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Our 2017 Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 10:30 AM at the Oakridge Seniors' Centre in Vancouver. Doors open at 10:00 AM for coffee and muffins courtesy of our Board of Directors.
2016 was a big year for the BC Humanist Association. In the past year, we've:
- completed our sponsorship application for a Syrian refugee family;
- ended Bible distribution in two more school districts;
- presented to governments on assisted dying, secular addictions recovery programs and charity law;
- helped launch a Humanist community in Nanaimo; and
- started planning for how the organization should use our recent $100,000 bequest.
Draft Constitution and Bylaws
The Government of BC has introduced a new Societies Act. This means that we need to update our constitution and bylaws to remain compliant. Our board has been hard at work on drafting these new documents to present for approval at the AGM. We need 75% of the votes passed in attendance to approve these new documents.
Please review these documents in advance and highlight any concerns or questions to us by email. There will not be time to consider these in a line-by-line fashion at the meeting.
Under the new Societies Act we must transition our governing documents by November 28, 2018.
Read our blog outlining the major changes being proposed.
More about the Societies Act transition.
Board of Directors Elections
At our AGM, we will elect a new Board of Directors. The Board consists of 5-8 Directors, who are elected for two-year terms. The Board meets every two months to oversee the governance of the Association and to set strategy.
If you'd like to run for the board, or just to know more, please let us know.
Under the new Societies Act, and our proposed bylaws, to be eligible for election you must:
- be at least 18 years old;
- be a member of the BCHA for 6 months prior to the election (ie since Nov 7, 2016);
- not found by any court to be incapable of managing your own affairs;
- not be an undischarged bankrupt; and
- not been convicted of an offence in connection with the promotion, formation, or management of a corporation or unincorporated entity, or of an offence involved fraud, unless the court orders otherwise, five years have elapsed since any fine, imprisonment or probation, or a pardon was granted.
Our proposed bylaws do permit one person aged 16 or 17 to be elected as a youth representative.
If you are unsure of when you became a member, email us.
As candidates put their names forward, their profiles will be published here.
Candidates Statements
J B Bell
I’m a past President of BCHA, with experience on several non-profit and co-op boards advocating for voices that often go unheard. I have a B.A. in Justice Studies from Royal Roads University.
If elected, I plan to engage BCHA with the broader community by advocating for Humanist values; increasing the reach of our message; and broadening the kinds of people we include.
This means continuing our successful fight against the historical influence of religion in school, and opposing new encroachments that would advantage one religion over another or against non-religious views.
This means finding new wellsprings of freethought outside academic circles, fostering reason and inquiry in schools and listening to communities we may not have in the past.
This means welcoming, not merely tolerating, new members who are outside our predominantly white, middle-class, straight and otherwise normative population. We can have a place of sharp debate and inquiry without calling into question the very right to exist of LGBT people, immigrants, people of colour, and people with fewer economic privileges.
We are on the edge of a major societal shift, which I believe is make-or-break for the future hopes of an expansive, magnanimous movement to secure the well-being of all.
Helio Da Costa
Even though I have been in Canada for 43 years, I am originally from Brazil, therefore being born under a humanist motto, since the Brazilian flag contains the dictum “Order and Progress” from the Positivism of August Comte, who can be considered a precursor of Humanism. My personal journey into Humanism reflects in general lines the positivistic evolution from the theological to the metaphysical and finally positive or scientific stage.
I am a staunch supporter of secularism and specially interested in this topic.
From the point of view of experience in being a member of organisational Boards, for eight years I was a Trustee of the North Vancouver District Public Library as well as a member of InterLINK, a federation of eighteen autonomous public libraries in B.C. Moreover, I have been presiding officer and held other offices in fraternal organisations.
Academically, I received a B.A. (Magna cum Laude) and a M.L.S. (First Class). Having lived in different countries and knowledgeable in several languages, I am able to do research using many different sources.
Contributing to Humanism and helping ridding society from the shackles of superstition is my goal.
Other candidates
The following people have also expressed their interest in standing for the Board:
- Donna Barker
- Nigel Fish
- Gail Miller
Colin Crabbe, Dan Hanna and Anna d'Archangelo were elected in 2016 and are next up for re-election in 2018.
Regular business
As with all AGMs, we will also hear reports from our current board and from our Executive Director.
Click here to see the draft AGM agenda
A copy of our current constitution and bylaws and the minutes of our past AGMs can be found on our website.
Your membership must be current to be eligible to vote and to stand for the board.
Check if you're currently a member of the BC Humanist Association