
On July 24, 2020, a letter and memo were sent to CALL members on behalf of the Black, Indigenous and People of Colour Caucus of Labour Advocates (the "BIPOC Caucus"), in response to the letter issued by CALL on June 15, 2020. Click here to see this correspondence.
July 31, 2020
CALL/ACAMS is proud to express our sincerest congratulations to Lindsay M. Lyster, Q.C., of Moore Edgar Lyster LLP, and one of our members, on her appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
This is a well-deserved honour for Justice Lyster. Her contributions to labour and human rights law are too many to count, and include playing a key role in advancing trade unions’ constitutional rights as intervenor counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada in significant victories of recent years: Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v. United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401, 2013 SCC 62; Mounted Police Association of Ontario v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 1; Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4.
In addition to her counsel work, Justice Lyster has contributed countless hours to legal education. She wasan adjunct Professor at the UBC Allard School of Law, where she taught labour arbitration, administrative, human rights and constitutional law. She also taught regularly at the Canadian Labour Congress Winter School and cochaired CLEBC’s Annual Human Rights Conference. She also offered her time and wealth of experience as a panelist at CALL’s Victoria and Montreal conferences, among numerous other conferences and panels.
Justice Lyster also acted as pro bono counsel for a number of non-profit social justice organizations including theBCCLA, West Coast LEAF, and the Community Legal Assistance Society. She also led the BCCLA as President forseven years.
Prior to joining Moore Edgar Lyster LLP in 2010, Justice Lyster adjudicated and mediated hundreds of human rights complaints and rendered over 500 written decisions as a member of the BC Human Rights Tribunal.
We refer CALL/ACAMS members to the government’s press release on Justice Lyster’sappointment: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/news/2020/06/government-of-canada-announces-ajudicial-appointment-in-the-province-of-british-columbia0.html.
On behalf of CALL, we wish Justice Lyster all the best and we look forward to the opportunity to celebrateher achievement with an in-person gathering, when we are permitted to do so again.