2014 planning meetings
Milan
Chair: Stuart
Note-taker: Milan
Present: Kevin, Amelia Rose, Tamara, Shosho, Stuart, Monica, Flavius, Lucas, James, Ariel, Elizabeth, Monica, Milan
Agenda
2. Event announcements
a. TGM, Tuesday January 28th
b. Focus on sustainability film festival, Jan 31st, 12pm-9pm (Amelia Rose)
c. Olivia Chow book launch - January 29th
3. Debriefs
a. TCAN winter meeting
b. Class Talking Workshop
c. Organization Structure workshop with Tools4Change
d. Mothership meeting
4. Status updates
a. Carbon Bubble Inflatable, Feb 2nd - we have a room
b. Suzuki ripples
c. GSU endorsement
d. UTSU endorsement
5. Small stuff: media list sharing, GAN/GSS, meat+dairy free commitment, finding a home, banking
6. New business
a. Reconstituting the exec and institutional innovation
b. Committee decisions
c. TGM issues
d. Should we incorporate?
7. OPIRG strategy meeting - January 30 / 31
8. Energy East research
9. Class talks starting
10. Divestment party on campus - February 27 - DMP
11. Next meeting
2. Event announcements
a. TGM, Tuesday January 28th
b. Focus on sustainability film festival, Jan 31st, 12pm-9pm (Amelia Rose)
They are wondering if we can offer an item to raffle off
* We could donate the Earth Day flag we got at the Radiohead concert
c. Olivia Chow book launch - January 29th
Noon-1:30pm
* Sears Atrium, Engineering Building, 245 Church Street, Ryerson
3. Debriefs
a. TCAN winter meeting
Stu attended, along with Flavius and Amelia Rose
* They were able to present on divestment
They are looking into what to research this year
* Last year: carbon pricing
* A survey was conducted for this year, and 'stranded assets' and the carbon bubble were the most popular
* It would be great if someone from Toronto350.org could take part in their meetings
* Michael Brothers is heading up the team
* Could incorporate lots of analysis: Carbon Tracker report, IPCC, oil sands
* Last year, the research went on for a whole year
b. Class Talking Workshop
Run by Fiona, Tina, and Stu
* Three people attended, including Jess
Everyone there got a chance to practice pitches
c. Organization Structure workshop with Tools4Change
Attended by Milan and Tina
Milan can circulate the materials from the meeting
d. Mothership meeting
Milan, Monica, Kevin, Katie, and Flavius present
They are ambitious, including with regard to Canada
* Toronto350.org may be the most publicly visible and active 350 group in Canada
Milan can make his detailed notes available to anyone who is interested
4. Status updates
a. Carbon Bubble Inflatable, Feb 2nd - we have a room
February 2nd
* Howard Park Tennis Club, northeast corner of High Park
* 430 Parkside Drive
* 1pm to 4pm
Will inflate to 1.5 metres per side
* For larger size, something like a leaf blower or air compressor may help
* Can be rented for about $30 an hour, and we may be able to borrow one from somebody
b. Suzuki ripples
Re: his endorsement of the divestment campaign
We got into the Now Magazine barometer page
Mila at Metro has been calling the Office of the President, trying to get an answer on whether he will come to our lecture
* Article should appear in Metro within the next few days
c. GSU endorsement
James emailed Suzanne Waldorf - the civics and environment commissioner
* She provided information on presenting the matter formally at their meeting on Monday
* James and Katie are going to the meeting
* Long agenda, so there is some danger it will be pushed to the next meeting
* Katie will hopefully be granted speaking rights, in order to explain why they should endorse us
d. UTSU endorsement
Fiona is going to their Friday meeting, where it will be decided
e. History and Philosophy of Science Undergraduate Student Union endorsement
They have indicated that they are willing to endorse the divestment campaign
5. Small stuff: media list sharing, GAN/GSS, meat+dairy free commitment, finding a home, banking
a. Media list sharing - with other divestment campaigns (George Brown, Ryerson, York?)
There are risks in sharing the list - it's hard to get people to pay attention
* Some groups may send lots of emails, potentially of law quality
Would we want to share it with just Ryerson, everybody, or nobody?
* Distinction between campus reps and schools that establish their own 350 groups?
* We could get a ticket to an organic growers conference in exchange for the list
Others have shared their email lists with us
* Perhaps we ought to return the favour
Many of the contacts we have are generic addresses, like the City Hall press gallery
* Our list as of now may not be all that helpful
Maybe we could work with them to create a better list
* Requires a lot of effort to maintain a strong media list
* We need to put a lot more research into ours
b. GAN/GSS - 5min into to DtM, 5min after talk about our campaign, maybe Q&A, tabling (Monica?)
Greening Sacred Spaces / Green Awakening Network
* They have an event on the 1st of March, about divestment
* Mostly focused on churches
* They will be showing Do The Math
* They want someone from us to come and talk for five minutes before and after the movie, and maybe to sit on a panel
We also have the opportunity to have a table at the event
Will be from 9am to 2pm
Happening somewhere around St. Clair and Yonge
* Beech United Church
* 140 Wineva Avenue
They want to arrange a speaker from us sometime between tonight and next week
* Monica could potentially do it, and will confirm with Stu
Initiative of the Toronto United Church council
* Largely being run by Tom Cullen, who is also associated with TCAN
We can discuss tabling next week
c. Meat+dairy free commitment?
Response to offer of free pizza at our class talks workshop
* The U of T vegan society wants us to pledge to have only vegan food at events/meetings
There is a climate change connection - fossil fuel use in livestock agriculture, methane emissions from livestock
There could be a greater cost associated with doing this
People are free to bring vegan food to potlucks
It's not necessarily the case that only veganism is sustainable, or that it is even always more sustainable
Could cause difficulty in building the movement
* How extreme would such a position be?
* Certainly, it is preferable to have vegan and other options available
An alternative policy might be to choose local food
* But there are also questions about cost here, and what is actually sustainable
We could potentially have an internal policy that we are meat-free, without announcing it publicly
There is a specific catered menu already for the Divestment Meme Party
There seems to be no clear consensus in favour of adopting such a policy
* We do intend to be conscientious about the food that we eat and provide
d. Finding a home - We’ve got one!
We can now meet weekly at the Friends' House at 60 Lowther Avenue
* Requires that a member of the Peace and Social Action Committee (PSAC) be present
* Usually, it will be Lynn
* Kevin may be able to join
* Sometimes it will be in the dining hall - sometimes upstairs
Potluck nights cannot be here, so they will normally be at someone's house
* We may be able to check about holding potlucks in some rooms at the Friends' House
* There is a very small kitchen here
* Neither beer nor wine would be allowed here
e. Banking - to be considered after TGM
Chantale has class every night on Tuesdays
We may need to elect a new Treasurer at the TGM
f. Niagara tabling
This Saturday, the Niagara Social Justice forum is happening at Brock University
* Toronto350.org has been granted a table there
* Opportunity to network on social justice
Kevin is traveling by GO Bus at 7am
* He needs to get the banner and pamphlets
* Do we have a layout?
* Katie may have something
* It would be good to have a general pamphlet that works for all events
Runs from 9:30am to 4:00pm
It would be good to have three people so we can rotate between shifts
This could be an opportunity to set up a 350.org chapter at Brock
g. Ryerson350.org and divestment
Kevin has filed the documents to become an affiliate group of the school
* They have a permanent meeting space in the Centre for Urban Energy
Ryerson is pushing for a zero-carbon campus
They have $300,000 invested in Enbridge
* They have a new president coming in this year
Kevin wants to develop and train activists to work on Energy East
h. George Brown
Stu met with some people on Thursday night
* They are launching a divestment campaign
i. Collecting data on supporters
We should be doing some data-driven research on supporters, including those who may provide financial support
The 350 mothership may have such data
Part of the idea is to develop this capability at Ryerson
6. New business
a. Reconstituting the exec and org innovation
Last week, we had 20 people present
* We are likely to be hitting 15-20 every week
* Inefficient for everyone to be sitting and hearing all business
We have been thinking about ways of changing our organizational structure
* In particular, establishing a committee structure
* Committees might meet at additional times, in person or electronically
We have also been thinking about incorporating as a non-profit, about legitimacy as a U of T club, and about potentially revising our U of T constitution
* Milan, Kevin, Flavius, and others have all been thinking about these issues
We need a new executive as of next week
* At the very least, we need a treasurer and president
As Milan understands it, we always intended to be a Toronto-wide organization
* We just became a U of T club for the sake of convenience, room booking, a bank account, etc
There may be an excessive perception that Toronto350.org is just a U of T group, working only on divestment
* Our campaigns, minutes, etc do tend to be U of T centred
* At the same time, we have done quite a few community events, and quite a bit of community outreach
Do we want to formally separate the U of T club from the organization as a whole?
* What would the break-away group have, as formal status? Incorporation as a non-profit?
At the TGM, we may want to adopt constitutional amendments to create a committee system
* We may want an executive member with a mandate for institutional innovation / development
* Alternatively, we could create a committee on institutional innovation
Milan has drafted a set of constitutional amendments which would create the committee system in a more substantial way
Going into the next phase of divestment, we may want to be sure to have a president and treasurer who are U of T students
Do we want to rename the U of T group "University of Toronto350.org"?
* Doing this would require constitutional amendments at a TGM, plus approval from the school
* Or rename it "Divest U of T"?
Does U of T have clubs with different statuses, akin to Ryerson's affiliate groups?
How much should we try to do before or during the TGM?
* Minor constitutional reform, or something much more dramatic
* How long would it take to actually establish a new institutional structure for the city-wide group?
350.org is changing as an organization overall
* Could conceivably be following groups like Greenpeace in becoming more hierarchical, especially on a long-term basis
* It could also stay more like it has been so far, without commands coming down from higher levels to lower ones
* Energy East is going to be a major campaign in Canada
We want to establish our own "transferable structure that can last for decades to come"
There is a risk of being seriously distracted, spending too much time on internal structure and not enough on campaigns
There is a danger that some act by a local 350 group will taint the brand by doing something rash
We may want to stick with the status quo until we have built a clear alternative structure
* We may not want to disrupt things too much, right before the divestment campaign goes into a big phase
* We may be better off keeping what we have, and creating a committee to consider institutional innovation
How urgent is this undertaking?
* There can be a tension between this and setting up something enduring
* Are there major external pressures? Pipeline decisions? 350.org hiring someone in Canada?
People can create new campaigns without us changing our institutional structure
How much do we need to worry about a new top-down direction style from 350?
* So far, they have never told us to do anything
* David Stember re-enforced that point at the last meeting
b. Committee decisions
How do we want our committees to work?
* Milan has some draft text, which has been circulated to the executive
* The existing constitution says: "Sub-committees may be created to serve specified purposes. These sub-committees may meet at their own discretion, or as directed by the executive."
* Technically, we don't need to amend it at all to create committees
It may be best to establish them in a way not too closely tied to U of T
We could put committee rules in the shadow constitution, or in a stand-alone document
Milan moves that we vote to empower the president elected at the next TGM to create a committee system, within the authority of the existing constitution
* Basically, an expression of the view that we want a committee system, and for it to be informally structured rather than described ind detail in the constitution
* Much confusion about procedures, etc
* Not seconded, and discussion moved on
Under the current constitution, we can simply create committees now if we wish
* Possibilities: administration engagement, campus engagement, institutional innovation, finance, committees for any further campaigns or major events
* We probably want people willing to step up and be a chair
Campus engagement is more than Fiona should be asked to handle on her own
* She is also currently, informally leading on the DMP
The major issue here is that we need to spread out the work in an effective way
Do we want to establish a rule that the committee chair - or a representative of the committee - be present and prepared to speak about their work at each planning meeting?
* It could be the responsibility of the chair to make sure someone from the committee is present and prepared to brief the group
* Possible alternative: provide an update by email? - This may be best to use as an emergency procedure only - we will have questions for committees, etc
Should we vote now, or wait until the TGM?
* Decision deferred for the moment
c. TGM issues
How much of a problem is it for Stuart to be president and not a U of T student?
* We don't need to exist as a club in order to propose divestment - we just need an individual willing to do so, and to meet the other requirements
It may be wise to elect a U of T student as president, if a qualified person is present
* We cannot exclude non-U-of-T people from running for the executive, under our shadow constitution, which by our rules supersedes the constitution
Whoever is chair should be thoroughly familiar with the constitution
* Milan will stand for chair
The fundraising, creative, and operations committees will all be vacant
* Milan is not running for the executive, because he has another comp
d. Should we incorporate?
Liability issues
* Could it protect individual people from being sued in the event of an injury or somesuch
May also be helpful for launching our own lawsuits, or joining the class action suits of others
Foundations and corporations may be more willing to provide financial support
Cost?
350.org may be re-focusing toward Canada, after the Keystone fight
* We may want to have an organizational structure in place
What would an incorporated structure look like? A board of directors, a strategy board, staff?
How does this relate to the emergence of additional 350 groups around the city, at Ryerson and elsewhere?
* We need to bear this in mind when establishing our governance model
Would we want to skip a step and incorporate as Canada350.org?
* Didn't arise specifically at the meeting with David from the 350.org mothership
* May be better off presenting it to them as a fait accompli
* We would want to have some sort of consultation process with other Canadian groups
* Contact with other groups has been patchy and intermittent
7. OPIRG strategy meeting - January 30 / 31
OPIRG U of T and OPIRG York are coming together for this
Amelia Rose has information
Taking place at OISE, room 2211 on the 30th - 7pm
31st, room 6-283 - noon
People need to attend both sessions
8. Energy East research
Kevin found a GIS guy who is willing to help us create some maps
Provide good materials for the media, once they get wind of the story
James also works with GIS every day
9. Class talks starting
We have been sending emails to profs and getting responses
* Stu has a spreadsheet on this
* People can sign up now
Largely consists of professors who have attested to the brief, or seem friendly to the cause
10. Divestment party on campus - February 27 - DMP
Divestment Meme Party (DMP) - to be 'culture jammed' all over campus, with chalk, etc
There will be bands and a DJ
There may be another meeting this Saturday evening to work on it, likely 4-6
We should be coming up with 'climate memes' to share on Facebook, etc
11. Next meeting
TGM - We need to elect a chair, who will read the constitution and lead us through the night
Also meant to be a potluck
It will be at Katie's - at Ossington and Bloor
thugsb
Mandate: "The committee shall manage the process of complying with the
University of Toronto's policies and procedures on divestment,
including communication with university officials, and managing
related issues as they arise. The committee shall include members and
volunteers. Members shall be selected by the chair on the basis of (a)
willingness to commit to a certain number of hours of work per week
and (b) being effective at completing assigned tasks"
Mandate: "The committee shall build and sustain an active movement on
campus at the University of Toronto to raise awareness of, generate
support for, and plan actions on the fight to stave off catastrophic
climate change. This shall include event planning, including the
promotion and carrying out of the Divestment Meme Party;
consciousness-raising, including through class talks and petitioning;
and network-building, including through meetings with other groups,
professors, artists, and activists."
Mandate: "The committee shall build a list of relevant media contacts
and connect personally with these people. It shall prepare press
releases and respond to media requests and shall have delegated
authority to determine how our media lists will be shared with other
groups."
Mandate: "The committee shall bring options and recommendations to the
group regarding how we could change our organizational structure to
better accomplish our mission, as we grow both in size and in reach.
The committee shall discuss issues such as incorporation, the
organization of our committee structure, and the use of personal or
position-based email addresses for executive positions. The committee
shall make no binding decisions by itself, but shall merely bring
options and recommendations to the group as a whole, so that the group
can decide together."
Mandate: "The committee shall coordinate Toronto350.org's campaigns
against oil and gas pipelines, including Line 9"
Monica Resendes
Present:Amelia Rose, Wynn, Kevin, Milan, Fiona, Shosho, Lukas, Bernadette, Lyn, Pieter, Flavius, Monica, Stu, Katie
Committee Chairs Absent: None
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Monica
1. EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS- Saturday, Feb 8 at 2pm - Accesspoint on Danforth, 3079 Danforth Avenue
- Saturday, Feb 8 at 7pm - 1290 Finch Avenue West Unit 17
- Sunday, Feb 9 at 12:45 - First Unitarian Congregation, Saint Clair Avenue West
3. STATUS UPDATES
-Our website traffic has doubled since the Metro article :)
5. COMMITTEE CHAIR REPORTS
-Campus Engagement
- - Things are going smoothly for the DMP; tickets are printed, Katie has them and will distribute amongst the group so that people can sell them over the next couple weeks. TO350 members have to pay for tickets! ($5)
- -If you’re talking to anyone and trying to sell tickets, you can give them the “communi...@toronto350.org” email.
- -Fiona looking for permanent locations to sell tickets - mostly it will be selling personally but also at Sid Smith at 11th, 12th, 25th, 26th (full day of tabling available). We should try to get as many hours covered as possible. Fiona will send around a spreadsheet and people can sign up for hours for these tabling sessions.
- -UTERN application - Kevin emailed form, someone from campus engagement (ideally student) needs to fill it out.
- -Budget is to sell at least 75 tickets.
- -LGBT Out and Science for Peace have both endorsed us - other clubs we are working with will help us promote. Pieter has asked Science for Peace for $500 (will hear back soon).
- -Banners for the event: We can use the Greenpeace warehouse space to paint banners - this should be done in the next week or two. We can create one for DMP and one for the divestment lecture. Kevin can lead this.
- -Can we get an article in 'The newspaper’ this week? Kevin will see about this tonight; Katie emailed ‘The Gargoyle’; Daryn at the Green Majority will likely promote this as well (on the 28th Daryn and Dimitri/Milan will be doing a phone interview)
- -Next week: start to poster and snow paint for the DMP.
- -DMP committee will be meeting before next Tuesday’s planning meeting at 6 pm.
- - Committee members so far: Shosho, Flavius.
- - Shosho is working on a list of local Toronto journalists who specialize on climate issues.
- - UT Bulletin - we could also possibly try to reach out to someone there about the upcoming divestment lecture.
- - News.Politics@UofT (newsletter) - they reached out for contributions; could be an outlet for an editorial, a DMP, or a longer piece.
- - Video (Shosho and ecoSanity?) - Shosho is working on a video about 350. She needs help with writing a script and production for the video about divestment and about the group.
- -Lecture planning: i.) Invitations. We need to make them so that they will appeal to people and make them want to come. For example, from a person they can personally respond to, with plain text, and only 2-3 short paragraphs. Need list of invitees, list of rsvps, and list of those who actually came (and those who didn’t). We want to move smoothly from lecture to lobbying and if we create the invites right we can do that.
- -Katie made draft invites with a link to the eventbrite.
- -We can also make name tags for the event that can help us track who came and who didn’t.
- -Logistics:
- Hart House debates room, 7-8pm. Starts at 7:15-7:30, than a panel including Milan. We need good recording equipment (Katie will ask a friend); Op-ed about the event/divestment (Kevin can do); Press release draft is already written (Flavius has draft).
- We have 120 seats. We can strive for 20 from admin and governing council. We should aim to fill 100 + seats with sympathetic clubs or friends, etc.
- The Admin committee will have a Google Hangout on Saturday at 5pm to work out logistics for the lecture event.
- -We need to also think about directions for the campaign after the lecture and the formal process is over.
- -Lobbying the Responsible Investing Committee for support
- Admin engagement committee to have conference call on Sat at 5pm briefly to plan logistics for the lecture
- -Energy East campaign - small activity outside of Sydney Smith (has photo)
- -Kevin has started to organize resources to map out a campaign.
- -
- -John Deverell’s Voting Reform proposal - Looking for allies from Toronto350 to deal with Toronto-area issues. If anyone is interested in this volunteer position let Stu know. Also request will be sent out to the members list.
- -Executive business cards - Tina will come up with ideas and bring it to the group so we can have them soon.
- -Laundering t-shirts - Please keep bringing in tee-shirts if you have them.
- -Young Liberals - Young Liberals at UT and Ryerson are active allies for divestment.
- -PRINCIPIUM - this is an investments group that tweeted at us that they’d like to help us out. Flavius will contact them for more information.
- -OPIRG CREP - Can we get their help with research initiatives. Fiona will contact them.
- -Fossil Fools Day (Call on Feb 11th-13th) - CYCC sent out an action kit for Fossil Fools Day. A Doodle has been sent out for a call to organize the event
- -ClimateFast - Lynn - the group will be encouraging folks to do events on the first of each month, (starting April 1st. May Day, July 1, etc). The main objectives will be to get people to write their MPs. TO350 will put out a shout out on our newsletter about these upcoming events.
thugsb
Introductions
* Do the Math was a huge event, which Stu really underwrote and pulled
together (with a lot of help)
All present eligible to vote, so tokens not required
* Stuart nominates Milan
* Kevin seconds
* Approved unanimously
No need for an interim chair, as Milan is not running for any executive positions
Current balance: $814.15
* We have received a total of $20 in PayPal donations
* Everyone who was meant to get a reimbursement for the fall should have had it by now
* We paid Darryn from the Green Majority for his work at Do the Math
Perhaps the elected treasurer from tonight can fill in the blanks and circulate it by email?
Fiona nominates Stuart
* Debra seconds
* Stuart elected unanimously
ULife contacts are Milan and Chantale
* For room bookings, etc
* These people need to be U of T people
Chantale is willing to stay on, but has a class and cannot attend any planning meetings.
Two current U of T students present.
Stuart nominates Katie
* Milan seconds
* Elected unanimously
a. Creating a vice president
Monica proposes that we create a position to help the president, especially in public appearances
Proposed constitutional text:
* "In collaboration with the rest of the executive, the vice president shall support the president in setting and sustaining the strategic direction for the group. The vice president shall also be a public spokesperson, who shall represent the group at public events and at speaking engagements with external organizations. In the event that the president can no longer serve in that role, the vice president shall serve as interim president until a by-election can be conducted."
Monica moves to create the position
* Stuart seconds
* Approved unanimously
b. Campus liaison positions
Still necessary?
* Particularly at Ryerson, as they now have their own group
* Could conceivably be more necessary now, as they are more active
* Outreach coordinator could cover it?
* No outreach coordinator so far has done all the things in the job description
* Current constitutional definition specifically excludes universities
* Outreach is currently the primary point of contact on the website
Purpose of campus liaisons is largely to be present on campus, organize events, etc
To some degree, depends on how committees are going to be set up
* A person in this executive role could also be a committee chair
The biggest task for the Director of Outreach at the moment has been managing communication with outside groups
As an example, Environmental Defence's main point of contact is outreach [at] environmentaldefence.ca
* Includes contact from job-seekers
* Other organizations use this role
Do we want to stay with the model of the director of outreach having a mandate that excludes universities? See below...
We may want to add campus representatives for other schools
* Or do we want to have one person who talks to all of them?
Would people be willing to run for the liaison positions? Some of them.
Stuart moves that we eliminate all the campus representative positions
* Seconded by Tina
* 13 in favour
* 0 opposed
* 4 abstentions
* Positions eliminated
Do we want to make them explicitly responsible for being primary point of contact
Milan moves to add "They shall serve as the primary point of contact
for the group, listed on the website." to the existing description
* Stuart seconds
* Passes unanimously
Specifically:
* Removing responsibility for the group's web presence, in terms of social media
* Removing responsibility for creating petitions
Procedurally, the normal process would be either:
- (a) eliminate the communication position and re-create it with powers removed
- (b) create the director of development position, elect people to both positions (with the powers currently granted to the
communications director still held by that position) and then vote to transfer the powers by constitutional amendment
The constitution does empowers the chair to address 'ambiguity in the agreed electoral process', and it is probably simplest to address the whole matter at once.
Kevin's proposed description for the director of development position:
* "The director of development (DD) shall work creatively to improve Toronto350.org's resource feedback. This includes supporters and relevant lists. Works creatively to acquire new financial and human resources. DD works in coordination with the treasurer to establish budgets and assess financial needs. DD will coordinate with the director of communications to ensure web presence is engaging target segments. DD is responsible for establishing social media strategy. Role incorporates social media planning, petition design, list maintenance and relies on research to assess key metrics, such as receptiveness to campaigns, brand performance, supporter service and web analytics."
* "Communication is an 'internal' to 'external' function. Newsletters, organizational e-mailings, press releases are necessary and important but do not have a value in terms of fundraising (except for direct appeal). Anything going out into the public for which feedback is not expected or desired should fall to communications."
* "Development is an 'external' to 'internal' function that should use social media, contact lists, petitions and subsequent analysis of relevant data to improve the resources the organization has available to it. Anything going out into the public for which feedback is expected or desired should fall to development."
Further proposals from the email
* "Immediate needs: Devel...@toronto350.org executive e-mail"
* "Elimination of fundr...@toronto350.org email"
* "Toronto350.org mainpage and subpages need google analytics tracking code installed (already done) and routed to account curated by devel...@toronto350.org"
* "Forwarding of as many petitions/contact lists as possible for compilation into one central database."
Personally, I have some issues with this description (Milan)
* 'resource feedback' and 'supporter service' are vague
* Many of the clauses are not sentences, but non-specific phrases
* What does 'establishing social media strategy' mean? Does this mean you would have control or a veto over posts to the Facebook page and Twitter. So far, we have basically let all members who are interested post to either.
* Another outstanding issue concerns website tracking. The matter arose before of how much tracking we actually want to do. It may make sense for us to settle that discussion independently from defining this new position, if those voting at the meeting see fit to to do.
Possible alternative text, provided by Milan, more in keeping with how other executive positions are described:
* "The director of development shall work creatively to acquire new financial and human resources for the group. They shall work in coordination with the treasurer to establish budgets and assess financial needs. They shall coordinate with the director of communications in engaging targeted groups online. [The director of development shall be responsible for establishing social media strategy]. Their role shall also incorporate social media planning, petition design, list maintenance and the use of research to assess key metrics, such as receptiveness to campaigns, brand performance, supporter service, and web analytics."
[AREA OF CONTENTION IN THE GROUP DISCUSSION] What is meant here by establishing social media strategy?
* At present, everyone contributes to it
* Do we need an executive position with social media in general as a strategy, or just for social media strategy?
* Has to happen at a faster pace than a media committee that meets weekly will be able to manage
Why does Stu and not the communications director do the website?
* Because of his expertise
There are a lot of responsibilities being assigned here
* Should it be more limited and focused on exactly what Toronto350.org needs now?
* Should we focus on organic development, rather than adopting an external model?
* Perhaps this should be a role for a committee of 4-5 people?
* Too big a role alongside school and Ryerson350?
* Could be a danger of putting too much into a single position
We could specify that communications should coordinate with development on the social media strategy.
To what degree are our lists presently being curated?
* They have been coordinating our general list via MailChimp
* Flavius has been sending out regular newsletters every 2-3 weeks, as well as adding items to our calendar
[AREA OF CONTENTION IN THE GROUP DISCUSSION] Removing responsibilities from communications
* We could remove "They shall also work to support other group members in creating petitions, press releases, and similar documents."
* Also "including on social media" from "They shall be responsible for maintaining the web presence of the group"
The director of development role is intended to fill a perceived gap in the group, including in terms of fundraising
Do we want to be a money-making organization?
* We are presently applying for $4200 for a party at U of T
* How do we compare with Greenpeace Canada, in terms of objectives, especially in terms of fundraising?
There is a risk in having people who signed petitions feel harassed for money
What about having requirements for group approval for fundraising decisions?
* Or require a fundraising strategy to be agreed upon beforehand?
[AREA OF CONTENTION IN THE GROUP DISCUSSION] We could add: "New fundraising proposals will be brought forward for discussion at a weekly planning meeting before being implemented"
The objective here is to allow the organization to grow in various ways
* More than one person can work on tasks assigned to a position
* The aim of the group is to be city-wide and work into new areas, like municipal politics
* This will require fundraising
Items for decision
* Should we take roles away from communication?
* Are we happy with the draft role text?
* Are we happy with what it includes on social media strategy?
* Should there be a requirement to come to a meeting for approval to some things?
We could discuss these four now, or have a recess to prepare new draft text to describe the position
The current communications director isn't here, but doesn't intend to run
Every petition should include postal code, email address, and address
Stuart has prepared some alternative draft text, which he proposed to Kevin
Can we replace "supporter services" with "thanking donors"
* Kevin is OK with this
Revised proposed text:
* "The director of development shall work creatively to acquire new financial and human resources for the group. They shall work in coordination with the treasurer to establish budgets and assess financial needs. They shall coordinate with the director of communications in engaging targeted groups online. Their role shall also incorporate social media planning; petition design to facilitate incorporation into databases; list maintenance; thanking donors; and the use of research to assess key metrics, such as receptiveness to campaigns, brand performance, and web analytics."
What do we mean by 'key metrics'?
* For instance, data on how various Canadian 350 pages are performing on Facebook
* This is information that can be monetized
Regarding possible fundraising control
* Draft text: "New fundraising proposals - and proposals to use petition signatories for fundraising - shall be brought forward for discussion at a weekly planning meeting before being implemented"
* Should it be part of the description of the position? Or be a procedure in the shadow constitution
* Is the petition signature clause redundant?
MOTION 1 - to adjust the director of communications role as described
* Fiona moves
* Wynne seconds
* 11 in favour
* 0 opposed
* 4 abstaining
MOTION 2 - to create a director of development
* Bernadette moves
* Tamara seconds
* 15 in favour
* 0 opposed
* 1 abstention
MOTION 3 - eliminate director of fundraising
* Stuart moves
* Tamara seconds
* 14 in favour
* 0 opposed
* 2 abstentions
MOTION 4 - add to procedures in shadow constitution
* "New fundraising proposals shall be brought forward for discussion
at a weekly planning meeting before being implemented"
* Stuart moves
* Monica seconds
* Passes unanimously
Creative director
* Stuart nominates Tina
* Fiona seconds
* Elected unanimously
Director of operations
* Monica nominates Fiona
* Stuart seconds
* Elected unanimously
Director of communications
* Some people are nominated but decline
* No willing nominees
Media director
* Shosho nominates herself
* Seconded by Tina
* Doesn't necessarily need to chair the media committee if one is created
* Elected unanimously
Director of outreach
* Stuart nominates Amelia Rose
* Various seconds
* Elected unanimously
Fiona nominates Monica
* Seconded
* Elected unanimously
Director of development
* Various nominations for Kevin
* Various seconds
* Elected unanimously
Anyone for director of communications?
* Stuart nominates Katie
* Kevin seconds
* Elected unanimously
=== 10. Proposed amendments to the U of T constitution ===
Milan has proposed a series of 'housekeeping' amendments, which have been distributed in advance to the members email list. These include:
* Updating the preamble to match what is currently on the 350.org site
* Correcting places where an annual general meeting is incorrectly referred to in place of a termly general meeting
* Updating the constitution to describe the ongoing practice of not taking minutes in camera
* Removing references to 'executive' meetings for functions we have always undertaken at weekly planning meetings
* Minor language corrections
Milan moves that these changes be adopted as a package
* Stuart seconds
* Approved unanimously
=== Post-TGM items ===
=== 11. Event announcements ===
a. Olivia Chow, Jan 29th
In last week's minutes
b. OPIRG on Jan 30th-31st (Amelia Rose)
In last week's minutes
c. Focus on sustainability film festival, Jan 31st, 12pm-9pm (Amelia Rose)
In last week's minutes
d. Carbon Bubbling, Feb 2nd (need volunteers)
Volunteers: Stuart, Katie, Monica, Wynne, Bernadette, Jess, Debra, Shosho, Tamara, Kevin
e. "Revolution 2014" - Saturday Feb 1
Enactus Ryerson Sustainable Fashion Show @ Sears Atrium in the George
Vari engineering building, 245 Church St.
* 7:00PM-10:00
* Tickets are $15.00 please see Kevin for more information.
This is an opportunity for flyering, which we could do outside
If interested, contact Kevin
f. Greenpeace Volunteer Meeting - January 29, 2014
For those who are already volunteers
g. Greenpeace Volunteer Orientation - February 11, 2014
h. Greenpeace Basic Action Training - February 14-16
i. Pancakes, not Pipelines - February 13
Line 9 Benefit
* 25 Cecil Street USW Hall
* 6:00-9:00PM
This is at the same time as the Greenpeace 'Top 10 Canadians Event'
=== 12. Debriefs ===
a. Tabling in Niagara
Went well. Kevin went.
b. UTSU and GSU endorsements
We got UTSU endorsement, GSU was postponed until the next meeting.
=== 13. Status updates ===
None
=== 14. Small stuff ===
a. GAN/GSS
We are looking for someone to provide a 5 minute introduction to their
Do the Math screening, as well as a 5 minute talk about our divestment
campaign after
* Optionally, they could participate in questions and answers
We would also like people for tabling
b. T-shirts - need to be ready for the Divestment Meme Party
SKIPPED SEVERAL ITEMS
=== 15. Creation of committees ===
* It probably makes sense to have people propose committees, along with the mandate for them
* We can then accept nominations for committee chairs, allow them to make statements on why they should be selected, and then vote
* Should committee chair attendance be mandatory?
Possible text: "Committee chairs shall attend planning meetings whenever possible and be prepared to provide an update on the work of their committee. If they are occasionally unable to do so, they may delegate a committee member to play this role. In emergencies, they may provide a written update before the planning meeting takes place. Committee chairs who fail to attend two successive planning meetings can be replaced by a majority vote."
Discussion:
There could be an exception for some committees?
Do we basically expect all committee chairs to attend all meetings?
* They are meant to be bottom-lining the obligations of that committee
How would meetings work?
* At the discretion of the chair
* As often or infrequently as they decide
* Online or in person
Would "working groups" be a better term?
* Do these have different connotations? It seems more accurate, and is used by other groups. However, "Committee" seemed to stick.
Basic idea: 3-6 people, willing to commit set amounts of time per week (maybe 3-15 hours per week)
How many committees can you be on?
* Ideally one, max two?
* Should it be different for event committees?
How would committee membership be determined?
What level of commitment is expected of a committee member?
* Could be flexible, week by week as things are now
How do these interact with the executive?
* What if committees take on their assigned functions?
* Unless explicitly delegated, the executive member keeps the power
* Committees could have powers delegated by execs, and have committees report to them
MOTIONS
- 1. Create committees on the basis of a written mandate by majority vote at a planning meeting
* Moved and seconded
* Approved unanimously
- 2. Disestablish by same means
* Anyone could propose at a planning meeting, decided by simple majority vote
* What if random new attendees vote to dissolve committees? We can adjust this later
* Stuart moves
* Monica seconds
* 11 in favour
* 1 opposed
* 2 abstentions
- 3. Have nominations, statements, and elections for chairs
* Nominees will have a timeline or strategic plan for the operation of the committee which will be presented before the election is held
* The nominee will propose an executive member to report to (it could be themselves if they are on the exec)
* The executive member must agree
* Stuart moves
* Tina seconds
* Approved unanimously
- 4. Mandatory attendance
* The main purpose of being a chair is to bottom-line the operation of your committee
* If your committee members don't do what they are meant to, it is up to you to do it or explain at the planning meeting that the task is being dropped
* If you cannot attend a planning committee, you are expected to send a delegate who can effectively brief on the committee's activity
* In an emergency, a written update may be provided before the planning meeting
* If you miss two weeks' worth of planning meetings, there may be a vote on whether or not to replace you
* Absent committee chairs shall be listed in the minutes of all planning meetings, including the number of weeks for which they have been absent
[AREA OF CONTENTION IN THE GROUP DISCUSSION] Does sending a delegate count as attendance
* Stuart moves that they do not
* Seconded
* In favour 11
* 3 opposed
* 1 abstaining
Stuart moves that the whole motion be adopted
* Milan seconds
* In favour 10
* 3 opposed
* 2 abstention
- 5. Chairs decide how many meetings to hold
* Up to the chairs
* No objections
- 6. Number of committees you can be on
Unlimited? Just one? Two?
* People can contribute to the work of a committee without being a member
Up to the chair? Open to anyone?
* Part of the mandate of the committee?
Different levels of membership? Chair, member, volunteer
Maximum flexibility option
* Committees can either have just members or members and volunteers. This shall be specified in the committee mandate
* Committees will specify in their mandates if (a) anyone can be a member (b) members will be chosen by the chair but anyone may be a volunteer or (c) all members and volunteers shall be chosen by the chair
* Milan moves
* Stuart seconds
* 13 in favour
* 0 opposed
* 2 abstentions
Once we have selected all rules, we will talk about writing up a list of committees and chairs, standing rules for committees, and procedures for amending the rules
Mandate: "The committee shall manage the process of complying with the
University of Toronto's policies and procedures on divestment,
including communication with university officials, and managing
related issues as they arise. The committee shall include members and
volunteers. Members shall be selected by the chair on the basis of (a)
willingness to commit to a certain number of hours of work per week
and (b) being effective at completing assigned tasks"
* Stuart seconds
* Approved unanimously
Selection of a chair
* Milan nominates self
* Seconded by Katie
* Approved unanimously
Which exec member shall the committee report to?
* Milan proposes that it report to the president
* Amelia Rose seconds
* Approved unanimously
b. Campus engagement committee
Mandate: "The committee shall build and sustain an active movement on
campus at the University of Toronto to raise awareness of, generate
support for, and plan actions on the fight to stave off catastrophic
climate change. This shall include event planning, including the
promotion and carrying out of the Divestment Meme Party;
consciousness-raising, including through class talks and petitioning;
and network-building, including through meetings with other groups,
professors, artists, and activists."
* The committee shall include volunteers and members
* Anyone can volunteer, but the chair controls members
* Stuart moves
* Tina seconds
* 15 in favour
* 0 opposed
* 1 abstention
Selection of a chair
* Stuart nominates Fiona
* Milan seconds
* Approved unanimously
Do we want to allow co-chairs? Deputy chairs?
* Deputy chairs, and it's up to the committee chair to appoint
* Deputy chairs do not count for meeting attendance requirement
Which exec member shall the committee report to?
* Director of communications
* Fiona moves
* Milan seconds
* Approved unanimously
c. Media engagement committee
Mandate: "The committee shall build a list of relevant media contacts
and connect personally with these people. It shall prepare press
releases and respond to media requests and shall have delegated
authority to determine how our media lists will be shared with other
groups."
* A standing committee
* Shall include both members and volunteers
* Approval from the chair is required to be a member or volunteer
* Reports to the media director
* Fiona moves
* Stuart seconds
* Approved unanimously
Selection of a chair
* Stuart nominates Debra, but she declines
* Stuart nominates Wynne, but he declines
* Kevin nominates Shosho
* Debra seconds
* Approved unanimously
d. Institutional innovation committee
Mandate: "The committee shall bring options and recommendations to the
group regarding how we could change our organizational structure to
better accomplish our mission, as we grow both in size and in reach.
The committee shall discuss issues such as incorporation, the
organization of our committee structure, and the use of personal or
position-based email addresses for executive positions. The committee
shall make no binding decisions by itself, but shall merely bring
options and recommendations to the group as a whole, so that the group
can decide together."
* Anyone can be a member
* Wynne moves
* Stuart seconds
* Approved unanimously
Selection of a chair
* Kevin nominates Monica
* Milan seconds Monica
* Approved unanimously
e. Pipelines committee
Mandate: "The committee shall coordinate Toronto350.org's campaigns
against oil and gas pipelines, including Line 9"
* Members approved by chair, anyone can volunteer
All pipelines - 8 in favour
Just Line 9 - 4 in favour
Selection of a chair
* Stuart nominates Kevin
* Milan seconds
* Approved unanimously
Stuart will create a list of committees and standing orders of committees
and that this meeting be adjourned
* Tamara seconds
* Approved by all still present
Next meeting will be at Friends' House
* Stuart will chair
thugsb
- Go-Around – 5 minutes
- chairperson – Lukas
- minute-taker - Stu
- absentee committee chairpersons: all present
- attendees: Lukas, Fiona, Tina, Debra, Stu, Wynn, Bernadette, Kevin, Amerlia Rose, Milan, Shosho, Pieter, Jess, Lyn, Katie, Ben (from UTEA)
- Debrief on past week’s events that won’t be covered in committee chair reports – 5 minutes
- Kevin has found out how to do a banner drop for $120.
- We sold two tickets for the DMP. We need a banner, and more promotion materials.
- The Unburnable Carbon Webinar has been posted.
- 3. Event Announcements – 10 minutes
- Feb 12th - Talk at UofT by Gord Perk, Environmental Action and Policy, 4-6pm, Enviro Sciences building in the basement
- Feb.13, 6-9pm – Rising Tide’s “Pancakes, not Pipelines” fundraiser @ USW Hall, 25 Cecil St
- Feb.14-16 – Greenpeace: Basic Action Training - POSTPONED until March
- Feb.15, 10am-2pm – TCAN: Clean Green Renewable Energy speakers @ Annette Library, 145 Annette
- Feb.15, 2-4pm – skate with Jonah Schein at Dufferin Grove
- Feb.16, 5-6pm – Green Majority Media open house @ CSI Annex
- Feb.17, 9-11am – Family Day skate with Olivia Chow & Mike Layton @ Trinity Bellwoods
- Feb.17, 1-3pm – Family Day skate with Olivia Chow & Mike Layton @ Christie Pitts
- Feb.19, 6:30-9pm – town hall on rail safety @ Hope Utd Church, 2550 Danforth at Main
- Feb.24-28 – Indigenous Education Week @ First Nations House, 563 Spadina, 3rd
- Mar.1 – 9am-2pm – GAN/GSS forum @ Beach Utd Church, 140 Wineva – Monica & Kevin tabling
- Mar.5, 1-4pm – Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights and You @ CSI, 215 Spadina, 1st
- Powershift Atlantic, Halifax, March 28th-30th?, talk to Stu if you want to car-pool
- Apr.1 – Fossil Fools Day
- Apr.22 – Earth Day – lots of events two surrounding weekends
- 4. Status Updates – 5 minutes - none
- 5. Committee Chair Reports – 50 minutes (roughly 10 minutes each); try to wrap up by 8:15
- Media Engagement (Shosho)
- Toronto journalists
- NationTalk (First Nations group) wants to do interviews this week with people. Volunteers - Stu, Monica
- • UT promotions
- • video & script
- Paul from EcoSanity wants to focus on ecoSanity, so won't be wanting to get involved.
- Kevin: Maybe make it a Ryerson350 event - he seemed willing to work with Shosho on this.
- Fiona: Maybe make it happen after the Lecture. Milan: We could use footage from the lecture.
- DMP media
- Lukas will get an event listing in NOW - possibly in tip sheet - ask them!
- Try to get it in UofT papers, as "Launch of UofT Divestment Campaign" - Katie
- Katie will look into other event listings, e.g. Torontoist
- Katie and Fiona will work on a blurb to send, that can also go on fb page.
- Stu to put DMP as a tab on the website
- Administration Engagement (Milan)
- lecture planning, promotion, logistics - 80% of invites sent
- GC is having student elections this week, Katie will email them
- direction after divestment campaign - discussion postponed for now
- lobbying Responsible Investing Committee - discussion postponed for now
- Media volunteers
- The 3 things in the spreadsheet were negatives, and Katie will be following up with the other two
- Stu will be taking control of the Spreadsheet for now
- Institutional Innovation (Monica)
- standing rules for committees and constitutional amendments
- First meeting is set for Feb 20th.
- Pipelines (Kevin)
- Energy East (EE) update
- It would be good to plot the course of the pipeline using google maps/earth. Kevin did 400km in a couple of hours, so it's something that can be done by a working group in an afternoon. It's 250km from here. This seems like one of the better strategies to pursue in stopping this - contacting landowners along the pipeline.
- We'll want contact the municipalities along the route, as well as potentially set up 350 groups in communities along the line.
- We'd need an online 'kit' to help them.
- The NEB hearing will include up- and down-stream effects, so climate change can be considered.
- The Line9 Comment we made could be used for this. Link
- There's a Pembina report about EE Link
- Kevin has been preparing a report about pipelines in Ontario.
- He wants some crowdsourced data collection, that he'll send to the committee.
- Developing a coherent strategy moving forward
- And connecting with First Nations groups
- Hooking up various groups working on EE – SaveCanada, Montreal, etc (Lukas)
- Rising Tide to work on Municipal Line 9 campaign (Lukas)
- Earth Day event
- Maybe use the Easter Day weekend for Line9? - Lyn. Maybe a walk from the Humber to the Don.
- Katie, Lukas, Kevin, Lyn are interested in working on this - and if anyone has thoughts, please get in touch with them.
- “Not Worth the Risk” report endorsement (Lukas)
- Endorsed by us this week
- Maybe send a press release about the endorsement and condemning the (almost certain) decision that the NEB will approve Line9 - volunteer needed
- Enbridge has been making noise about a fracking pipeline to Toronto from Pennsylvania.
- Campus Engagement (Fiona)
- Banners
- Banner making, maybe Sunday: Stu, Kevin, Fiona, Jess, Tina?
- Fallback to Saturday: Lukas, Fiona, Stu
- This will also be the DMP meeting this week.
- Amelia Rose will try to book the space.
- Ticket sales & Sid Smith tabling - we did it today, got lunch covered tomorrow, and need people the week-of.
- Class talks on Thurs - need volunteers
- Promotion
- Media - getting into UofT newsletters
- Postering - Fiona to coordinate where has been postered
- Tabling will take place at Harvest Noon and Diablo Cafe
- Snow painting - discussion postponed
- FB page will get the same blurb that Katie will write
- Science for Peace donation - we got it! Still waiting on Deans and UTERN.
- Give petitions to Kevin to compile the email
- Non-Committee Ongoing Planning
- Carbon Bubble Update - discussion postponed
- arrange follow-up meeting to finish it
- safety concerns – tie-downs
- corporate logos on each side?
- determine a suitable location for event in March
- refer to Google “Carbon Bubble” and NYC “Blue Bubbles”
- setup a silk-screening workshop
- T-shirts - Stu to go ahead and order them. We'll have a silk screening workshop in the coming fortnight.
- Executive business cards - on Tina's todo list
- Monica to bring cashier’s cheque for treasurer (PayPal donations). Katie and Stu to set up bank this week.
- Other/New Business
- It would be good to make contact with First Nations communities - maybe connect with Bret Rhyno
- Lukas, Stu and Katie are interested in pursuing this
- There's a job posting for a job at 350.org
- York University update and “Yes In My Backyard” festival (Amelia Rose)
- Do The Math screening soon
- They'll be having panel discussions in Sept
- 350 weekend conference in CA (Monica)
- April 4-7th, they'll get two of us down there: who wants to go? People picked Stu to go, and random selection from current exec and chairs: Amelia Rose won!
- • Impact Ontario – Mar.18, 8-5:30 @ MARS – no free tix but free sessions for any volunteers (Stu)
- • Green Living Show – Apr.25-27 (Kevin) - discussion postponed
- • update on John Deverell / Fair Vote (Stu) - Lukas wants to know more
- • CYCC divestment infographic (Stu)
- • Principium update (Flavius)
- • OPIRG research initiatives update (Fiona) - discussion postponed
- • system for managing capital purchases - discussion postponed
- • system for endorsing documents (Lukas) - discussion postponed
- Julia Butterfly Hill event: Katie, Lukas, Monica, Kevin, Debra - can help
thugsb
Toronto350.org Meeting Minutes--February 18, 2014
1. Go-Around
Chair: Tina
Minutes: Katie
Present: Fiona, Bernadette, Wyn, Stuart, Lukas, Katie, Kevin, Amelia-Rose, Milan, Evelyn, Lyn, Ariel, Tina, Pieter, Ben, Amit, Flavius, Monica, Debra
2. Upcoming Events and Who May Attend
Feb.19, 6:30-9pm – town hall on rail safety @ Hope Utd Church, 2550 Danforth at Main--Kevin
Feb 20, 6:30--Mi’kmaq Warriors Speakers Event @ Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centr--Kevin, Favius
Feb.24-28 – Indigenous Education Week @ First Nations House, 563 Spadina--Lukas and Katie
Mar.1 – 9am-2pm – GAN/GSS forum @ Beach Utd Church, 140 Wineva – Monica & Kevin tabling
Mar. 3rd, 7pm, James Turk “Science of the Labs” hosted by SfP, 15 Kings College Circle room 140--Lyn
Mar. 4 —TO Sustainability Speaker Series—The Future of Capitalism: New Metrics, New Models, New Outcomes. 4.30-7.30pm. Mark Anielsk, author of “The Economics of Happiness”. 438 University Ave--Katie, Stuart
Mar.5, 14pm – Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights and You @ CSI, 215 Spadina, 1st flr--Ben says it is sold out, maybe another will be added on the 6th.
Tools for Change—Get Great Media for Your Campaign Saturday March 15 from 1:00PM to 6.00PM
Tools for Change—How to Host a Workshop Sunday March 16 from 1:00PM to 5.00PM--Talk to Stuart about funding if you want to go
Tools for ChangeAlliance and Coalition Building Sunday March 30 from 1.00PM to 4.00PM--Talk to Stuart about funding
Apr.1 – Fossil Fools Day
Apr.22 – Earth Day – lots of events two surrounding weekends
3. Pipelines Committee Update—(Lukas, Kevin) (skipped ahead to this as Kevin has to leave)
A research report on Energy East pipeline prepared by Kevin, Lukas reading it over. It plots the route of the pipe on google earth to find out which communities are crossed, associated first nations land claims--as well as rivers. Needs to be fact-checked--Milan volunteered to look it over. If anyone is interested in looking at it, email Kevin.
Kevin went to pancakes not pipelines event--350 from Owen Sound were there, possibly will have people in Toronto who want to join us. Lyn added that there was also a good turnout from native community
Pipeline committee will meet post this meeting
Lyn had meeting with Carolyn Bennett-Liberal MP-wants the NEB report sent to her...says they talk about it at meetings. Lyn advised everyone to send report to any Liberal MPs you can, as a Liberal caucus is upcoming.
Ben and Pieter both advocated for Glen Murray as a potentially sympathetic liberal polititian--pro-electoral reform-starting in Toronto, and he understands climate science--but he is an MPP.
4. Debrief on past week’s events that won’t be covered in committee chair reports
Milan--passed his comp exam, yay!
Monica-closed bank account. Milan destroyed old credit card--cash was given off to Katie as new treasurer. We need to open a new bank account, but first need to change names on ULife. Need a president who is a UofT student!
Lyn--April 23rd is booked for Earth Day Dinner at Friends House with Julia Butterfly Hill--Toronto350 committed to sell 25 tickets for $50--also needs a few volunteers for the day of--(flavius added his name to volunteer). Lyn will send Katie and Stuart info to post on website and newsletter. Also, there is the possibility of a walk along line 9 being organized for April 26th
5. Committee Updates
Campus Engagement-(Fiona chair)
Volunteers needed for DMP next Thursday Feb. 27! Debra--coming at 8:15, Flavius, Ariel, James, Stuart, Milan, Jess, Katie, Lucas, at 7 or 7:30 Fiona will be there earlier, contact Fiona to volunteer
Milan--Photography and possible video
Katie will make more tickets for door
Fiona to send Milan class talks lists
Ariel and Stuart to make ipod playlist for between bands, we got a dj for end
Meme posters--send to Pieter for printing, or print at UTSU or GSU
Everyone should get the message out!!
Media Engagement (Shosho chair--absent)
Rosemary has written a pre-emptive press release for line 9 NEB decision--needs to be read-over/edited
Administration Engagement (Milan chair)
We should send invites to public for lecture
34 rsvps so far
Make event page, make facebook page, invite people on members list, mailchimp, Stu to open it up and send to Milan to send to various campus groups,
Package for Gertler--Milan is working on it--will need scanned copies of all petitions
Print another copy of brief--Flavius has one will bring for
Letter for pres. Milan will update, as well as Harvard Response
Lecture-Milan working on the lecture, finished a draft, will have draft for commenting soon, then will send to Dmitri
Video is important to send to administrators--need a videographer--stefan--from green majority--was a suggestion, Tina and Katie both have asked potential videographers
Monica suggested we have a pamphlet--perhaps a version of DMP pamphlet?
Milan will talk to Dmitri about whether slides are wanted
If anyone not on the brief group wants to read lecture, email./talk to milan
Tina, Debra and Rosemary will read over brief lecture
What tone do we want--aggressive? Anthony Grey emphasized tone--that we should not be adversarial but that this is something for the university, will help the university
Pieter thinks the tone thus far is very business like and professional
Banners for lecture--and DMP event--Tina suggested we print a more business-like banner for the lecture and presented a sketch for two banners flanking speakers--they are $25 each--stands about $40 each--Tina will design--approved--Tina will work on this.
Milan will send tina any slides that get made as well for designing.
Institutional Innovation Committee--Monica Chair
First meeting will be this Thursday, 7 pm-9pm @ Duke of York
Ongoing Planning-Non-Committe
Banner Painting--greenpeace warehouse banner painting this Sunday 1-5PM--people so far stu jess, tina, monica, ariel, debra. Email Stuart to join or just show up!
Silkscreening--Tomorrow morning at greenpeace w 10-4, stu, melinda, wyn, bernadette, kevin, evelyn, luka
Carbon Bubble--Fossil Fools Day-we need a planning committee for April 1st--
Possibly do an action with the bubble on Bay St.? Walk from campus to Bay street? Queen’s Park? Picture at ferry docks to get skyline beforehand? Stu will work on it, but might not be able to be there because he’ll be leaving for California--volunteers--Fiona, Katie, Tina, Ben, Ariel, lynn, monica, Milan will photograph,
New Business
Lynn--indigenous participation at DMP--suggested asking Keri Lester or Vanessa Grey to do an opening--around 8:45--need to check if it’s ok to do a smudge with venue--also need to offer tobacco.
Ben--reported new endorsements for brief from campus groups on website-woodsworth college wants a presentation in mid-March--thinking about endorsing
Monica brought up the idea of a talking point about what to re-invest in in talking about divestment. Milan suggested “we are not investment experts, we are not presumptious enough to tell them how to re-invest, we trust that the universities investment experts will do a good job at finding ethical and financially sound investments etc… “. Some discussion followed including: the focus on divestment alone is strategic in that it is a simpler campaign, cite the brief portion that a non-fossil fuel portfolio performs as well...advise people to write the committee with their proposals for re-investment etc. Pieter suggested using a quote from Tom Rand--Pieter said he would be willing to write up a response to this question.
Green Living Show – Apr.25-27
Kevin suggested we go to this as it is well attended, although expensive. Kevin will draft a budget?
Principium update--Flavius was looking into this group--they offer critique of unsustainable divestment--seem very aware of climate change issues, and solid financial grasp of markets--they tweeted us--Flavius will try to contact them to see what they propose to do with us
OPIRG research initiatives update (Fiona)--proposal for research--Stu and Fiona will discuss
Stuart--March 2-5th--mining conference--it was suggested by someone who contacted us we should protest tarsands. MISN is doing a protest--if we can support it in anyway, but it’s a busy week!
Governing Council Elections--3 days time--Should we try to ask people if they are in favour of divestment? It was decided we don’t have time. Make sure to invite new students elected to lecture. Pieter endorses Dan Weaver--he has endorsed brief
Stuart--Can we get volunteers to come to weekly meetings 15 minutes early to chat with new members--fill them in--Tina, Debra, Katie, Flavius volunteered
Power Shift Atlantic Conference-Climate Action-in Halifax March 28-31--workshops, speakers etc.--Stuart is looking in to arranging rides and accomodations, if anyone wants to go contact Stuart.
Ben suggested contacting David Powell--about getting an intern from uoft school of the environment to work for us
Next Week’s Meeting --Potluck--Stuarts place--Stu to Chair
thugsb
Feb 25th Agenda
Present: Evelyn, Kevin, Amelia Rose, Flavius, Monica, Katie, Fiona, Tina, Jess, Lukas, Stu, Ariel, Debra, Lyn, Milan (briefly by Skype)
Committee Chairs Absent: Shosho, Milan
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Stu
Intro
Debrief
Monica’s talk at Bloor St United - went well, she received good questions and feedback
Varsity interview with Stu (Q: what do we do with a “No”? Keep going…)
Banners and T-shirts (1 banner painted, all 120 t-shirts made (just about) and are ready for sale)
Tabling - we’ve sold over 30 DMP tickets total
Miqm’ak - Video - powerful night
“Project Win” - Wynn didn’t show up
Event announcements
Dan Dolderman, Enviro Psych Prof, “Mainstreaming Enviro Activism: The next step for the Enviro movement”, Feb 26th, 4pm-6pm
Grassy Narrows Solidarity, Feb 27th, 6-8pm, Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street
UTSU Ball award, Feb 28th. We got an award. We’ll pay for one person ($30) to go. Fio to ask James or to go as a fallback.
What can we do about Harper? Chow and Layton. Feb 28th, 6pm, Pauper’s Pub, 539 Bloor Street W - ask Stu for details
Greening Sacred Spaces tabling, March 1st 9am-2pm. Monica to speak, Kevin and Flavius to help with tabling
Mar. 3rd, 7pm, James Turk “Science of the Labs” hosted by SfP, 15 Kings College Circle room 140
March 5th, Improv Class with Daryn (GM), 6-8:30pm (ask Stu/Monica for info)
Greenpeace Basic Action Training, March 7th-9th, starts Friday 6pm, until Sunday ~6pm http://act.gp/1dR7CYG
Tools for Change—Get Great Media for Your Campaign Saturday March 15 from 1:00PM to 6.00PM
Tools for Change—How to Host a Workshop Sunday March 16 from 1:00PM to 5.00PM
Tools for Change—Alliance and Coalition Building Sunday March 30 from 1.00PM to 4.00PM
Committee Chair reports
Campus Engagement
DMP
Postering and Flyering volunteers needed Wed and Thurs
Tabling
Wed - Harvest Noon - ???
Wed - Sid Smith - Fio, Lukas, Kevin
Thurs - Sid Smith - Stu
Need photographer and video camera
Ben will take pics
Ask Jose to bring (vid) camera. Monica can as fall-back but has to leave early
Tobacco - Fio to bring, Stu to bring bag
Cork boards - we need people to bring them. At least 2’x3’
Banner stands - we need to work out - Lukas to ask AV guy if we can get extra speaker/mic stands
Classtalks
Wed 1pm Mark R UC161 - Ben
Thurs 9am - Fiona
Thurs 10am - ABS -
Thurs 1pm -
Thurs 1pm -
Media Engagement
Stu will talk with NationTalk soon
We responded to The Newspaper
Administration Engagement
Another chair? - Stu will consider
Invites need to go out via alt mail merge
Mail chimp on the wkend
Institutional Innovation
They met for a preliminary meeting
Email changes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIaI3tUmzZ0
Jess suggests we store institutional history (events, contacts, etc.) somewhere that exec can access so we don’t have to re-establish contacts each time
Pipelines
The pipelines committee had reduced time due to other things running long. Apologies.
Energy East
Kevin has mapped ON section on Google Earth (ON is the hardest, the other provinces are straighter)
Includes zones it passes through
waterways
communities
First Nations communities (including Grassy Narrows)
Within 50km have the right to intervene
compressor stations
EE will ship 1.1mil barrels/day (4 times the size of Line9) and its emissions would be equivalent to 7 million new cars on the road
The 2yr (NEB?) application process has just begun
That will be followed by 2yr of construction
70-80% is already built
Transcanada whistleblower recently announced the company can’t be trusted for pipeline safety.
We need to de-emphasize geography because it is so remote
I.e. we can’t easily get a bunch of people out there to protest it
Therefore, digital organizing is critical
People have started contacting concerned groups/allies
List of MPs along the line being built
A place in Quebec has voted to block the pipeline
1 group has done a 20km pipeline walk
Kevin proposes getting TouchShare
Used by industry when they have people on the road
This would allow multiple collaborators on a single google maps interface
Kevin will launch an Indiegogo campaign to pay for the software (likely several hundred $ per copy)
ON Energy Board (OEB) is meeting to discuss EE right now
We need to present to them by March 15th
To350 will try to be an intervenor - Kevin will be working on this
Lyn asks whether we can encourage other groups to send letters of comment if they can’t intervene
Kevin will prepare a fact sheet for tabling
Line 9 - decision is expected to be any day and is expected to be bad for everyone
There is a group preparing a press conference for the day it comes out (we get 2 days notice)
Monday, 7pm at OISE
Walk along the line is a possibility
Emily F is someone we need to contact - via Sabrina? - she did a similar thing for Line9 that Kevin has done for EE - combine them!
There’s a line9 petition - Kevin will adjust his previous petition and bring to DMP
Non-committee Ongoing
Banking - Ben can be the other signer
Julia Butterfly
Tree theme
Indigenous welcome
Stu and Lyn to collaborate
Fossil Fools (Fiona, Katie, Tina, Ben, Ariel, lynn, monica, Milan will photograph)
Call on Feb 27th - No one can do it
Woodsworth College presentation (Ben) - postponed
OPIRG CREP - postponed
Green Living Show - postponed
PDAC/MISN - cancelled
New business
Executive business cards (Kevin) - postponed
Daryn’s radio show - Stu will record on Friday
Next meeting chair: - we didn't choose!
thugsb
- Present - Monica, Milan, Evelyn, Tina, Flavius, Jess, Lyn, Wynn, Bernadette, Gerry, Debra, Sharon, Ariel, Amelia Rose, Kevin, Michael, Stu, James, Fiona, Katie
- Chair - Monica
- Minutes - Stu
- Chairs Absent - Shosho
Debriefs
- DMP
- We need a full debrief, so the Campus committee will meet to do a full debrief
- Memes were successful - we need an album of memes, as well as an album of photos
- Bands seemed happy
- We should send thank-you cards to all volunteers - physical cards if possible - including all bands, greenpeace warehouse, funders, etc. NEED VOLUNTEERS
- UTSU ball
- James and Fiona went, James gave an impromptu speech and got a cheer when talking about the Lecture.
- Fiona has the award plague
- UTSU made a great graphic for us and paid for our ball tickets
- Greening Sacred Spaces
- Monica, Kevin went. Really good time for networking
- UK group is getting students to ask their parents to question where their pensions are, and if they’re invested in fossil fuels.
- UofT Alumni mag goes out 2/yr - we might be able to get space to promote the campaign, but it might be hard because it’s probably marketing for donations. NEED SOMEONE TO PERSUE THIS
- We have a button-maker contact!
- The speakers were great. Rev Fletcher talked about church divestment and putting on webinars for educating different faith groups.
- Also met someone who sat down with UTAM and had discussions about divestment, and she is willing to speak with us.
- COMART is also involved and could help us run events and such.
- There’s a walk from Maryland to DC in Nov that we could join (they’re walking across the continent). $20/day to join them.
- NationTalk Radio
- Will give us a 15min interview
- Wanted to know about our groups’ promotion budget
- Have large reach into First Nations communities
- Beyond Green podcast
- Stu went on
- Also, make sure to listen to the Green Majority with Dimitri Lascaris: http://greenmajority.ca/2014/02/28/tgm-022814/ - Stu to post on webiste
- Grassy Narrows solidarity
- They may want people to show up for anti-logging solidarity events - solidarity groups are in TO and Winnipeg
- They’re waiting to see what happens with the ON govt
Non-committee Planning
- Julia Butterfly
- Need to get people involved in doing this. Maybe have a light refreshments event with more of a workshop, rather than a dinner.
- Themes: Trees/Empowerment/?
- Lyn will be organizing a skype call next wk.
- Fossil Fools day
- “Smart not foolish”?
- Workshop to focus on the positive way to go?
- Is there a place to target, like a financial district conference or anything?
- Maybe lunch hour showing of DtM at city hall?
- Need to reinforce the bubble? And finish it?
- Is a Tuesday in the financial district a good place to be? Do we want to be around people who are excited, or around people who are passive?
- The intention seems to be to get media attention
- Financial district is close to media, so they may come out.
- Monica will send out a doodle for the group to meet - we need to get on this and soon
- Stu will be on the FFD conference call
- Wordworth college talk - postponed
- OPIRG CREP - they won’t go for it.
- Green Living Show
- $800 is smallest space
- Fundraising is good there, but Rob Shirkey said to use it as a space to get a message across.
- Last wkend in April
- Could we go in without a space and walk around in t-shirts and give out flyers and such?
- Stand outside with a handout? Sharon has done it before - don’t stand too close to the door. It is carefully patrolled but possible
- Kevin to send a proposed budget
- Dhanyasri’s school
- Tina, James, Katie and Ariel are interested, Stu will send details
Event announcements
- Greenpeace Basic Action Training, March 7th-9th, starts Friday 6pm, until Sunday ~6pm http://act.gp/1dR7CYG
- Tools for Change—Get Great Media for Your Campaign Saturday March 15 from 1:00PM to 6.00PM
- Tools for Change—How to Host a Workshop Sunday March 16 from 1:00PM to 5.00PM
- Tools for Change—Alliance and Coalition Building Sunday March 30 from 1.00PM to 4.00PM
Committees
AECOM updates
Varsity articles
- One relatively neutral, one critical but polite and not very convincing
- I have written a short response which the editor says they will print
- It can be up to 200 words and is due Friday
- We maybe should ask for a formal retraction
Gertler package
Letter to Gertler
- The letter to Gertler is basically done
- Milan will finalize tonight
The Harvard response still needs to be put in a consistent format and then proofread
- Milan will do this
The lecture has received multiple rounds of comments
- Thanks to Fiona, Tina, and Debra especially
- Milan will make yet another version tonight based on the last comments from Debra and Fiona
- Tomorrow, Dimitri will be going over it and making changes of his own
- NO MORE COMMENTS AFTER 10PM TONIGHT
Scanning petition signatures
- It would probably be easiest using the book scanner at Robarts Library - Katie has done
- Kevin and James have some that he will scan and bring on Thursday - or leave at Massey college porters lodge by noon on Thurs if possible, already holed-punched for a 3-ring binder
- Stu to print online petitions and attestations bring on Thursday
- Could someone collect the original pages, scan them with the machine, and drop them off for Milan to add to the binder?
Binder and tab separators
- Does anyone have a suitably large binder that we can give to the representative from the president’s office?
- If not, Milan can buy one along with some tab separators
Thursday’s lecture
Promotion
- One more push please - your personal social media, friends, professors you know, etc
- It would be great to have all 120 seats full, and ideally a few people standing
Room layout
- Fiona has talked to Hart House about the room layout
Packages for audience members
- Status? What are we including?
- Ben to print 70 pamphlets
- Stu to prepare the rest and print 40 copies
Introduction for Dimitri
- Stuart will prepare and present
Slides
- I don’t think we need slides, but we will be projecting the U of T banner that Tina made in the background during the event
- To confirm: is Hart House providing a projector?
- What about a computer? An adapter to connect it to the projector?
- James to bring laptop
Milan has tutorials to teach until 6pm on the day of the lecture
- What time do we want to have people there to check that everything is set up?
- How many volunteers do we want to have present? What duties should they have?
Nametags
- Not doing nametags, we’ll have 4 people checking names off list printed from eventbrite - Stu to bring lists
- Sheet to sign if they’re not on eventbrite
Filming
- A friend of Katie’s has agreed to do it, and to provide us with the video promptly - as well as bringing a spotlight
- We will want to get it up on Vimeo / YouTube and send a set of emails to
- Monica will edit the video, and make contact with…
- Ben’s friend who can help with it too.
- Green Majority will be filming
- Varsity photographer will be there.
- James to ask around too
- Audio track? Stu to bring ipod. It’s would be ideal if we can record through the audio.
- We can add closed captioning to the video
Final membership of Q&A panel
- Milan, Stu, Monica, Tina
Gift for Dimitri?
- T-shirt? Whiskey? To present quietly afterwards
- Bottle of wine - Flavius to bring, with a card
Moderator?
- Please ask those who ask questions to state their name and affiliation
- James to ask Sonia from GSU
- Fallback Debra will do it
Remember - it’s a formal event, so try to look spiffy
Monica to make 4 “reserved” signs for front row
Press release
- Status? - Sent by Stu Monday night and posted on website http://toronto350.org/press/2014-03-04-top-lawyer-joins-divestment-campaign.php
Kevin notes that all committee decision making should be made outside of planning meetings so that it doesn’t take so much time of the planning meeting.
Campus Engagement
Student elections
- Ben says do not endorse VOICE for the campus elections, claiming it would hurt our presence on campus.
- James recommends not to endorse anyone
Fiona is likely stepping down, both as committee chair and Director of Operations. Thanks to all her hard work. We’ll talk about it and try to get replacements next week.
Media Committee
- Due to family sickness, Shosho will be stepping down from chair, as well as stepping down from the exec. Thanks to all her hard work. We’ll look for replacements next week.
IIC
- Nothing to report. They will meet again soon.
Pipelines committee
NEB decision will be made Thursday 2:30pm Calgary time
- Press room Friday morning 10am press conference
- Emergency response will be sent
- People try to come on Friday if possible - media will be looking for community response
- Katie, Kevin, Stu will be there - Kevin will send out confirmation of time to members@ list
- Kevin will edit press release, Stu will send out late Thursday
Transcanada filed proposal with NEB for Energy East
- Ben to print 200+ page document
- CrowdMap is now up with pipeline details
- Stu to put on website
Earth Day
- April 22nd - so we’ll put off organizing this until the committee meets
Next Meeting
- Chair: Kevin
- Minutes: Monica
Monica Resendes
Administrative
Members present -
Kevin, Michael, Katie, James, Flavius, Wynn, Pieter, Bernadette, Milan, Tina, Evelyn, Monica, Lukas, Rosemary, Debra, Lyn
Meeting chair -
Kevin
Minute taker -
Monica.
Committee chairs absent -
Absent: Shosho, Fiona (both need replacement – will be addressed further in the agenda)
Debriefs
Greenpeace Basic Action Training
Ben went – said it was amazing.
Takeaway: the logistics of getting arrested are interesting – don’t engage media, remain serious, because the media could put a negative spin on it.
DMP
Debrief –
-Application for funding the DMP via UT was denied. They receive a lot of applications, and our letters of support were not signed and on official letterhead. Because of that, and because of the high volume of applications, the application was cut down.
-We had a $386 surplus in the budget, but we ended up breaking even, but mainly because of the $400 donation by Science for Peace.
-We need to keep and update a file of all funding applications that we’ve submitted and feedback on them. Kevin has this started - treasurer needs access.
-Official debrief of the event in general was created by Fiona and Katie will put them up in a Google doc. The link will be put in the minutes.
-Thank you to the Campus Engagement Committee for the DMP!! It was a success, looked very professional and helped show the campaign as one that’s well-supported.
Divestment Lecture
Lecture debrief - see Campus Engagement Committee update.
Line 9 Press Conference Debrief
-The rally was great, and it was positive overall despite
the NEB decision. Speakers were all really good. --CBC radio did some coverage,
and Global did a 6 minute clip. We will include a link to this clip in the
minutes.
-April 1st events could be an opportunity for engagement with CTV.
-There were generally less climate change references in the pipeline debate than some would like.
Greening Sacred Spaces
Christina Bouchard follow-up:
-With City of Toronto, works on recycling infrastructure. She’s offered us access to pamphlets and literature about bikes and cycling that we could use for future tabling.
-We wouldn’t be able to brand the pamphlets, since they are City resources – do we want a mix of literature on our tables? Bike lanes not pipelines event in the summer would make sense and we could use this kind of resource for that.
Elizabeth May Event
-Elizabeth May is concerned with Michael Chong’s bill that would take away a party leader’s veto over a locally nominated candidate. Liberal and NDP leaders won’t support that without a big push.
-He is in town tonight and tomorrow night (same night as East End Line 9 meeting).
-Elizabeth May is going to come back on April 6th at Metro Hall to help organize a push and get people prepared so they can lobby their MP (duration approx. 3 – first half of lobby re: bill, other half on climate action).
-we need help organizing: Katie, Lyn,
-we can also leverage some of our connections with students/student groups to get more UT population involved.
-Also the push for our group as a climate oriented group to have more of an international focus.
-September 23rd there is a UN meeting “Climate Solutions”; focus is to get mobilized for 2015 **
-[we need markers / symbols for minute items that we need to carry forward – for now asterisks mark these items]
-We need to get organized sooner than later (both as a group – also to get students involved on campus).
Climate Change Warning Labels on Gas Pumps
Ryerson event w/ Rob from Our Horizon
-Rob gave a great presentation at Ryerson, if you haven’t seen it you can check out his Tedtalk.
-Allies at Ryerson, EUSSA (Environmental and Urban Sustainability Student Association).
Non-committee Planning
Julia Butterfly-Hill
Need to get people involved in doing this.
Light refreshments and workshop
-Lyn will be having a Skype call with Julia this week, so we can advance soon.
-If people are willing to do it, we could have a silent auction. If we can think of anyone that might be willing to donate something, this could be a good fundraising option for TO350.org.
Fossil Fools Day
-Tina, Monica, Katie, James, Stu, Ariel, Milan will photograph if at all possible. If Milan can’t, maybe Daryn Caister can.
-Bubble Trouble: We need to reinforce the Bubble, need 2-3 people to spend a couple of hours to fix it.
-If take the ropes and use tent pegs to keep them down, you can keep the bubble contained so everyone can flyer, otherwise one person will always be needed to hold the bubble down.
-Location options: Bay Street, or Yonge and Dundas Square.
1 - Dundas Square – Costumes to grab people’s attention, holding the carbon bubble in the diagonal intersection, use creative flyering. ISSUES: it’s clogged, lots of messages and activists there,
2 – Bay Street – “Smart not Foolish” idea, dress up business casual, have bubble pegged, hand out flyers with simple and straightforward messaging on ‘Do the Math.’
Bubble group will talk further and create an event plan that will be forwarded to others who can volunteer on the day to help out.
NationTalk Radio
They will give us a 15min radio interview at some point in the future.
-We could discuss Energy East.
-Reach First Nations communities.
Green Living Show
This project needs an underwriter.
Budget and preliminary plan here:
-We stand to make money if we go there – Kevin has emailed an event plan out to the members list.
-Cost - $766 dollars that covers insurance, the booth, carpeting (unless we can source carpeting).
-Kevin will oversee training for fundraising and tablers over the event, which will be about 30 hours over the weekend.
-It would also be a good networking event to make ties with other groups.
-Decision has to be made by: April 2nd officially, but ideally by next meeting.
-Possibly new Director of Operations can bottom line this?
Wordsworth College Talk
Postponed. Update?
Dhanyasri’s School
Tina, James,
Katie and Ariel are interested, Stu will send details
Contact made, but the school didn’t follow up yet.
Powershift Atlantic
Confirmations – Flavius is going; Stu undecided
ClimateFast
'Fast' approaching – meeting next Saturday.
-Website has letters for people to send: climatefast.ca
-April 1st will the official launch for people to pledge and sign up – also it’s important to talk to people and spread the message ‘put climate first on the first of the month’. It’s being picked up by the faith community as well.
-Focus is to get people to contact their MP: End fossil fuel subsidies, put a price on carbon, develop a renewable energy plan.
-May 1 – “mayday”; June 1 “stand on guard”; more ideas for 1st of the month theme days being generated.
-We will put up a statement on Climate Fast on our website as well as a link.
Conference Space April 12-13th
Request from Brett Rhyno to book space in Toronto.
10-5am, space for 200 people with breakout rooms.
a) Connect with Brett and make sure that time/weekend works.
b) Book rooms at Sid Smith
c) Let Brett Know
-Katie and Stu will book the room once we find out more details – workday or weekend? How many breakout rooms? Will report back next week.
Broadening Scope
Internationalizing focus? Orient some goals and action towards UN Climate Summit 2014.
Climate movement suffering from “PTSD” - need rejuvenation on an international scale.
Ryerson Outreach
Kevin has some thoughts on strategic direction for September.
Toronto350.org Strategic Planning
Need a meeting before the end of March to determine strategic focus
Should set goals for upcoming year
Could generate 1st annual report
Should incorporate other groups
-If anyone has issues they’d like the Institutional Innovation Committee (IIC) to discuss please forward them to Monica. The IIC will meet in the coming week.
Event Announcements
Webinar: How we can cut Transport Emissions by 50%
With
Todd Litman, Victoria B.C.
Tues. March 11, 3 p.m. ETS
From your computer.
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/489728058
Attending:
From Promises to Obstruction, Canada
and Global Climate Crisis
Tues. March 11, 6:45 - 8:45 pm
Community Centre 55, 97 Main Street
Guest speaker: Stephen Leahy - International environmental journalist
specializing on climate change. Canada has been chosen six times as the
most uncooperative country...
http://tcan.ca/event/promises-obstruction-canada-and-global-climate-crisis
Attending:
Securing Media for Your Campaign
Saturday, March 15, 1 – 6 p.m.
U of T location given to registrants
This workshop will help activists understand how the mainstream media works,
and how to use it as at tool in your campaigns for social, economic and
ecological change. We will cover the basics of how to write compelling
press releases, give great interviews, and develop frames and messages that are
effective and in line with your goals.
http://www.eventbrite.ca/e/securing-media-for-your-campaign-tickets-10638037657
Attending:
March Strategy Summit: Green Majority Toronto
Sun.
March 16, 5:30 - 6:30pm
Centre for Social Innovation, 720 Bathurst St. (Just south of Bathurst Subway),
Meeting room #1 (second floor). Open
meeting to discuss and strategize for increased unity in the Toronto environmental
movement. Individuals and organizational representatives welcome.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1398732000392128/
http://greenmajority.ca/home/schedule/
Attending:
Tools for Change—How to Host a Workshop
Sunday March 16 from 1:00PM to 5.00PM
Tools for Change—Alliance and Coalition Building
Sunday March 30 from 1.00PM to 4.00PM
350.org Keystone XL Mobilization in DC on April 27
Need more info.
Committees
Administrative Engagement Committee
-President Gertler will likely form a committee. The process might take a while, but we don’t necessarily need big event planning on the administration side (unless there are some wrenches thrown into the process, but we can call emergency meetings if necessary).
-Should have campus engagement ongoing, definitely in September. Perhaps a cross-campus initiative as well.
-Next step: if we don’t hear anything in the next 2 weeks, Milan will contact Anthony Gray.
-Videos: hopefully we can get the videos as soon as
possible. Stefan from Green Majority
will be uploading their video to Google Drive. Katie has the video from her
friend. Email updates to the “Brief” email list.
As long as it doesn’t require a
heavy workload, Milan can continue to be chair.
Campus Engagement Committee
-Need a new chair. Co-chairing could be a possibility.
Media Committee
-No volunteers for position of chair at this meeting.
Pipelines committee
List etiquette
First Committee Meeting: Toronto Reference Library 2nd Floor - March 12
NEB Decision and next steps
TransCanada Project Description Preliminary Thoughts
Project Iolaus
Energy East to Toronto350.org main page.
Earth Day Concept - Line 9 Harlem Shake
IIC
No new update - will be meeting this week.
Exec Positions:
Kevin has a candidate for Director of Operations—he can send out the call this week and have an acting Director of Operations until we can officially vote.
We can also just create a new exec position “interim Dir. Of Operations” or “interim Media Director” until we can fulfill proper procedure for replacing these positions.
Stu is willing to take on managing these emails now, until we have replacements.
Next Meeting
Meeting chair: TBD
Minute-taker: TBD
thugsb
MARCH 18, 2014
PRESENT:
Stu, Wynn, Amelia Rose, Tina, Kevin, Flavius, Bernadette, Evelyn, Milan, Lyn, Ariel, Monica, Ben (later)
COMMITTEE CHAIRS present: Kevin, Monica, Milan
Regrets: Katie, Lukas
CHAIR – Stu NOTES - Lyn
DEBRIEFS – none
EVENTS – Tools for Change: Sunday March 30th – 1 -4 pm Alliance and Coalition Building – Kevin will go
Play – Seasick – Jean (who sponsored Do the Math) is involved – 8 pm Wednesday till Sunday - Sea Sick - play this week, 8pm, Wed-Sun (matinee) the Theatre Centre 1115 Queen St. West Toronto ON M6J 1J1
March 29th – play – Ariel - Broadleaf Plays – Environmental theatre company – first show – George Ignatieff Theatre, Trinity College – 8 pm.
Environment and Politics – Bridging the Gap – at Ryerson – Thursday April 3rd, 7:30 – 10 pm
Kevin will table. Others welcome. Business Casual. Digital media zone – AMC theatre building.
Minutes:
Non-committee Ongoing
a. Exec and committee chairs - operations director, media director, media chair, campus engagement chair – THESE ARE OPEN – till next TGM is in May. To be filled at next meeting.
Cowboys and Indian Alliance – request for endorsement - logo and contact point person needed
Kevin: alliance of landowners and indigenous people working together to prevent Keystone through their territory. Building encampment in BC to await Obama’s decision. Contact through communication email (Katie). Monica to set up the connection. Date April 27th.
b. Banking – Milan needs to sign into U Life to make changes to the bank account signatories. The signatories will be Katie (Treasurer) and Milan or Ben to be decided. Constitutional amendment could be required. Defer to next week.
c. Julia Butterfly – Volunteers: Flavius, Stu, Kevin, - Monica – (Ariel maybe) - questions to be decided – looked at poster. Decisions to be made by the weekend. Stu will set up eventbrite and post on website. Greenpeace may be added as 3rd sponsor with 350 and ClimateFast. Meeting Thursday at noon by phone to finalize.
d. Fossil Fools – April 1st - bottom lining: action at Dundas Square involving bubble around mid-day Tuesday April 1st – 12 – 1 pm – ish - signs and pamphlets – 4 way crossing. Bubble needs fixing. Photographers will be there. Messaging angle needs to be decided – date coincides with Enbridge’s proposed rate hike before the OEB. This is result of climate change. Enbridge is a fossil fool. Frack line from Pennsylvania. They are anticipating decline in supply which could be the Energy East conversion to tarsands oil. Gambling with our future. Perpetuating the industry. Shouldn’t let ourselves be a captive market for this fossil fool company. Let’s get away from gas. Energy efficiency. Solar panels and conservation can reduce cost of cold weather energy use. Bubble repair: Inst Innov committee meets Saturday 3 – 5. Meet 1 – 3 to repair bubble - both at Stu’s house. Will need police liaison. Ariel Katie James Tina Lyn plus photographers. Need photo from Jack Aster’s roof deck.
e. Woodsworth College Student Association presentation (Ben) – went OK. Divestment was attacked by a commerce student who said fees would go up. Ben challenged the argument. The Association passed the endorsement even though the debate was problematic.
f. Green Living Show – 30 hours of the show. Volunteers needed. Good for brand identity. Cost will be $700 - $900. 2 12 hour days, and a 6 hour day. Friday 9 – 9, Sat 9 – 9, Sun 9 – 3. Friday – school buses. Could offer face painting. Business people in the afternoon. Party on Friday night. Business on Saturday. Sunday – network with other exhibitors. Kevin will be there for the duration. Others for 3 – 6 hour shifts? April 25, 26, 27 – has a fundraising plan (sent around on-line to exec list).
Have to have insurance – will need to have sole proprietorship to get insurance. Stu will contact the insurance company. Need to check account finances – and whether to pay upfront. Green business, green food, and green organizations. Peninsula, island, in line booth.. all are possible. Kevin will bottom line the fundraising – Flavius, maybe, Banner. Stand would need to be borrowed. Buttons needed. Ben can volunteer and has some buttons. 150 or so. Stu will check the cost of booths. Need brochure that movement specific. Stu Monica Flavius Ben. Decision to be made next week. All information to be available for next week.
- New business
. Executive business cards – Kevin has a design. Tina will look into it. Projected cost under $100 for everyone to have 20 – 50 cards printed.
a. Global Universities Index (Monica) – Jane Monitor 1000 biggest pension funds; now doing university funds – 300 largest universities will be ranked. 10 universities in Canada has been asked to disclose. U of T has not responded yet. Data to be released n September.
b. Thepotent.ca blog contributions – invitation for a writer for regular (monthly) blog postings or periodic pieces. Kevin willing to write. Can it be reposted to 350 website?
c. Sustainable Farming (Flav) – postpone till next week
d. Democracy and Climate Action, April 6th with Eliz May - speak for 5mins re To350 - Tina
e. DoTheMath screening with CCL in May/June - promotion and speaker/tabler/Q&A panelist – Milan or Stu
f. Documentaries with Jess Apr 10th – at Hart House – looking for people who are interested Cathartic – educational – discussion – social. Kevin, Lyn, she can send to member list for 350 and friends.
g. Endorse NDP? – consider next week
Committee Chair reports -
h. Pipelines – committee will be built on-line. Map, support and approvals. Tomorrow (Wednesday 19th) at 11 am at Queen’s Park die-in – reclaim Turtle Island.
i. Campus Engagement – no report
. Need a chair
j. Media Engagement – no report – for April 1st the subcommittee will handle media
. Need a chair
i. Administration Engagement – Eric Gertler replied that committee will be set up. Fantastic news! Thanks 350 for being intellectually rigorous! Monica will upload video of the lecture for previewing. Dmitri is contacting journalists; no articles yet. How to respond? Joint press release? – Milan will pursue. Can we try to get some of our members on the committee? Or are there others we want on there? Some ideas: Danny Harvey, a member of 350 – Milan? Benjamin Coleman? Director – UTSU (Governing Council). Try to meet with Anthony Grey on Friday.
k. Institutional Innovation – Monica reports – google doc – will present some points next Tuesday
- Next meeting chair: Flavius
MEETING LOCATION –STU’S HOUSE 7 – 10 – bring yummy food!
Milan
2014-03-25
Present: Amelia Rose, Flavius, Katie, Tina, Kevin, Ariel, Stuart, Debra, Lyn, Milan
Chair: Flavius
Note-taker: Milan
Absent committee chairs: Monica (Communications)
=== Agenda ===
1. Introductions
2. Constitutional amendment
3. By-election
4. Debriefs
5. Event announcements
6. Non-committee ongoing
7. New business
8. Committee chair reports
9. Next meeting
=== 1. Introductions ===
None
=== 2. Constitutional amendment ===
Proposal from Stuart to amend the section of the constitution on amending it
* Flavius seconds
* Should there be more of a hurdle than a simple majority vote?
* Options: supermajority requirement, only an exec member can propose, early electronic notice to all members as a requirement, some mechanism for later appeal, having a designated person responsible for being keeper of the constitution (perhaps with other restrictions, like length of service and not being on the exec)
* How useful is early notice? Would it obstruct the ability to respond to matters that arise during a meeting?
* Stu proposes 75% supermajority, with the ability to overturn with a simple majority the next week
* Text to be added: "In the event that an urgent amendment is required, it can be proposed and approved by a 75% majority vote at a planning meeting. At the next week's planning meeting, a simple majority shall be able to overturn any amendment made by this means."
* Approved unanimously
Flavius has moved to add the text: "In any meeting where the constitution is amended, the amended text shall be provided electronically to the group membership promptly."
* Stuart seconds
* 7 in favour, one abstention
* Motion passes
Kevin wants to remove the requirement from the shadow constitution that: "New fundraising proposals shall be brought forward for discussion at a weekly planning meeting before being implemented."
* Obstructs his ability to try new fundraising strategies to get a sense if they work
* There is concern that supporters may get spammed for fundraising purposes
* Prompted tonight by the idea of raising funds through indiegogo
* There are some actions that have special potential to make us look bad, like media releases, accepting commercial sponsors, and new fundraising campaigns
* Having to discuss it at one meeting is a pretty low bar
* Is this the only executive position with such a restriction?
* Could it be amended to require approval of another kind? From the executive?
* This is a group where people are meant to show initiative
In the case of commercial sponsorship, it also says: "If any person present objects to the sponsorship, a simple majority vote shall be conducted to settle the matter."
What counts as a "new fundraising proposal"?
* What if someone just offers us a bunch of money? Do we need to discuss it at a planning meeting before we accept?
Is the requirement that it be discussed even adequate?
Kevin formally announces that he intends to do door-to-door fundraising, in keeping with the present requirement to bring it forward for discussion
The indiegogo campaign hasn't actually been activated yet
* Is the issue setting it up, or starting to collect money?
Is there a danger of competing fundraising campaigns?
* Meeting discussion could help avoid conflicts
Would a notification requirement be an alternative? Who would be the appropriate group to inform? The general membership? The executive?
* Notification, with a set period in which people can object?
* Do we want to give this power to the executive? So far, we have relied on planning meetings for nearly all decisions
Some large organizations do vest millions of dollars in fundraising activity in one person
At present, nothing in the constitution restricts fundraising activity to the director of development
* The current restriction in the shadow constitution applies to everyone
How many such initiatives will arise? Potentially, many
How much information needs to be provided to people before they can vote reasonably?
* A full proposal? Are there risks if it is less?
* Perhaps a risk of uneducated decisions
There is concern about the public relations impact that could accompany a new fundraising campaign
* The role isn't specific to who is occupying it now
This risk isn't specific to fundraising - any action we take could have negative consequences for the group
* To what degree should we put our trust in individuals? We allow them to do media interviews, for instance
* Perhaps there should be a procedure for determining whether someone should give an interview on behalf of Toronto350.org
* There may be an especial danger in giving offense in fundraising attempts, or of getting negative media coverage from hostile sources
Would a fundraising committee help address some of these issues?
The major alternatives under discussion: status quo, versus seeking some kind of email discussion within the exec
* Perhaps discussing ideas also helps to build trust within group members
How do we want to balance the desire to keep people informed, versus the ability to make decisions quickly
Do abrupt offers of donation equate to 'new fundraising proposals'?
Perhaps we should leave it as it is and move on?
Kevin is going to try door-to-door fundraising, street fundraising, and indiegogo funding
* He now considers this "brought forward for discussion at a planning meeting"
* Some people do respond in a negative way to door-to-door campaigning - perhaps this is the kind of thing the group should discuss before testing
* Quite possibly, members would want to know about materials to be distributed, the specifics of the fundraising approach, etc
Is there an important distinction between testing out a fundraising approach and launching a fundraising campaign?
* Even for a test, it would be helpful for the planning meeting to be informed on how many houses will be tried, the message, etc
Perhaps there is a special need for the treasurer to be aware of new fundraising campaigns
There are some people who specially object to door-to-door fundraising approaches
There may be a special need for rapid fundraising for the group now, given upcoming expenses
* Kevin is anticipating costs of $170,000 for a campaign he is planning
We could have a special exception for the director of development, so they require only presidential approval, while everyone else needs to meet the requirement of article 5 of the shadow constitution
Major campaigns being developed without being discussed with the membership and the executive is arguably problematic
* Bad press for us could affect all 350.org organizations
There is also a danger that a member launching a fundraising campaign could commit the group to more work in that area than is ideal
* We need to set priorities as a group
Shall we push off discussion of this issue to another week?
Amending the constitution so the treasurer and a designate are the ULife contacts and banking representatives
* Should it require that the designate be approved somehow? By the exec?
We could add to the shadow constitution that the treasurer and this designate need to be U of T students
Should it be the treasurer?
* Present proposed text: "The treasurer shall have joint signing authority with a member of the group who they shall designate."
* Could be changed to "with a member of the group who shall be approved by a majority vote at a planning meeting"
Motion to adopt the package circulated earlier with this amendment
* Seconded by Flavius
* 9 in favour
* One opposed (because a broader discussion needs to be held about the treasury and money - perhaps a larger apparatus for regulation is required)
Should it be the executive who makes such an approval?
* General speaking, the officers of the group are approved by a general vote at a planning meeting, not by the executive
* Should people who have only come to a small number of meetings have equal weight in such discussions?
=== 3. By-election ===
Open positions: media director, director of operations, media committee chair, campus engagement committee chair
Stuart nominated Flavius as media director
* Debra seconds
Other nominees?
* None
Vote on Flavius for media director
* Approved unanimously
Campus engagement committee chair
* Mandate: "The committee shall build and sustain an active movement on campus at the University of Toronto to raise awareness of, generate support for, and plan actions on the fight to stave off catastrophic climate change. This shall include event planning, including the promotion and carrying out of the Divestment Meme Party; consciousness-raising, including through class talks and petitioning; and network-building, including through meetings with other groups, professors, artists, and activists."
* How busy a time would this likely be?
* Possibility of a co-chair? Katie would be willing
* James has a thesis to write, and is often on another campus
To what degree are coordination and initiative expected of committee chairs?
* In a sense, this is what we created these positions for
What about Pieter's proposal to send a group to New York?
Stuart nominates James for campus engagement committee chair
* Seconded
* Approved unanimously
Media committee chair? Director of operations?
* We can keep looking for people who may be willing to take these on
Katie proposes Ben as the ULife / banking representative
* Approved unanimously
* Milan and Katie will make the change tonight
=== 4. Debriefs ===
Flavius and Stuart went to see the play Sea Sick
* Written and performed by an ex-Globe and Mail reporter
* Could this somehow be incorporated into campus engagement?
=== 5. Event announcements ===
a. Tools for Change — Alliance and Coalition Building - Sunday March 30 from 1.00PM to 4.00PM
b. April 3rd 7:30-10pm, Digital Media Zone 632 (RyersonU) - Environment & Politics: Bridging the Gap – we are tabling (business casual)
Katie will help table
c. Democracy and Climate Action, April 6th with Elizabeth May
Tina will be speaking there
* She would appreciate feedback on her presentation
d. Documentaries with Jess Apr 10th
She is currently in France for 10 days
* Not entirely certain if the April 10th event will happen
e. TCAN meeting March 29 (ideally we would have a presence there)
2-4pm
* Flavius will forward the email
From the email: "This event takes us into new and challenging territory."
They will be:
* "Selecting (and agreeing on) a few key issues that will be the focus of our efforts."
* "Identifying the best ways to promote these issues and shape the ensuing discussion."
* "Transforming our decisions into manageable tasks that we can share out among member groups."
Many members will be in Halifax
Kevin will attend
f. Moral Significance of Shareholders by the U of T Centre for Ethics, Mon March 31, 4-6
Tina may go
=== 6. Non-committee ongoing ===
a. Banking
Now resolved
b. Fossil Fools - next Tuesday
Nobody is presently bottom-lining it, and many people (including Stuart) will be away
There is a plan that has been developed
* The bubble is ready to go
* We need materials to hand out
* The bubble is rigged so that four people can take corners and move it fairly rapidly
Do we need to inform the police?
* No, but we do need a police liaison
* Lets you deal with a situation in which a police officer happens to encounter the event
* Kevin will act as police liaison - the one designated person to speak to any police officers who turn up
The plan is to bring the bubble out into the all-way crossing at Dundas Square
* People will hand out materials while it is out there
We haven't investigated whether anything else is happening there on the day
* It's a Tuesday at lunch
Kevin is willing to run the day
* Can't do much of the prep beforehand
If there are difficulties, we can always keep the bubble on the sidewalk
People are meant to dress in black with "one foolish item"
* Would 350 t-shirts be better?
The Power Shift website has a Fossil Fools Day graphic, but it opposes the use of market mechanisms
Do we have any materials that could easily be adapted?
* Possibly, the divestment pamphlet
* Divestment takes a fair bit of explaining
Kevin will send a possible template to Tina
We could go with business-card-sized materials
* Possibly, promote atmospheric CO2 exceeding 400ppm
* People who want more information can simply be directed to 350.org
* How many do we want? And where will we print them?
* Could we use the free UTSU printing?
* Black and white on plain paper would probably be fine
We also want to get photos of the day
Do we want to put out an open invitation to show up via MailChimp?
* Do we want untrained people showing up?
* How much training is required to hand out materials?
Do we want to add some specific words for this event to the bubble?
* Possibly easier to add than to remove
Web promotion?
* Is this mostly an event to reach out to strangers? Is promotion beforehand required?
People should wear 350 t-shirts
c. Green Living Show – Indiegogo campaign?
Kevin has circulated a plan
It is pretty necessary to decide if this should be done
Total time commitment: 86 hours, including 60 hours worked at the event
* Kevin has a spreadsheet laying this out
Total estimated expenses at this point?
* Just under $1,100
* This is more than our current cash holdings, but about what we have in total with cheques
An Indiegogo campaign could potentially fully fund the booth
* How would we promote it?
* Promote individually via social media?
* Additional fundraising at the event itself could raise more
If we register by April 10th, our costs will be lower
* We will have some chance to assess the fundraising strategy before then
* Indiegogo funding wouldn't come in under 10 days after the event
* But we don't need to pay until after the event either
Lots of people have expressed a willingness to volunteer
How will donations on the day work?
* 1-2 volunteers with tablets and 'squares' for credit card donations
* Hopefully, we will have a bank account by then
* Katie will go talk to ULife
* We could set people up for monthly donations via PayPal
Did we sort out the insurance issue?
* Stuart looked into this, and we were able to insure as a booth without any organizational status
We can represent ourselves there as 350.org, given the greater opportunity for brand recognition
Should we have a vote? About going forward with the event? About the Indiegogo campaign specifically?
* We didn't have a vote to undertake the DMP
Nobody has an objection to launching the Indiegogo campaign
Kevin will be bottom-lining the event
We can try to sell Green Living Show tickets at the Julia Butterfly event, which we can also include in the next MailChimp
d. Administration Engagement
The video of Dimitri is available, please share it: http://toronto350.org/divest/presentation.php
Who has the check-in sheets?
* Stuart does
We should soon send out two mail-merges
* Looking for a volunteer to write the text of both messages
* Needs to be before tomorrow by noon, if Stuart is to do the mail merge
* Milan will prepare the text
Haven't heard back from Tony Gray, regarding the timeline and process for creating the committee
* Do we have any scope for influencing the membership?
* Probably easier before it is is announced, if that's possible for us
* Though we could object after
Milan can try dropping by his office on Friday
e. Julia Butterfly Hill event
Is Lyn bottom-lining this, with us just helping to sell tickets?
We are putting money into it, and the tickets are $60-75
We need to sell tickets, and we need to provide a chef who will work on a volunteer basis
* Katie is willing to help
* There is a budget for food
Is there an email list for the event? butt...@toronto350.org
A poster is available
* Lyn will send it to Katie
f. Executive business cards
We may want to work on the tag line, to make it as effective as possible
Deferred to next week
=== 7. New business ===
a. Request for information from Quest (Amelia Rose)
School that contacted Amelia Rose
* Want more information about climate change, before the end of the week
b. Tabling at YorkU April 1 (Stu)
Conflict with Fools Day, and also during our normal meeting time
Result of a class talk Stuart gave there a couple of weeks ago
=== Stu will be away ===
For a period of time, totally out of contact
* Can someone volunteer to receive emails?
=== 9. Next meeting ===
Location: Friends' House
Chair: Katie
Note-taker: Milan
ADJOURNED
Milan
2014-04-01
Present: Katie, Milan, Monica, Tina, Kevin, Fiona, Debra, Frank, Neal
Chair: Katie
Note-taker: Fiona
1. Intro
2. Constitution - Amendments Update - Potential to vote down
a. First amendment: Ability to make an amendment to the constitution by 75% majority vote at a meeting outside of the TGM in an urgent circumstance and could be voted down the next week by the majority
b. Second amendment: to be able to change the ULife rule so signers could be treasurer and any other member voted in a majority vote
*No movement to vote down amendment
3. Debrief
a. TCAN meeting March 29th: Toronto Climate Action Network general meeting; nobody went; minutes were circulated, Milan will send to Executive
b. Tools for Change—Alliance and Coalition Building Sunday March 30: nobody went
c. Moral Significance of Shareholders by Centre for Ethics (U of T) March 31: Tina went, sent around email debrief; about the relationship between shareholders and the managers of those assets and whether or not they have ownership over their assets; and when a company has surplus assets how do they decide morally what to do with them; Professor Alan Strudler argued surplus wealth should be used to extend the company vision/morale, not for charity elsewhere; more shareholders, harder it is to act
d. Fossil Fools Event: Bubble is dead, but event went very well! Lots of photos were taken
4. Upcoming events
a. April 3rd 7:30-10pm, Digital Media Zone 632 (RyersonU) - Environment & Politics: Bridging the Gap: We are tabling (business casual), Kevin and Katie will be there
b. Tom Rand book launch - Waking the Frog: Solutions to our Climate Paralysis - in the auditorium at MaRS (on College St.) in on April 3rd, 6 pm
c. April 5th 2-5 pm Community Pitch @ Digital Media Zone (Ryerson): Kevin in a class (SSH502: Idea to Action) doing a community pitching session where they present projects they've been working on to the school community; his project is the pipeline map
d. Democracy and Climate Action, April 6th--OISE with Elizabeth May: Tina is speaking at the event for TO350 and Katie will come; Green Majority will also be there; both giving 5-minute talks; also, socializing; she will hand out divestment and carbon bubble flyers (and maybe business cards)
e. Keystone XL 350.org week of Action—April 20-26th— culminating in major action in Washington on April 26th ("Reject and Protect"): Obama supposed to make a decision on Keystone in late April; they're asking for our endorsement, which we are giving them; some people might go
f. Do the Math screening at George Brown College hosted by Environmental Justice Collective (Wednesday 4-7pm in room B155, Career Services, 200 King Street East)
5. Non-committee Ongoing
a. Banking: Names switched to Katie and Ben; awaiting 'banking letter' from ULife; Kevin proposes financial management strategy for banking (maybe work on for next TGM)
b. Green Living Show – Indie gogo campaign: They like us; substantial application form Kevin is working on; booth insurance needs to be paid for; SHARE INDIE GOGO CAMPAIGN; Tina proposes having perks for lower amounts; link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/toronto350-org-help-us-exhibit-at-the-2014-green-living-show
c. Julia Butterfly Hill event, light dinner and a workshop (23rd of April): We're buying for 700$ 25 tickets to be sold at 75$, 50$ for students on Eventbrite; no way to distinguish which group is selling which tickets; James suggests getting in touch with GSU-EJSC at U of T (Susanne Waldorf), Social Justice Committee, OPIRG, etc., Katie will send around email; Debra suggests making a more detailed website description but Stu is away so we'll have to wait; TO350 link: http://toronto350.org/events/2014/roots-and-vision.php; Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/661334717267702/?ref=5
d. Executive business cards: Tina has made the template but suggests waiting til the next TGM to print them; will print some for Green Living Show with communications email on them
6. New Business
a. Farming/Resilience Committe (Flavius' proposal): Kevin sent around an email on urban farming; Flavius is not here
7. Committee Chair Reports
a. Campus Engagement
James update: Emailed people on mailing list to get opinions on goals for this spring; Ben sent a long response based on undergrad capability, suggested spring is a bad time to engage people, but summer and beginning of fall are better and we should start preparing, brought up UN climate summit New York City trip Peter mentioned that 350-mothership is trying to organize around re: rallying support for renewable energy; Ben suggests starting talking to David Powell (Undergrad student coordinator) around rallying School of Environmental students, Anthro, Sociology, and Gender and Equity studies; James will look into it
Kevin on Ryerson strategy: We have official status there
b. Media Engagement (need a chair): Flavius is the only member
c. Administration Engagement: Still waiting to hear from Office of the president on formation of ad hoc committee; attended University of Toronto Faculty Association executive who voted unanimously to recommend to the Faculty Association council to endorse the campaign
d. Institutional Innovation—Social Media Strategy: Working on a document to give out at next meeting summarizing issues that have been discussed; need to carve out time to discuss these issues
e. Pipelines-Political Engagement Event: Put off til next week
Next meeting chair: Kevin
Milan
TO350 AGENDA – 8/4/14
Present: Tina, Lukas, Milan, John, Neal, Pieter, Flavius, Lyn, Kevin, Amelia-Rose, James, Ariel, Debra, Betty, Sylvia, Ben
Absent Committee Chairs: Monica
Chair: Tina
Minutes: Lukas – send and post to Google group – toronto350.org/minutes
1. Introductions
2. Approval of minutes
3. Approval of agenda
4. Debriefs
a. Digital Media Zone 632, “Environment & Politics: Bridging the Gap” (3 April, Ryerson): Katie and Kevin went
- Ryerson students receptive
b. CAPP Scotiabank Investment Symposium (3-4 April): Kevin
- a few of us went (Flavius, Lukas, Sharon, Dave V), but felt it was too weak to pursue
- in future, we need to know of these things sooner, so we can prepare properly (Greenpeace, Sakura)
c. “Community Pitch @ Digital Media Zone” (5 April, Ryerson): Kevin presented his pipeline mapping project
- Kevin got roasted in Q&A by Empire Club
- Tech Soup lead?
d. “Democracy and Climate Action” with Elizabeth May (6 April, OISE): Tina presented
- great event
- in future, bring fundraiser shirts to all events
5. Committee Business
a. Campus Engagement
- New York trip – James and Pieter
- summit is about taking action (gov’t, business, citizens)
- action on ground for climate change – related to Paris 2015
- about change and action; not doom & gloom
- September 23rd
- no info about who can attend
- 350 mothership is hoping to mobilize 100,000+ 350ers to NYC
- good way to recruit active members
- potential for strengthening relationships with Science for Peace & UTEA (UT Enviro Action) & other campus groups
- create a steering committee for 350/UTEA/SFP – James & Pieter to establish
- promo flyer out by end of April
- James emailed 350 mothership about assistance/ideas
- Ryerson – EUSSA a good connection
- George Brown (Michael Waglay) and York as well?
- determine transport & lodging a.s.a.p.
b. Administration Engagement
- Meeting with Alan Harman of Scotia Mcleod on the practicalities of divestment: Neal
- Alan is portfolio manager for Scotia McLeod (investment arm of Scotiabank); has writeup online
- Alan feels good about divestment; he contacted us; fact check his info since he contacted us unsolicited
- a lot of clients are getting concerned about ethical investments & ESG – ESG portfolios perform better
- avoided Shell since mid-80s due to anti-apartheid clients
- carbon & mining rarely pay dividends
- energy sector never that great for investments
- we can potentially quote him & use him
- established portfolio - 95% extraction & 100% tar sands free; only tech
- also has carbon-free portfolios
- will send Neal data & other contacts; can meet with us as a group
- have him on divestment ad hoc committee? at least for evidence
- Neal to send notes to exec
- Faculty Association decision: Milan
- Alumni pledge: Milan
- Milan to email detail
- Milan met with Anthony Grey; difficulty forming committee
- 350 committee to determine what our next steps are, including ad hoc committee info
c. Pipelines
- Energy East campaign pitch: Kevin
- no notes due to awesome presentation
d. Institutional Innovation
- Report: Tina
- Monica put together documents
- how do we grow as an organization?
- Monica will send two docs for us to review asap
- (1) proposal to incorporate as a non-profit
- (2) strengths and obstacles facing group as a whole
- how have we been successful? what is unique value of group? what can we offer other groups?
- building awareness, providing tools, initiative
- our strengths: member agency, focusing on and advancing work, group cohesion
- emerging obstacles: # events we take on overwhelming (how do we manage time & prevent burnout?), growing numbers and associated meeting issues, sustaining different committees/branches, some folks fill many different roles
- areas of growth: pipeline map, T350 media, building education and awareness, member support and anti-oppression (check-ins), urban agriculture
- paid positions
- positive: operational capacity by taking on administrative, etc.
- negative: volunteers may not feel they can lead, may complicate organizational structure, may affect fundraising, etc.
- fundraise to pay employees?
- are we taking away people power and agency? is the work coming first? are we over-institutionalizing?
6. Non-committee/Ongoing
a. Co-facilitator request (Monica): For divestment workshop following screening of “Do the Math: Climate Change and Resistance” on 16 April, 4-7pm @ George Brown (200 King W, room B155, Career Services) – (https://www.facebook.com/events/237046903085922/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming)
- Monica is meeting the GB Environmental Justice Collective on 10 April, 6:30 pm in the GB library (Rm. 3) and the co-facilitator would ideally come to this as well but it’s not necessary (p.s. there’s an honorarium).
- Tina can help; Lukas can help but can’t come on April 10
b. Co-Sponsorship request (Lyn): “It’s About Time: Electoral Reform and Climate Change” on 1 May, 7-9pm @ Metro Hall (55 John St. Rm 308/9)
- “For an evening to explore how Proportional Representation can help get action on Climate Change, panel speakers include Green Party MP Bruce Hyer, Linda McQuaig, Liberal Party MP Joyce Murray, and Conservative chair Reg Stackhouse, PhD.”
- “By co-sponsoring, you would promote this event to your members and mailing list. We can arrange a table for toronto350.org at our town hall so more people get to know your group.”
- Kevin & Flavius to help; just tabling, no speaking
- EE runs through MP Bruce Hyer’s riding; May 1 is the launch day of EE map
c. Presentation request (Monica): “Do the Math” screening hosted by Judy (Citizens Climate Lobby and Green Neighbours 21) with the support of Carolyn Bennett, MP on 4 May, 1:30 pm @ Skills for Change (St. Clair Ave. west of Christie).
- Want someone from TO350 to "make a short presentation after the film bringing people up to date on your work and any opportunities for them to get involved. The focus of the event is to remind people of the urgency, and then talk about solutions and encourage them to join a group. So Citizens Climate Lobby and Green Neighbours 21 will also be giving brief presentations."
- They also need a hard copy DVD of “Do the Math” ASAP to test with their equipment. Does anyone have a copy they can forward to Judy/Monica before next week?
- Bennett backed out so event is not happening yet
d. Green Living Show: Dropped
- Need to return Indiegogo donations
- Kevin will reimburse - $60 unassigned is probably from Paul Antz
- too late to join now – put T350 on waiting list? would be tough without fundraising
e. Julia Butterfly Hill:
- Silent Auction: Received offer of books
- Promotion: Need to sell tickets
- Postcards/Posters: To be distributed
- Cost structure: Kevin
- Email edits: Kevin
- fb set up by Kevin – can invite all your contacts at once !
- $50 for fb promotion – approximately 50,000 folks will be reached in sidebar
- ticket sales key right now – demographic is 25+, holistic folks
- reach out to green businesses for tix sales – adventure stores (Patagonia, MEC), health food stores, fancier/veg restaurants (Fresh), etc.
- also poster in wealthier districts? – Yorkville, Distillery, Liberty, etc.
- poster the Faculty Club so academics can be reached – Kevin to poster Ryerson
- Lyn put a NOW mag ad in
- any groups that sell 5 tix can have a table
- if you reach out to businesses or people, let butterfly@toronto350 know so we don’t get all redundant
- silent auction – Amanda Lewis can donate books; Bill McK “Oil & Honey”
- Lukas to help with set-up on morning of April 23rd
Climate Fast:
· Betty & Sylvia are part of Climate Fast
· Betty does Resilience Roadshow Events at condos – to help people become aware of and prepare for weather events due to climate change; plant the seeds; also solutions-based such as emissions control
· Sylvia – Ben West mtg - Forest Ethics lawsuit – Clayton Ruby taking case nearly pro-bono - $170K raised and spent – will change NEB statutes in future so voices can be heard – longform NEB process eliminated 98% of participation – she will email pipeline list with details
7. Other Business
a. Farming Committee – Flavius
- if interested, start discussion through email – Debra interested
8. Upcoming Events
- 10 April, 2pm – webinar on IPCC
a. 12 April, 5-6pm @ Centre for Social Innovation (720 Bathurst, meeting room 6)- Green Majority’s “Skills Library Workshop: Social Media for Campaigns” (https://www.facebook.com/events/757508840940765/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming): “Share your events and initiatives with other groups that may be able to trade for resources, build alliances and increase capacity; Learn from each other best practices, experiences and mistakes; Barter for skills and knowledge with other groups and interested members of the public”
b. 22-26 April in Washington DC – “Reject and Protect” (http://350.org/campaigns/stop-keystone-xl/): On April 22nd 350.org’s Cowboy Indian Alliance will ride into Washington DC and set up camp nearby the White House for 5 days to bear witness to President Obama’s final decision on Keystone XL. On April 26th they invite friends and allies to join us as they march to the White House.
c. 22 April, 12-1:15pm online – “Earth Day: Virtual Townhall: Extreme Energy on the Great Lakes” (https://www.facebook.com/events/219893321543672/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular): Join Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians), Emily Carroll (Food & Water Watch), Pat Gibbons (Save Our Saugeen Shores) and others to discuss strategies to stop fracking, tar sands oil and nuclear waste projects in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.
d. 26-27 April (GTA): “Treemobile will deliver food-bearing trees and shrubs to plant in your yard. Just make your order at the Treemobile online store (http://www.transitiontreemobile.org/default.asp). If you want to help out, check out what we need from volunteers at the Treemobile project page. Email us at transiti...@gmail.com to help. We also need help promoting the project, and people who help us with that can win The Transition Companion.”
e. 10 May – “National Day of Climate Action”: Sign up at www.defendourclimate.ca to receive details
9. Chair for next week
- Ben!
BREAK
Fiona Del Rio
TO350 AGENDA – 15/4/14
Present: Stu, Katie, Tina, Fiona, Alice, Milan, Lukas, Monica, Evelyn, Neal, Amelia-Rose, Kevin, Ben, Lyn, Rosemary, Debra
Absent Committee Chairs: James
Chair: Ben
Minutes: Fiona
1. Introductions
2. Approval of minutes
3. Approval of agenda
4. Debriefs
350 Convergence (Stu):
- 50 people, active NA (Ottawa, Canada, UBC) 350s brought together to share skills/best practices between mothership and daughterships
- Better idea of how to organize as part of a bigger picture; e.g. everything we do should be tied into a larger campaign
- Alternatively, if something doesn’t fit within the campaign we have to pass on it
- 80% of room was thinking of moving toward paid staff and several others already had them (Vermon, Massachusettes (metagroups), San Fransisco (local groups))
- Purpose of paid staff to do institutional work that volunteers don’t do; role should be separate from that of a volunteer; all of the groups talked about how paid staff expanded their capacity to do things; main disadvantage is need to raise money, BUT, you can pay someone to be a fundraiser to pay for their own and someone else’s salary; also requires expanded, formalized infrastructure; another disadvantage is that it wasn’t as big of a change as they thought it would be, and a good activist might not be a good staffer; groups often started by hiring workers on a short-term, project contract basis that often turned into permanent
- Stu is willing to quit one of his jobs and dedicate time to 350 and work on moving towards incorporation
- To better organize meeting time: initial period of smaller debriefs, 30 minutes of announcements, 30 minutes of committee breakouts (Divestment/Pipelines, in particular; Media can be a floater), followed by quick report-backs, followed by quick non-350-related announcements
- Kevin proposes membership with CSI (Centre for Social Innovation)
- Membership outreach, on-board, and retention; some groups had 3 out of 5 positions for managing these three human aspects; Stu wants to see people for brunches on a weekly basis to check-in with how members are doing
- Important to think about the world we want to create (not just what we don’t want); e.g. in terms of “anti-oppression” issues, Lisa, Patrick from Ottawa and Hamilton want to work with us on this
- Learned a lot about communications/media he’d like to do a workshop on (2-3 hrs)
- UN climate summit (September): 350 mothership are going to try and massively organize around this to get hundreds of thousands of people down there
5. Committee Business
a. Campus Engagement
NYC Climate Summit (Kevin): planning ahead
- Specifically: planning, itinerary, and risk assessment
- Issues: Bus + Dwelling + Liability (i.e. if someone gets injured we could get sued)
- To do: Make Document 20-30 pages (opportunity for collaboration with Ryerson 350)
- We should try and get the mothership to cover liability
- We should also try and get people from all over the city, other campus orgs, to come with us
- In terms of dwelling, booking a gymnasium to camp out in is a good idea, or church, perhaps in nearby NY
- We could get people to sign a pledge of non-violence
- Stu is willing to bottom-line the event
- For cost efficiency we should coordinate well in advance
b. Administration Engagement
- Tony Gray: They’re having trouble finding people to be on the committee, figure out the terms
- Trinity College Debate: small meeting; anti-divestment debaters really pro-divestment; they were not receptive to volunteering (exam time)
- Alumni pledge: open letter?
- Influencing ad hoc committee: Possibly a bad idea to endorse/suggest committee members; Alan Harman from Scotia McLeod willing to address the committee;
- Accumulating documents released since the brief to present to committee
- Stu/Milan to email faculty to ask them to volunteer for the committee
c. Pipelines
- Pipeline walk in Quebec (for Energy East Pipeline): Looking for a group to walk from Cornwall along pipeline from May 10th to June 14th; Lukas will confirm the dates/locations
- Sunday night movie screening (Kevin, Lyn, Amelia Rose): 25 people showed up, all over 30
d. Institutional Innovation
- People have been adding comments to Growing Toronto350 Document; Monica has been receiving comments from members who don’t show up to meetings
- We need to decide when/how we want to have this conversation
- Fiona suggests setting aside 1 or 2 meetings and making important decisions at the Termly General Meeting
- Deciding on the by-laws will be the longest process; incorporating itself is not an overly complex process
6. Non-committee/Ongoing
a. Meeting space issues: Approval was given til the end of May, but we may or may not be able to meet here (in the board room) every week so will probably have to go to the third floor; Lyn is looking into getting this space until the end of the summer; Katie will look into OISE for the summer
b. Banking (Katie): We could have an account by the end of the week; Katie and Ben need to go to the bank together
c. Confirm everything's good from April the 16th Divestment workshop event with Environmental Justice Collective at George Brown (Tina):
- Lukas and Tina are talking at a George Brown screening of Do the Math, hosting a couple brainstorming workshops on divestment-related change, Monica is helping organize
d. Confirm everything's ready for “It’s About Time: Electoral Reform and Climate Change” on 1 May, 7-9pm @ Metro Hall (55 John St. Rm 308/9)
- Reconfirm Kevin & Flavius can help
e. High school Earth Day workshop (Monica)
- Ecological Justice Action Team got in touch with Our Horizon, Grade 12 students (St. Joseph’s, TCDSB) planning environmental conference for Earth Day
- Request speaker from TO350 to give 45 minute workshop with 25 students on Tuesday the 22nd
- Kevin proposes we need a stock workshop for these kinds of requests; proposes divestment for this case
- Climate science, perception, holistic workshop Alice does; she has offered to do it; Monica will forward her the details
- Katie, Ariel, James are doing a very similar event as well
f. Tabling during Bike Blessing at Trinity St. Paul's United Church Sunday April 27th, 10-1pm @ Bloor/Spadina (427 Bloor St. West): Monica
- Stu volunteers
- 12-1 tabling, 10-12 if we could speak to the congregation
g. May 10th National Day of Action planning meeting on Wednesday April 16th, 7pm:
- Stu will go and send report to Pipelines
h. Julia Butterfly Hill:
- Distribution of flyers
- We still need to sell many, many tickets; share on Facebook; reduce price, Tweeting
- Reconfirm accepted roles
- Need someone to go on CIUT (Hart House) to plug event Friday morning 11-12pm; Stu will do it
- Need clean-up volunteers willing to stay til 11pm: Stu, Katie, Rosemary, Debra, Lukas (maybe)
- Set-up starts at 2pm; clean-up goes til 11pm
- Stu will invite Jean, sponsor of Do the Math event
i. Room booking request for middle of May for 100 people in support of West Coast pipeline blockade
- Stu will do it
7. Other Business
Farming committee — contact Flavius
8. Upcoming Events
a. 22-26 April in Washington DC – “Reject and Protect” (http://350.org/campaigns/stop-keystone-xl/): On April 22nd 350.org’s Cowboy Indian Alliance will ride into Washington DC and set up camp nearby the White House for 5 days to bear witness to President Obama’s final decision on Keystone XL. On April 26th they invite friends and allies to join as they march to the White House.
b. 22 April, 12-1:15pm online – “Earth Day: Virtual Townhall: Extreme Energy on the Great Lakes” (https://www.facebook.com/events/219893321543672/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular): Join Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians), Emily Carroll (Food & Water Watch), Pat Gibbons (Save Our Saugeen Shores) and others to discuss strategies to stop fracking, tar sands oil and nuclear waste projects in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.
c. 26-27 April (GTA): “Treemobile will deliver food-bearing trees and shrubs to plant in your yard. Just make your order at the Treemobile online store (http://www.transitiontreemobile.org/default.asp). If you want to help out, check out what we need from volunteers at the Treemobile project page. Email us at transiti...@gmail.com to help. We also need help promoting the project, and people who help us with that can win The Transition Companion.”
e. 10 May – “National Day of Climate Action”: Sign up at www.defendourclimate.ca to receive details
9. Chair for next week
Stu volunteers
communi...@toronto350.org
Minutes: 2014 April 22nd
Present: Stu, Lyn, Monica, Evelyn, Neil, Kevin, Ben, James, Milan, Katie, Flavius, Amelia-Rose
Debrief
George Brown--Skipped, Tina and Lukas not present
SATEC-Highschool Presentation--Ariel, James, Tina
Presented on 350 in general and climate change, what students could do, that solutions come down to them for implementation-- teacher was satisfied, it was fun, message seemed to resonate, find out Friday if we won the prize offered for best presentation. Created a powerpoint, condensed version of Stu’s, doesn’t talk about divestment, James will send to stu to put on website. We should do more educational presentations
2. Announcements and New Proposals
a. Meeting Space
We have Friends house until end of May, probably not for summer (depending on how busy it is during summer, some dates might be available).
Milan will look into getting a room at Massey College. Possibly Hart House, OISE, or GSU as well.
b. Banking
We have opened a bank account with AlternaSavings Credit Union. $4 fee/month is waived if we have over $1000 in the bank. Currently have $2100. Still need to pay Hart House for DMP (approx. $1100). Katie will keep bank card. We are getting cheques as well.
c. Defend Our Climate
Rally May 10th, Stu and Amelia Rose went to coalition planning meeting.
Will be at Queen’s Park at 1PM—Theme: no tar sands, no line 9, no fracking with a specific ask of getting province to do Environmental Assessment on Line 9. Another meeting April 23rd 8 pm—
We should make sure we get lots of people to attend--send out mailchimp 10 days before
d. Tabling in Newmarket June 7th/8th
Stu got a request to table Windful Ecology Festival—connected to Lead Now—Need someone to table—Katie can do Sunday, Possibly Kevin as well. Contact: Andrew Porter. Stu will pass on info.
e. Reminder: Media and Communications workshop this Sat at Stu’s place, 3-5pm
f. Movement Committee
Idea of having a committee dedicated to outreach and growing the movement—would people be interested? Would campus outreach be incorporated or stay separate?
Do we have enough people for another committee?
Would be good to have specific people to respond to inquiries from other groups/do member stewardship.
We do not currently have a functioning media committee.
Something to consider.
3. Roots and Vision--Julia Butterfly Hill Event
Volunteers—Ariel—5pm, Flavius—5:30, Monica—5:30, Stewart—6PM, Lukas—4PM to Late, Katie—5PM to Late
Ticket Sales-18 on eventbrite, plus more at the door, Julia is making a pitch tonight at her event, we should be able to break even if we sell 50 tickets. We also got $120 of donations on Eventbrite—should we give thank-you cards tomorrow? Flavius will buy cards
4. Institutional Innovation Committee Report
Monica distilled comments from google doc
2 major issues, whether we should incorporate,and whether we should have paid employees (see pros and cons on google doc)
Also suggested that we could have a hybrid model—uoft branch (with current model) that reports to community group (whether incorporated or not). Noted that one comment mentioned that the fact that it was a uoft club was a turn-off to non-uoft members
We will have a preliminary vote next week on these 3 issues
Whether we go non-profit or community group, we may want to revise by-laws, Monica will include template of typical by-laws in google document
Discussion:
cutting off uoft group from main 350 group might cause the student group to wane, hard to maintain interest
retaining termly meetings allows people to serve as directors for less time, also in terms of UofT group, we could strip that down to minimum constitution, and use it to maintain club status. Structure could basically stay the same as now
Termly meetings could continue to happen, but not as long
Do we necessarily need executive positions? Could just have a board of directors
Kevin offered to draft a fundraising plan to help with decision about having paid employees—looking at internal fundraising, ie: hiring students to do door-to-door
We could have two general meetings a year, one in fall, one in summer
Originally set up executive positions so that people could put it on their resumes
In terms of paid positions, could be done on contract basis instead of salaries
We need to think about what positions we would want paid employees for: Fundraiser? Administration? Operations? Specific projects? Media? Volunteer Coordinator
We should hammer out job descriptions
Monica will send email about vote next week out to members
If we do have consensus, the Innovation Committee will draft by-laws for comment and refining job description.
If anyone has interest in taking the job, could contribute to job description.
Do we want to hire internally or externally? Internal hiring increases motivation to join the group, and rewards volunteers, but external could allow us to tap into new skills and experience that we don’t currently have. Could tap into a bad job market to get very experienced/skilled people (especially in regards to media coordinator)
If we’re only talking about one position, we need to decide what is the most important one to fill.
Could advertise positions both internally and externally
Upside to keeping things internal—culture control, keeping group dynamic
Outside person wouldn’t have stake in how the group operates
People should think about these points
5. Committee Breakout--Admin Engagement Committee and Pipelines Committee
6. Committee Reports
Admin Engagement--working tasks: Collecting additional documents to give to ad hoc committee/governing council, Engagement with Alumni, Getting info on composition of ad hoc committee and timeline
Milan presenting to UTFA council meeting tomorrow
Stu has received 4 emails from faculty interested in the committee
Pipelines
Setting out research tasks
Energy East info session at the end of May for orgs working on the issue
7. Non-350 announcements
Bike Blessing this Sunday, Trinity St. Pauls. Stu is tabling
Student Power! Creative Tactics to Ramp up Your Campaign Webinar, April 23 8-9:30 ET http://bit.ly/StudentPwr
Tcan meeting on May 10th 2-4PM –might change because of overlap with day of action—Amelia-Rose is our representative
Development and Peace—organizing buses for a Voices for Justice Event on Capitol Hill in Ottawa May 14th
Brock--St Catharines—Fracking and Extreme Energy Council of Canadians event—Kevin is going, April 30th
8. Next Meeting: April 29th, Stu’s house, Potluck, Neil will Chair, Stu on Minutes
thugsb
Toronto 350 Planning Meeting
2014-04-29
Present: Monica, Amelia Rose, Neal, Kevin, Ben, Tina, Jess, Stu, Katie, Lyn
Absent Committee Chairs: Milan, James
Chair: Neal
Minutes: Stu
Introductions :00
Approval of agenda :02
Debriefs :05
George Brown divestment workshop (deferred from last week)
Went well, about 30 people came. There was a drum performance, then Do The Math, then small group workshops talking about people’s experience of climate change. Brainstorming went well. People had emotional connections to the issue.
Roots and Vision with Julia Butterfly Hill
The event went well with over 90 people present, including 8 volunteers from Toronto350. For a more complete report, see the email that was sent to the members list earlier today.
It would have been good to ask people as they entered “how did you hear about the event?”
People didn’t know what to expect (neither did we), so we struggled with promotion. It was more of a meditative event, where people had the chance to look inside, and then share with strangers.
Ticket pricing got a little complicated, with various people getting scholarships and discounts, and so paying different amounts.
We might want to consider childcare in future—it could bring people who wouldn’t normally come.
There were several people who weren’t familiar with climate change issues, this is good outreach.
We succeeded in fundraising, similar to what was expected. Julia was expensive, but also good.
Julia co-directed this hotdoc.
In order to celebrate our victories, we should have a celebration. Summer picnic sounds good.
Trinity St. Paul's United Church Bike Blessing
Went well, made some good contacts.
Media and Communications Workshop
4 people came, Stu will send out the ppt. Workshop to be repeated at Regional Convergence.
A little unrelated, but it would be good to make a video debunking “why not to divest” arguments. Katie and Jess will work on this, and can ask Ben and Kevin for contacts. If you’re interested in volunteering, get in touch with Katie.
Fracked Up
Kevin went to BrockU, received lots of positive attention. “What you can expect if you continue to disturb s**t” event. Fracking is happening in Ontario, primarily in Niagara Escarpment region. Kevin will type up a report. Hopefully the speaker will present to 350 Owen Sound.
There is currently no anti-fracking groups in ON that we’re aware of. There might be some nimbys, but we need a province-wide moratorium. Clean Air Alliance didn’t make the fracking pipeline from PA something that they are fighting.
Announcements and New Proposals :25
World Pride: Promotional Opportunity?
We should try to do something. Body painting, removal tattoos, “pipelines” theme, sexy t-shirts!
We might be able to get space in the LGBTOUT block. Ben will get an answer this week.
June 27th. No one present is able to take it on so we’re looking for volunteers.
Weekend Retreat with Regional 350 groups
Ben, Kevin, Jess workshops. Quaker retreat at Midland for ~100
Storytelling about Divestment
Healing Walk June 27th ish (there will be a call)
Katie and Kevin are both interested.
Cam’s in Town
Dinner at Katies. Potluck. Possible BBQ. 6pm. Contact her if you wish to come.
Question to Cenovus
Given climate change and carbon bubble, what are you doing to move away from fossil fuels? Neal will help.
Minutes
People feel that minutes should not be narrative, and should not contain what was discussed, but should really just contain decisions made, with the possibility of putting in a few of the important points raised. Names should not be included, except when people volunteer for things.
Non-Committee Ongoing :35
Meeting Space
Kevin=greenpeace, Tina=CSI, Katie=Tranzac
Banking - no update
Proportional Representation - May 1st, 7pm - “It’s about Time”
3 MPs will be present, they want students to ask questions. Ben is going and will send a report.
Defend Our Climate, May 10th Day of Action
1pm at City Hall, marching to Queens park. Stu and Amelia Rose will go to meeting tomorrow. Stu and Katie will send out mailchimp on Thurs.
TCAN Meeting May 10th, moved to 3-5pm at Metro Hall
Stu will ask to add Kevin as a delegate. Kevin will go.
Movement Building Committee Proposal
No one is currently in creating this committee, but people agree it would be good. Paid staffer?
Institutional Innovation Committee: 1:00
IIC Report (Monica)
Regarding incorporating, people generally felt that incorporating would empower non-UofT members.
There was also generally the feeling that there weren’t significant downsides to incorporating.
We would need a different treasurer as a non-profit.
Vote on the motion: Recognizing Stuart's willingness to undertake the work necessary to incorporate Toronto350.org as a non-profit organization, he is directed to collaborate with the Institutional Innovation Committee to produce draft bylaws for review and approval by the group membership.
Results: 6 in favour, 2 abstentions (others present had left by this point). The movement carries.
No one seemed to want to stop us being a UofT group, so we’re de-facto going to have the hybrid model of both incorporating and remaining as a UofT club (technically splitting groups, but practically staying together).
We did not discuss or vote on whether to have paid positions. However...
Fundraising and Paid Staff Proposal
Kevin has done some research into funding models. He doesn’t think we can coordinate street canvassing this summer, which would be one of the easier/low-cost methods.
Grant writing could happen soon, so we could get money sooner. You’re more likely to get funding if it’s related to poverty and social justice.
Tides is a possible source of revenue before we’re ready to do street canvassing (for specific projects).
A downside is that we would therefore be dependent on a single donor for a source of money, which could lead to Mission Drift. They also get greenwashing $. EzråL dislikes them, so they’re probably great!
Tides are targeted for auditing every year, so they might not be willing to contribute to causes that could get them in trouble, although we can leave that up to them to work out (no harm in asking!)
Committee Breakouts 1:25
We didn’t split into groups as we were a smaller group by this point.
Pipelines
All news can be put on the map, and Stu has started collecting articles
Amelia Rose has started collecting Open Houses.
Kevin doesn’t think it’s worth us going to the open houses, as they’re too far away.
Divestment
Neal, Monica, Katie are interested in meeting with Jane (mercer)
Non-350 Announcements 1:55
Line 9 Information Evening, Wed, April 30, 7:30-9:30pm
Sabrina Bowman of Environmental Defense, Carolyn King of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and Jim Robb of Friends of the Rouge Watershed. West Hill United Church, 62 Orchard Park Road, Scarborough
A Climate Change Agenda for Toronto Thurs, June 12, 7-9 pm
East End Against Line 9 (eastendnotar.org) hosts discussion with Franz Hartmann of the Toronto Environmental Alliance at the Danforth Mennonite Church.
"Voice for Justice Rally" on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wed, May 14
FWD from UTEA: Development and Peace (devp.org) providing bus transportation from Toronto. Asking for an ombudsman for Canadian extractive sector and its overseas operations. EventBrite
Chair for next week 2:00
Kevin will chair
Neal will take minutes
Neal Lantela
Toronto 350 Planning Meeting
Friends House, 60 Lowther
2014-04-29 7:00pm
Present: Kevin, Katie, Milan, Neal, Stu, Amelia Rose
Absent Committee Chairs: James, Monica
Chair: Kevin
Minutes: Neal
1. Introductions
2. Approval of agenda
3. Debriefs
a. Line 9 Information Evening, Wed, April 30, 7:30-9:30pm
No one present attended
b. Question to Cenovus
Question written by Neal has been passed on to Claire, will be asked at the Responsible Investment Association Conference later this month. Question reads:
"Many companies are are starting to plan for carbon pricing at a level necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. Most experts believe this will mean prices above 50 USD per ton of carbon dioxide will need to be implemented over a time horizon as short as the the next few years. Standard and Poor's recently warned that this scenario could result in the downgrade of marginal producers by more than one notch as early as this year or next if policy makers appear to be moving in this direction. Has Cenovus studied this scenario? And if so, what impact would carbon prices in this range have on profits."
c. Broadbent Institute Facebook Strategy Webinar Debrief
Practical lessons for increasing reach of 350 online - tracking metrics are important
Mothership recommended not to be afraid of recycling content, especially on Facebook
Grow influence by promoting success of allies
Our Klout score is growing
d. Proportional Representation - May 1st, 7pm - “It’s about Time”
Amelia Rose attended, event was hosted by Electoral Alliance
somewhat chaotic question and answer format with panelists from all national federal parties, good points raised
there will be future events
[side discussion]: mailing lists policy
specific bylaw proposed
question raised as to whether there should there be a policy against forwarding items to the members list?
e. In-camera
f. Recruitment
survey for current members has been drafted
ask questions regarding how current members got involved in the group, how they view their involvement, for non-current members, why they left
Stu will make changes, and survey responses will be entered into a draw for t-shirt/book
4. Announcements and New Proposals
a. Provincial election (June 12th) & Atleo Resignation
Kevin is working on anti-fracking memes to push back against Hudak on social media
Toronto 350 was asked to host all-candidates meeting: no interest in pursuing this due to short timeframe, resources required to organize and no guarantee all major candidates will attend
Get-out-the-vote raised as possibility for TO350 engagement
Shawn Atleo has resigned as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Will have to wait to see how AFN shakeup change might affect our campaigns
b. World Pride
Rosemary is heading this up and is looking for more volunteers
We have a space in the parade
We can table at U of T
Street festival can be an opportunity to mill about promote ourselves/ our campaigns
Kevin will workshop a prop
stickers / tattoos: will ask Tina to design
$100 budget agreed to
c. 350 Groups Retreat
Stu will reach out to other Ontario groups involved in divestment, and local Idle No More
Date and location should be finalized by Wednesday, May 14th
d. Healing Walk
To be discussed at Potluck BBQ for Cam
e. Cam’s in Town
Potluck BBQ at Katie's (354 Concorde) tomorrow at 6:00pm
f. Postering for Events
Email from an attendee of a few of our events: takes issue with our postering strategy, claimed it was problematic/wasteful
minor environmental cost of postering outweighed by benefits, same objection can be used to attack almost anything
g. Picnic @ Dufferin Grove Park
Celebration for success of Julia Butterfly Hill event
Stu will try to book the fire pit at Dufferin Grove Park for May 30/31
$80 budget
f. Do we want to wear the elephant costume?
for messaging around the election
5. Non-Committee Ongoing
a. Meeting Space
Stu emailed Steelworkers, no word yet
CSI Annex - Harbord & Bathurst: around $50/month
Free rooms at Metro Hall may be a possibility
Hart House or other U of T may be cheapest/easiest option for the Summer
b. Computer lab day
Kevin looking for room to book with computers and logins for 10+ people for social media/mapping training purposes
A public library may be a possibility
c. Banking - no update
d. TGM
May 20th proposed as date, with no objections
Stu will email members
e. NYC
Ben and James are gone, Kevin is about to be unavailable for Tuesday Night meetings
No response from Sarah Lawrence college re: space
Stu will explore accommodation leads with United/Unitarian churches in NYC provided by Trinity St.Paul's
Neal & Katie volunteered time for this
Meeting Tuesday May 13th at 6:00 pm
g. Defend Our Climate, May 10th Day of Action
Meet at 1:00pm at City Hall, march to Queen's Park
Kevin has marching banner, we need two bamboo stakes or another suitable replacement for the PVC
h. TCAN Meeting May 10th, moved to 3-5pm at Metro Hall (Kevin)
i. Windfall festival, June 8th. (Katie)
We are signed up to table, Katie is requesing submissions for what material to bring
Provincial election, green energy raised as good focus: we don't need a pro-fracking government
message should focus on a "graceful transition away from fossil fuels"
Kevin will get stats and info from Bullfrog
we will need to design and print a pamphlet for the event
6. Committee Reports
a. Divestment
Meeting with Jane Ambachtsheer tomorrow (May 7th): Milan, Katie, Neal and Monica planning on attending
Updated list of 200 companies released by 350 Mothership - split 100 Oil/Gas, 100 Coal
Stu will follow up with Anthony Gray regarding the Ad-Hoc committee
Ontario Teachers Pension Fund Divestment Campaign: Petition has been around for a while, but not sure if people who started it are still active
a. Pipelines
Map will soft-launch Saturday
7. Non-350 Announcements
a. A Climate Change Agenda for Toronto Thurs, June 12, 7-9 pm
East End Against Line 9 (eastendnotar.org) hosts discussion with Franz Hartmann of the Toronto Environmental Alliance at the Danforth Mennonite Church.
b. "Voice for Justice Rally" on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wed, May 14
FWD from UTEA: Development and Peace (devp.org) providing bus transportation from Toronto. Asking for an ombudsman for Canadian extractive sector and its overseas operations. EventBrite
c. Decolonize & Anti-Oppression Workshop Tour
May 17th at Metro Hall 6:30
8. Chair for next week
Rosemary has volunteered
Neal Lantela
- (MES)SUP: https://www.facebook.com/events/862883020404520/
- invited by Stefan Hostetter from green majority to table at CSI Annex a week Thursday evening
- refreshments and liquid nitrogen ice cream
- green networking event for Masters of Environmental Studies
- Stu and Neal will attend
- Report on incorporation
- Stu met with Rob Shirkey, lawyer working with Our Horizon is helping in a non-professional capacity, will be meeting more with Rob, Cam Fenton and Monica (IIC) in the next two weeks and have draft bylaws two meetings from now
- Firepit booking (Thurs 29th 6-10pm or Sat 31st 2-5:30pm)
- Neither time worked well for most people
- Agreed to reschedule event for some time in the summer, perhaps on Toronto Island
- Endorse and funding for Unist'ot'en event
- date not set yet, Friends House offered space
- Mel Bazil, founding member of Unist'ot'en Camp, needs help to pay for round trip from Montreal to Toronto?
- good way to make links with Unist'ot'en and create visibility for the group
- $200 budget agreed to pay for portion of transportation costs
- [aside from Kevin]: taxonomy of action
- capacity building phase
- tithing to other groups to create links
- Feedback from Julia Butterfly Hill
- one negative email received, felt the event was not as organized as expected and lots of people used as platform for their own views
- a lot more positive feedback than negative
- Room booking report (TSP, Steelworkers, FH, UofT)
- Trinity St. Paul's is an option
- Meeting with Steelworker's rep on Friday
- Otherwise Hart House
- Ontario 350.org retreat
- No update
- NYC UN Climate Action Summit
- Ban Ki Moon has called a climate summit for Sept. 23
- 350 Mothership is calling for hundreds of thousands, possibly a million people to come down
- Our main event to plan for the summer
- Transportation, Lodging, Food main issues to be resolved
- Prop-making a big, fun task for the summer
- Mailchimp blast to call for volunteers or people committed to going
- Stu, Katie, Neal primarily organizing
- this event will be a show of support for the mission of the conference, not a protest against something--an opportunity to send a positive message to policy makers
- Milan will forward Action Guidelines from 2011 Keystone protest in DC
- Meeting with Cameron Fenton
- Invitation to joining 350 Canadian Locals google group:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/350-local-groups-canada - An in-camera Item
- World Pride
- No Update
- Peoples Social Forum: Ottawa, August 21-24, 2014 (http://www.peoplessocialforum.org/)
- Paul Baines's project will be there: Great Lakes Commons Map (http://greatlakescommonsmap.org/) - collaborative crisis map for the great lakes based on Ushahidi, an open source collaborative mapping system adapted for this kind of work (http://ushahidi.com/)
- Working with Environmental Defense to put some pipeline info on it
- Mapping as a way to engage people, with respect to pipelines etc, get people aware of their local environment
- crowdsourced data: another way to tap into a different kind of activism and redefine what activists do Create shared sense of ownership
- Paul and Kevin met to work on extreme energy projects etc
- Kevin's Energy East map is using same platform
- Paul is planning on a workshop for the People's Social Forum: civil society for self-education - makes sense for 350 to collaborate on this workshop
- Can we book a computer lab for an education event for the public?
- Heather Leeson - open network something former community development person for Ushahidi, she is excited about sharing what she knows
- Late June maybe?
- Keegan will look into U of T computer lab
- [aside from Milan]: we should arrange a regular meeting with Cameron Fenton
- Donating
- mentioned above with Unist'ot'en
- make a list of people we work with and what relationships we need to nurture
- An in-camera item
- Wikipedia Article on Energy East
- article is currently very sparse and good opportunity to drive conversation on this
- good chance to reference council of Canadians
- Can use larger article on other pipelines as a template to create larger article
- Rosemary volunteered to help Kevin with this
- Maybe start a wi...@toronto350.org list to coordinate
- Energy East Specific 'Defend our Climate' events plotted
- anyone want to look for locations of May 10th events to add to map?
- video on using the map: http://youtu.be/0OK6wH7ft48
- Branding the Map
- need a banner that goes at the top of the page that looks mappy and informational
- cool one from FrackTracker (http://www.fractracker.org/map/)
- Media outreach (e.g. CBC's map / The Province flyover.)
- The Province already made something like this for Northern Gateway - (http://www.theprovince.com/news/Video+flyover+Northern+Gateway+pipeline+route/9828071/story.html)
- aerial view of route in Google Maps
- could maybe script Google Earth flight sim flyover using path from the Energy East map to do something similar
- Last week had productive meeting with Jane Ambachtsheer, lots to follow up on
- Find out what U of T's total equity exposure is
- Find out total value of 200 stocks
- Advisory committee of professionals was recommended
- what would be the vetting process
- would we want them to meet, or just a formalized contact list
- for whole group, not just the AECom
- can make term flexible
- List of people to contact
- Debrief doc will be sent out
- We should think about other options for University to take compatible with our aims
- Ad-Hoc Committee - Stuart got email from Anthony Gray, committee still not formed
- we need to review document detailing previous administrative strategy
- 5 MPs including Elizabeth May and Bruce Hyer, Carolyn Bennett, François Choquette, Paul Dewer
- Rep for Chrystia Freeland's office
- Two people came from Conservative Senator Janis Johnson's office
- Several people from the Auditor General's office there, would like to arrange a showing of the film for the entire office of the Auditor General
- Amelia Rose provided French subtitles
- Citizens Climate Lobby invited to show different film called Change Agents made in Nelson BC
- Climate Fast currently getting MPs to sign on to 3 point pledge
- letter writing campaign, showing people how to write a letter to their MP
- Some Liberals and NDP have already signed, but they still need to get Mulcair & Trudeau
- 350 needs a plan for next Federal election
- June 1st: showing Do the Math again at Friends House, maybe have CCL give talk about climate
- location TBC but tentatively Hart House
- no voting issues other than exec
- Stu will send out Mailchimp request for attendance once location confirmed
- group to send appreciation to Quakers for providing space last 5 months
Milan
Present: Stuart, Tina, Keegan, Ann, Suhail, Gerry, Neal, Amelia Rose, Patrick, Milan, Ron, Katie, Nadine, Evelyn, Rosemary, Daryl
Absent committee chairs: Monica, Kevin
=== 1. Introductions ===
=== === TGM items === ===
=== 2. Assemble ===
=== 3. Determine who is eligible to vote (shall be worked out beforehand by an appointed person) ===
=== 4. Members entitled to vote shall be given some token to indicate their status, such as a coloured sticker ===
=== 5. Election of a chairperson and interim chairperson for the meeting ===
Stuart nominated and seconded
* Approved unanimously
Neal volunteers as interim chair, nominated by Stu, seconded
* Approved unanimously, aside from Neal's abstention
=== 6. Financial statement from the treasurer ===
At the last TGM (Jan 2014), we had $810
We closed our bank account, and have since opened a new one with Alterna
Total income since Jan 2014: $1,670
Report on expenses: transportation, binder, paint, etc - $203.84
We have $1,466 in the bank now
Net income for divestment party $413
* Julia Butterfly Hill ~$300
There is a donation incoming from a high school event
This doesn't include t-shirt sales or expenses, which are still at a loss
* We ultimately hope for about $800 in profit
Full financial report:
Balance from January 2014 $810
Income:
Divestment Party (net) $413
Julia Butterfly Hill (net) $332
UTSU donation $115
----------------- $860
Expenses:
A/V booking for Garth Lenz $15
Banner $90
Divestment Binder $23.17
Paint for Cloth Banner $30.67
AlternaSavings Membership $15
Cheques $30
----------------- 203.84
---------------------- 1466.16
=== 7. Major events this term ===
Divestment Meme Party
Formal presentation of the divestment brief
Line 9 response, after NEB approval
Fossil Fools Day
Julia Butterfly Hill
Tabling and speaking at about a dozen events
=== 8. Election of president ===
Milan reads description of position from constitution
Stu has been president since September
Milan nominates Stuart for president, seconded by Neal
* Stu accepts the nomination
Neal takes over as interim chair
Stuart elected unanimously
Neal steps down as interim chair
The group is hoping to incorporate as a not-for-profit over the next few months
* The executive being elected now will be founding members of the non-profit
=== 9. Election of treasurer ===
Milan reads description of position from constitution
Katie willing to stand again
It is very helpful if the treasurer is a U of T student, since our bank account is based on a letter from ULife
Wynne is willing to be treasurer or help with the role after incorporation
Stuart nominates Katie, Neal seconds
* Elected unanimously, aside from Katie's abstention
=== 10. Creation or elimination of executive positions ===
Keegan is a U of T student who would be willing to serve in some capacity
Monica is willing to run for vice president
Re-creating the campus liaison position for U of T?
* Old text: "The University of Toronto campus liaison shall have primary responsibility for Toronto 350.org's visibility on campus at U of T. They shall undertake activities including staffing an information table, collecting petition signatures, attending on-campus events, and welcoming new people to the group."
=== 11. Nomination and election of other executive members ===
Reminder of the principles that decisions are made by those who show up and that people set their own level of involvement
Vice-president - currently Monica
* Milan reads the description from the current constitution
* Monica nominated and seconded
* Elected unanimously
Creative director - currently Tina
* Milan reads the description from the current constitution
* Tina wants to run again
* Tina nominated and seconded
* Seven in favour, one abstention
Director of operations - currently vacant
* Milan reads the description from the current constitution
* Tina nominates Neal, Stuart seconds
* Elected unanimously
Director of communications - currently Katie
* Milan reads the description from the current constitution
* Katie is willing to do it
* Nadine would be interested
* Nadine nominated and seconded, so Katie doesn't want to run
* Seven in favour, one abstention
Media director - currently Flavius
* Milan reads the description from the current constitution
A media committee was created at the last TGM
* At the time, the director thought it was too much work for one person
* At times, there are a lot of media tasks that need to be done in support of events
* The current committee is Stuart and Rosemary, but has no chair and hasn't met or been active
* At present, the media committee chair formally reports to the media director
* We could make the media director automatically the committee chair
Perhaps we should get rid of the committee, or of the executive
There has been at least one interview request which got no response because nobody is currently playing this role
Requires quick turnaround at some times
So far, we haven't had anyone who was really able to effectively create relations with members of the media
We could leave the position vacant for now and try to find a volunteer during the term
We will come back to this later in the meeting
Director of outreach - currently Amelia Rose
* Milan reads the description from the current constitution
* Amelia Rose is willing to stay in the role
* Nominated and seconded
* Elected unanimously
Director of development - currently Kevin
* Milan reads the description from the current constitution
* Kevin would be willing to run, but will be unable to attend any further Tuesday night planning meetings
* Keegan may be interested, but will only be checking the internet one or two times a week
* He also isn't familiar with Facebook and social media
We could potentially amend the position to remove social media and online applications
* But how does that work if Kevin is running for the position as currently defined?
* Keegan could contact Kevin about it
* Perhaps splitting the role would be a good idea
Article 2(b) of the constitution allows us to create executive positions between TGMs, and appoint people to them
We could hold off on electing this position for now
* Alternatively, we could vote on Kevin as a candidate for this position
Keegan may want to run for a re-established U of T liaison position
We will skip voting on director of development for now
* Keegan will get in touch with Kevin
=== 12. Proposed amendments to the U of T constitution (hopefully none) ===
No proposed amendments to the U of T constitution
=== === Announcements and New Proposals === ===
=== 13. Amending the committees document regarding chair attendance ===
Kevin has proposed amendments to the committees document
* One option, replace: "Chairs are expected to attend all planning meetings. If a chair misses two weeks' worth of planning meetings, a vote may be held on replacing them. In the minutes for each meeting, the absence of any committee chairs shall be noted."
* With: "Chairs are expected to attend planning meetings. If a chair misses more than one month's worth of consecutive planning meetings, a vote may be held on replacing them. In the minutes for each meeting, the names of each present committee chair shall be noted."
Alternatively, insert the text:
* "Chairs are expected to attend all planning meetings. If a chair misses two weeks' worth of planning meetings, a vote may be held on replacing them. In the minutes for each meeting the names of each present committee chair shall be noted... Chairs shall determine how often their committees meet, and whether those meetings are in person, online, or by telephone... In the event that a committee meet or conduct the majority of its regular activity online or by telephone, the chair is required to attend planning meetings no less than once per month in addition to providing regular updates to the general membership through a medium of their choosing."
Kevin sent around an email to the executive explaining his reasoning
* Puts off people from stepping into positions of leadership
* "Potentially oppressive tool"
* Listing missing chairs is "poor form", given who reads the minutes
* It would be better to list which chairs are present
* We should have more constructive and fewer punitive measures
At present, chairs can also "send a delegate from the committee who can provide a detailed briefing on the operations of the committee" or "provide a written briefing on the status of their committee"
Is the main role of committee chairs conducting the internal business of committees, or reporting to the general group at a planning meeting?
We could add text like: committee chairs may appoint any committee member to provide weekly reports at the planning meeting on their behalf
Have there been any problems so far with committee chairs being unable to use any of the three current options?
We could switch the reporting to 'committee reports provided' or 'committee reports not provided' and list the committee rather than the purpose.
"In the event that there is no report from a committee at two consecutive meetings, a note will be made in the minutes"
* Or: "The minutes from each planning meeting shall note which committees provided reports, as well as whether the report was from the chair, a delegate, or in writing"
* This would replace: "If a chair misses two weeks' worth of planning meetings, a vote may be held on replacing them. In the minutes for each meeting, the absence of any committee chairs shall be noted."
* Do we want to keep text about replacing committee chairs when a committee has become inactive?
Kevin does a lot on his own in the pipeline committee, so it may be challenging for other committee members to provide reports
* Written reports may be the most appropriate option
* They have only met once, aside from some meetings that have been held right after planning meetings
* Partly, this has been a consequence of scheduling difficulties
Committee reports are meant to both provide information to the group as a whole and allow the central location of decision-making to remain our weekly planning meetings
Currently, the campus engagement committees and media committees aren't active
* The media committee never has been
* We unexpectedly lost the committee chair shortly after it was formed
The administration engagement committee has never met outside of planning meetings, but has coordinated by email
* There have been breakout sessions at meetings
How to move forward?
* Committees are sort-of working, but could work more efficiently
* Actually coming together at planning meetings is an important part of how committees work
* Few meetings have been held aside from planning meetings
We may want to change the reporting away from being punitive to being more positive
* We may want to switch to noting whether a report was provided or not
* Or: "The minutes from each planning meeting shall note which committees provided reports, as well as whether the report was from the chair, a delegate, or in writing"
* This would replace: "If a chair misses two weeks' worth of planning meetings, a vote may be held on replacing them. In the minutes for each meeting, the absence of any committee chairs shall be noted."
Do we want a provision for replacing committee chairs if committees have become inactive?
"If more than two consecutive meetings pass without a report from a committee, a vote may be held to elect a new committee chair"
We may want to add: "or to eliminate the committee"
* We may also want to eliminate "Chairs are expected to attend all planning meetings" and replace it with "Committee reports are expected at all planning meetings"
Combined: "Committee reports are expected at all planning meetings. The minutes from each planning meeting shall note which committees provided reports, as well as whether the report was from the chair, a delegate, or in writing. If more than two consecutive meetings pass without a report from a committee, a vote may be held to elect a new committee chair or to eliminate the committee"
* Would replace: "Chairs are expected to attend all planning meetings. If a chair misses two weeks' worth of planning meetings, a vote may be held on replacing them. In the minutes for each meeting, the absence of any committee chairs shall be noted."
Stuart moves to amend the text as described
* Seconded
* Twelve in favour, none opposed, one abstention
=== 14. Meeting space ===
We can't stay at the Friends' House
The Steelworkers' Hall is willing to let us book a space for free month-by-month
* 25 Cecil St
* https://www.google.com/maps/place/United+Steelworkers+Hall,+25+Cecil+St/@43.6565619,-79.3960391,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x882b34c6c103092f:0x5b8dfe218962a279
We can probably book Hart House pretty easily week-by-week in the summer, though it's a bit of a pain to book and announce locations each week
Stuart has booked all of June at the Steelworkers' Hall
Will they provide WiFi?
* We can use phone tethering
Stu will update our website and TCAN
It won't start next week, since next week is a potluck
Do we want to separate dinner from the meeting at potlucks, in case people only want to come for the meeting portion?
* We could start the official agenda at 8pm
* Obviously, people can discuss 350-related stuff while eating
=== 15. E-newsletter ===
We want to send a newsletter to the MailChimp list this week
* Unist’ot’en training and information session
* Do the Math screening
* New York trip (Peoples' Climate March)
* Should ideally go out tomorrow or Thursday
=== 16. Daryl Christoff ===
Running for Toronto City Council, for Ward 20 (Spadina-Trinity)
He wants to know "what our main causes are right now"
* He knows work is ongoing on pipelines and divestment
=== 17. Nadine ===
Running provincially
Curious about the group's activity on fracking
The group is opposed to fracking, and would be open to a fracking campaign if someone is willing to lead on it
Fracking is very bad from a climatic perspective, because of the high leakage rate, the power of methane as a greenhouse gas, and the sheer size of the oil and gas reserves fracking provides access to
=== 18. NYC ===
Organization continues
* Looking for possible accommodations and sources of food
* Not yet ready to present to the group, but hopefully next week
* Probably won't be staying in Manhattan, perhaps a church in Brooklyn
The New York 350 chapter doesn't have the capacity to arrange things for everyone else
Evelyn has done some thinking on prop-making
Could we possibly take the bus down for the march, then come back immediately on the bus?
The current plan calls for spending time nearby
* We don't yet know if the march is on Saturday or Sunday
There are likely to be other things going on
We may want to have a media team for the event: photos and video, press releases, social media
* Some Green Majority people are likely to come, possibly with a quadcopter (which we may not want in a bus which we cross the border with)
OPIRG has experience booking buses
=== 19. Pride ===
Rosemary is interested in being involved
Tina is thinking about a tattoo or sticker design
We could tag on to someone else's float
=== 20. Next meeting ===
Location?
* Katie's
Chair?
* Tina
Minutes?
* Katie
=== Adjourned ===
pres...@toronto350.org
Note: The previous posting was deleted due to accidental posting of private content. We take privacy seriously and apologize to those affected.
Toronto 350 Planning Meeting | 2014-05-27
Present: Monica, Ron, Nadine, Stu, Keegan, Lyn, Tina, Katie
Chair: Tina
Minutes: Katie
1. Introductions
2. Approval of agenda
3. Debriefs—Stu tabled at MESSUP—Event for Sustainable UnProfessionals—Networking—added 8 people to mailchimp, made a connection to a journalist in CBC newsroom—no t-shirt sales—good conversations—Runs every month—Contact-Stefan, Green Society Campaign
4. Announcements / Proposals
Ron—Divestment—In divestment brief, suggests alternative investments—plans on talking to his bank about creating fossil free mutual funds—Mutual funds are easier for people to deal with than other stocks—possible campaign? Look for banks etc. that have that type of thing—possible ‘re-investment’ resource—make accessible to people—Maybe Milan did some work putting together a fossil fuel free portfolio? Sabrina from Environmental Defense might have some resources.
Also: Toronto Atmospheric Fund—private foundation divestment
Canadian specific info: Possible “who’s divested and how” page on our website
Solar Share—possible investment—solarbonds.ca
Also, Kitchener Waterloo has one of biggest solar panel manufacturing companies: Canadian Solar
Keegan knows someone who he will ask about putting together content for fossil fuel divestment/re-investment tools—also mentioned that T.A union at UofT might be able to put pressure on re: divestment at UofT
2 pages: Who’s divested?—can we make it so people can add themselves/share how they divested? Public Pledges?
How to divest (as an individual)? What companies to avoid? Fossil Free portfolio’s links (Tina mentioned that if we are putting links to specific companies to invest in, we could generate revenue)
ACTION: Stu: make a who’s divested form/list to send out for input
Keegan will work on what should be on the “How to Divest”/Re-investment pag
5. Non-Committee Ongoing
a. NYC Report (Stu)—Kevin and Stu are in the middle of making a planning document—no confirmations so far on accommodation—is looking into Sikh temples through a friend
Need to decide what day to go---don’t know if march is on Saturday or Sunday
2 options—take a bus Friday night to arrive Saturday morning, march Saturday, bus back Saturday night to arrive in T.O Sunday morning—No accommodations necessary—cheaper
Or come back Sunday night to arrive back Monday morning? Need accommodation, more coordinaton
Should we offer both options? Or just the first, and let people know they can meet us if they come on their own, or they can come on our buses and find their own way back Saturday night.
Buses--$4500 for 50 people—about $90 per person for bus—maybe charge people $100 to cover a few extra expenses?
Buses require deposits right away—for 3 buses about $2500
Try to get grants to help
Pieter is also trying to contact council of Canadian churches
Stu is also going to look into Unitarian Churches
We might have to pay for bus driver’s hotel—an extra $200 or so
Stu has also been in contact with Food not Bombs which may be able to help with food
Need someone else to take on phone-calling/contacting, accommodations people—Tina and Katie will help Neal—Stu will pass on contacts he’s been working on
b. Non-Profit Application (Stu)—By-laws for incorporation almost ready, will be sending them out for perusal by members tomorrow in a google doc, will be available for reading by anyone with a link, will be open to editing by members—these are to send in to government…but no fee for changing them in the future—a lot of the text comes from templates
One fairly significant change will be that a non-profit requires a 3 group structure—board of directors, executive, members (instead of just members and executive as it is now). So any hiring will be done by board of directors rather than executive.
c. World Pride—Volunteers needed (Tina)—we have a marching space—Rosemary was spear-heading—Tina and Milan discussed body-painting to make an impact—we still don’t know how many people we can have—we also need volunteers to be in the march, and ideas of what to do, date is June 29th, Ron suggested using a pipeline, with oil soaked characters/Lyn suggested Sun-brellas with 350 painted on them/The Naked Truth?/Protect yourself? Need to have a brainstorming session. Tina and Rosemary will send out email to members list, set a meeting
6. Committee Reports
a. Pipelines-no update given
b. Divestment—Milan Email Update: Milan has prepared a press release about the UTFA endorsement and circulated the draft. If nobody has any substantive comments, it would be good if Stu could send it to the media list.
Re: tasks from the meeting with Jane Ambachtsheer - Monica has committed to "Get in touch with Lisa DeMarco, a Toronto climate change lawyer and member of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund board" and "Contact Greg Kiessling and Tom Heintzman, the founders of Bullfrog Power". There are a bunch of other tasks in the document sent out. It would be great if anyone would volunteer for any of them and let Miilan know. Please read Neal’s report from meeting with Jane for other tasks
We are still waiting for word from the Office of the
President about when the ad hoc committee will be formed, who will be
on it, and what its terms of reference and procedures will be.
Read aloud the “things we need to find out” and other broken down tasks in Neal’s report from meeting with Jane--Sheila Brown-Chief Financial Services Dept. at UofT is a source for some of these questions re: breakdown of UofT investments
7. Events
a. Line 9 election strategy meeting. Wednesday, May 28th at 7pm, at Saint Stephen-in-the-Fields, 103 Bellevue Avenue (south west corner of Bellevue and College, Kensington Market).
b. Peoples' Picnic: Mini Social Forum in Toronto. June 7th, Trinity Bellwoods.
Food, sustainability, and social justice themed Peoples' Picnic. This picnic will include workshops and presentations from Occupy Gardens, the Toronto Seed Library, the Free and Accessible Transit Campaign of the GTWA, and several other local organizations and movements building towards a better future. It will also feature the musical stylings of Tyler Shipley (of The Consumer Goods) and other artists. Feel free to bring an instrument and regale us with your tunes or jam out in a musicians circle.
https://www.facebook.com/events/609768182473407
c. #BoldAction - the Moral Call for Climate Justice—Faith & Divestment Speakers Event | June 10th, 7:00 PST (From Cam Fenton)
■ Rev. Lennox Yearwood - founder of the Hip Hop Caucus and a guy who has worked to build some amazing connections between divestment organizing, tar sands work in the US and African American communities
■ Heather Milton Lightening - an amazing Indigenous organizer.
■ Sean Devlin - amazing Keynote speaker at PowerShift Atlantic.
■ June 10th. Can someone host a viewing party? The event will be played live at 7:00 PST on June 10th with live chat and tweet chat.
■ Monica to forward to Sean Cullen from Trinity St. Paul—
■ But it will be at 10 pm our time! If we can’t host a party, maybe send out an email blast…
d. Do the Math showing—hosted by ClimateFast at Friends House on Sunday 7pm
Keegan and Katie will be there
Added items:
d. Anyone interested in tabling in Burlington for AnandaFest—Consciousness Retreat—June 7th—No.
e. Dmitri Lascaris—presented at Responsible Investment Conference—forwarded an email to a contact made there—from Deliberate Economics-Stu will contact them for more info
f. Joe Cressy contacted us about hosting a meeting/debate on environmental issues for Trinity-Spadina federal bi-election—Do we want to take this on? at UofT? 10 days before? Nadine offered an outline of how these things usually go: Opening, Closing, 2 sets of questions—set questions and audience questions/questions to each other
Green Candidate-Camille Labchuk—June 5th—open meet with her and Elizabeth May
Katie will bottom line it—Monica and Lyn will help. Lyn will send email request to other candidates with potential dates.
Potential Workshop on Cyber Privacy at Ontario 350 retreat—
We have a space for Ontario 350 retreat
f. August 9th weekend, not sure of exact capacity, probably 20-30
g. Lynn also mentioned that Quaker camp on Georgian Bay is available the weekend after, and has more space if we need more space.
8. Committee/Group Breakouts—no time
a. World Pride Float Brainstorming Session
b. Divestment
9. Chair for next week—location—Steelworkers Hall—Stu to send John Humphrey’s (SH contact) email to Katie
Milan
Present: Rosemary, Monica, Ron, Katie, Patrick, Evelyn, Milan
Chair: Rosemary
Minutes: Milan
Agenda:
* Debriefs
* Upcoming events
* Non-committee / ongoing
* Committee business
* Other business
* Next meeting
=== 1. Debriefs ===
Katie went to the Unisto'ot'en camp solidarity meeting with Stu, Flavius, and Beverly
* About 100 people there in total
* A camp and blockade along the Northern Pipeline, where Chevron is cutting down trees and building
* Unofficial expectation that they will start building on June 15th
* Katie joined the Action Committee, which is meeting on Thursday to make banners
* They are considering potential solidarity actions
* Other committees: media, outreach, etc
Katie also attended the Do the Math showing at Friends' House on Sunday, organized by Lyn
* The CCL were there, including Cheryl, who gave a talk about carbon pricing
* About 10 people attended
* Some people showed interest in attending Toronto350.org meetings, and most joined our mailing list
We got $1,100 from one of the high school presentations (Katie isn't sure which one - possibly the one James and Ariel did)
* A significantly greater sum than expected
* This could be helpful for funding the New York trip
=== 2. Upcoming events ===
a. Wednesday, June 11, 6:45-8:30 p.m., Catalysts & Careers in Clean Tech – a Citizens Climate Lobby – Toronto Chapter fundraiser.
* Tickets are $12.
* Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/catalysts-careers-in-clean-tech-ccl-fundraiser-tickets-11792741407
* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/775099052530151/?context=create&source=49
* We may want to send out a MailChimp newsletter
b. Evening of Tuesday, June 10 - possible hosting of a watching party for online conversation: Bold Action : The Moral Call for Climate Justice – Katie http://act.350.org/event/boldactionCA/search/?t=1&akid=4623.1327722.ysWvMw
* Online lecture / brainstorming event
* Hip Hop Caucus leader Rev. Lennox Yearwood involved
* Late, since it's on B.C. time
* Video will be available June 11th - we could host a party to show it, possibly at the Friends' House
* Alternatively, we can canvas members to see if anyone wants to have a hosting party
* The video may only be available for this one day
c. Organizing an action for 'oil by rail' week of action July 6-13 - to show opposition to sending oil by rail and support for keeping it in the ground - Katie
* Lac Megantic solidarity event
* Could be a small event beside a railway
d. Sunday, June 29 – Pride Parade – Rosemary coordinating
* TO350 will be marching in the parade – we're getting info from Ben on when/where we'll be marching
Three ideas for our activity were discussed at last week’s meeting. Which one do we prefer?
* Have water guns filled with "oil" (e.g. coloured water) and spray them on each other
* Make a giant (lightweight) pipeline and have the 350 participants already soaked in 'oil'
* Some kind of beautiful body painting in the Toronto 350 blue / orange
* Oil Gun battle scene could be a 'good guy v. bad guys' scenario, and the 'bad guys' with the guns will be complemented by a couple of 'good guys' dressed in 350 wear, cleaning up the mess somehow (or have the pipeline and water guns together)
* Display our divestment banners (e.g. the one from the DMP, saying "Divest All the Things")
Do we have enough people interested in going?
* What kind of budget will we have for the event?
* Rosemary or Tina could put out a message to members identifying those who are interested, and could assemble a draft budget
e. August 8–10 - Ontario 350 workshop retreat
* Stu has most of the information on this
* Groups from all over Ontario expected to attend
* Location: at a cottage between Toronto and Ottawa
* A list of possible workshops has been assembled, and Stu is seeking for people to indicate which ones interest them
* https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1z8ytsyNlBQ-s2IP6pHPjwM2Cbhcc35jnAUbhU2Ej3HE/viewform
* Capacity limit not entirely certain - some people will be camping
* Perhaps 30-50 people
=== 3. Non-committee / ongoing ===
a. Monica - New by-laws drafted by Stu, Monica and Rob are available for comments
* https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cT0Uz8z-KYcX7ODHbVAwFr78dB6EbJoLozMawUrSVrA/edit?usp=sharing
* Some have been flagged as especially important to review
* People will get a bit more time to look them over
* Most are based around the default text
* Rob Shirkey - who is a lawyer - looked over the draft and identified some issues, as well as text which we ought to discuss
* He has indicated that there are elements of the default text which are ambiguous or otherwise problematic
* There are some spelling errors that require correction
* Part of incorporating is forming a board of directors, so we need to think about who should be on it
* There must be at least three, and two of them either cannot be members of the executive or cannot be part of the group at all (we need to clarify which)
* Members of the board will have powers, so the decision of who to include is important
* By joining the board, they will also take on legal obligations for themselves
* We may want to consider advertising for suitable candidates
* Professors at U of T could be one possibility
* Another consideration is maintaining control of the strategic direction of the group, rather than handing it over to some strangers
This would shift us to a three-tiered structure with a board, an elected executive, and members
* Directors would serve for a one-year term
b. Ron Moore - Report on Minnesota 350's efforts to stop the increase in flow in the Alberta Clipper pipeline; we might be able to use some of the same initiatives toward Line 9 and Energy East
* Ron has a statement on the work Minnesota 350 has undertaken
MN350 (the Minnesota chapter of 350.o rg) became involved in fighting the Alberta Clipper capacity increase through the encounter of separate individuals all focusing on slowing the spread of tar sands and the simultaneous filing of pipeline capacity increases at our regulatory commission. We had a strong indigenous leader, Marty Cobenais, a very knowledgeable lawyer, Paul Blackburn, committed and knowledgeable citizens and an existing organization ready to take on the challenge. And Enbridge Energy filed two sequential applications for capacity increases at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on their Alberta Clipper tar sands pipeline.
Marty Cobenais had seen several Enbridge pipeline spills and started a encampment on top of four Enbridge pipelines crossing ceded lands without an easement. On Sierra Club’s board, he also invited MN350 up to visit the pipelines, and asked them to attend some county fairs. MN350 also had organized a busload of people to attend the first Transcanada’s Keystone XL rally in Washington DC in November of 2011.
Individuals from Occupy Minneapolis had also supported the Tar Sands Blockade of the southern leg of Keystone XL and a group from Occupy formed the North Star Energy Coalition (NSEC) in September of 2012, including rallying at the State Capitol on opening day of 2012. These separate Individuals from NSEC and MN350 began to meet, and began focusing on Enbridge Energy’ s capacity Increase on their Alberta Clipper.
At the same time, a small group of people began to work on oil spill legislation. Federal legislation preempted all safety issues pertaining to transportation of tar sands oil, so the only legislation possible at the state level was oil spill preparedness and response. Paul Blackburn drafted a bill for the 2012-2013 session, (which didn’t get far) and again for the 2013-2014 session.
In 2013, oil trains started exploding in Lac Megantic, Quebec and Casselton, North Dakota and with that, interest in state legislation of oil transport by rail exploded as well. The Minnesota governor began to meet with first responders and other stakeholders. The Minnesota Transportation Committee legislator (Frank Hornstein) met with MN350, and first responders as well. Pipeline company lobbyists heavily resisted oversight of their spill response plans. However, thanks to this legislator, the Minnesota governor, much press coverage and the citizen involvement ofMN350 and the Sierra Club, the bill passed in 2014, covering oil and hazardous material spill response and preparedness by railroad and to a lesser extent, pipeline companies.
Meanwhile, at the regulatory agency in Minnesota, citizens began to question the Enbridge applications. During the first capacity increase, citizens alone, without legal representation, commented during the oral and written public comment periods. Late in the process, they also asked for a Minneapolis/ St Paul public hearing in addition to the public hearings along the pipeline. This request was denied and the Phase 1 capacity increase was approved fairly routinely. During Phase 2, MN350 and Sierra Club hired Paul Blackburn as their legal representative, and contested the capacity increase at each stipulated stage of the regulatory process. Initially, we asked for a “contested case”, rather than a routine application process, maintaining significant facts were in dispute, such as whether Enbridge and other pipeline companies had existing sufficient capacity to transport the necessary oil needed by their customers. The Attorney General’s office noted the unusual amount of citizen input during the first phase. We asked for additional public hearings, (only one is required by law) including in Minneapolis/ St Paul again. We requested longer time periods between deadlines than the regulatory minimum. These requests were all granted. And as allowed by administrative rule, we requested an evidentiary hearing , where witnesses from both sides gave testimony and were cross examined. We await the Administrative Law Judge’s recommendation to the PUC.
In summary, MN350’s involvement was based on the availability of several key persons with unique attributes, and the timing of Enbridge’s applications. Legislation passed due to strong governor involvement and railroad oil disasters, as well as citizen involvement. Stopping the capacity increase is a different story. Minnesota has a regulatory agency with administrative rules that presume pipeline application approval. The underlying statutes are weak and designed for electrical utility generation. When the administrative rules cited alterative options, a lawyer enabled MN350 to take advantage of these options, encouraging additional citizen involvement, which is essential to slowing tar sands shipping.
Authored by Kathy Hollander
MN350 Tar Sands Lead
Ka...@mn350.org
June 2, 2014
* Document online "A Pipeline Runs Through It" by Winona Laduke: http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/05/29/3461_a_pipeline_runs_through_itst
* Could potentially be submitted to a major Canadian magazine
* The lawyer involved was probably working pro bono, and the group is still waiting for a judicial decision
We may want to use stick-on name tags at our meetings, to make them more accessible to new people
c. Neal - People's Climate March
* Kevin has drafted a plan for the internal development side of the New York trip; it is up in the Google Docs folder
* Info from Kevin: A few key planners behind this won't be there this week. It is very important that we take as much time as necessary to consider each activity and assign it as a 'file' to one person in the group to manage
* By June 16 Kevin will have a completed external phase plan which will detail how we'll proceed. By the end of July, once we engage with our target audiences and interested groups we have relationships with, we'll be ready to start talking action planning itself.
* Not every task on here needs to be done by June 30th, (prop design should be done, but booking the warehouse / building doesn't need to be done until July / August)
* We need at least one person who will be accountable for each file if we're going to pull this off
* Also in the meeting, talk about each individual task and try to set a deadline for it. We have a month to prove we're really serious about this, and I know that this group of amazing people can do anything we put our collective minds to!
I. Assign all roles
Roles listed in the document: accommodation, sustainment, training, props / banners / placards, marketing / communications, budget
* Is it feasible to do this with the people present at this meeting?
Accommodation
* Tina and Katie are helping Neal try to find accommodation
* They are cold-calling churches and schools
* This could limit the number of buses we can bring
* We need to make down payments for the buses, but we don't know what the deadline for that would need to be
* It would probably be for just Saturday night
Any other alternatives for accommodation? Camping in a park? Billeting? Hostels (may be full in Manhattan)?
Stu and Kevin are bottom-lining overall
* Neal is bottom-lining accommodation
* If Kevin cannot attend the normal planning meetings, perhaps there should be a separate weekly meeting on just the New York trip
At present, we're hoping about 150 people will go from Toronto
* How many have signed up on the form on the website?
Transport - quotes for three buses are about $4,500 plus driver plus tolls
* The plan does call for charging participants something - it would be $30+ per person if they paid the full cost for transport
* We may want to subsidize the cost for some people
* The aim is to leave on Friday night and arrive sometime on Saturday
Food - Food Not Bombs may be willing to help, in exchange for free travel
We can keep trying to find accommodation until next week, as well as identify the deadline for booking the buses
Does anyone want to take on any of the listed roles?
* Katie, Rosemary, and Monica are all willing to help in some capacity
* Monica is willing to help with props and food
* Katie with marketing
* Rosemary is willing to help with transportation
What would be involved in marketing?
* There is a description in the plan
* Outreach to U of T students would be an important aspect
Training
* Greenpeace Earth Defenders NVDA training
* Available on a PWYC basis (suggested $50)
* Happening near Montreal in August (more cost, and may put people off)
* This basically doubles the cost of the trip per person, since it's in the same league as the cost of buses
* We definitely want someone who is experienced with actions of this size and scale
* The plan also says "A free one-day training will be run for Toronto350 members in Toronto." and: "For non-organizing participants, trainings will be held on the bus, including briefings about the activities planned for the day of action."
* We may be able to manage the training for free internally
* By the time people are on the bus, we can't turn people back if they are unwilling to follow the guidelines for the action
* Ruckus did the training for the Keystone XL protests in Washington D.C. in 2011
II. Carbon offset question
A fairly secondary issue, does not require immediate discussion
III. Group review of plan / make suggestions
Aside from selling tickets to people going, what sources of funds do we expect?
We need a plan for if one or more people get turned back at the border
What if there are minors who want to go?
* Should we bar them? Warn them? Get parental consent?
What kind of general participant agreement do we want people to abide by?
* When would they have to agree? Before buying a ticket?
* What about a liability waiver? Is there anything we could produce that would be helpful for us?
Keystone XL agreement:
* I will be utterly peaceful in all aspects of this action - physical and verbal.
* I will be dignified in dress and demeanor - these are serious issues, and we want to be taken seriously.
* I will attend an action training and briefing before I join the action.
* I knowingly and freely assume all risks, even if arising from the negligence of others, and assume full responsibility for my participation in this action.
We may want to add something like "I understand that if I get turned back at the border, I will be responsible for my own transport back to Toronto"
* On the way to the February event in Washington, we got pulled aside for secondary screening
We may be able to get a Greenpeace waiver that is used for similar events
Does our status as a U of T group create any liability issues?
Are we obligated to take any U of T student who wants to go?
IV. Group set deadlines
Do we want to consider a fallback plan for if this proves over-ambitious?
* Choose a deadline to decide if we have all the major pieces in place
* If not, maybe 10-20 people could go by Megabus and stay at a hostel
Accommodations may be the most important trigger for deciding if this basic plan is viable, along with the deadline for booking buses
* Rosemary will contact Kevin about when the deadline is
V. Group diversity
To be discussed later
VI. Date of march
Are we totally clear on what day the march will be on? If we are sending one bus for only one day, we want to be sure
* If people just want to go for the day, perhaps they should book their own travel with a commercial bus line
* The mothership must know how inconvenient it is for other groups that the date of the march isn't announced
* Perhaps they are having permit or police issues
* "The anchor event of the week will be a massive march – one so large and diverse that it cannot be ignored. Discussions are underway with the City regarding permits, routes, and locations, but it will be 2-3 miles, in Manhattan, on Saturday 9/20 or Sunday 9/21, starting in the early afternoon."
* http://peoplesclimatemarch.org/#FAQs
* Going for the whole weekend would eliminate the risk of missing the march
c. Keegan room booking? (Kevin)
* Nobody present knows what this item means
d. June 16 Trinity-Spadina federal by-election debate that Toronto350 is organizing
* Three candidates have agreed to attend: Adam Vaughan, Joe Cressy, Camille Labchuk
* The topic will be federal climate policy
* 7-9pm
* Katie will book at room at U of T - probably in the Lash Miller building - for about 75 people
* Venue should be finalized by the end of this week
Format?
* Could start with opening statements from candidates
* Then questions prepared in advance (possibly submitted by other climate groups)
* Questions from the audience?
* Have each candidate ask a question of one of the others?
* Should they get the pre-determined questions ahead of time
Moderator?
* Should they be from our group?
* Having a separate timekeeper may be a good idea
* Someone high-profile?
* You need someone who can control the audience - deal with rambling non-questions, etc
* Someone from the Green Majority? Someone from the Citizens Climate Lobby? Adria Vasil?
Promotion: other climate groups at U of T, the grad student union, ask the parties themselves to promote it
* We should put out a press release (Rosemary will prepare it) - should probably be sent out at least a week in advance
* If you can think of other places to promote it, tell Katie - Now Magazine? Metro?
* Neighbourhood papers? Residents' associations?
Please think about possible questions and send them to Katie
* Ideally not something they can use a stock talking point for
Monica is willing to help with the logistics
=== 4. Committee business ===
All committees should provide a report each week. If they don't for several in a row, it's a sign they're inactive and we should think about getting rid of them.
a. Institutional Innovation
Bylaws already discussed
b. Pipelines – Kevin Metcalf's report
Distributed to the members' list, along with the agenda
* This week there will be a strategy call to determine 350.org's response to the Energy East pipeline. Next week's report should have a substantially better picture of our next steps and since Milan will be sitting in on that call, someone can talk directly to the group about what was said. As some of you know, I've been very active on this issue and have been hoping others will bring themselves up to speed on this fast-moving climate mega-disaster. This will be a very difficult campaign but we have an important role to play here in Toronto.
* Due to my inability to be physically present as committee chair, I am submitting the first of my written reports and will see you all at the pot-luck at the end of the month. We have a unique opportunity to involve ourselves in the national Energy East campaign. We are physically far from the line, but in terms of climate activism, distance is not really relevant to our primary aim
1) We have the map and some people are getting better acquainted with it. Please plan out a group response to how we can use this most effectively. There is a lot of interest across the board and now that the infrastructure is built, there is a lot of use we can get out of it. It's going to be incorporated somehow into the 350 Canada webpage and I've already forwarded the database to help with creating a timeline for that same site. The map is hugely popular with people from many different big NGOS and has brought us a lot of profile and given us a lot of access we wouldn't have otherwise had. In terms of giving us full picture awareness of the pipeline, it's important as a group that we talk about how best to use this tool
* One of the requests that has come from higher up the food chain is that we find a way to make the map climate specific/demonstrate the climate implications of Energy East. I don't personally know how climate can be represented on a map (without several chloropleth temperature layers) as climate is not a geographically specific phenomenon, nor can it be causally linked to weather events. Maybe the melting of the Athabasca Glacier? Cool infographics showcasing Pembina's math on 1.1m bpd = 29 million tonnes of CO2 annually? Please discuss
2) It may be advantageous for us to coordinate some kind of direct-action, awareness or divestment campaign against the big banks who are TransCanada's primary shareholders. I believe this is something which in our group, we have the expertise for. Here in Toronto TransCanada's physical pipeline infrastructure is all part of the natural gas system. I'm not opposed to campaigning on natural gas and maybe advocating for more green-gas solutions before more conventional/unconventional fracked gas transmission. We also have access to the financial institutions who bankroll the pipeline company's operations. This is the soft, exposed underbelly of the beast
3) In Toronto we have access to a huge anglophone population. Fundraising on behalf of Frontline Communities is a way we can make a meaningful difference. If we start to gather funds for this purpose and grant or tithe the money to First-Nations and activist groups who are in a position to effect the pipeline project through legal or direct means, we are effectively helping to bring about a solution remotely. This is a very effective avenue to take that could have huge positive externalities in terms of future partnership and community goodwill
* Feel free to discuss these suggestions at your leisure and arrive at any conclusions you deem necessary
c. Administrative Engagement
* We issued a press release on the UTFA endorsement, but it doesn't seem to have received any media attention
* We asked UTFA to put out a release of their own, or collaborate on one with us, but haven't heard back yet
* We are still waiting for word on the ad hoc committee
* Nonetheless, there is still lots of preparatory work we could do - including in terms of reaching out to university officials
* For instance, there are still a large number of tasks identified during the meeting with Jane that need someone to bottom-line them
* We should also be thinking forward to the fall and to what we might do to build our capacity, as well as support on campus for divestment
* Milan also sent the draft text on forming an Advisory Council to Jane at Mercer, but hasn't heard back yet
Monica has started looking into some options for engaging alumni
* Someone senior at Canadian Physicians for the Environment is an alumnus and wants to take action on climate
* He may sit on an alumni committee at the university
* He might write a letter to the president, or address the committee
Katie will get in touch with a contact at the Governing Council, asking about how we might engage with them, address their concerns, etc
d. Campus Engagement - Nomination of Keegan for Campus Engagement Committee Chair
Keegan isn't here
* Pushed to next week
e. Media
* No report; committee inactive
If we don't find a chair soon, perhaps we should eliminate the committee
* Rosemary, Stu, and Flavius wrote a description for the position which Rosemary is circulating
=== 5. Other business ===
None
=== 6. Next meeting ===
Location: Steelworkers' Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Hall A
Chair: Monica
Note-taker: Rosemary can type if someone lends her a computer
frei.r...@gmail.com
Toronto350.org Planning Meeting Minutes June 10, 2014
Chair: Monica
Minute taker: Rosemary
Others present: Amelia Rose, Melissa, Lyn, Katie, Nadine
1. Introductions
2. Agenda approved
3. Debriefs
- Milan: Energy East conference call of Canada 350 (Cam Fenton convened it); coming up with a strategy wrt NEB and Energy East decision; will include list building
- Lyn: she was in Ottawa with the Citizen Climate Lobby; met with MPs and showed film 'The Change Agents' made by students in Nelson, B.C.
4. Upcoming Events
a. Catalysts and Careers in Clean Tech, Wed., June 11, 6:45-8:30 p.m.
b. Unist'ot'ten Solidarity banner painting - Thurs., June 12, 6:30-8 p.m., Dufferin Grove Park - contact Katie for more information
c. Lac Megantic solidarity event - week of July 6-13 - Katie - Stu will discuss next week
d. Pride Parade - one member responded to Rosemary's email saying he will attend; Tina, Rosemary, Melissa, Lyn want to march; we have a banner, TO350 t-shirts, we can buy umbrellas (that we can spray-paint 'Toronto350.org' on)- Katie will price these out in Chinatown; and we can hand out general TO350 info on quarter-page pieces of paper; Rosemary will send out another email to members asap; Monica will create an email list
e. Ontario 350 workshop retreat Aug. 8-10- Monica - attendees should sign up to attend and/or lead workshops
5. Non-committee Ongoing
a. Bylaws - Monica - remember to review bylaws and add comments
b. NYC People's Climate March
- no updates on accommodation or bus deadlines
- we're not comfortable with Black Bloc members coming with us
- we agreed that by the end of June the group should decide whether the original/large plan is feasible or, if not, what smaller-scale plan we should go forward with
c. Map workshop on Monday, June 30 - Kevin - Katie will check about booking a UT room with 20-30 computers and inquire about guest logins/access to the rooms projector
d. Monday, June 16 all candidates' debate for Trinity-Spadina federal by-election
- Katie asked Daryn Caister if he/the Green Majority will come; Katie will ask TCAN and CCL to have members attend; Monica will ask Debra if she will moderate - if Debra can't do it then Milan will; - came up with prepared questions
- Katie sent out the news release yesterday to media and to the T-S by-election candidates; she also sent it to 'Now' as an event listing and set up a Facebook page; Monica sent the news release to residents' associations; Monica will add it community organizations; Milan will send it to other groups
e. Anti-spam legislation
- Stu was voluntold to send out an email by MailChimp asking if people want to stop receiving email updates from Toronto350.org
f. Pamphlet
- to be modified and to discuss at potluck/June 24 planning meeting; Melissa will look at it
g. Petition Review - discussed under Pipelines committee business
h. Line 9 Coalition meeting on Wed., June 18, 6-9 p.m. at Metro Hall - Amelia Rose - meeting's purpose is to decide on strategy for moving forward; she will attend
i. Vacant executive and committee positions
- Chairs of campus engagement and media, and directors of media and development roles are vacant; we agreed that there will be a by-election for directors of media and development at the June 24 planning meeting/potluck
6. Committee Business
a. Institutional Innovation (N/A this week)
b. Pipelines - Kevin provided a written report:
i. Petition Signing (petition will be circulated to members by Rosemary via email)- There's a goal of getting around 50,000 people on board in the initial phase. I'm setting our summer goal/development target at 5,000 individual petition signatures, but I know we can easily exceed this. Right now the #1 priority is to help build a mobilization by developing a contact list (in accordance with new anti-spam legislation). This list will be used to challenge the Energy East project over its climate impacts. Many other organizations will be talking about spills etc. For us, it's all about the atmosphere. In the spirit of this, I'm going to Kensington next Sunday to start getting signatures on a new Energy East petition (attached, please review as a group) and working through a pitch/presentation about the pipeline. Anybody who wants to help out with that is welcome to come along (Sunday between 2:00 and 4:00PM) I only ask that you bring your own clipboard and wear a 350 T-shirt. From that initial contact I'm going to create a reflection on the petition drive for the rest of the group so we can workshop some materials we'll need (distributables, online or display material) to answer common questions or simplify the presentation. I'll also draft a budget for pricing materials which we'll need in order to effectively run a petition drive. (clipboards, pens, 350 stickers, 350 buttons etc.) I'm willing to bottom line any campaign costs/printing we need to do while starting this process up.
ii. Energy East and Climate Primer Since we're a climate group, it's not worthwhile for us to talk about spills or tankers or whales. There's a lot that can be said on Climate re: Energy East and I've written a short primer to help you all work through the climate conversation. I'll circulate it in the next few days. I also strongly recommend that anybody who has even a remote interest in this issue read the Pembina report on Energy East's climate implications found here: http://www.pembina.org/pub/2519
- Monica will email out to media list a news release on Toronto350's solidarity with Quebec marchers (Les Peuples de la Terre)
c. Administrative Engagement - Milan - Obama's statements on climate change are very useful to use in all kinds of contexts
d. Campus Engagement (N/A this week)
e. Media
7. Other Business
- Melissa is interested in helping out, particularly with graphics, photography, event planning and fundraising
8. Next meeting - Tuesday, June 17; location (probably) Steelworkers’ Hall
- chair: Katie
- note-taker: Milan
thugsb
June 17, 2014
Chair: Katie
Minutes: Stu
Present: Katie, Stu, Tina, Nadine, Lyn, Amelia Rose, Kevin, Neal
AGENDA
*Approval of agenda
* Debriefs
* Upcoming events
* Non-committee / ongoing
* Committee business
* Other business
* Next meeting
1. DEBRIEFS
*Kevin - Energy East conference call
Only a few people on the call. A 3 phased plan was discussed.
Alliance of 350, Leadnow, EnvDef and one other to have a cohesive Energy East strategy across the country. We’re copying+modifying a Dogwood Initiative strategy.
The goal is to get citizens to participate in the regulatory process, apply as climate intervenors, and they will most likely be rejected across the board. This will show the illegitimacy of the process and how undemocratic it is: if 1000 people get rejected for voicing their concern on an issue, it shows the process is broken. It could also clog the process.
The goal is to get 50k people across the country, and 1k of those to participate. It will likely be in August, so we need to get the list of contacts built quickly.
Kevin intends to make this the focus of the summer. He’s been out in Kensington to get names and refined the petition, and has completed the new petition. It’s ready to go, we now just need volunteers to go out with him (or separately) and get names.
We also need a signup on the website’s Energy East page. We also need content for that page: blurb, memes, pics, etc. that are pipelines+climate specific, not spills etc. Neal will work on this with Kevin.
*Lyn and Katie-Catalysts and Careers in Clean Tech
Interesting to get perspective on innovation and clean tech. Goes with divestment in that it’s talking about reinvestment. Tom Rand (Waking the Frog) was a speaker and is big into institutional di+reinvestment. Making the case that you can work with capitalism to fix the climate. Raised money for CCL trip to Washington this weekend. They were down on lobbying govt.
*Trinity-Spadina Candidates Debate and #LetThemEatPizza
It went well for the most part. Format was good, Daryn was good. Format of questions was good for a crowd of that size: getting people to write questions, then screening them.
Should have had a stronger pitch at the end. We don’t know where the people came from. We should have asked people. And encouraged people to get involved. We raised around $100.
Ben Spurr from NOW called Stu for more info and the emails from Vaughan’s office. Article will be online tomorrow morning.
Camille Labchuk has an event at 8:30pm tonight that some people are hoping to go over to.
2. UPCOMING EVENTS
a. Lac Megantic solidarity event -
Organizing an action for 'oil by rail' week of action July 6-13
Gerry is talking about running a vigil with candles at Dupont and Bartlett on Sunday July 6th. People are interested in showing up, and we’ll put it out by email. It’s a night of respect and remembrance.
Stu will check with Gerry as to whether branding will be OK.
Camille Labchuk and Elizabeth May have an event tomorrow morning at her place, which overlooks the rail line.
b. Pride Parade, Sunday, June 29 – Progress report
*Volunteers?
*Budget?
If we can get the numbers (10-15), we’ll be on the UTSU float.
Rosemary emails about t-shirt painting, but we can just wear our sexy t-shirts. We also talked about getting plain umbrellas and painting 350 on them, which needs to be done.
Stu to bring body paint, just for ourselves.
Where to meet on the day? What time? - Need to work out next week
Tina will get umbrellas, Katie has paint, Neal has brushes, and we can potentially paint them during the potluck next week. If not, we`ll fall back to a later date to be decided next week
Handout for that day - what to say? Neal will make something. 8 on a page. He`ll also design a button, which Kevin will source and have made.
Budget: $200
We can also get petition sigs (for EE) before the parade. We should meet up an hour or two before for this.
Should we have a specific follow-up event? Lyn will book a place for us, maybe Monday 7th July.
c. Ontario 350 workshop retreat - August 8–10 - Reminder to sign up
* Location: at a cottage between Toronto and Ottawa
* A list of possible workshops has been assembled, and Stu is seeking for people to indicate which ones interest them* https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1z8ytsyNlBQ s2IP6pHPjwM2Cbhcc35jnAUbhU2Ej3HE/viewform
Stu doesn`t really have much of an update. Maybe we could get a gazebo to encourage more people to be allowed to go.
d. Willowdale Debate--Kevin
Potential for a liberal nominee to go on the record against pipelines (Line9).
We could host an event and invite him, as well as others to have a roundtable about climate. This nominee wants an opportunity to show his “green” credentials.
We need to be clear that we’re not propping up a particular party.
Kevin will bottom line the event, likely at the end of July. Potentially charge for tickets. Will talk more next week.
e. By-election (toronto350) next week's potluck meeting-Monica
Just a reminder. Kevin will be standing for Director of Development. Media Chair and Director are also open. Maybe Keegan would be a good Campus Engagement chair?
f. Our Horizon Fundraising/ Freegrassy Fundraising-Amelia-Rose
They have sent a fundraising request. The mothership supported one of their requests. They’re bringing drummers down to Toronto, likely in July.
We agreed to send $200 to Grassy. They are affected by deforestation, mercury poisoning, and Energy East.
We will also send both campaigns out in a newsletter at some point.
g. LeadNow Skills for Solidarity online class/program going on this summer:
This free program will explore this relationship between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Peoples in Canada and provide an overview of what it looks like to renew the relationship between nations and continue to work together on a variety of campaigns and issues."
h. Citizens Climate Lobby and CREW Toronto Flash Mob performance piece--July 8th--Katie
Looking for participants, Katie will send to members.
3. NON-COMMITTEE / ONGOING
a. Bylaws - Reminder to review bylaws and add comments
Stu to go through in more detail next week.
b.i.) NYC - People's Climate March - Progress report
*Update on accommodation / transport deposit deadlines
*Training / Participant agreement
*Volunteer roles
*Date of march?
*NYC Anarchist Callout - already discussed last week. We’re not taking the black bloc!!!
The primary thing we need now is accommodation. Stu and Neal to work on this hard this week.
Also, the minutes a few weeks ago mentioned the buses were $4500. That was $4500 per bus, not for 3, so the minimum costs we’re looking at per person at $90, not $30.
Travelling by train might be an option. Group bookings are possible. Border is also likely easier.
c. Map Workshop - Progress report
UofT closed June 30th (planned date of workshop). Katie looking into guest logins.
It seems unlikely to happen, since Paul is gone all of July. Kevin will let Paul know.
d. Anti-Spam Legislation Update?
*July 1st, we will no longer be legally allowed to use our existing lists. We will likely need to ask for consent to continue mailing our supporters.
Stu will try to find out whether our existing lists are OK or not.
e. Pamphlet - Discussion/Editing/Design
*Do we need to modify? Make it generalizable or campaign-specific?
Postponed.
f. Petition review: Group should give thoughts on pipelines petition design. (part of pipelines update)
Postponed.
4. COMMITTEE BUSINESS
a. Institutional Innovation
b. Pipelines
c. Administrative Engagement
Trent will decide on Thursday. It took them 5 months to form the committee and come to a decision.
We’re still waiting to hear from Dr. Gray. Stu pinged him today.
d. Campus Engagement - Nomination of Keegan for Campus Engagement Committee Chair
e. Media
* Responses to postings?
5. NEXT MEETING
Chair: Stu
Note-taker: Kevin
Location: TBD
Kevin Metcalf
June 24th Agenda
Present:
Chair: Stu
Minutes:
Intro
Debrief
Camille Labchuk’s meetup
Nobody went.
Unist’to’en
There will be events in the near future.
Information will be sent to members.
#LetThemEatPizza
Great work team!
Gained great profile.
Neal and Rosemary will look for names of journalists who wrote articles about #trinspa debate.
2nd Candidate’s Debate
Questions were asked.
Katie did a televised interview, did anyone see it?
Green Party AGM
Things are happening.
Freegrassy
There is a $200 cheque for Amelia-Rose to pick up.
Trent
University hasn't decided on divestment yet.
StopLine9 Meeting
Did anybody go?
Event announcements
Citizens Climate Lobby and CREW Toronto Flash Mob performance piece--July 8th--Katie
Performance piece in remembrance of the big storm last year.
CCL hosting
Tuesday afternoon (contact Katie for details)
Lac Megantic Vigil -- July 6th
Not sure what is happening with this.
Internal By-election
Director of Development
Kevin stands as acting DD
Stu nominates.
Katie seconds.
Kevin elected (unanimous)
Media Director
Description of position has not been sent out.
Other exec positions?
Media Committee Chair
Job description will be posted to:
Craigslist
Kijiji
Goodjobs/Volunteer
Campus Committee Chair
Stu nominated by Tina
Seconded by Neil
Elected, 6 for, one abstention.
Dissolve/re-purpose committees?
committees were useful when breakout groups were used.
For smaller numbers/summer turnout they become lest necessary.
Bureaucratic structure is onerous.
May be useful to keep as vestigial attachments to be re-purposed in future.
Some committees could become campaigns (ex. Campaigns).
Kevin proposes disestablishment of the pipeline committee.
5 for, 2 abstain
Committee disestablished.
Committees
Pipelines
Pipeleaks.org
We have launched a website at www.pipeleaks.org which will be the permanent home for the pipeline map.
Petitioning
New petition design tested, 33 signatures in an hour. (Bloor/brunswick)
Petition backgrounder to be drafted this week, will be circulated.
All members should start gathering petition signatures.
Copies of petition are available.
Will ask Cam if we can submit lists as .csv
AECOM
Little evidence of committee forming.
May want to raise the temperature on the issue.
Katie has friend on GSU who can help
Katie knows a prof (medical) who was asked to join the committee
Katie will follow up.
CampusEngagement
No report.
IIC
Bylaws
Bylaws drafted from boilerplate.
Multi class membership could exempt us from parts of the Anti Spam legislation
Absentee/Proxy voting has been included.
Provisions included for the removal of members.
Quorum to be set at 5 voting members,
Could this be a percentage?
Could this be a percentage of voting members?
Quorum could be added to membership requirements document.
Tie breaking could be resolved through trial by combat.
Alternatively, chair of meeting could be given a second vote.
This might vest too much power in the chair.
In case a vote ties and returns a question to discussion, it is returned to the voting members for a second vote.
If members fail to break the tie after a second vote.
Committee chair can get a second vote
Should board delegate executive positions to member vote.
Dispute resolution: 3 meetings between aggrieved parties with mediators. Mediators shall serve pro bono
If that fails arbitrators will sit in and decide on who pays them.
Media
Minutes end here.
Next meeting
Location:
Chair:
- Minutes:
Other business
Mid-term strategy session
Near term: Pride, Vigil, ON350 retreat
NYC
Divestment
Municipal Elections
Extreme weather crisistunities
???
Pride
Time:12:00 church and heyden.
Place:
Suitcase: Katie
Button-maker
By election
Political Operations
Our Horizon petition—mailchimp?
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
ON350 Retreat
Workshops
Willowdale Round Table
NYC
Accommodations - progress!
Banner+Prop-making, July 12th or 13th?
Peoples Social Forum
Host a workshop?
Divestment Convergence
CASL
Consent may also be implied in certain cases: “Existing non-business relationships” include: (iii) memberships in clubs, associations or voluntary organizations (“membership” and “clubs, associations and voluntary organizations” as defined in the Industry Canada Regulations).
7. (1) For the purposes of paragraph 10(13)(c) of the Act, membership is the status of having been accepted as a member of a club, association or voluntary organization in accordance with its membership requirements.
During the transition period (until 2017-07-01), implied consent is good enough.
Pamphlet - Discussion/Editing/Design
thugsb
July 1st Agenda
Present: Stu, Kevin, Milan, Amelia Rose, Nadine, Lynn, Pieter, Monica, John, Keegan, Sylvia, Max
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Monica and Keegan
Intro
Debrief
Freegrassy - Haven’t heard back from Katie, will keep following up.
Trent - Deferred decision, but don’t know for how long they will hold off.
Pride - Kevin, Stu, Neal, Tina, Monica, Rosemary and her partner, Nadine. We collected a number of petitions for Energy East beforehand; we have pictures up on Facebook of the event; one negative: we gave out all buttons a little too soon - next time we should space it out so we have some to hand out the whole time.
Event announcements
Citizens Climate Lobby and CREW Toronto Flash Mob performance piece -- POSTPONED
Lac Megantic Vigil -- July 6th, 1pm at Barlett and the rail line, N of Dupont - small presence from TO350 will be there.
Other business
Data+list security
- We might want to think about setting up some kind of system to enhance security for mailchimp, etc. [changing passwords consistently, keeping passwords secure, etc.].
- We might also want to think about moving to a more capable web platform other than MailChimp. This warrants more discussion.
-We sent out an email last night (June 30) to our mailchimp list to gain consent in light of new anti-spam legislation.
-Now, implied consent is good enough for “membership” over the next three years as dictated by new anti-spam legislation; we can still send to people over the 3 year trial, but the email that went out on 30th was initial effort of gaining confirmed consent.
-We can open up a second tier of membership in the by-laws - anyone who has signed a petition, come to an event, etc. is a non-voting member then that allows us to email them.
[Greenpeace has similar type of system - ie. anyone that gives a donation is a “member”]
-Also, U of T clubs don’t allow non-U of T members so we would have to consider that as well.
-We can also call people to get their consent -- there is nothing about phone calls in the legislation.
-Stu will work on another form about consent and send around to the group next week.
CASL
Consent may also be implied in certain cases: “Existing non-business relationships” include: (iii) memberships in clubs, associations or voluntary organizations (“membership” and “clubs, associations and voluntary organizations” as defined in the Industry Canada Regulations).
7. (1) For the purposes of paragraph 10(13)(c) of the Act, membership is the status of having been accepted as a member of a club, association or voluntary organization in accordance with its membership requirements.
During the transition period (until 2017-07-01), implied consent is good enough.
Lac Mégantic - flyering?
-Does anyone want to flyer around the area (Ossington/Bloor/Annex/UT/etc) - Max can flyer.
Button-maker
-We spent $150 for 500 buttons for Pride. We should source our own button-maker, which will cost about $200. We can get one on eBay.
- “People, power, prints” are selling their button-makers and we could possibly get one from them. http://peoplepowerpress.org/
- Greenpeace and student unions also have button-makers - maybe we should only look into buying materials in bulk.
- Kevin will crunch numbers and look into this further.
Mailchimp Newsletter?
Our Horizon petition
Lac Mégantic
Climate fast
Energy east petition
People’s climate intervention
-Sylvia and Lyn will send Nadine links.
-Should get one out this week for the Lac Mégantic event.
TCAN Membership
-membership is due today ($20). Should we renew membership?
-It may be important to have the opportunity to have input into the organization / network.
-Is our membership effective?
-TCAN is meant to function more like a steering committee focused on bringing groups together to share ideas, not necessarily spearhead campaigns or direct anyone. Currently there is a research initiative and a project to make extreme weather events a municipal issue.
-You can be a member of the Climate Action Network without being a member of TCAN without having to pay.
-A couple of suggestions for TCAN: i) Be more flexible and include / publicize more climate-related events. ii) Have a shared database for members with press contacts/sources and press release information.
-Sylvia can write a short letter with the suggestions for what we’d like to see, along with our $20 membership fee.
Divestment Convergence
-Might be a convergence coming up in the fall to connect Ontario groups. The new CYCC director was wondering if we thought U of T would be a good place to host.
-Could be a way to put “gentle pressure” on the university administration.
-Stu will contact her and let her know yes we think it’s a good idea to host in Toronto.
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change [see item: k. “Political Operations” below]
Peoples Social Forum (August 21-24)
Host a workshop?
- Today is the deadline. There could already be a bunch of climate-themed workshops. Climate fast and CCL will be there.
- Should we have a table? We could share a table with Lynn; each table is $150.
- Kevin will look into tabling. If anyone wants to table please volunteer.
- A few people from TO350 will be there; we can have a few tabling if they want and also some people free to engage with what is going on.
Carpool? Accommodation? [skipped for now]
By-election - Letter of congratulations/press release? [see L below]
Theater Three Collaborative - Extreme Whether - Benefit Opportunity
- A theatre company from New York asking us to help organize an event.
- No, we don’t have the capacity to help with this.
Website
Personal Divestment Page
-This was discussed a while ago; Keegan had said that he would work on it and Stu will send him more information on what we have already talked about with regard to a new webpage geared to personal divestment.
Volunteer Page? [skipped for now]
Political Operations: Municipal (John Tory) /Provincial (Glen Murray) /Federal (Vaughan/Freeland)
-Joe Cressy lost by a fairly large margin; his attempt to make climate an issue was not successful in terms of winning him the seat.
-Adam Vaughan talked about oil by rail during his speech last night - it would be good to engage with him more about this since we do have oil by rail here.
-Provincially our best bet for getting our message out there further is engaging further with Glen Murray. Perhaps Max can offer some help with communications.
-Municipally John Tory has a good transit plan (electrifying GO trains, increasing capacity by 25%); we can strategize and try to play Olivia Chow and John Tory off of each other to get discussion around climate issues going, to get them talking about a coherent climate policy, rather than favouring one party and their policies [ie. installing more bike lanes] over another.
-Climate fast has the signature of Olivia Chow and others; Olivia has a good relationship with Adam Vaughan and this could be advantageous for us, however party politics might play into how he deals with her.
-Vaughan has a good position on urban impact on climate and the need for resilience
-ACTION PIECES around this conversation: We need to write a letter of congratulations or a press release that he will see to make our relationship a positive one.
-There are people whose jobs are to scan the news for articles so we an article or press release will likely be seen; however, it would be easier to just write a letter to his office.
-He is our MP, so we can request a meeting as well within the letter.
-Keegan and Lynn will write a letter to send to Adam.
ON350 Retreat
Workshops
`-No limit more than fifteen people--strict limit.
-- Keith: suggests a place called “The Barn,” a place set up for group conferences. Around $800 fee.
--Stu: about thirty people need to be housed. Stu suggests a Quaker place. Lynn is looking into it.
--Workshops. There is going to be a meeting about which workshops to run.
--John suggests a place called Kawartha Camp, said he would email Stu about it.
Willowdale Round Table
Kevin thinks it will be useful on many levels to T350’s political agenda and priorities. Katie is taking it on, so Kevin is going to email her about it.
Pamphlet - Discussion/Editing/Design postponed (Postponted discussion)
Mid-term strategy session (Postponed discussion)
--Stu: wants to fit in a time for a meeting for midterm.
--Kevin: will send some strategic sessional considerations for the mid-term agenda. Suggests a Sunday evening session at a bar with food.
--Stu: Should we consider it now, or not?
--Kevin: Wants to know who gets the ON350 doodle, thinks more people should be getting it. Says that anybody in the organization should get this doodle. Wants to know how far the doodle is disseminated.
--Stu: will ask about the exact amount, will forward it to executive to find out the relevant information under discussion.
-- A doodle will be done for a prospective meeting for next Sunday night.
-- Near term: Pride, Vigil, Flood, ON350 retreat, NYC, Divestment, Municipal Elections (TCAN), Extreme weather “crisistunities”
Committees
Pipelines
Petitioning
Current count (151 signed), questions
Kevin: 210 signed now. There were a whole bunch that he was not aware of. Needs volunteers for data entry. People could take away thirty or sixty. Volunteer to check every postal code we get, of our membership, so that we know where our pockets of support are. Wants to parse out the addresses. People will have to forward spreasdsheets, and Kevin will scan it, to integrate the information.
Kevin: felt that it was more important to make the pipelines a more relevant issue.
Kevin: re: Environmental Defense. A friend of his is going to foward some relevant materials, a map that will allow us to use for forwarding petition signatures.
Sylvia, Stu volunteer to take some petition signatures in order to integrate the data.
Kevin: asks if there is anyone who can get signatures for pipeline opprobrium. Says that, if people claim to have signed online, they should also sign the paper copy. The male chimp will eliminate doubles, so it is no problem.
Distribute blanks/clipboards
Script review
Volunteer opportunity!
AECOM
Did Katie follow up with the prof?
Milan: will swing by the office later in the week to remind the relevant parties. Wants to discuss putting pressure on these things during the mid-term strategy meeting.
CampusEngagement
New mandate
Stu: says he has come up with a new mandate. “The committee will come up with a new strategy, show solidarity, etc.” Wants approval for the mandate. The focus has shifted from DMP issues.
Stu needs to book a table for frosh.
Amelia Rose says that people who are good at sales are better at tabling than others.
Stu will try to get as many tables as possible.
Kevin: Suggests someone who is really good at this.
NYC
Accommodations
Katie - Botanical?
Camping
Stu has found a campground. $25 per person.
Kevin: can we rent a big tent? An army tent, or a white tent, a barbecue tent? Gazebo type thing. Framed tent that people rent.
John: has four large tents. Cost is about $500-$700 for renting a tent. Fifteen-foot poles. It’s possible, but it will take some foresight. It takes forty-five minutes to put one of these things up. They’re easy to put up.
Keegan: going to talk to Victoria about people staying.
Kevin: putting them up is a great team task.
Banner+Prop-making, July 12th or 13th?
Stu: wants to know if we should put together a couple of dates for a prop-making party, activity.
Kevin: ask Monica about that.
Stu: will ask Monica about that. Wants to know if anyone has experience with papier mache. There are structural issues, with wire insides.
Kevin: wants to involve the pipeline issue and articulate in general the themes of the props.
John: suggests some technical things about how to realize the signs during a protest, e.g. with bristol board, for stability. They come apart for convenience, reusable signs. These more rigid signs still won’t flap around in the breeze. These signs can strap around the shoulder.
Stu: will follow up about that with John.
Kevin: there were some wire flags, would be cool to haeve 350 on them.
Should we put up reg? $95 and $135?
Stu: how should we price it? Maybe within the next week or two. WE’ll leave on Friday night and return Monday morning.
Lynn: suggests that we could pitch $125, tiered tickets, student i.d. Should people pay right up front? Maybe $120 for students, $150 for others?
Kevin: two-hundred is a good number; he’s pitched it to friends and they were energetic about it, said that was a great deal.
Milan: By the end of June we would evaluate the feasibility of the NYC trip. Wants to know if these things are going to really come together?
Kevin: in response to Milan’s concerns, wants to sell viability of ideas, rather than second-guessing them. Wants to display a positive attitude toward our getting to NYC, representing Toronto’s environmental contingencies.
Stu: in relative agreement, suggests that most of the pieces are in place.
Amelia Rose: talks about some other alternatives for Megabus, some subsidies.
Kevin: thinks the priority should be on getting a budget down.
IIC
Bylaws
Stu: must find a lawyer for a discussion. Wnats to have a meeting about this for the executive committee. Hopes we can be incorporated by end of the summer.
Kevin: wants to discuss who, how and when corporate (meeting)? If we’re going for soliciting corporation status.
Stu will look into this.
Next steps
Media
Interview
Is going to interview a person with a Ph.D. in some kind of science.
Next meeting
Location: Steelworkers. Need chairs and minutes taker.
Chair:
Stu: will send an email about finding a chair.
Minutes: Milan.
Milan
Present: Katie, Stu, Anne, Amanda, Keegan, Evelyn, Tina, Nadine, Milan
Chair: Katie
Note-taker: Milan
Agenda:
* Approval of minutes
* Introductions
* Debriefs
* Other non-committee business
* Committee business
=== 1) Approval of minutes ===
No objections
=== 2) Introductions ===
=== 3) Debriefs ===
Lac Megantic vigil
* Stu attended, as did Amelia Rose
* About 25 others were there, along with about 25 police officers
* No trains passed while it was happening
* Good ceremony with speeches, article forthcoming in Now Magazine
Line 9 meeting last night
* Nobody attended
TCAN membership + letter
* Discussed last week
* Sylvie has drafted a letter and circulated it for comment
* Purpose of the letter: to express some things we're unhappy about with our TCAN membership, particularly in terms of publicizing events
* We would be happy if they would broaden the framework for the inclusion of events
* Julia Butterfly Hill event and climate debate were not promoted
* Membership is $20 and we decided to pay it last week
Grassy Narrows
* $200 donation has been sent - hopefully we will get a receipt
Letter to Adam Vaughan
* Keegan wrote a letter which Kevin edited
* Stu and Katie have seen it
* Letter will be sent to the executive email list to allow people to provide comments - Katie will send it
* The letter congratulates Vaughan on winning the by-election and tells him about the issues we are concerned about
* May need to be edited in tone to not be condescending, and to help create a healthy and productive relationship
We want official 350 letterhead for such documents
* Milan made a LaTeX template for press releases
* Tina will work on it - she could use the Massey College mailing address, or Stu's
* If all goes well, Milan will be doing a PhD for the next four years, and they will probably hold or forward mail after that
Trinity-St. Paul's
* They are getting many requests from faith groups asking for information on their divestment process
* 100 people on a very rainy night showed up for an information session
* A number of people who were there say they are going to New York (on their own, not planning to go with us)
* Others are facilitating Do The Math screenings at churches
=== 4) Other non-committee business ===
Bill McKibben in Toronto?
* Some possibility with an event in early September (first week)
* Information from Cameron Fenton
* Free Sept 1-5
* Maybe we could arrange and pay for him to come up (mothership might pay the travel)
It would be great if he could address the people who we are bringing with us to New York, possibly as part of the training we are giving them
* Not everyone will be signed up yet
* We can make a video for the others
* It will be during frosh week
Could we get him to speak at the theatre where we held the Do The Math screening?
* Or perhaps another venue on or near campus
* With amplified sound, the church where the by-election all-candidates' debate happened could be a good venue
* Also, Trinity St. Paul sanctuary (capacity of a couple hundred)
* We could conceivably try to book Koerner Hall, between the Varsity Stadium and the ROM
We would need to advertise it, book a venue, etc
* Do we have people willing to do all the work required?
* Stu is busy with New York and 6-7 frosh events at the same time
Would it be possible to do this as a frosh event?
* Would most of those people be too young for an 18+ trip
* Have we made a formal decision about whether to allow minors?
* Liability and logistics issue are a concern (especially for children)
* Would we refuse a 17-year-old with parental consent who wants to come?
* "Potentially yes"
Would anyone be willing to organize a Bill McKibben event? Booking and promotion are the main tasks, along with logistics for the evening and volunteers
* Promotion: online, asking for ads in newspapers and magazines
* Doing whatever kind of ticketing will happen
Katie will look into what might be involved, and will talk with Cameron Fenton
His book publisher would be willing to provide some of his books available for sale, including Eaarth
* He had a small event at the U of T bookstore, when Eaarth came out
ON350 retreat
-New location
- Cost and subsidies
* Cottage booked previously would allow 15 people at the maximum
* At least 21 are now coming
* Stu found a place with teepees which we can go to
* Not free, so there will be a per-person cost
* The cost per person would be about $35-40 for the weekend
Located in the Muskoka's, about 2.5 hours from Toronto
Has a pond (no water-skiing, unlike other place)
* Tepees have bunks that turn into couches, which would allow meetings inside in bad weather
* No electricity - no Powerpoint presentations, etc
Food - potluck style, with a signup sent to the people who register
* People will volunteer to bring ingredients / meal
* There is a propane-powered fridge and tiny freezer
Transport - three people have said they have access to a car and are willing to drive
* Travelers will split gas cost
Lisa, Patrick, and Stu discussed subsidizing people who want to go
* Perhaps $15 / person, leaving $20 for them to pay
* Or it could be upon request
* It would be about $200 if we provide subsidies for everyone
We could provide a budget to someone responsible for the trip, then let them divide whatever is left as a subsidy
* That would cover any unexpected costs that arise - flat tires, parking tickets, etc
* What would be a sensible budget?
* Would $200 be appropriate, with a $5 subsidy going from us to members of any other group that come? (Barrie, Owen Sound, etc) Hamilton and Ottawa will match the $5 / person subsidy
What is our current bank balance?
* About $2000, after the Grassy donation and other recent payments
Perhaps $250 as a total budget, with any unspent money to be divided as subsidy to our participants
* No disagreement about setting $250 as a budget
* Deemed approved
Stu will send an email to everyone who has signed up, as well as to the general membership
* What has changed, plus an encouragement to come along
Summer Strategy Session
-Which day?
* Goals? To look over the next six months or year and decide what we want to allocate the group's time to (divestment v. pipelines v. elections v. New York, etc)
* What are our specific goals in each of these areas?
* To be more strategic than we can be at planning meetings
Stu put out a Doodle, canvassing people about possible dates
* 9 responded
* 6 can't do next Sunday
* The most people can attend the latest dates
* Do we want to have it close to the end of the month?
* There is one week Monica (chair of the IIC) cannot attend
* 11/11 are good on Sunday the 27th
We will have it on Sunday, July 27th
Time? 6pm or so
* Possibly dinner together
Location? Stu would be willing to host
* Could be a BBQ - statistically the hottest week of the summer
* Could be on the island, in a park
* The Massey College quad can host a BBQ - Milan will look into it
Green Majority monthly update
* We have been offered a 10-minute segment once a month
* Tina will do it
* Milan will provide her with updates on our divestment campaign and those at other schools
Media Person?
* Some possible dates for an interview / briefing have been identified
Pipelines (any developments?)
* Kevin is working on the PipeLeaks website
* Stu and Kevin are going to Ottawa on Monday and Tuesday for a high-level strategy discussion with other groups
* Both will not be at next week's planning meeting
* Stu will provide a debrief on the meeting at the next planning meeting after his return
=== 5) Committee business ===
a) Campus Engagement: (Stu now the chair)
New York City - http://peoplesclimate.org/
-Accommodation - found it!
* Someone who called Stu two weeks ago, but wasn't totally sure until today
* Stu initially emailed them, then they exchanged calls
* They can host 100 people
* In the signup, we can encourage people to find their own accommodation if possible
* Register 150, and leave 50 to find alternative accommodation
* Would be free, with a donation appreciated but not required
* For Saturday night
Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew
* http://stlukeandstmatthew.org/
* 520 Clinton Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11238
* https://www.google.com/maps/@40.683681,-73.966806,1053m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
* 6-mile walk to the U.N. Plaza
The plan for the weekend has basically been established
* Vanessa is working as a bus outreach coordinator for the event
* Sent a package on how to be a bus captain
Cam doesn't expect problems with crossing the border
* Fairly share the border will be well-aware of what we intend, and that it is going to be a legal and peaceful march
* We will be telling those who sign up that they must arrange their own transport at the border if they get stopped
* They will not get a refund, and will be responsible for their own costs
We may be able to call the border in advance to let them know we're coming
They know about 250-300 buses - about 15,000 people
* Lots of people will make their own way independently, and many will come from locally
* Tiers of priority:
1- NY region
2- Region including Toronto (some funding should be available from the Peoples Climate March)
We may be able to apply for some funding from U of T (at least for student participants)
* Stu is prioritizing fundraising over the next week
The organizers want the cost per participant kept low if possible
Friday - one night on the bus
Saturday - in the city, night at the church
Sunday - march happens, then back on the bus
Total expected cost per person now?
* Bus about $90 / person
Food?
* Participants to be responsible for all their own meals
* Maybe one dinner or breakfast at the church
* Stu will ask if they have a kitchen we can use
* What about Food Not Bombs Toronto (they don't use black bloc tactics, and have only been around since last September)
* Would they be bringing the food with them from Toronto? Would that add border problems?
We may be able to provide spaghetti and tomato sauce, if there is somewhere to cook it - or just let people shop for themselves
Packed lunches would be useful for the day of the march
Most churches provide meals to about 300 people with fair regularity
Breakfast the day of the march might be the best thing to have
* Communal dinner on Saturday as well would also be good
Stu needs to talk to the church people about when they want us to arrive? To sleep only?
* We need to be out well before their 11am service
-Corporate sponsorship
* Do we want to reach out to Jean from Pure+Simple?
* Would she want to sponsor the buses in some way? Or somebody else?
* Seek an ad in Now?
Shadow constitution text: "Before a for-profit enterprise shall be accepted as a sponsor, the matter shall be discussed at a planning meeting. If any person present objects to the sponsorship, a simple majority vote shall be conducted to settle the matter."
Can we approve someone's intention to approach a potential sponsor?
* Stu wants to approach Pure+Simple and Now Magazine about the possibility of sponsoring the trip
* We would probably do something like show their logo in return
* No objections - so he will go ahead and approach them
-Prop-making dates and ideas
* Stu has booked the Greenpeace warehouse on July 26th and 27th
* We will pick one as a prop-making day
* Located at 10 Busy Street (Queen, about 10 blocks east of Broadview)
* Evelyn has some poster ideas (show risks beside map of Line 9)
* Stu also booked three weeks later, August 16th and 17th
* We want to have at least one day each weekend for making props
* Evelyn and Keegan will help
Coming up with ideas, sourcing materials, actually building
* We will ask Neal to help with design, etc
* Tina will also work on this
We want to emphasize that we are Canadian
* T-shirts could help identify us, and help us find one another in a crowd
* Could make them on the second day of work, or order t-shirts
El Nino - wet weather expected
* Problematic for paper mache
Monica volunteered to bottom-line the props, but is away for the next week
"Petro state" branding? Or more positive "Canadians for climate solutions"?
Frosh week
- Things we've registered for
* Ryerson - starts August 25th (Are You Ready? Day)
* We can get a space there, and also sometime between the 2nd and the 5th
We are registered for two UTSU events, but still need to pay
* Also VUSAC (Victoria University) - also registered and need to pay
* Also at Woodsworth
* $60 for VUSAC, UTSU is either $200 or $100
George Brown may also have an event related to divestment in which we could participate
Stu has also approached some other colleges, including New and St. Mike's
* Those both prioritize clubs from their college, but will provide space if available
Should we set a total frosh budget?
* We don't want to be broke when we go to NYC...
* What would be a reasonable figure?
We could add to the New York ticket price, and use the money to cover the cost of frosh events
* We are expecting to use frosh to recruit people
Kevin is trying to find people to take over the Ryerson 350.org chapter
Some people within the pension board at York are trying to get a divestment campaign going there
* They are familiar with our brief, which might save them some work
What about a $450 budget, paid with a $3/ticket fee on those going to New York?
If we get grant money from ENSU or OPIRG, it is likely to be usable for U of T students only
* Could we apply specifically for frosh funding - that would be on campus and for students
To be a UTSU-registered club, 75% of our members would need to be undergrad students
Are we absolutely certain 150 participants will come to New York?
* We can expect so - Cam and Vanessa are going to push hard to make each bus full
* (If there are more than 150 who want to go, we may need to alter the plan - another bus, with no accommodation provided?)
* (Would we want to book accommodation for additional people, rather than transport? Camping expected to be unpleasant in the weather)
* (The organizers are working on a website to help people find accommodation - we may be able to find something through this list)
* (Our planning is well ahead of that of many other groups)
* $450 total budget for frosh week formally proposed
* Funded with a $3 fee on New York tickets
* No objections - deemed approved
Any other questions or concerns about NYC?
b) IIC
OPIRG action group
* Cam suggested becoming one, as an alternative to incorporation
* May not offer the same ability to grow (no OPIRG action groups have paid staff)
* Would provide some structure, allow a bank account, include $500 per year of funding and ability to apply for more
* Rising Tide Toronto is an OPIRG action group
* We would also get printing, access to a button maker, and help with event promotion
By-laws
* Stu will be focusing on this during the next couple of weeks
* Milan provided comments
* We need to decide on the relative powers and responsibilities of the board and the executive
* Do we want to have two governing bodies?
* We may not be legally required to have an executive
* Having only a board would make us different from the standard non-profit structure, which includes both
* For Our Horizon, the board and the executive are the same people
Directors have liability, which members of the executive do not
A minimal board would basically just meet the requirements for a corporation in terms of paperwork, financial statements, etc
* At the maximum, we would get rid of the executive and transfer all power and responsibility to the board
* There are many intermediate options in between
* We need a division of powers that will be clear, compatible with our values, and capable of minimizing conflict
We may not want a president of the executive and a chair of the board and a president who is an officer of the board
* We may want the titles of officers of the board to be distinctly different from those of the executive - chief executive officer, chief financial officer, etc
c) Administration engagement
Milan met with Tony Gray and sent around a detailed email about it
* If you didn't get it and you want it, contact him
* The university has made a lot of progress in establishing the committee, but it remains unclear when it will actually publish terms of reference or membership and when it will meet
We will be producing a supplement to the brief
Milan has a comprehensive exam in August
* There are major tasks he doesn't have time for, so if someone is willing to take on a big task, please be in touch with him
We also want to design a campaign to engage with the Governing Council
* What documents should we provide them specifically?
* Can we do any personal schmoozing?
We want to have some reactive capacity - be able to deal with requests, sudden decisions, or other important developments
Katie would be willing to help reach out to students on the Governing Council
* Objective: reach out to people who are interested in the campaign, meet with them to provide information and answer their questions
What about building general student support?
* This was the original purpose of the Campus Engagement Committee - they organized the Divestment Meme Party
* We can feature divestment in our frosh efforts, have class talks, Do The Math screening, etc
* Many people on campus remain unaware of the campaign
* There are a number of environmental student groups - we have already approached them, they tend to be small, and they intend to all contain the same people
* Keegan will contact student groups that have not already endorsed the campaign: http://toronto350.org/divest/support.php
* He will let them know about the New York trip, and ask for their help with divestment
A group of investors are having a session on low-carbon investment on September 29th
* Jane from Mercer is presenting
* (Milan sent her the draft for creating an advisory council, but hasn't yet heard back)
* UK and US participants will be at the meeting
* Could Toronto350.org register and get a seat? Unknown right now
=== 6) Next meeting ===
Chair: Milan
Note-taker: Keegan will use Katie's computer
Location: Steelworkers' Hall
Milan
Toronto 350.org Planning Meeting
Minutes July 15, 2014
Present:
Milan
Katie
Daniel
Amelia Rose
Nadine
Tina
Amanda
Chair: Milan
Note-taker: Lisa
A. Introductions
B. Committee Reports
The committee document should be updated to reflect which committees are still established and who the chairs are
1. Campus engagement committee
-this committee has become the centre of organization for the September New York trip; Stu is booking 3 buses for Wednesday, $5000 bus requiring a 10% deposit
-Stu has started to look into funding. Nothing secured yet. Rosemary is helping.
* Stu wants to seek corporate funding from Mountain Equipment Co-op (outdoor gear), Lush (cosmetics), Big Carrot (groceries, body care and supplements), Patagonia (clothing), and Bullfrog Power (renewable energy). Our organization’s policy is that before accepting sponsorship from for-profit agencies we need to discuss it in the planning meeting
-one asks: would there be a conflict of interest with Bullfrog because one of our executive members works for them? This is discussed briefly.
-no one had objections to any of the other companies.
* Also - he wants to know if we would be willing to list the bus company as a sponsor if they give us a discount
-no objections are raised to this idea
* Also he wants to know if he can accept support from "other similar companies... that are inline with our values" or whether they should be approved individually after being identified
-the general feeling is that we must adhere to the policy of discussing each possible sponsor at a meeting; this is not too onerous, and besides, a sponsor can be asked/approached prior to being raised at a meeting, and it is not approved the funding would not go ahead
Prop-making workshops for New York September event
* Props will be made on Sunday 27th July and Sunday 17th August. We need designs. Tina has been asked to bring this up and try to get designs made by next Tues (see below “C” Items for Discussion). The messaging should be around Canada supporting climate action and/or stopping Energy East.
* We should also think about T-shirt making for the trip. We would need to design them. We can screen print them ourselves for around $5/shirt or get them made for us for ~$7.50. Do we have capacity/desire/time to make them ourselves? The price can be added to the ticket cost, but ideally everyone who marches with us will wear them.
-it is pointed out that it took a really long time in February to make T-shirts. And we'd want 150, one t-shirt for each NY participant. No conclusive decision is reached about this point.
-we talked a bit about what type of design and message should be on the T-shirts if we make them (or have them made): there is a feeling among some that our participation in the NY march should have an “Energy East” theme/message. But some think that since that is a purely Canadian issue, maybe it is not a great idea. “Canadians for Climate Action” was suggested by one of the members and there was general approval of this.
Campus engagement (UTSU)
* We have applied to be a UTSU recognized club, which means that we could apply for up to $500 short term funding for an event.
-Katie points out: UTSU seems really into us... they recognized Toronto350 and said they are working on promoting the divestment campaign, and they have a link to our divestment page on one of three screen sliders on their web page: utsu.ca
* Katie will be booking us a table at UTSU Clubs Fair for first week of school once we are recognized (in the next couple of days. (although we missed the early bird deadline, waiting to become recognized saves us much more money)
-so we will need people to volunteer to staff the booth at Frosh Week
2. Administration Engagement Committee
-Milan is going to need to pull back even more from 350 work in the lead-up to his comprehensive exam
-we're waiting for U of T admin to respond regarding the case for fossil fuel divestment; they're supposed to create an adhoc committee to consider this and to make a report to the President; so we're waiting for the terms of reference
-meanwhile we as an org are continuing to collect data/material that supports the demand, that will support the brief; people should send any relevant material to Rosemary
-Keegan is preparing a letter to approach other student groups to request their support for the campaign
-one memer asks the others whether the U of T divestment campaign is the only divestment campaign underway in Toronto, and whether the fact that the organization has "Toronto" as part of its name was really a good idea since its divestment focus is purely U of T. Might this interfere with other universities in the city doing divestment campaigns under the 350.org umbrella? One member responds that there are divestment campaigns underway at York and Ryerson, and those organizers are welcome to attend our meetings while working on their own campaigns. To carry out a campaign requires willing, committed participants. The name could be used by others.
3. Media Committee
-it has not been operational lately but Amanda Lewis has volunteered to reactivate it
-she asks the rest of the members how they see her role, what priorities should be
-Milan says: we need to improve our media list becuase it's not comprehensive or up to date, and we also need to know who the key people are within each media outlet who will be responsive to our press releases; also doing quality control for press releases and being last person to sign off
4. Institutional Innovation
-no report from them
-they've been working on getting incorporated as a non-profit org
5. Non-Committee Pipelines update
Stu and Kevin are at a meeting in Ottawa, and they write:
* This has been a great meeting, really good for us to be here
* The peoples climate intervention has a larger strategy that I was not aware of before. I think its really solid and will fill people in at the strategy session or next week. Environmental Defense (ED), Greenpeace and Leadnow are also supportive, as well as other orgs. For now, its really important for us to step up the collection of signatures/participants.
* The line9 coalition and ED will be funnelling people our way who want to work on EE. We are the primary group in To working on this pipeline. It will be important to coordinate these incoming volunteers.
* Also, groups here are discussing making the NYC trip largely energy-east themed for the Canadian contingents. There's a potential to tie in the Peoples Climate Intervention with the Peoples Climate March
* We're thinking about doing a big petition drive on Aug 17th. This would bump the second prop making to the end of month.
-the idea is to have say 1000 people to apply to the National Energy Board to make a case, knowing they'll get rejected but to make a public point
* I'm in favor of this. I think it would be really good if people could join in on this. Please ask for volunteers. It would also be good to ask on MailChimp in early August to notify people that this is going to be happening
-anyone interested in volunteering should contact Kevin
Items for discussion/decision
1. Prop making
-July 27: prop-making day; prior to the workshop that we need to decide what types of props and how many
-eg. with 150 people, how many banners;
-one member suggests: 3 big banners and maybe a few smaller ones; encourage participants to make their own
-other prop ideas are suggestedby other members: (eg. balloons, umbrellas which we already have; umbrella hats),
-we also discuss ideas for what should be on the banners (eg. representations of Canadian pipelines):
-Milan asks if there are any restrictions as to type of materials marchers can bring
-it is generally agreed that we should not bring really large props; that should be left to the more local participants
2. Letter to Adam Vaughan
-a letter to him was circulated for comments
-the general idea of it is to express congrats on being elected and asking him to meet with us to talk about climate issues
-Stu wants someone to commit to finishing it and sending it by end of the week; Milan suggests Lynn; Milan says it still needs proof-reading; the letter should not criticize any of the political parties; Milan says strategically it should be a very polite letter
-so far, no one here volunteers
3. a possible event with a major speaker in early September (Katie)
-Cam Fenton who became the first paid 350.org member; he doesn't think B. McKibbon would be available but maybe Naomi Klein. He wrote: “I'm just trying to figure out some things, at the moment it doesn't look like Bill will be available for an event in Toronto, but we're working on talking with Naomi Klein about a PCM event of some sort in Toronto the first week of September. I'll hopefully have some more details and info by the end of this week.”
-would anyone be willing to take the lead in organizing said event?
-Amanda, who says she has worked with Naomi Klein in the past, expresses interest; Milan asks her to contact Katie
4. Captain Gaia comic by Johnny Tay (Amelia Rose)
-the artist Johnny Tay wrote to us: "'Captain Gaia' is a parody of the old cartoons Captain Planet and Dragon Ball, chock-full of pop culture references and starring real-world villain Putin. The story is inspired by a real-life event: the arrest of Greenpeace activists near the Arctic by the Russian navy (2013-4)."
* "In a future issue I intend to explore the issue of oil pipelines in North America."
* Kickstarter seeking $15,569 is up to $3,150
* https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1754249198/captain-gaia
-Amelia Rose explains more about this: he has reached out to our organization to produce a page of material that would promote his fund-raising campaign; in return he would promote 350.org on his website. So this could be a collaboration with him
-Are we happy putting a page on our website promoting this comic, for which we'll get a page on their website in return?
-a general agreement among those in attendance that we would be willing to support this via facebook or twitter but not on our website; also that we want to find out whether this would be a link to the Kickstarter page or to the actual comic
5. Barbeque and strategy session, July 27
-a 3 or 4 hour meeting, different from the Tuesday planning meetings which are for week to week planning; this is to think in the longer term
-a difficulty we've had is we take on project ideas but end up not having enough people to carry them out
-2 possible locations: Massey Quad, and then going to the library; or at the Greenpeace warehouse on Queen street east, less easy to get to
-there's a sense that because the prop-making is on that date, then, those involved in that activity should be asked about this, or we decide that we will do it in that location if the space is still available from to 5 to 9
Announcements
1. tomorrow there is a Stop Line 9 Network meeting, starting 6:30, at Friends’ House, 60 Lowther Avenue
-can anyone attend?
-Lynn will be going
2. Lynn lost her cell phone; if anyone has found one please notify.
3. We need to choose chair and note-taker for the next meeting
-Lisa volunteers to take notes
-Tina volunteers to chair
-location: Steelworkers' Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Tuesday July 22
Lisa Kowalchuk
Toronto 350.org July 22 2014 Minutes
Present
Amelia Rose
Tina
Stu
Milan
Wynn
Bernadette
Lisa
Amanda
Keegan
Nadine
Chair: Tina
Note-taker: Lisa
Committee reports
-Tina: update from a committee proposed a couple of months ago: Farming/urban resilience committee. It has not really gotten off the ground yet.
-Amelia Rose would like to revive it, and will follow up on it.
Non-committee matters
1. Stu and Kevin went to a meeting in Ottawa last week re Energy East
-Stu summarizes highlights.
2. People's Climate March
i. re prop-making, Tina devised some design ideas for the large banner and the small ones. She shows them to us and people contribute some additional ideas for changes. We also talk about what techniques and materials will be needed.
-The prop-making this sunday 1- 5 pm. Tina, Stu, Amanda, Keegan, Lisa, Nadine, have volunteered so far
ii. Logistics
-Stu: People's Climate March has donated some funds for the buses + additional donation; the buses are $15000 and need $3000 for food, props, advertising
-Other activists and groups in the city are interested in bussing people to the event
-it would be ideal to have 5 "climate leaders" on each bus of 50 as go-to people, also an additional bus-captain; so we need volunteers for those roles. These are the decisive factors for how many people we can actually send because we need this organizational capacity
-Keegan has info about additional accommodation capacity in NYC
-Milan: we need assigned media liason people for the march; within the bus team someone should be in charge of photography, press statements, videography etc. There is general agreement with this idea.
-the planning document is up now; we can email Stu if don’t have access
3. Summer strategy session
-a reminder: July 27 5 - 9 pm with pot-luck barbecue
4. 350.ON is happening soon
-August 8 through 10; this is for Ontario 350 groups and possibly others; organized as a retreat + workshops
-one member asks: how to find out about topics of workshops? Stand by for info in the next couple of days
-updates from Ryerson divestment group: any info? Amelia Rose: there is someone named Kevin who has tried to contact our group to ask for assistance
-York? Amelia Rose: York was having a couple of meetings last school year; they want to do it; are optimistic based on another kind of divestment campaign they've done. He doesn't know how big the group is but last he saw, was small. They're in early stages
5. Events
i. the “Yes in my backyard” festival -- Sept 27 at U of T: for community groups, politicians, and others to meet and network
-Amelia Rose: our group should sign up if we want to be there to take part. He was there last year and it's very busy. We agree that Amelia Rose will sign us up to be able to participate.
ii. during the same weekend as the NYC Climate Summit event, there'll be a Toronto event in support of the People’s Climate March
-Amelia Rose: we have an open invitation to attend their planning meeting that is happening soon to give input
iii. engaging the municipal election campaign
-in the previous election, enviro groups took part in debate with the candidates at a very populated event
-the fact that Toronto350 engaged with candidates in the recent bi-election gives us some experience
-one member suggests a possible issue is insulation in high-rises
-one action suggestion for us is to host a debate about 2 weeks before Oct. 22
-one suggests: let's look at the campaigns of top 5 candidates; Wynn and Bernadette offer to analyse and report on this
-another suggestion is that rather than hosting a debate we could do an action around a theme that’s relevant to the municipal level
iv. Letter to Adam Vaughan
-we decide to send the letter that two of the members drafted, even though a similar one was sent separately by one of the members.
-for next week’s meeting (July 29) which is the last Tuesday of the month potluck, with an extra hour (7 - 10)
-host and chair next week: Stu
-minutes: Keegan
On Saturday, January 25, 2014 4:12:23 PM UTC-5, Milan wrote:
Toronto350.org planning meeting - 2014-01-21
Chair: Stuart
Note-taker: Milan
Present: Kevin, Amelia Rose, Tamara, Shosho, Stuart, Monica, Flavius, Lucas, James, Ariel, Elizabeth, Monica, Milan
Agenda1. Introductions1. Introductions
2. Event announcements
a. TGM, Tuesday January 28th
b. Focus on sustainability film festival, Jan 31st, 12pm-9pm (Amelia Rose)
c. Olivia Chow book launch - January 29th
3. Debriefs
a. TCAN winter meeting
b. Class Talking Workshop
c. Organization Structure workshop with Tools4Change
d. Mothership meeting
4. Status updates
a. Carbon Bubble Inflatable, Feb 2nd - we have a room
b. Suzuki ripples
c. GSU endorsement
d. UTSU endorsement
5. Small stuff: media list sharing, GAN/GSS, meat+dairy free commitment, finding a home, banking
6. New business
a. Reconstituting the exec and institutional innovation
b. Committee decisions
c. TGM issues
d. Should we incorporate?
7. OPIRG strategy meeting - January 30 / 31
8. Energy East research
9. Class talks starting
10. Divestment party on campus - February 27 - DMP
11. Next meeting
2. Event announcements
a. TGM, Tuesday January 28th
b. Focus on sustainability film festival, Jan 31st, 12pm-9pm (Amelia Rose)
They are wondering if we can offer an item to raffle off
* We could donate the Earth Day flag we got at the Radiohead concert
c. Olivia Chow book launch - January 29th
Noon-1:30pm
* Sears Atrium, Engineering Building, 245 Church Street, Ryerson
3. Debriefs
a. TCAN winter meeting
Stu attended, along with Flavius and Amelia Rose
* They were able to present on divestment
They are looking into what to research this year
* Last year: carbon pricing
* A survey was conducted for this year, and 'stranded assets' and the carbon bubble were the most popular
* It would be great if someone from Toronto350.org could take part in their meetings
* Michael Brothers is heading up the team
* Could incorporate lots of analysis: Carbon Tracker report, IPCC, oil sands
* Last year, the research went on for a whole year
b. Class Talking Workshop
Run by Fiona, Tina, and Stu
* Three people attended, including Jess
Everyone there got a chance to practice pitches
c. Organization Structure workshop with Tools4Change
Attended by Milan and Tina
Milan can circulate the materials from the meeting
d. Mothership meeting
Milan, Monica, Kevin, Katie, and Flavius present
They are ambitious, including with regard to Canada
* Toronto350.org may be the most publicly visible and active 350 group in Canada
Milan can make his detailed notes available to anyone who is interested
4. Status updates
a. Carbon Bubble Inflatable, Feb 2nd - we have a room
February 2nd
* Howard Park Tennis Club, northeast corner of High Park
* 430 Parkside Drive
* 1pm to 4pm
Will inflate to 1.5 metres per side
* For larger size, something like a leaf blower or air compressor may help
* Can be rented for about $30 an hour, and we may be able to borrow one from somebody
b. Suzuki ripples
Re: his endorsement of the divestment campaign
We got into the Now Magazine barometer page
Mila at Metro has been calling the Office of the President, trying to get an answer on whether he will come to our lecture
* Article should appear in Metro within the next few days
c. GSU endorsement
James emailed Suzanne Waldorf - the civics and environment commissioner
* She provided information on presenting the matter formally at their meeting on Monday
* James and Katie are going to the meeting
* Long agenda, so there is some danger it will be pushed to the next meeting
* Katie will hopefully be granted speaking rights, in order to explain why they should endorse us
d. UTSU endorsement
Fiona is going to their Friday meeting, where it will be decided
e. History and Philosophy of Science Undergraduate Student Union endorsement
They have indicated that they are willing to endorse the divestment campaign
5. Small stuff: media list sharing, GAN/GSS, meat+dairy free commitment, finding a home, banking
a. Media list sharing - with other divestment campaigns (George Brown, Ryerson, York?)
There are risks in sharing the list - it's hard to get people to pay attention
* Some groups may send lots of emails, potentially of law quality
Would we want to share it with just Ryerson, everybody, or nobody?
* Distinction between campus reps and schools that establish their own 350 groups?
* We could get a ticket to an organic growers conference in exchange for the list
Others have shared their email lists with us
* Perhaps we ought to return the favour
Many of the contacts we have are generic addresses, like the City Hall press gallery
* Our list as of now may not be all that helpful
Maybe we could work with them to create a better list
* Requires a lot of effort to maintain a strong media list
* We need to put a lot more research into ours
b. GAN/GSS - 5min into to DtM, 5min after talk about our campaign, maybe Q&A, tabling (Monica?)
Greening Sacred Spaces / Green Awakening Network
* They have an event on the 1st of March, about divestment
* Mostly focused on churches
* They will be showing Do The Math
* They want someone from us to come and talk for five minutes before and after the movie, and maybe to sit on a panel
We also have the opportunity to have a table at the event
Will be from 9am to 2pm
Happening somewhere around St. Clair and Yonge
* Beech United Church
* 140 Wineva Avenue
They want to arrange a speaker from us sometime between tonight and next week
* Monica could potentially do it, and will confirm with Stu
Initiative of the Toronto United Church council
* Largely being run by Tom Cullen, who is also associated with TCAN
We can discuss tabling next week
c. Meat+dairy free commitment?
Response to offer of free pizza at our class talks workshop
* The U of T vegan society wants us to pledge to have only vegan food at events/meetings
There is a climate change connection - fossil fuel use in livestock agriculture, methane emissions from livestock
There could be a greater cost associated with doing this
People are free to bring vegan food to potlucks
It's not necessarily the case that only veganism is sustainable, or that it is even always more sustainable
Could cause difficulty in building the movement
* How extreme would such a position be?
* Certainly, it is preferable to have vegan and other options available
An alternative policy might be to choose local food
* But there are also questions about cost here, and what is actually sustainable
We could potentially have an internal policy that we are meat-free, without announcing it publicly
There is a specific catered menu already for the Divestment Meme Party
There seems to be no clear consensus in favour of adopting such a policy
* We do intend to be conscientious about the food that we eat and provide
d. Finding a home - We’ve got one!
We can now meet weekly at the Friends' House at 60 Lowther Avenue
* Requires that a member of the Peace and Social Action Committee (PSAC) be present
* Usually, it will be Lynn
* Kevin may be able to join
* Sometimes it will be in the dining hall - sometimes upstairs
Potluck nights cannot be here, so they will normally be at someone's house
* We may be able to check about holding potlucks in some rooms at the Friends' House
* There is a very small kitchen here
* Neither beer nor wine would be allowed here
e. Banking - to be considered after TGM
Chantale has class every night on Tuesdays
We may need to elect a new Treasurer at the TGM
f. Niagara tabling
This Saturday, the Niagara Social Justice forum is happening at Brock University
* Toronto350.org has been granted a table there
* Opportunity to network on social justice
Kevin is traveling by GO Bus at 7am
* He needs to get the banner and pamphlets
* Do we have a layout?
* Katie may have something
* It would be good to have a general pamphlet that works for all events
Runs from 9:30am to 4:00pm
It would be good to have three people so we can rotate between shifts
This could be an opportunity to set up a 350.org chapter at Brock
g. Ryerson350.org and divestment
Kevin has filed the documents to become an affiliate group of the school
* They have a permanent meeting space in the Centre for Urban Energy
Ryerson is pushing for a zero-carbon campus
They have $300,000 invested in Enbridge
* They have a new president coming in this year
Kevin wants to develop and train activists to work on Energy East
h. George Brown
Stu met with some people on Thursday night
* They are launching a divestment campaign
i. Collecting data on supporters
We should be doing some data-driven research on supporters, including those who may provide financial support
The 350 mothership may have such data
Part of the idea is to develop this capability at Ryerson
6. New business
a. Reconstituting the exec and org innovation
Last week, we had 20 people present
* We are likely to be hitting 15-20 every week
* Inefficient for everyone to be sitting and hearing all business
We have been thinking about ways of changing our organizational structure
* In particular, establishing a committee structure
* Committees might meet at additional times, in person or electronically
We have also been thinking about incorporating as a non-profit, about legitimacy as a U of T club, and about potentially revising our U of T constitution
* Milan, Kevin, Flavius, and others have all been thinking about these issues
We need a new executive as of next week
* At the very least, we need a treasurer and president
As Milan understands it, we always intended to be a Toronto-wide organization
* We just became a U of T club for the sake of convenience, room booking, a bank account, etc
There may be an excessive perception that Toronto350.org is just a U of T group, working only on divestment
* Our campaigns, minutes, etc do tend to be U of T centred
* At the same time, we have done quite a few community events, and quite a bit of community outreach
Do we want to formally separate the U of T club from the organization as a whole?
* What would the break-away group have, as formal status? Incorporation as a non-profit?
At the TGM, we may want to adopt constitutional amendments to create a committee system
* We may want an executive member with a mandate for institutional innovation / development
* Alternatively, we could create a committee on institutional innovation
Milan has drafted a set of constitutional amendments which would create the committee system in a more substantial way
Going into the next phase of divestment, we may want to be sure to have a president and treasurer who are U of T students
Do we want to rename the U of T group "University of Toronto350.org"?
* Doing this would require constitutional amendments at a TGM, plus approval from the school
* Or rename it "Divest U of T"?
Does U of T have clubs with different statuses, akin to Ryerson's affiliate groups?
How much should we try to do before or during the TGM?
* Minor constitutional reform, or something much more dramatic
* How long would it take to actually establish a new institutional structure for the city-wide group?
350.org is changing as an organization overall
* Could conceivably be following groups like Greenpeace in becoming more hierarchical, especially on a long-term basis
* It could also stay more like it has been so far, without commands coming down from higher levels to lower ones
* Energy East is going to be a major campaign in Canada
We want to establish our own "transferable structure that can last for decades to come"
There is a risk of being seriously distracted, spending too much time on internal structure and not enough on campaigns
There is a danger that some act by a local 350 group will taint the brand by doing something rash
We may want to stick with the status quo until we have built a clear alternative structure
* We may not want to disrupt things too much, right before the divestment campaign goes into a big phase
* We may be better off keeping what we have, and creating a committee to consider institutional innovation
How urgent is this undertaking?
* There can be a tension between this and setting up something enduring
* Are there major external pressures? Pipeline decisions? 350.org hiring someone in Canada?
People can create new campaigns without us changing our institutional structure
How much do we need to worry about a new top-down direction style from 350?
* So far, they have never told us to do anything
* David Stember re-enforced that point at the last meeting
b. Committee decisions
How do we want our committees to work?
* Milan has some draft text, which has been circulated to the executive
* The existing constitution says: "Sub-committees may be created to serve specified purposes. These sub-committees may meet at their own discretion, or as directed by the executive."
* Technically, we don't need to amend it at all to create committees
It may be best to establish them in a way not too closely tied to U of T
We could put committee rules in the shadow constitution, or in a stand-alone document
Milan moves that we vote to empower the president elected at the next TGM to create a committee system, within the authority of the existing constitution
* Basically, an expression of the view that we want a committee system, and for it to be informally structured rather than described ind detail in the constitution
* Much confusion about procedures, etc
* Not seconded, and discussion moved on
Under the current constitution, we can simply create committees now if we wish
* Possibilities: administration engagement, campus engagement, institutional innovation, finance, committees for any further campaigns or major events
* We probably want people willing to step up and be a chair
Campus engagement is more than Fiona should be asked to handle on her own
* She is also currently, informally leading on the DMP
The major issue here is that we need to spread out the work in an effective way
Do we want to establish a rule that the committee chair - or a representative of the committee - be present and prepared to speak about their work at each planning meeting?
* It could be the responsibility of the chair to make sure someone from the committee is present and prepared to brief the group
* Possible alternative: provide an update by email? - This may be best to use as an emergency procedure only - we will have questions for committees, etc
Should we vote now, or wait until the TGM?
* Decision deferred for the moment
c. TGM issues
How much of a problem is it for Stuart to be president and not a U of T student?
* We don't need to exist as a club in order to propose divestment - we just need an individual willing to do so, and to meet the other requirements
It may be wise to elect a U of T student as president, if a qualified person is present
* We cannot exclude non-U-of-T people from running for the executive, under our shadow constitution, which by our rules supersedes the constitution
Whoever is chair should be thoroughly familiar with the constitution
* Milan will stand for chair
The fundraising, creative, and operations committees will all be vacant
* Milan is not running for the executive, because he has another comp
d. Should we incorporate?
Liability issues
* Could it protect individual people from being sued in the event of an injury or somesuch
May also be helpful for launching our own lawsuits, or joining the class action suits of others
Foundations and corporations may be more willing to provide financial support
Cost?
350.org may be re-focusing toward Canada, after the Keystone fight
* We may want to have an organizational structure in place
What would an incorporated structure look like? A board of directors, a strategy board, staff?
How does this relate to the emergence of additional 350 groups around the city, at Ryerson and elsewhere?
* We need to bear this in mind when establishing our governance model
Would we want to skip a step and incorporate as Canada350.org?
* Didn't arise specifically at the meeting with David from the 350.org mothership
* May be better off presenting it to them as a fait accompli
* We would want to have some sort of consultation process with other Canadian groups
* Contact with other groups has been patchy and intermittent
7. OPIRG strategy meeting - January 30 / 31
OPIRG U of T and OPIRG York are coming together for this
Amelia Rose has information
Taking place at OISE, room 2211 on the 30th - 7pm
31st, room 6-283 - noon
People need to attend both sessions
8. Energy East research
Kevin found a GIS guy who is willing to help us create some maps
Provide good materials for the media, once they get wind of the story
James also works with GIS every day
9. Class talks starting
We have been sending emails to profs and getting responses
* Stu has a spreadsheet on this
* People can sign up now
Largely consists of professors who have attested to the brief, or seem friendly to the cause
10. Divestment party on campus - February 27 - DMP
Divestment Meme Party (DMP) - to be 'culture jammed' all over campus, with chalk, etc
There will be bands and a DJ
There may be another meeting this Saturday evening to work on it, likely 4-6
We should be coming up with 'climate memes' to share on Facebook, etc
11. Next meeting
TGM - We need to elect a chair, who will read the constitution and lead us through the night
Also meant to be a potluck
It will be at Katie's - at Ossington and Bloor
thugsb
July 29th Agenda
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Keegan
Present: Kevin, Stu, Keegan, Katie, Rhea, Amanda
Debrief
Prop-making
Went well. Stu also found some more placards on the street.
Group considers what color text goes best against a red background: white, black, yellow.
Strategy
Ten or so people were there for the strategy planning session.
Stu is still transcribing the strategy session minutes.
Municipal - report from W&B
UTSU recognition
Formal recognition requires at least 75% of members to also be members of UTSU.
We can try again next time, in September.
The benefits of recognition are discounts and reimbursement for tabling at Freshman week.
For two events it’s $200 CAD. This money is coming from our $450 advertising budget.
Committee/Campaign Reports
Campus
UTERN sponsorship
We received an offer from this resource network. They said they would pay 50% of the students’ cost for the climate march, on the condition that we would do another event to engage the student body as a whole. This can include a seminar, workshop or some other informational or instructional activity to spread the word.
Kevin says do whatever they want. E.g. a climate pep rally.
Everyone is in general agreement that this is a good idea.
We’ll have to work out a receipt policy so that our receipts are manageable for getting the reimbursement.
If we accept these conditions, we’ll have to submit a plan to UTERN detailing the terms and what we will supply. This plan will probably have to be fully submitted by the time students are seeking out their reimbursement.
Brainstorming about the event: Katie suggests a slideshow about the march. It could be us talking about our campaign.
Katie suggests a Do the Math screening.
Kevin suggests a new movie that Cam has mentioned about Keystone XL or some other such issue, as an alternative to Do the Math. Suggests some prominent environmental experts to give a talk, something with an academic tone that will satisfy the university.
Stu suggests something that naturally leads to involvement in, e.g. divestment. Suggests a brainstorming session for students to come up with ideas for an action they that want to do, say, within the subsequent months.
Kevin suggests getting professors who are sympathetic with our cause to give class credit for involvement in those actions.
Keegan will look into trying to find a space for about a hundred people or so for first or second week of October.
Stu: day of the week? Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday night. (29th, 1st or 2nd, 8th or 9th) &tc.
PCM community meeting call on Wed 7:30pm (email) - volunteer needed
Community meeting tomorrow. It’s about how to host a community event before the PCM to get sign-ups. Sarah Shore--350.org--therefore, an international call. PCM is doing the call. Keegan will do it.
Divestment call, which Katie is going to take.
Thursday night at 7PM: PCM a bus phone call, discussing bus issues that people might run into. Kevin thinks that the call is to determine how many people and who is actually going and what kind of numbers the PCM can expect to show up. Katie volunteers, but only if no one else is able to be marshaled toward this end.
Insurance
Stu looked into insurance. Cost is $10-12 for anyone who is under 60 yrs of age. Over 60, they need to do some additional bureaucratic hurdles. Stu thinks it is a good idea.
Katie will do some research about what should be done about the insurance, whether it should be an add on, whether it should be mandatory.
Group generally agrees that insurance should just be included in ticket price.
Sponsorship - volunteer needed
Stu asks for volunteers to contact companies for sponsorship, mostly follow-up calls.
Stu wants to know if it’s alright to seek sponsorship from corporations from previous Do the Math screening. There are no objections to this.
Frosh
Tabling Materials - volunteer needed
Environmental Defense gave us some literature about pipeline issues. This is something we can have on the table. In addition, we need 1) something related to divestment, 2) PCM, 3) and whatever follow-up activity we’re going to engage in.
Stu will reach out to Neil and Tina about designing and producing some more flyers for the table.
Kevin will write a summary of some pipeline issues for table.
Climate Heroes
Ria and Katie signed up.
T-shirts - volunteer needed
General discussion about climate justice, climate action, and other things to have on the t-shirt.
Stu suggests a competition among our members to see who can come up with the best idea for a t-shirt. The winner wins a free trip to NY. The decision will be made at the planning meeting two weeks tonight.
Kevin wants to be involved in email discussion before the voting process Tuesday night.
PCI
Update (How many, who, where. status update)
Still 250 petition signatures.
Katie is going to be able to collect a considerable amount of signatures because she’s going to a lefty rally soon.
We are 30 facebook likes away from 800. Kevin thinks that we should all invite people on this online social media platform to engage in the pipeline campaign.
Online Action Hosting (Facebook Share/promote PCI).
Stu has created a google petition. Kevin will continue posting this on fb. There is discussion about the importance of translating software documents and google functions into one another; mail chimps are suggested as recourse to the completion of this activity, with signing up and lists. Kevin will send STu text and images for the chimp for the website for PCI, which has been officially launched today.
Online Action 'thermometer' graphic.
Kevin asks if we can get a thermometer to measure the number of petitioners who have signed onto the campaign. STu says this sort of thing will be a lot easier once we get nation builder. Kevin will look into widgets for this.
Kevin asks Katie what sort of budget is available for promoting PCI and some other things. Stu suggests a broader budget, e.g. over the next two months. There is discussion about how these things will be distributed out. Katie suggests $200 for two months.
Personally share (repeatedly) our online action in conjunction with gathering physical signatures.
Toronto 350--the aspiration is that the pipeline campaign will be shared online, and it will spread that way, building support.
August 17th Petition Drive
Kevin is drafting an event plan for this. It will likely be done next Tuesday. Kevin thinks that there is generally about eighteen people who’ve said they’d want to do this.
Amanda: there is free parking on Bloor on the 17th, a test free-parking experiment executed by the municipal powers that be. Kevin agrees that it is a good idea to take advantage of this opportunity. Municipal candidates will be there, and so the general context of local politics will augur promisingly, beneficently, for the pipeiline campaign.
Media release
350 etc. send a release. We want to send this along ourselves. Kevin asks if we should mention PCM also in conjunction with this release, or is it too distracting. Stu says it should probably just be avoided and kept as a separate issue for the purposes of this release.
Kevin asks if Amanda is going through the list of independent journalists. She is.
AECOM
Keegan’s outreach
Have
Party insider contact
Updating FF toolkit
Do we want to contribute to this toolkit? If someone is interested in this, Stu can send an email about this sort of thing. Fossil Free sent us an email asking if we’d like to share our experience and integrate that into the general directives for
IIC
Doodle
If anyone is interested in listening in or discussing how the separation of powers will be realized when it comes time to incorporate. http://doodle.com/qtnkcqy42v7yfpnn
Other business
NationBuilder
Will cost us $49 / month. Will allow us to host the website. Will allow us to send emails, which obviates the need for the chimp. Allows petitions, letter writing, fundraising, and has a contact management system. Stu thinks this is a good deal. We vote: unanimous. Kevin is going to start a podcast. There is general excitement about this. Stu will probably get to this next week. It will take several weeks for this to get all sorted out so that the content shows up online.
Willowdale Round Table on Environment/Economy
Kevin: could be fun. Kevin is going to try to find a way to integrate it with some U of T event.
Personal Divestment Page
No one is present who’s been working on this, so we’ll pass over this one.
Volunteer Page
Could be useful for us to have an onramp to help drum up support. Amanda volunteers to provide images for this page. Internal taxonomy of action.
Should be ready when the nationbuilder website is up.
Biz Cards
Kevin doesn’t like them; they need phone numbers. They generally should be more specific. They should communicate to the recipient of the card that the person who gives it to this party wants to be contacted. In short, they should be more inviting.
Does anyone want to contact Tina to add phone numbers? Katie will do this.
Kevin will be in charge of gettin the business cards printed.
PSF
Weekend of workshops, fora, general discussion about how to change things in Canada. Stu is going. It is Thursday, August 21, in Ottawa. Saturday is the day to go, if going is desired.
We will pay the entry fee to the social forum if money is an issue for any of our members.
ED Postcards
Link above to the debates. Far too many for us to consider hosting one.
NonViolent Direct Action
Vote on whether to ban our members from planning/participating in this.
The issue was brought up about nonviolent direct action. We do have a precedence about non-violent direct action. There was a risk-assessment form and some other literature in anticipation of this sort of thing. The PCM is a NVDA. Kevin suggests pledge of non-violence and a mandatory disclosure of risk.
A vote is taken to ban our members from NVDA. The motion was moved, but was not seconded.
Stu agrees that there should be a mandatory disclosure of risk for people participating in actions that we perform. Kevin suggests a volunteer bill of rights.
Kevin says that the ambiguities regarding NVDA within Toronto350.org should be resolved because NVDA is particularly important for CPI.
Mailchimp
PCI? -- Over the next three weeks, this needs to go out. Should be about a paragraph or two. Petition signing: should there be free beer? We opt for supplying food instead of beer. Nadine is planning on writing it Thursday--Kevin will get it to her by Thursday morning. Does Kevin want some kind of sign-up for volunteering for the petition drive? Kevin suggests pipelines@ to inform them of their intention to sign up. Or, just email Kevin. Kevin ultimately desires the pipelines email, to start formulating a responsive list.
T-Shirt Design contest.
PCM -- Will be mentioned next week.
General question: should these be integrated into a single email, or should they be released in a manner that more suitably accords with the timing of the actions themselves.
Joining CAN
Do we want to join? 350.org in general is already a member of this network, but they also take individual local groups. The fee is $40. CAN is more useful than TCAN. They are a large network and we know people involved high up in that network. CAN is actively engaged in a number of issues that coincide with our own. There is a clear description of what will be done with the money. Everyone agrees that we join for a year and see what happens.
Katie asks for TCAN what she’s supposed to send. Is it just the letter and the check? Stu believes that this is the case. Katie will look this up.
Event announcements
By-election next week
Amanda elected as media director. She intends to stand and accept the nomination.
Keegan wants to be elected as University of Toronto Liaison. Search for minutes in the planning in the thread for planning meeting. THe minutes are posted in a thread TGM of September of last year. Keegan will write a description of the position outlining the responsibilities that will be performed in this capacity.
There is general discussion about who is coming back from the past executive positions, from active members. Kevin suggests that we leave a position open in case people come back who want to resume their activities.
Grassy
March on thurs, noon-2pm at Grange Park to Queens Park
Amanda will be there.
Greenpeace branded, according to Kevin.
PCM in TO: Aug 6th, 7pm at St Stephen-in-the-Fields (103 Bellevue)
Next Wednesday: meeting about the PCM in Toronto being held in solidarity with the PCM in New York.
Kevin was called about our official involvement in this local March. Kevin thinks we should be proactive about this. Stu plans to go. Amanda can be there after 7PM.
Next meeting
Location: Steelworkers
Chair: Keegan
Minutes: Katie
Katie Krelove
Planning Meeting Minutes
August 5, 2014
Chair: Keegan
Minutes: Katie
Present: Keegan, Amelia-Rose, Flavius, Stu, Monica, Milan, Katie
Debrief
a) Skills Training for PCM Report from Wednesday
Keegan-overall impression is that we are ahead of schedule in terms of planning
Call included groups from all over the states
The People’s Climate March website hosts something called a “hub” to help with organizing recruitment and outreach events in preparation for the march. May also be used afterwards to stay connected with people. We may want to use it to help with communication and organizing. We should also think about communication strategies during the weekend, as most people won’t want to roam with cellphones.
ACTION: Keegan will put together and email to send out to members to try to get someone to investigate the hub and how we might want to use it.
b) PCM Conference call from Thursday -- Monica
25 people were on the call, most from the west coast, most of whom were organizing solidarity marches. There are a lot of different resources on the PCM site we should look into. Again, we are ahead of the curve in terms of organizing.
PCM is not dealing with liability, suggested we make sure we talk to everyone so they know what they need to cross border and that they might be turned back. Possible task for climate heroes--contact their 10 people.
ACTION: Everyone should check out the PCM site.
c) Grassy Narrows protest at Queens Park--Katie attended--it was well attended, about 250 people. Speaker thanked supporting groups, did not thank Toronto350 even though we donated $200--perhaps follow up?
Committee / Campaign Reports
PCM
T-Shirt Design Competition--Mail chimp went out today, thank you to Amanda for writing the text. Extended the deadline to August 17th.
Social Media Galleries -- Kevin has been building up various memes and images to use for facebook--looking for contributions
Attending Climate Convergence on the Saturday--possibility to have someone on a Canadian focused panel--possibly Lynn or Daryn or Cam? Katie will forward email on to them.
Ruckus Action Training Camp--NVDA training --apply by August 8, August 29 to Sept 1st in upstate New York see: ruckus.org/NYcamp2014
PCM--ticketing page up tomorrow--need someone to test it out--Katie
vi. Need to make flyers to hand out at frosh events-Monica will work on it
PCI
Petition Drive is on August 17th, needs to go out on mailchimp--Nadine will make one this week
Kevin did some targeted facebook messages to different communities along the line, he will do a cost-analysis to compare results of this strategy with petition drive
Divestment
Divestment Convergence--Katie will be on planning phone call for this event in Montreal in november. Milan might be interested in doing a workshop/talk.
Campus Divestment Solidarity Update--Keegan drafted a letter for people to sign and email to the president’s office in support of the divestment campaign
Campus Engagement
Bullfrog Power for Student Life -- Kevin--not present, tabled until next week.
UTERN Post-PCM Campus Event--discussed last week--need to have a student event in order to get UTERN sponsorship--ideas were to show a movie, have talks reporting from Climate March and break-out sessions. Keegan will look into a room. Monica and Katie will work on a workplan to submit to UTERN for next week.
Frosh Week Tabling--Stu will make up a schedule to send out for people to volunteer
Fundraising Music Event--friend of Keegan’s who is a music promoter might be able to help with an event post PCM. Feedback from DMP was that planning an entire event is a lot of work, but if there was a pre-existing event that we could get donations from that would be ok.
Farming and Urban Resilience Committee--put off until spring (farming time!)
IIC Incorporation and Division of Powers
IIC worked on making a table re: division of powers between executive and board in by-laws. Suggestion was that at first the board and the executive would overlap, but with the possibility of separation later on. Table will be shared with IIC and anyone else who wants to see it contact Stu. Guidelines still need to be made for what to do in the event of a dispute between the board and executive. Perhaps a membership vote? By-laws specify who has power in certain areas already. In case of a disagreement that doesn’t conform to these areas, need a residual powers clause--does board have final say? What about policies voted on at meetings, does this have authority over board?
Other Business
Jeff Monaghan for Future Event-tabled
International Tar Sands Working Group--from email Cam sent--asking if people want to be involved in high level planning with 350. Want someone from Toronto350--meets every other Monday at 3pm by phone. Katie will look into it. Or maybe Kevin?
Personal Divestment Page--might not be worth it in terms of cost/benefit
Strategizing for People’s Social Forum--Kevin, Stu and Katie going, maybe we should look at workshops and see if there’s any key skills we want for our group
By-Election
Amanda for Media Director--in favour: 6, abstain: 1 against: 0. Passed
Keegan for University of TorontoLiaison--proposed position description:
The university liaison shall act as a mediator between Toronto350.org and the University of Toronto. They shall hold the responsibility of seeking to establish and maintain on-going relationships and correspondences with other environmentally conscientious student groups on the campus, for the general purpose of building student solidarity in the various events and campaigns in which Toronto350.org is engaged. They shall periodically review the activities and policies of the diverse schools and colleges within the university to find new outlets with which Toronto350.org can share its vision about how to confront issues of climate change. They shall also coordinate with the Director of Operations to assist in securing venues and resources for 350.org events.
Vote on position: in favour: 5, abstain 2. against: 0
Vote on Keegan as University of Toronto Liason: in favour: unanimous. Passed
Stu to make an email address for Keegan
Event Announcements
Unity for the Climate -- Amelia Rose--a person who is doing a unicycle from BC to Ottawa to promote awareness of climate change. Will be coming through Toronto--possible event around it? Will only be on bike trails. People are planning a bike/media event--more details to come. Probably late August/early September
Dam Line Nine--near Kitchener Waterloo--looking for people to come by and visit, but also to have a solidarity event on Thursday--NOW will come out and do a story--lynn will send a message out to members list, Stu, Keegan and Lynn will be at Line 9 planning meeting tomorrow (August 6).
ON350 Retreat--Stu to send out email about meeting times for leaving. Workshops--Kai and Keegan to do a storytelling workshop
Yes In My Back Yard Festival, Sept. 27
- Next Meeting--at Steelworkers Hall Chair: Stu, Minutes: Wing It.
Amanda Lewis
1. 350ON Retreat
- It was a great weekend, with lots of workshops. We need to find a
viable way to work with other 350 groups in Ontario. It was a couple of days focused on
campaign strategy—really helpful. Awesome to have Cam Fenton there. Still absorbing what we learned, but want
to put it into practice.
- We budgeted $250 to help subsidize tickets and such. There were less people there than Stu thought there would be. The ticket price is being subsidized $10 each to get to the
level of $35 each. $50 will go to printing. Give your receipts to Stu. All other money
goes toward camping. Cam says there is money available from the 350
mothership. Action: Stu to ask Cam for money. Does it work better to subsidize after the trip? It provides a possibility of partial reimbursement. Do we keep Cam’s money as a
group or offer it to people, who can turn it down? People who drove or have other
expenses can ask for help; or if the $35 was a hardship, they can ask. Action:
ask if you feel like you want a reimbursement.
2. Line 9 action at Dufferin and Finch on August 11th
- Lyn, Katie and Lukas were there. Rosemary was there all day with Lyn. Tara and Amit from the Council of Canadians came. It was fantastic. We hit the home run in terms of coverage. There were 16 people there at the beginning, 9 by end at 4 pm when the protestors were evicted. We achieved our goals without arrest. We met 3 people from the neighbourhood who came by and are interested in getting involved. Rosemary is setting up a meeting in that hood on August 26th. Great media coverage via Amanda, Umair, Kaleigh. Great coverage: Canadian Press (Globe and Mail, National Post), Toronto Star, NOW, Torontoist, Common Dreams (reader-supported compiler of articles). Picked up new followers on Twitter and Facebook.
- At the end of the day, OPP showed activists the documents that Enbridge had sent to them. The letter shows that anywhere in TO, if people do an action the police can remove them. It's all up to Enbridge. People will be considering what to do next: other actions. Coalition meeting Wednesday night.
- Action: (general) send letter to the editor to talk about the issues behind the headlines; tells media the public is interested in this topic. Premier Wynne has said no to Line 9 enviro assessment; put pressure on her for an assessment. Amanda to send letter template to TO350 members list. It might be useful to pick a date to call or write. Coalition meeting on Wednesday night: pick a date, if that’s the strategy.
- Action: Amanda to add bylines from articles to media contacts list.
- Action: Add best photos to our Flickr page. Amanda to send photos to Stu for the website and to Milan for the Flickr page.
- This Sunday, 11 to 4. Bloor and Brunswick. We'll hopefully get hundreds of signatures. Tell the NEB that climate matters and they should be thinking about it. Food provided. Meet at Futures Bakery. Stu, Kai, Lukas, Ben, and Kevin will be there (Kevin bottom-lining)--sign up to participate. The more the merrier! Training provided on the day. We can also collect these signatures by ourselves—download the petition. We’re topping 300 signatures so far. Goal by PCM: 2000 signatures. Kevin is the lead campaigner for PCI and pipelines. He has posted the press release, general opposition to pipelines, and photos of our visit to the Bracebridge compressor station on Facebook--he has requested that we all share it.
- Identify any likely allies so we can get more people to sign up for the PCI. Ask TCAN. Keegan will contact student groups. Check out “join” on TO350 website for list of groups. Church groups—e.g., United Church: cross-country, progressive. Greening Sacred Spaces: eco-faith orgs (council of representatives of faith-based orgs—have conferences regularly)—send them info and they would distribute it. KAIROS. Green Party—Stu will reach out. Lukas or someone to bring it up at the coalition meeting Wednesday evening to see if other organizations are interested. Can we accept organizational endorsements for the PCI? Environmental Defence is already starting on PCI but will back out if there is direct action (they're a charity). We need to check with Cam before we start seeking endorsements. Canadian Environmental Studies Association--Ben to send the name to Kevin.
4. Does anyone want to be on a regional tar sands high-level strategy call? Monday at 3 pm, every other week. Let Stu know.
5. Divestment
- 350Europe tweeted they have a webinar on Sept. 3,7 CET on divestment. Get a sense of the international movement and what’s
happening elsewhere.
- Ryerson Student Union president asked if we can give a
presentation about divestment. Talk to a small group of
people and tell them how to start a campaign. Amazing opportunity for Ryerson to start
its own divestment campaign. Draw attention to how the brief is easily adaptable to
different universities. Sometime next week. Tina, Milan, and Ben can do it. Maybe the 20th
or 22nd?
6. Institutional Innovation Committee
- Set bylaws by the first time the board meets. We can incorporate right now and become a non-profit. Ryan Dyment runs the Tool Library, and he told us we can do that. There is a cost: a couple hundred dollars. The corporate seal is optional, and it’s optional for the bylaws as well. Massey Hall is the mailing address. Milan can be the name attached to it.
- Benefits: ability to seek funding (some people will only give money to non-profits); ability to book things; provides more of a structure to grow; can help if we hire people. Is the current government trying to prevent groups from becoming non-profits? No: there is a distinct difference between non-profits and charities. We won’t give tax receipts. It provides a legal structure beyond being a U of T club. Significant government structure change: having an exec and a board. Working that out—that’s what the bylaws are: establishing new government structure.
- Possible cons: registration cost (couple hundred dollars); more bookkeeping (annual financial statement to members).
- Incorporation also
affects liability profile: Toronto350.org could be sued as a group. People on the
board could be found liable, as people on board of directors are. Protects
individuals, in theory.
7. People's Climate March
- Ticket page is live. Toronto350.org/PCM Buy your ticket now! BIGGEST CLIMATE MARCH IN HISTORY. Stu is sending MailChimp tomorrow or Thursday—looks better if more people sign up before then.
- UTERN has offered 50% discount to U of T undergrads and grad students, retroactively (with a receipt). Make directions for students very clear. Monica wrote a proposal for the workshop; Keegan is looking for a space for the workshop (maybe Alumni Hall in Vic College).
- When are we asking people to commit to pledge non-violence? When you sign up online.
- Can meet up with the group if you arrange own travel and accommodations—we’re still working out the logistics for our Toronto350 meeting place. Students are likely being grouped together. We’ll try to group people as best we can.
- Climate Hero: will connect people from march into our group or other groups, so there is follow-up—splitting people into groups of 10—1 Climate Hero for every group of 10 people; nice way to build community.
- Projects in the works for when we come back: Emily Hunter would like to set up a social gathering the Thursday after the march as a way to reconnect, have drinks, keep community going. Rally: spell out words and have photos from above (2 weeks later). Video/still photo/animated GIF. Buy a bunch of bike lights and give them out—maybe Nathan Philips Square at sunset (book it, or find out if there’s a competing event there). Or maybe Faculty of Forestry courtyard—overhead positions to take photos—maybe not big enough for 300 people to spell out words. Amanda is looking into where we can get 350 bike lights. Climate Fast Ottawa Sept. 28 to Oct. 2; do action on Oct. 1, evening (Wednesday): show Canadian government we’re taking action on climate. Kai and Ben will bottom-line this event. Milan can do photography and possibly videography. U of T location would grab more students. Action: Kai to reach out to Greenpeace or 350.org and ask how long it takes to do these photo events; choreograph, etc.
- UTERN asked us to do something for U of T students. Work plan: host a movie screening (Do the Math); have a speaker; have a workshop/brainstorming session related to divestment. Need to find space; have a speaker; need a bottom-liner. About 100 people expected. October 8th. Ben to book room with movable seating. Speaker: should be one of us…Monica? Potentially show new 350 movie, but it’s not out yet.
- Stefan wants to host a climate leader meet-up on Thursday, August 28th to explain things, encourage people to join. Two weeks later: climate leader certification training: when we tell climate leaders what we expect from them.
- Good chance to practice a few chants. Action: Lyn to ask Faith Nolan if she could sing with us (cc Stu), and maybe we could give her a free seat to NYC. She sang a lot at Occupy. Professional performer. Stu has been in touch with Natalie of Greenpeace to get Rhythms of Resistance.
- Professionally record any of this on the bus ride down? Good idea. We’re establishing a media team, with their own media outlets: Green Majority, Occupy Canada, etc. Milan will be one of our photographers. Emily Hunter will be part of the media team as well. Chance for a short film? Do brief interviews with participants: Name, why are you coming. Document the journey down and that experience. Kai would be interested in doing that—golden opportunity to tell a story. First time this big of a contingent came from TO to participate in a march like this. Anyone with a webcam can record straight to YouTube—30 seconds on “why you’re coming”—can provide additional footage. Action: Kai to coordinate with Emily and others. Stu to talk with Darren (team leader/Climate Hero of the media team). Media team to encourage people to take selfies so they can share them on Facebook and tell their friends.
- Where are we going to park all the buses? Ideally somewhere with cover; free parking lots—school? Maybe St. Mike’s School—Ben will ask his dad. Parking lot at Dufferin Mall? Lyn will call local schools about the parking lots. Lukas might scope out Dufferin Mall on Friday night. Capacity: we’ll have more buses if necessary. We’re the only ones organizing buses, but we don’t have a monopoly on it. United Steelworkers: organizing their own buses, or coming on ours?
- Flyers for events: should be a simple flyer. Banner combined with logos from sponsors, text about why people should come to this march (already written by 350 mothership). ¼-page flyer. Orange banner with skyline. Tina to create flyer. Stu to give Tina the text.
- Send MailChimp PCM to other enviro groups—prewritten email blast we can send to other enviro orgs to use, talking about Toronto350 as a separate group. Amelia Rose will work on the text later this week. Send it to those groups—will take a few hours to search for contact info, brainstorm groups (Environmental Defence, Greenpeace, Idle No More Toronto, Avaaz, LeadNow, No One Is Illegal, etc. non-traditional allies). Keegan has a big list to send to all U of T clubs. Kai will compile the list.
- Media attention: Vitality magazine is running a piece. NOW is giving us ad space. Tina to adapt flyer into ad space. Getting other kinds of media attn: writing press releases to make it attractive to publish about the biggest climate march. Amanda to lead this; invites others to help tell the story, suggest non-traditional media outlets.
- Promotion for the march. Create our own event on FB and invite ppl to buy the ticket page. Who will create the event? Stu will do it. Now active: https://www.facebook.com/events/1536289829933220/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
- Ben will contact the Varsity about covering the PCM. Wait a couple of weeks and do it, or connect Amanda and she can do it.
- Banner: we finished it over the weekend. There were some splotches; blue colour bled out. Used it Monday. We need to fix the banner.
- Script to talk about the PCM (available?). Need to get people to sign up for the Frosh events. Stu will send out events in next day or so—sign up for events: if you sign up, be there. About a dozen Frosh events.
- Group in TO paid by PCM to make posters. They have the originals in the shop in Toronto and have offered them to us. Lyn to pick up the posters next week. Milan can store them.
8. Nation Builder
- Stu will sign us up.
9. Business cards in the works
- Tina has designed and they’re ready to go. Tina to
talk to Kevin about getting them printed in the next week.
10. Active members’ contact list spreadsheet
- Exec would have
access to it. Can Nation Builder take on this functionality? People can update
their own profiles?
11. People's Social Forum next week in Ottawa (woo!)
12. Volunteer page content
- Amanda wrote, Stu to review.
Next meeting at Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street.
Chair: Kai.
Minutes: Milan can bring a computer. Minute taker TBD.
Monica Resendes
Aug 19th Agenda
Chair: Kai
Minutes: Monica
Present: Kai, Stu, Katie, Sarah, Ben, Monica
- Debrief
—-PCI petition drive - see below
- Committee/Campaign Reports
A.) PCI
i.) Petition signing - Petition Drive Sunday Aug 17th
-150 signatures from the street, two one hour sessions; 1 signature per person per 5 minutes.
-With Facebook signatures we get more people that live on the line; however the petition drive session was still very worth it.
-Some confusion about the pipelines - Line9 vs. Energy East.
-Next plan for signatures is the Social Forum in Ottawa.
-Anyone can get signatures, so we don’t have to necessarily go out to these events.
ii) Tar Sands Working Group Call
-Katie was on it — not very many people on, hard to hear.
-They have nothing specific planned yet; she will get a summary from Cam with more details on what they are thinking that the working group could do at the PCM.
iii.) North York community Line 9 meeting next Tuesday (Aug 26) from 7 – 8:30
-Room #2 York Woods library 1785 Finch Avenue West
-Construction again underway at the site
-We will meet there - we can bring snacks rather than the usual potluck.
B.) Divestment updates
-Ryerson 350 — Kevin not here; no other updates
-Waterloo 350 —Kai let them know how the weekend retreat went; he also has an update about where they are at on their campaign: they are trying to get support from the sustainable coma pus initiative which has a large presence, they are also reaching out to Divest Waterloo (goes beyond UW) which began as a faith chapter through the United Church.
-They are trying to become a WPIRG action group; want to involve the student population more, gain more attendance, and updating the divestment doc provided by TO350.
-Pass on info about Divestment Convergence in Montreal (nov) for the group - Katie
-Carbon Tracker put out a new report - high-risk long term investment
C.) IIC updates
-Stu has not incorporated yet but will do so after next week
-We will plan another meeting to address remaining issues
- PCM - People’s Climate March
i.) Video Chat event with Naomi Klein
-Video chat event with Naomi Klein tomorrow - 6:30 pm EST (links were sent out to members)
-They’re having a recruitment stint over 2 days to try to get 10,000 more people to commit to the march - Monica will give report
ii.) PCM flyer for frosh week
-PCM themed flyer for next Monday for the Ryerson event - Monica will do
iii.) Financial Update
-$2650 so far for ticket funds.
-We need to do more promotion for this to fill the seats.
-Faculty at Environmental Studies at York wants to sponsor York students to come ($2150) - so, we’re to discount 10 tickets at $95 dollars. The rest is to help with other subsidies.
-UTERN workplan has been approved, so we can offer UT students a $60 discount.
-Subsidies - we’ve received a number of requests about possible subsidies. How should we handle it?
-Perhaps we should reword - not the ‘subsidies are available’, but “if finances are a serious obstacle, please write to us explaining your situation.”
iii.) Insurance
—Stu found someone to give us insurance; once a week, someone needs to download the list, and send the info of new recruits to the company - Katie will do it
iv.) Herding cats - there are a bunch of TO350 people that haven’t signed up that should sign p, we need to contact them and get them to sign up! - Monica will do it
v.) Mailchimp - Newsletter - offer $10 for signup Thursday and Friday plus student discounts
vi.) FROSH -Please sign up if you’re able to table during frosh events - Stu will re-send the dates/options.
vii.) Faith Nolan
- Lynn was reaching out to see if she will join us in the march but there has not been any word back.
-Thinking about the spirit of this trip — using time on the bus to build up community spirit — games or activities that could happen during the time down.
viii.) Asking other ENGOs to send out email blasts
- Kai will do Waterloo, Katie will do some UT/Toronto-based anyone for Aavaz, etc, Ben can do some Facebook groups as well as Sustainability Commissioner (formerly Ben T)
ix) Climate Leaders
-For every 10 people we’ll have a Climate Leader on the bus; pre-march calling, head counts, post-march calling, etc.
-August 28th, Harvest Noon, info session 7:30-11 (casual, drop in anytime)
-A training will follow up in 2 weeks time.
x.) Media/Documentary for the PCM
-People also doing media: Daryn Caister, Zach (independent filmmaker) -
-We might do footage for a short promo video for afterwards (3-5 mins) as well as another longer product that documents the experience.
-Daryn will be the media co-ordinator, so he’ll make sure that everyone will be able to do what they want to do in terms of media coverage and filming.
-Need to prepare media releases.
-If there are people with film experience who want to get involved, get in touch with Kai.
xi.) Media attention - Amanda can bottom line
xii.) Follow-up events: Rally
-Ben has sourced an area for the photo opp and will confirm
xiii.) Emily’s Post PCM-Party (PPP) - just starting to think about this
xiv.) -UTERN - update for post-PCM film screening/event - Ben has been able to book a room (Bahen Information Centre - Rm. 1170 [BA1170] October 9th, 7-9:30)
-Need a bottom-liner for the event: Need a speaker, and a plan for running the
workshop - Ben can bottom line; Monica can help with planning.
xv.) Prop-making session - Sunday, September 7th - please join!
xvi) Tee-shirts - Some designs submitted online; Kai has also created some designs and Stefan will be contributing some as well.
- Other business
A.) -Committee renaming - the Admin Engagement has been changed to the Divestment Committee.
B) Naomi Klein’s Book Launch
-Amanda has requested from copies of “This Changes Everything” for TO350 - we haven’t heard back yet.
C) -Greenpeace Ice Ride - endorse? Amanda, Stu, Katie - agreed - so we will endorse.
D) -Will invite Unicyclist to our next Tuesday meeting
-Rosemary is going to the People’s Social Forum tomorrow - IF you want to go and need a ride, contact her she has room in her car!
E.) Ontario 350 retreat - mothership will give us $1,000 for it. Local groups will get reimbursed for their expenses. That leaves us $650 to help set up Ontario 350.org
- We need to think about who to spend this money to set up an Ontario 350.org
- Event announcements
- Naomi Klein book launch free talk - apparently SOLD OUT (Toronto Reference Library) Mon Sep 15, 2014 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
- Next meeting
- Location: Room #2 York Woods library 1785 Finch Avenue West
- Chair: Ben
- Minutes: Katie
Katie Krelove
Aug 26th Agenda
Chair: Ben
Minutes: Katie
Present: Ben, Katie, Sylvia, Stu, Sarah, Ron, Michael, Nadine, Mike,
Debriefs
Committee/Campaign Reports
A.) PCI—No Update
B) Tar Sands Working Group Call Report
1. Tar Sands Bloc
There will be a physical bloc of people at PCM from tar sands struggles across the continent, this is being organized by a number of groups and being pushed to bring in a broader tar sands narrative beyond KXL. It will be organized to amplify the voices of frontline communities and include a range of collaborative art projects for the action.
Ways to plug in:
- Join this list-serve: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/pcm-tar-sands-bloc
- Join the art team/conversation: ask Cam how you can hook up with this.
C) Divestment updates—
i) GoFossilFree is one national group working on divestment
ii) Novermber 7-9 Divestment convergence conference in Montreal. Workshops due by Sept 8, visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1eYmA2HREXf0DpUSWpbtTHgtnpLp3og0sXipF-gyB9hw/viewform jhlb
iii) Anyone from Toronto350 divestment group want to do a workshop?
D) PCM - People’s Climate March
i) Frosh - need more volunteers, Katie volunteered to do York—Stu and Kai made a script, stu will send out an email with instructions for each day, along with the script
ii) Also: we could do OCAD on the 2nd, Sir Dan’s Sept 15 12-4 pm—maybe we can have a table
iii) Fliers – printing—Monica making them, Ben can get discount from LGBT at UofT for printing
iv) Local action in solidarity with PCM being planned by—Peter Devries—Chosen by Avaazz—planning action at Queen’s Park for Sept 21st, we will not advertise it for a while—can we give any kind of budget to help? Stu to ask for more details
v) Props – Sept 7—at the Danforth Tool Library--who can come—Sylvia, Ben, Katie, Stu, maybe Ron. Problem with poles on placards—New York bylaw—no metal/plastic or wood poles allowed—maybe use cardboard tubes?—or just hand held.
vi) Climate Leader meetup—Thurs at Harvest Noon—7:30-11—also training on Sept 11th.—more intense—required!
vii) Financial Update: question about disability discount—asking people to write in and explain why and what kind of discount they need, and decide once we know what kind of money we have
Question about accessibility for people who don’t want to pay by credit card? Can mail payment to Stu.
viii) Mailchimp - More PCM blasting—Nadine will do a mailchimp this week—also add Bill McKibben Event on the 20th
ix) T-Shirt—Kai Working on it—will be done at next meeting
x) Faith Nolan on bus? Lynn outreach--Hasn’t heard back
Other business
A) Incorporation questions – Stu--need list of ‘directors’—which will be the executive. But also need one name as “incorporator”—decided to be Stu.
B) Possible UofT event at Brunswick House – Katie—opportunity to hold a pub night/event at Brunswick House this fall—no charge, they make tickets etc. if needed. Could be a fundraiser? Holiday party? Way to keep interest up after PCM? Katie will look into dates.
C) Naomi Klein’s Book Launch
-Amanda has requested from copies of “This Changes Everything” for TO350 - we haven’t heard back yet.
D) Ontario 350 retreat - $650 to set up Ontario 350.org
- We need to think about who to spend this money to set up an Ontario 350.org--through nation builder—the volunteer position would involve training on nation builder to set up network for all Ontario—could give the $650 as grant—Stu will add suggestion on planning forum for input on this idea.
E) Calling city councilors—tomorrow to ask when city will be discussing bitumen
Peruzza-416-338-5335 Gord Perks 416-392-7919
Next meeting: Sept 2
Location: Steelworkers Hall
Chair: Stu
Minutes:
Katie Krelove
Sept 2nd Minutes
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Katie
Present: rosemary, sam, milan, kai, sylvia, monica, jerry, anne, michael, peter, brian, kevin, amelia rose, ben, katie
Debrief
a) Community meeting held last week in Jane and Finch following up on the line 9 action at Finch and Yonge (organized by Rosemary). Informed local community people about line 9--about 30 people present. will do a follow up with JFAP (Jane and Finch Action on Poverty)
Presenters: Errol Young, Lana Goldberg, Umair Muhammed spoke. There is also a Bathurst-Finch group that we could get in touch with--Jerry has contact. Also Sun news came, but they were not let in.
Ongoing Business:
a)ON350 - NationBuilder setup to unite Ontario 350 groups from one location. Stu wrote up a position description, posted on platform--2 comments were both for it. Need to figure out a vetting process to decide who gets the contract. Question--can we add money from our fund--to increase the honorarium from $650?--maybe. Stu sees it more as a parttime job over a few weeks. Nation builder allows groups to keep their own websites, as well as do email blasts that are group specific. Not so much about design, but uploading people/content etc. consolidating lists. Importing data etc. Copying content from websites. Can we write up a job posting with qualification--send it to members list. IIC will do that.
Digital Rolodex--suggestion to have important phone numbers--important contacts in one place. Part of position
Tumblr? It is quick to set up--would be good to have a PCM themes one--or a Toronto350 one, but use it mainly for PCM to start. Amanda will work on this
b)Termly General Meeting--is supposed to be in September--do we have it right after PCM? or push it back to October? Decided to have it 30th of September--along with potluck.
c) PCM - Sales update, bank account and payment--125 in sales-$12000 in sales--
PCM - Accommodation--Stu got an email from another church offering accomodations--also, some churches offered to send out a call to their parishioners asking to accomodate people. Also, a suggestion that the Quaker churches might have some billet opportunities
d) Line9 page (on our website) is way out of date--Katie will update--send to Stu to add to website
e) PCM - Prop-making-Sept 7 11 AM, Tool Library 1803 Danforth--basement--spray painting placards and umbrellas--Kai, Ariel, Kevin, Katie, Sylvia--
Kevin will buy umbrellas, Katie will bring current umbrellas
We also need cardboard tubes--brian might be able to get some
Is there some other alternative? PVC? The fact that it is banned makes us not want to take a chance. Could also cover the tubes with duct tape or packing tape to make waterproof--could also check out fabric stores
f) PPParty -Post PCM Party: September 25th--CSI building-- need volunteers - music, slideshow, snacks--for people who went to PCM and +1. space holds over 100 people--make sure we have a sign in. Rosemary and Anne will look into food/Monica will help with logistics. Budget--$250
g) Big Words-1st of October-Ben bottomlining-bicycle light action on campus. Amanda talked to someone at MEC about possible light donation/subsidy.
h) UTERN Screening--Probably Do the Math--specifically for UofT students/university students--Keegan and Ben looking into room.
i) PCM - Media--Amanda sent out press release today
Anyone know how to send event listings with Metro or 24 Hours?--If anyone knows any other event lisitngs contact Amanda
vii. We may want to have a contingency plan for a whole bus getting turned away at the border--go back to toronto? Go to Ottawa? Would it be too far to go to Ottawa? But, the buses have to be in New York--don’t know if they would drive us back to Toronto if we got turned back. Stu will ask. We should at least have a press release planned for if we do get turned back.
j) Meeting with Adam Vaughan: 215 Spadina Ave., 4th floor. 3pm on Sept 10th.
Why are we having it? To lobby our message about pipelines--particularly Energy East--Vaughan said that “nobody is proud of their pipelines”, in which case, why does your party support it? Join non-party caucus--renewables? also bring up oil by rail? People going can work on messaging...Stu, Sylvia, Katie, Ben anyone else can add comments if they want.
k) PCM - Disruption Movie Screening - Sunday 7th, 7-9pm at Steelworker’s--Premiere! Going out to Mailchimp, PCM attendees, Ariel will make facebook event. Come out to it! Kevin will look into making popcorn.
Need a laptop--Kai will bring his (and Katie as backup)
Need a facilitator--to facilitate a discussion of some kind-there might be some materials available. Kai volunteered
l) 24 Hours of Reality--Al Gore project--climate reality--24 hours of showing people combatting climate change--theme is hope. Viewing parties around the world--Sept. 16--our meeting night, so can’t host screening, but if anyone wants to promote others having viewing parties.
m)PCM - Climate Flag--a 350 member made us a flag for PCM--will send to NY ahead of us
n) Possibility of formaing a post-PCM Action Committee?
Clayton Thomas Muller--hired in Canada by 350--possibly starting a website called “Beyond the March”--actions on the Monday after?
PCM - Another bus? Should we book a fourth bus, and should it return on Monday instead so people can stay and do actions? Wouldn’t cost too much more. Ask people already booked if they’d be interested in staying another day. Would mentioning direct actions intimidate/scare people off, since we’ve billed the march as family friendly? But there are other reasons to stay an extra day...but do non-direct action people want to be on a bus with direct action people (ie border risk). Also, border might be aware that actions are happening on Monday, and a bus coming back on Monday might make us suspicious. Was decided that it is too risky, and that we should have a fourth bus, but it should also come back sunday. People who want to stay on for actions will have to find own way back.
o) Media Team
Film Progress-lots of volunteers! Welcome any ideas
Promo video--will be up on website soon!
p) PCM - Toronto Solidarity March endorsement--Peter planning it--volunteers are setting up events in different places, chosen by Avaaz. Trying to figure out places to start and end march where there won’t be risk of arrest. Queen’s Park? Ideally want to hand petition to local leader. Maybe send invitation to leaders? Or find a leader that would be there to recieve petition? Who is a part of the group--not exclusive to Avaaz. Some connections with CUPE? Need connections to other groups looking for solidarity events. Possibly connect it to the city council decision to ban bitumen.
How can we help? Can they make a facebook or some other page that can be shared right away--even if all the details are there right away. We can help share it. Send any suggestions to Peter.
q)PCM - T-shirts--Stu will send out final designs for everyone to see
r) Tar Sands Action Group Update:
There will be a Tar Sands Bloc at PCM.
iFrontline Indigenous Women Event: On Sept. 20th at the New School (TBC) there will be a panel event featuring voices of Indigenous women fighting tar sands and other extreme extraction across Canada and the US.
On Sept. 22nd an action to name and shame Canada on the tar sands in New York. The action will be focused on projecting something still finalizing all the details
- If you plan to be in New York until September 22nd/23rd and want to be involved let Katie know!
r) Mailchimp
Disruption
Bill Mckibben event
Action in TO
s) Frosh
Phonecalls--in last 2 weeks or so if we need to fill the fourth bus, ariel and kevin and stu, kai volunteered to do phoning.
t) Next meeting
Location: Steelworker’s Hall
Chair: Ben
Minutes:
Monica Resendes
September 9th, 2014
Location: Steelworkers Hall
Chair: Ben
Minutes: Monica
Present: Milan, Sam, Aerial, Chi, Stu, Amanda, Anna, Monica, Ron, Rosemary, Nadine, Amelia Rose, Yasmin
Debriefings:
-Frosh - Going well, fully up to date (apart from today) for sending out mailings. Thank you to everyone!
-Who has the bag with all the promo materials?? (flyers, banners, etc.) Kevin is looking for it
-this needs to be followed up on (BLUE OCT BAG WITH BANNERS, FLYERS, ETC.)
-Disruption Movie Screening - Went really well. About 50-60 people. A bunch of people signed up for PCM after. Good film accessible at: watchdisruption.org
-Prop-making - Also went well and lots was done. Katie and Aerial have the supplies. Stu will follow up for a glue gun + supplies
-Media team - there’s a meeting on Monday, Sept. 15th at 5:30pm, Kengsinton. We now have a Toronto350 Tumblr account and an Instagram account.
-PCM
General updates:
-We have almost 3 buses fully booked. We are going to hear back tonight about 30+ more spaces in a church for accommodation. We’ve been doing between 10-24 bookings a day, so we’re anticipating being able to fill all buses.
-Insurance:
Anyone that books after the 17th, they’ll have to take care of their own personal insurance. Until then, if you’re under 60, we can cover you (Katie has forms).
-Need food prep volunteers at church - Rosemary, Sam, and Ron. We’re trying to prepare bagged lunches or at least take bags with snacks for during the march.
-Climate Leader Training
This Thursday 7pm at Harvest Noon on U of T campus (off Spadina south of Bloor).
-We need more Climate Leaders (Rosemary will be one), as well as 2 more Bus Captains - (Aerial and Ben will be Bus Captains).
-We booked a 5th bus! If we can’t fill it, the most we’ll lose is $500, but we’re not anticipating this problem.
-We received almost $2000 in subsidies from the PCM organizers
-Climate Leaders/Bus Captains/Media Team should get a roaming package for their phones. We can use some of the money from ticket sales to reimburse these people.
-Budget:
-We initially over budgeted how much tickets cost, and then we got the subsidies, so we’re actually about $7-8000 surplus, minus other expenses that might pop up.
-Stu needs to be rewarded for all his work somehow - $, cake, beer?! we’ll decide post-PCM :)
-Phone-Banking: You can do phone banking from home if it’s set up on NationBuilder (at least the students that we’ve signed up). Stu will send an email to volunteers that signed up last week with student #s to do it on their own.
-Getting more PCM fliers - we only have one (possibly two) more frosh events. We need more fliers (only black and white this time) - Stu will send files to Katie and Kevin, hopefully one of them can print?
-Other
-We need an external hard drive to input media from the march (2 x 1 terabyte @ approx $150) everyone agrees to this.
-Who is our best friend in the media? Can we get media passes? There’s a possibility that someone from the Walrus will be on one of the buses with us, and they could possibly get us one. We can ask Cameron Fenton or a Greenpeace rep (perhaps Kevin knows her) about this.
-We should have a debrief about lessons learned re: organization, planning and budget so that we can have it part of institutional memory.
-Under 18 waiver - volunteer needed to make sure it gets out to the under 18s and that it gets back to us.
Afterparty/PPP/PostMarchParty:
-The bar is booked and is free as long as we make $500 in sales.
-Thursday, Sept. 25th, 7:30pm - ? at CSI Annex.
-Can somebody order the food ($200) - Rosemary can do this; however this is the second night of Rosh Hashana so some people will be excluded. We also need to have someone to briefly speak about what Toronto350 is doing and invite people to meetings (Monica will do it)
-We need someone to create a playlist
Long Term Retention Strategy Proposal
-PPP, Big Words action, UTERN workshop as 3 post-PCM events. These will have a predominate student population.
Other options - Campaign Pitch Party!
-ie. Energy East Campaign; Carbon Fee and Dividend? Working towards UN COPP in Paris? General Tar Sands stuff? Divest Toronto?
-We can have people do pitches, and then people can break up into groups that they are most attracted to and then they can have a brainstorming discussion so that we can retain people and keep people involved.
-Do these pitches on the 20th at the PCM to get people excited, and then again on the 25th at the afterparty.
-What campaigns do we want to work on?
i - Divestment/Building a campus movement - Ben, Sam, Ariel
ii - COPP in Paris - Kai
iii - Fair vote? Proportional representation - maybe Yasmin
iv - Carbon Fee and Dividend (collab with CCL)- Ron
v - Divestment elsewhere - Amelia Rose
vi - Municipal campaigns (stop bomb trains, etc.) - Yasmin
vii -Education - Tina?
viii - Direct Action committee [group that can subsequently train other committees or individuals for possible direct actions or at least co-ordinate with other folks from Toronto that can do this for us] Kevin, Ron, Kai, Ariel, Lyn, Amanda, Rosemary, Monica, Ben,
Rabble article
Why did rabble not consider Toronto350 in their article about the PCM and Canadian youth?
What are we doing re: reaching out to the media?
-Amanda is making connections - she just wrote an op-ed for a range of outlets and will be sending them out. She can make contact with rabble and ask them about this.
-Amanda - pitching to Rogers to do a short expose about TO350 and how it relates to local news; also has connections to Alternatives Journal who would be willing to receive contributions to his magazine.
Lobbying Adam Vaughan:
Folks will be meeting at his office tomorrow.
-Messaging: take leadership within your party on climate change (there is room for advancement re: motion that NEB look at up/downstream effects of pipeline operations)
Termly General Meeting - Tuesday, Sept. 30th
Solidarity PCM March in Toronto
They have booked Nathan Phillips Square; they need $2 million liability insurance; could we help with their $4-500 expenses?
-What do we want to give them? $300
-We can promo on our Facebook
Trudeau
-His speech was very vague. We should go ahead with EE but with some conditions, however didn’t list any conditions.
-We need to listen to people, but no other details
-We need “sustainable economic growth”, but no other details
- = still lobby-able
PCI - Peoples Climate Intervention - 17th - 27th
-We have collected lots of signatures; they now need to digitized. Try to do them before the PCM (2 week deadline!)
ON350
-We have a job posting that we can now put up to help with the establishment of our NationBuilder and ON350.
-IIC will decide on hiring criteria this week so we can hire asap.
Toronto Climate Summit
-First meeting - Sept 23, 7-9pm, Rm # 301 Metro Hall
-To co-ordinate between groups in Toronto working climate justice.
-The meeting will be during our big debrief post-PCM, so we might want to just send one person to go as a representative - Lynn
Trudeau Protest at Horseshoe Valley - Thurs. Sept. 18th
-a similar action to that which just happened out East
-organizers are looking for help with messaging and for people to come out - focus will be on Energy East
-Can drive up for 6pm and be back by 9m
-If anyone wants to go, or knows someone who wants to know, contact Katie.
ClimateFast
-Group working to get MPS to end fossil fuel subsidies; put a price on carbon; develop a renewable energy plan for Canada
-117 MPs have signed (no conservatives)
-They are planning a week on 29th-Oct 2 on Parliament Hill
-Asking for people to write letters to their MPs with those three asks; or do solidarity actions
-We could potentially have sample letters (hard copy; or set up on a computer) during the Big Words event for people to submit on site
EVENTS: [COPY FROM AGENDA]
1) Toronto Environmental Alliance Mayoral debate
-Oct 1st Burlington - Expert discussion on climate change - Katie will go - . https://www.facebook.com/events/636544796453786/?source=1H l
M.M. Robinson High School. Km2425 Upper Middle Rd, Burlington, Ontario L7P 3N9
-Katie will chair next meeting
2) Toronto Environmental Alliance, Mayoral Environmental Debate. Tickets are free and doors open at 6:30 but the event starts at
7:00pm. http://www.torontoenvironment.org/vote2014/debate
WHEN: September 25, 2014 at 6:30pm - 9:30pm
WHERE: Trinity St. Paul's United Church. 427 Bloor St W (Bloor and Spadina). Toronto, ON
-Next meeting
Location: Steelworker’s Hall
Chair: TBD
Minutes:
Monica Resendes
Tuesday, Sept. 16th
Steelworkers Hall, Rm. 302.
Chair: Rosemary
Minutes: Monica
Present: Rosemary, Keagan, Jason, Tresanne, Milan, Stu, Ariel, Ron, Monica, Sam, Ben, Lorne
PCM
Inventory
- Umbrellas, 40+ placards, 4 banners,
- Almost 3 buses are with participants under 30 - so big youth delegation
- Congrats for those especially who went to Frosh events
- Good climate leaders training on Thursday, all accommodations and buses are divided up.
- Stu will now work on budget details
-What info should we put together in a package to give everyone - i.e. best practice social media, details for times/addresses for meet-ups, emergency phone numbers, follow-up events, list of activities from saturday, the action guidelines, simple map, cheap local food.
Crossing the border
-going to a family-friendly rally, NOT a protest.
-don’t bring any drug paraphernalia or anti-American slogans
-they could, conceivably, search your computer or possibly your phone as well.
Picking up supplies on Friday
-does anyone have a car that can help pick supplies up on Friday (we need stuff at CSI Annex by 7pmish ? Please contact Stu if you can.
Canadian flags
-is it okay with everyone that we’ll be bringing large flags to the march? Yes. We are aware of the problematics associated with bearing a colonial flag at a rally, however we want to show a Canadian presence and to illustrate and bring back positive messaging.
Shopping list
-can anyone get the supplies on the shopping list?
Toronto People’s Climate March
-Please help with the promotion of the event!! We need to help raise the numbers for this event.
Post-PCM
Post-PCM Party - Food
-pricing is expensive, so we might just buy food in bulk and create it beforehand - Rosemary will talk to Stefan to confirm we can do this.s
-Rosemary can get the food and prepare, and she will drop it off at CSI to Stefan that day (budget is now increased from $200 to $300)
Body Words.
-Can we change the date to Oct. 4th to help out with the Greenpeace Ice Ride on the same day?
-We put the event on Oct. 1st because we are doing the action in solidarity with the Climate Fast actions that day/week - we also want to do the action at night, so we get a photo with the lights.
-We’ll keep the date on Oct. 1st and let people know of the Ice Ride on the 4th.
Do the Math, Add the People
-UTERN workshop
-Add the People - coalition building, community building
Brainstorm the Future
-We need a bottom-liner - when/where/hows
-Pitches will happen next week at the meeting! If you’ve signed up to make a pitch, please be ready! We’ll pick the 5-6 best ones so that we can pitch these at the after-party.
-Oct. 18th at UT somewhere- Ben will bottom-line!
MailChimp
-Anyone have any items to add? Main thing will be the PCM solidarity march.
-Social Media - best practices
-Climate Week Blog (see below)
Holiday Cards
-Send out holiday cards for donors, supporters, etc.
-We’ll work out details after the PCM!
-Lorne has non-denominational greeting cards that he’s made
-You can tag people through NationBuilder for this
-Does anyone want to take this on? Maybe we can revisit this question after the PCM
Ryerson Divestment Launch in Sept
-Possibly Kevin’s item? We’ll leave for next week.
Lukas and Andrea are riding along Line 9 Toronto 23 - Montreal Oct. !
-if you want to help with the media for this, please contact Amanda!
Toronto Atmospheric Fund - Climate Week
-Someone from there contacting us - they are posting a series of blogs next week to show citizens how they can cut pollution in their cities (retrofits, socially responsible investment, etc.)
-Would like us to promo their blogs and also invited us to submit guest blogs.
-We could have a write-up about the PCM, or do a photo-blog for the week
- Milan can provide the photos; we’ll ask Amanda to send out a request to the media team.
-Bus leaders can ask people on the bus to write a little blurb about why they’re going — this could help the doc team and also for the reporter that wants to interview a few people after the PCM with “interesting reasons for going”.
EVENTS
-Ryerson Student Activist Assembly - Oct. 21st 1:30-2:30
-Can anyone speak about divestment (15mins) and then be on a Q & A (15mins) - this person could be paid. Contact Ben.
-TCAN general meeting - Nov. 1st 2-4pm
-Trudeau protest - this Thursday evening in Barrie. Contact Katie if you can go!
-PCI petition drive? In October around Thanksgiving.
-Sam could help with this.
Chair Next Week: TBD
Minutes: Milan
thugsb
Minutes, September 23, 2014
Present: Graham, Kai (Chair), Keegan (Minutes), Brian, Ben, Sam, Tina, Ron, Tressane, Jason, Stu, Kevin, Amelia Rose, Nadine, Jade, Sylvia, Lynne, Katie, Ariel
1. Debrief
a. PCM
i. Kai says there is intense energy and he’s experiencing difficulty making the transition back to normal life. Has found a new type of grounding, wants to carry it forward. He was apart of the film crew, and they are thinking of making a documentary and promotional video for Toronto350.org. Kai thinks it was a historic moment for activism in North America. He learned how many people there are who are genuinely concerned about climate change. He believes there were no serious or flagrant mistakes in the organizing and execution of the march.
ii. Group makes remarks about what was learned, general discussion of the experience in New York and what were some challenges we faced in general during the march, and what we hope will grow as a result of the rally.
iii. We have a CTV interview request about the PCM. Sam will do it. It’s at 9:05PM tonight. Kevin will do it. There is general discussion about who will do it. It has been decided: Sam will do it. (This has been delayed.)
b. Analytics of Participants
i. Stu: We need a volunteer who can deal with data. Take that data of all those who signed up and integrate it into some kind of analytic machinations. The purpose of this is to analyze demographics of those who participated, in order to import that information into nation builder. Stu can explain more if this task sounds too intimidating. The rough deadline for this should be two or three weeks. Kevin will help, could get it done by the end of October.
c. Thank-Yous
i. Stu: has a list of who to thank. Kevin will do the thank-yous. Stu goes through the list to see if there’s anyone to add.
d. Inventory
i. Stu: does anyone have any of the props. Kai says that yes he does have a bag of small stuff. He will bring it Thursday. We lost most of the umbrellas and about half the placards. Various people say that they have various things and will return them.
ii. Kevin: someone should take responsibility to send an email about returning things.
iii. Proofreader: Stu needs a proofreader for an email that will be sent out to all participants. Brian will do the proofreading.
e. Budget
i. Will be held for Katie.
f. Media Team
i. Kai: cannot speak for Amanda about social media stuff. But he organized a film crew, an impromptu decision made about a month before the march. It was exceedingly successful. We had about a dozen members, accomplished filmmakers, and the idea really took off. Kai feels pretty good about it in general. Different sections of the march were covered. There were various cinematographic effects that the team employed, including time-lapse. There were also a lot of pre-march events. E.g. front line community in the South Bronx. Kai went to some sites from Hurricane Sandy, damaged and never repaired, and Kai listened to people from this community discuss their concerns.
ii. Kai and Darren have been working to make a little promotional video about the energy of the march. The Toronto group’s involvement is integral to the broader story of the march. This is the angle the media team is taking regarding the Toronto’s relevance over all to those involved in the march.
iii. Kai believes we have the potential and resources to realize the long-term goal of making a feature-length documentary. In addition to this, we’re going to make a promotional video, as a way of reaping the benefits of such an impressive and momentous organizational achievement. Kai is pumped about the whole thing and is looking forward how things will progress.
iv. Follow-up: we’re doing grant-writing and crowd funding to get support for a longer documentary. Kai proposes that our group make a decision whether or not it’s important to invest in the realization of the promotional video.
v. Both projects will require an enormous amount of time to make. If there’s room in the budget to realize this sort of project, then we could do it.
vi. Keegan will look into grant-writing.
vii. Kevin: Crowd funding has been difficult in the past. Wants the promotional video to reflect the interests and general character of Toronto350.org.
viii. Kai says that this is still at an early stage and we will sit down with those entities (i.e. Kevin et. al.) who are involved in fundraising.
g. Follow-Up Events
i. PCM Afterparty this Thursday
1. Kai: we need volunteers.
a. Food: we need someone to cook up the samosas. It’ll either be a microwave or an oven. Tresanne will be the food volunteer.
b. Meet and Greet: someone to talk to people and tell them what’s going on. Sylvia says to say hello to someone whose name I missed. I think she’s the main speaker, or someone of importance to the evening. Ben will do the meet and greet. There is general agreement that his is the friendliest face among us.
c. Kevin wonders if the event is open to the media. No one knows. Stu says that it’s mainly open to PCM participants, and is open to their friends and such. It’s mostly a social for the participants to reflect on their experience and enjoy themselves. The media team of PCM can be there if they want to film things—that’s okay. But it’s not really open to general media. Sylvia wants to know what she should tell Elizabeth, who takes good photographs. Elizabeth should be invited to some other events, maybe we’ll invite her.
d. A general volunteer is also needed. Sam will be general volunteer. There will also be hummus, fruit and pita bread as well.
ii. Pitches: these are for future events. The general idea is that we want to invite those who participated in the PCM to get more involved with some concrete campaigns and ideas for the near future. The idea is to grow the group.
1. Tina: Integrated campaign. The working title is Fossil Free Future. We’re only engaging a sector of downtown demographics. Another challenge relates to divestment: once someone divests, what should replace that divestment. I.e. in what alternatives should we invest. Clarify our vision for the future regarding the investment. (Approved)
2. Sam and Ben: New body called Fossil Free U of T. Will engage more students in the movement. (Approved.)
3. Ron: Carbon fee and dividend. Apply annually an escalating fee. 100% of fee is returned to population. More beneficial to low-income families. An economic modeling group has studied this; they found that there will be more jobs, significant growth for GDP. A similar idea has been implemented in British Columbia. (Denied)
4. Kai: Building momentum to cop twenty-one. Bringing together world leaders leading up to next rally for new climate agreement. Copenhagen was a failure, but climate change has grown more dire in recent years. Leaders are beginning to take note, but they need to hear more from us. (Approved)
5. Rosemary: System Change. Rosemary wants integrated change that is directed at the systemic barriers that have vitiated our democracy, and directed at financial capitalism to overthrow the plutocracy that is ruining our lives and the earth. (Denied)
6. Amelia Rose and Sylvia: Beyond divestment. We’ve helped others divest. But we should extend this campaign beyond the university. This should include individuals and tell them that it’s time to divest. U.S. is planning to divest its billionaires from fossil fuels. (Approved)
7. Kevin: Energy East Pipeline needs to be stopped. PCI—this is the key campaign that is underway to stop Energy East. Kevin wants this to continue and hopes that Toronto350.org can move forward with vehemence and conviction that this pipeline can be stopped. (Approved)
8. Jason: wants to use snowflake and internetine fundraising techniques to generate revenues for our campaigns. Obama model involves modular organizing. He can go into more detail about this if we’re interested. (Denied)
9. Keegan: Moratorium on suburban development and sprawl by pressuring bureaucrats in charge of zoning laws to make injunction against sprawl. (Denied)
10. Katie: Participatory Action group. She’d work with us on goals she wants to identify through her research. Internal workings of our group. This involves structure, volunteer recruitment, and participation. Structural project. (Denied)
11. Graham adds that we should maintain the integrity of our group. Need for an intermixture between and among groups who share similar groups. We should be inviting people who are involved in other like-minded groups. (Denied)
h. Body Words
i. Ben: need to move the time back. Too bright for 6:30PM. Makes no sense to have it then. Switch it to 8PM – 9PM. Generally agreed. Ben thinks we should give them a flyer during the PCM after party. Give people a partition and have them bring these to body words. Must start promoting it. Amanda made a list of media for promotion. We need a volunteer for people who can contact these media people in order to get ourselves some media for this thing. Other event listings. Ariel will do it.
ii. Ben: we need a body words email blast with image and text. Ben talks to Nadine about this. Milan has confirmed to be the photographer. No videographer is needed; Kai will talk among media team about this.
iii. Amanda is going to buy three hundred of the cheap bike lights. They’re a dollar (Canadian Dollar) each.
iv. What words will our bodies spell out. Multiple words? Kevin believes the logistics preclude multiple words. The single word should be set in stone, according to Kevin. Making this many people stand in a single place is an incredibly complicated procedure. Chalk is needed—but the city doesn’t like it. We need ribbon taped in the corners. A lot of tape would be required. But it’ll look like we might not clean it up. Brian will look into getting a permit. Kevin: security will get nervous. Brian believes a permit is needed and will research that. Must happen very soon. Kevin says that Greenpeace got one the same week.
v. Renting an elevated platform. There is discussion about it. An overlay must be made through computers and things like that. Amanda took a picture—depth is a consideration, angles, height, balconies, the burden of text—all of this is discussed in general. Do we need to rent an elevated lift platform. Kevin sent an email about this for our consideration. Katie: there was the event in April, a photo in Nathan Philips Square. People made water. We could research this; we could use ladders. There are open questions that need to be figured out.
i. Do the Math
i. Ben: A film screening. Look at alliance voting. How we can engage other students. UTERN required. We need a facilitator. Ben will plan the actual structure. Keegan will attend the meeting for alliance building and help facilitate the event. The event is October 9. The planning event and alliance building is something that will be happening the Sunday before that.
j. Brainstorm the Future
i. Pitchmakers: we need a bottom line for it, facilitator. This is the time when the pitches will be made. We’ll hopefully sign up and brainstorm for an hour and a half and plan out the campaigns. October 18.
ii. Lyn: each campaign will need a lot of people, but there is general speculation about how many people are going to be needed for this thing.
iii. Kevin is going to bottom line the event. Lyn will look into Friends House as location
k. PCI-second petition drive-Sunday October 19th
l. IIC-
m. TGM—need someone to go through minutes from last 4 months and add people who have attended meetings and can vote
n. MailChimp: Words, Short Summary w/pictures of New York, Climate Fast in Ottawa—for people to write MPs
o. Holiday Cards—to people who supported us this year. Need to start gathering addresses—send anyone you want to add or suggestion for cards to Kevin.
p. Bullfrog Power—Kevin to send around a video explaining product. Next week we will discuss whether Toronto350 should promote Bullfrog power.
q. Ryerson Divestment—need someone to go speak to Ryerson Student Union about divestment October 21st—Kai volunteered.
r. York Divestment Event—Disorientation on Friday—2-4pm. Monica may try to arrange to do it virtually
s. Intro at Thursday event: Stefan doing intro
t. IIC-Monica setting up meeting Wynn and Bernadette to go over remaining financial issues for NationBuilder job posting.
u. Divestment Convergence Event—Nov. 7-9—we can bring 5 people
v. Adam Vaughn followship—Ben sent photo plus Doug McDonald report—will also send Pembina report and info from environmental defense on Energy East
w. Lukas and Andrea are riding along Line 9—left today, #rideline9, content to follow.
x. FOCOS—Focus of Canada’s Oil Sands –protest—coordinate Idle No More—potentially bring Do the Math Add the People participants—could all wear the same colour.
y. YIMBY
Benjamin Kai Reimer-Watts
Minutes from October 7
Chair: Sam
Minutes: Kai
Present: Sam, Jo, Amelia Rose, Peter, Graham, Tresanne, Ben, Milan, Milan, Nadine, Stu, Kai, Keegan, Kathy, Katie, Ariel
A. Check in and latecomers (10 min)
B. Debriefs (5 min)
· Divestment Event—organizing action week
· Ben: UTURN should be in contact, campus engagement going to try to get everyone on divestment action week, recommendation to do this Wednesday when most students are around
i. Panel, canvass, march, party
ii. Meeting for march communication on Friday?
iii. Booking with police
iv. Visioning meeting
· Executive meeting
· Stu: very good meeting, talking about structural issues, discussing how to not make last week happen again
C. Amending decision-making procedures (Milan) (20 min)
· See suggestions at bottom
· Milan: key question: what notion of democracy do we buy into
· Stu: bigger decisions brought to the entire group, can possibly do online voting, but decisions will also be made by executive
· Decisions are constantly made not put to votes
· Graham: important we’re fair and democratic, but also don’t want to get bogged down unnecessarily
· Adopting a definition of what a “major proposal” is: could be anything over $500 ;
· Kevin: Should be a review process, however major proposals should not necessarily be put out to all 91 members
· Milan: if a small group is working on a proposal, they aren’t working with the group
· Stu: Minimal requirement – proposal is discussed over a week; whoever shows up. Could be an ad-hoc committee (discussing over 1 week, coming back later); could be the role of the executive.
· Ben: Has already done this flying by the seat of our pants; ad-hoc committee was successful for PCM; committees could become biased if they’re looking at every proposal – ad-hoc is better
· Milan: Active membership should approve new major decisions
· Ariel: Ad-hoc committee – small group came together that was really excited about the project;
· Graham: What if the procedure for major proposals was must be proposed generally at a planning meeting; ad-hoc committee is formed (included in minutes); sometime before next Tuesday anyone interested in project meets that week; ad-hoc committee has to circulate something before next meeting
· Ben: What was confusing about circulating to general membership, is there will only be a few people involved anyway, makes sense to make an ad-hoc committee
· Kai: Activism is time-sensitive
· Kevin: Committee should be given a weighted vote, given that they are spending the most time on it
· Jo: raising concern that advocacy is at odds with process ; can lead to equity issues
· Ben: Too abstract to talk about timeliness without context; don’t think weighted vote jives well; however can encourage members who haven’t spent enough time to not vote
· Stu: Committee has minimum of a week, 1 – 3 week window, present summary at least 1 – 3 hours before that meeting, check box suggesting that you have read the proposal
D. Motion to re-adopt previous UofT constitution and shadow constitution (Stu) (10 min)
· Re-adapt constitutions until we have by-laws in place, expected by end of November
· Caveat is exec positions might be changing significantly tonight.
· Whoever is present is able to vote
· Seconded by Graham
· Vote: 14 in favour
· Abstains: 2
E. Voting on executive positions (20 min)
· President
· Development director
· Communications director
· Outreach director
· Media director
· Creative director
· Operations director
· Cut from original description: responsible for “organizing events budget” – campaigns should come forward with that already
· New Positions:
· Volunteer Coordinator Role? (new position)
· Creation of Director of political operations?
· Executive assistant (new position, supports president)
· Director of Political Operations
· Eliminations: Treasurer, Vice President, U of T Liaisons
· Stu: need a treasurer
· Kevin: we need a development officer and comptroller ; fulfill role of finance
· Nadine: need to separate roles of treasurer and sales, finance officer reports to president
· Graham: understands need to keep roles separate
· Stu: Development director’s primary responsibility is to oversee money rather than to raise money, working behind the scene to develop a fundraising strategy. Pitch strategy to some other executive role.
· Milan: shadow constitution requires oversight at planning meetings
· Milan: definitions of committees are related to executive committee, should be considered
· Ben: Change during last executive meeting, events committee cancelled and has become campaigns committee
· Amelia Rose: What happened to Vice President position? Not mentioned what happened to it?
· Graham: Can’t we establish committees as we see fit, since not embedded in constitution. Finance committee needs vote.
· Kevin: Executive positions right now are a bit of empty shells, which is why they’ve been tied directly to committees.
· Ben: Volunteer coordinator will have a list of who’s on what committees
· Nadine: Suggesting we keep both development position / treasurer separate. Key person signing cheques should report to president
· Stu: All exec roles report to the president
· Nadine: We should create a new role for
· the Treasurer reports to the president and sits on the finance committee, and is responsible for being the main signatory on cheques and preparations of financial statements and bank reconciliation.
· Nadine: creates a motion
· Stu second
· 13 votes yes
· 3 abstaining
· Milan: All committees should publish minutes
· Kevin: yes, all committees will have to for transparency
· Milan: Should also remove the term “closed” from both finance and innovation committee – this needs to be clarified
· Stu: The finance committee is an administrative committee which will work collaboratively with the development director and board. It will be comprised of elected executive or board members only. The board shall determine the other members of the group.
· Katie: Should we comment on whether executives can hold two positions in committee
· Kevin: They should be able to but should encourage “run-offs” that encourage competition for positions
· Vote on moving this discussion of what the executive positions are and their changes:
· Stu calls a motion
· Nadine seconded
· 13 votes yes
· 2 abstains
· Votes are for positions until next TGM
· Motion was called Stu for President
· 13 votes yes, 2 abstains
· Development Director: Stu nominates Kevin
· All in favour: 13 ; 2 abstains
· Communications Director: Nadine nominated ; Katie seconded ; 9 in favour ; 4 abstains
· Outreach Director: Ben nominates Amelia Rose; Ariel seconds ; 12 in favour ; 3 abstains
· Media Director: Sam nominates Amanda; Kevin seconds ; 13 in favour ; 2 abstains
· Creative Director: Stu nominates Kai ; Kevin seconds ; 14 in favour ; 1 abstains
· Operations Director: Ariel nominates Ben ; Sam seconds ; 13 in favour ; 1 abstains
· Volunteer Coordinator: Katie nominates Tina; Ben seconds; 12 in favour ; 3 abstaining
· Executive Assistant: Sam nominates Tresanne ; Ariel second ; 12 in favour ; 3 abstains
· Treasurer: Ariel nominates Graham; Ben seconds;12 in favour; 2 abstains
· Political Ops: VOTE DELAYED
· Roles currently empty: Executive Asst, Operations Director, Creative Director, Political Operations; Volunteer Coordinator
F. Treasurer’s report on Post PCM finances (Katie) (5 min)
· Have made $6897.96 following PCM ; with additionals will get to about $8K
· When we incorporate will be able to get a line of credit
· Account we have will become the non-profit account, can have sub-accounts but need to be same signers
· Propose: move to say when we form the campaigns, give each campaign an initial petty cash fund right from the beginning so they have an initial budget to work with – if they need any additional funds, come to finance committee
· This gives different campaigns autonomy, and campaign managers would then be in charge of compiling receipts and giving these to treasurer
G. Line 9 (Amanda) (3 min)
· Amelia Rose: Enbridge has applied to open valves at certain points, have been denied because they don’t have enough valves on major waterways,
· May be a major delay, but will not stop project
H. Pitch for PCM documentary (Kai) (20 min)
· Promo video
· Overview of project
· Questions
I. Oct 18th Visioning for the future (Kevin)
J. Anti Greenwashing action (in camera) (Ben) (5 min)
K. Request for #FloodBaySt endorsement (Stu) (5 min)
· Likely to be in next week or so, done by Rising Tide, looking for group endorsements – ask for more information
L. Sending people to divestment convergence? (10 min)
· Organize a car/subsidize?
M. TCAN meeting on Saturday, November 1st, 2-4 pm (Stu) (2 min)
N. Protest the Canadian BAR association intervention on behalf of chevron (2 min)
· https://www.facebook.com/events/362158690619108/
O. Tools for Change is hiring part time coordinator (1 min)
· http://www.toolsforchange.net/2014/09/22/tools-for-change-is-hiring-a-coordinator-you-interested/
Ben will chair next meeting
Good afternoon,
In order to avoid any repetition of recent abuse of the
decision-making procedure at Toronto350.org, I think there is an
urgent need for the organization to choose some decision-making,
transparency, and oversight procedures for use going forward. I think
it makes sense to agree on some set of procedures before we transition
to any new organizational structure for the group.
The idea of any such procedures would be to protect the link between
the approval of the group's membership and the actions taken by the
group. In particular, they should protect against any individual or
group imposing decisions through unilateral or otherwise improper
means.
To get things started in a more concrete way, here are some ideas for
the kinds of procedures we may want to implement. We could adopt them
as decision-making guidelines in the interim, and ultimately
incorporate them into our by-laws.
Some possible decision-making, transparency, and oversight procedures:
1) All board meetings, executive meetings, planning meetings, and
committee meetings shall be minuted. Minutes shall be made publicly
available online.
2) The former requirements on fundraising from the shadow constitution
shall remain Toronto350.org policy: "Before a for-profit enterprise
shall be accepted as a sponsor, the matter shall be discussed at a
planning meeting. If any person present objects to the sponsorship, a
simple majority vote shall be conducted to settle the matter. New
fundraising proposals shall be brought forward for discussion at a
weekly planning meeting before being implemented."
3) Major proposals cannot be adopted unless they have been circulated
to the general membership of the group one week in advance of the
meeting where the decision is to be made. Major proposals shall
include those requiring an expenditure of over $500, those that create
new legal obligations for the group, or those that alter the policies
of the group or the powers of executive members, board members, or
officers.
4) Members of the group undertaking negotiations on behalf of
Toronto350.org must receive prior authority to do so through a
planning meeting vote. If negotiations require them to make
commitments that go beyond their approved mandate, they must be
granted wider authorization through an appropriate decision-making
body.
5) Documents that have not been discussed at a planning meeting shall
not include logos or text that suggest that they have been endorsed by
the Toronto350.org organization. Their inclusion can improperly imply
group endorsement for what may simply be the personal initiative of
one member or a small group.
6) No binding votes may be taken when meetings are in camera.
7) No member of Toronto350.org can force any other member to keep
information secret.
8) Guidelines for actions which require secrecy shall be developed,
approved, and made public. An oversight mechanism shall be created to
oversee any such actions and confirm that they are being undertaken in
keeping with the values and objectives of 350.org, and that they are
not creating unjustified risks for the organization.
The list above should be taken more as a set of specific suggestions
meant to drive discussion than as a formal and comprehensive proposal
for oversight rules. It's important that the rules we agree to
themselves arise from and open and comprehensive discussion.
Over and above and decision-making procedures, we also have major
questions to answer about the balance of responsibilities between the
executive and the board, and what role the general membership will
play in scrutinizing and approving the decisions of either.
Instead of thinking about discussion and debate as a stumbling block
on the way to action, we should think of them as a necessary part of
making wise decisions.
Best wishes,
Milan
Chair: Sam
Minutes: Kai
Present: Sam, Jo, Amelia Rose, Peter, Graham, Tresanne, Ben, Milan, Milan, Nadine, Stu, Kai, Keegan, Kathy, Katie, Ariel
A. Check in and latecomers (10 min)
B. Debriefs (5 min)
· Divestment Event—organizing action week
· Ben: UTURN should be in contact, campus engagement going to try to get everyone on divestment action week, recommendation to do this Wednesday when most students are around
i. Panel, canvass, march, party
ii. Meeting for march communication on Friday?
iii. Booking with police
iv. Visioning meeting
· Executive meeting
· Stu: very good meeting, talking about structural issues, discussing how to not make last week happen again
C. Amending decision-making procedures (Milan) (20 min)
· See suggestions at bottom
· Milan: key question: what notion of democracy do we buy into
· Stu: bigger decisions brought to the entire group, can possibly do online voting, but decisions will also be made by executive
· Decisions are constantly made not put to votes
· Graham: important we’re fair and democratic, but also don’t want to get bogged down unnecessarily
· Adopting a definition of what a “major proposal” is: could be anything over $500 ;
· Kevin: Should be a review process, however major proposals should not necessarily be put out to all 91 members
· Milan: if a small group is working on a proposal, they aren’t working with the group
· Stu: Minimal requirement – proposal is discussed over a week; whoever shows up. Could be an ad-hoc committee (discussing over 1 week, coming back later); could be the role of the executive.
· Ben: Has already done this flying by the seat of our pants; ad-hoc committee was successful for PCM; committees could become biased if they’re looking at every proposal – ad-hoc is better
· Milan: Active membership should approve new major decisions
· Ariel: Ad-hoc committee – small group came together that was really excited about the project;
· Graham: What if the procedure for major proposals was must be proposed generally at a planning meeting; ad-hoc committee is formed (included in minutes); sometime before next Tuesday anyone interested in project meets that week; ad-hoc committee has to circulate something before next meeting
· Ben: What was confusing about circulating to general membership, is there will only be a few people involved anyway, makes sense to make an ad-hoc committee
· Kai: Activism is time-sensitive
· Kevin: Committee should be given a weighted vote, given that they are spending the most time on it
· Jo: raising concern that advocacy is at odds with process ; can lead to equity issues
· Ben: Too abstract to talk about timeliness without context; don’t think weighted vote jives well; however can encourage members who haven’t spent enough time to not vote
· Stu: Committee has minimum of a week, 1 – 3 week window, present summary at least 1 – 3 hours before that meeting, check box suggesting that you have read the proposal
D. Motion to re-adopt previous UofT constitution and shadow constitution (Stu) (10 min)
· Re-adapt constitutions until we have by-laws in place, expected by end of November
· Caveat is exec positions might be changing significantly tonight.
· Whoever is present is able to vote
· Seconded by Graham
· Vote: 14 in favour
· Abstains: 2
E. Voting on executive positions (20 min)
· President
· Development director
· Communications director
· Outreach director
· Media director
· Creative director
· Operations director
· Cut from original description: responsible for “organizing events budget” – campaigns should come forward with that already
· New Positions:
· Volunteer Coordinator Role? (new position)
· Creation of Director of political operations?
· Executive assistant (new position, supports president)
· Director of Political Operations
· Eliminations: Treasurer, Vice President, U of T Liaisons
· Stu: need a treasurer
· Kevin: we need a development officer and comptroller ; fulfill role of finance
· Nadine: need to separate roles of treasurer and sales, finance officer reports to president
· Graham: understands need to keep roles separate
· Stu: Development director’s primary responsibility is to oversee money rather than to raise money, working behind the scene to develop a fundraising strategy. Pitch strategy to some other executive role.
· Milan: shadow constitution requires oversight at planning meetings
· Milan: definitions of committees are related to executive committee, should be considered
· Ben: Change during last executive meeting, events committee cancelled and has become campaigns committee
· Amelia Rose: What happened to Vice President position? Not mentioned what happened to it?
· Graham: Can’t we establish committees as we see fit, since not embedded in constitution. Finance committee needs vote.
· Kevin: Executive positions right now are a bit of empty shells, which is why they’ve been tied directly to committees.
· Ben: Volunteer coordinator will have a list of who’s on what committees
· Nadine: Suggesting we keep both development position / treasurer separate. Key person signing cheques should report to president
· Stu: All exec roles report to the president
· Nadine: We should create a new role for
· the Treasurer reports to the president and sits on the finance committee, and is responsible for being the main signatory on cheques and preparations of financial statements and bank reconciliation.
· Nadine: creates a motion
· Stu second
· 13 votes yes
· 3 abstaining
· Milan: All committees should publish minutes
· Kevin: yes, all committees will have to for transparency
· Milan: Should also remove the term “closed” from both finance and innovation committee – this needs to be clarified
· Stu: The finance committee is an administrative committee which will work collaboratively with the development director and board. It will be comprised of elected executive or board members only. The board shall determine the other members of the group.
· Katie: Should we comment on whether executives can hold two positions in committee
· Kevin: They should be able to but should encourage “run-offs” that encourage competition for positions
· Vote on moving this discussion of what the executive positions are and their changes:
· Stu calls a motion
· Nadine seconded
· 13 votes yes
· 2 abstains
· Votes are for positions until next TGM
· Motion was called Stu for President
· 13 votes yes, 2 abstains
· Development Director: Stu nominates Kevin
· All in favour: 13 ; 2 abstains
· Communications Director: Nadine nominated ; Katie seconded ; 9 in favour ; 4 abstains
· Outreach Director: Ben nominates Amelia Rose; Ariel seconds ; 12 in favour ; 3 abstains
· Media Director: Sam nominates Amanda; Kevin seconds ; 13 in favour ; 2 abstains
· Creative Director: Stu nominates Kai ; Kevin seconds ; 14 in favour ; 1 abstains
· Operations Director: Ariel nominates Ben ; Sam seconds ; 13 in favour ; 1 abstains
· Volunteer Coordinator: Katie nominates Tina; Ben seconds; 12 in favour ; 3 abstaining
· Executive Assistant: Sam nominates Tresanne ; Ariel second ; 12 in favour ; 3 abstains
· Treasurer: Ariel nominates Graham; Ben seconds;12 in favour; 2 abstains
· Political Ops: VOTE DELAYED
· Roles currently empty: Executive Asst, Operations Director, Creative Director, Political Operations; Volunteer Coordinator
F. Treasurer’s report on Post PCM finances (Katie) (5 min)
· Have made $6897.96 following PCM ; with additionals will get to about $8K
· When we incorporate will be able to get a line of credit
· Account we have will become the non-profit account, can have sub-accounts but need to be same signers
· Propose: move to say when we form the campaigns, give each campaign an initial petty cash fund right from the beginning so they have an initial budget to work with – if they need any additional funds, come to finance committee
· This gives different campaigns autonomy, and campaign managers would then be in charge of compiling receipts and giving these to treasurer
G. Line 9 (Amanda) (3 min)
· Amelia Rose: Enbridge has applied to open valves at certain points, have been denied because they don’t have enough valves on major waterways,
· May be a major delay, but will not stop project
H. Pitch for PCM documentary (Kai) (20 min)
· Promo video
· Overview of project
· Questions
Kevin proposes motion to create a temporary 5 person committee of the general membership and the exec to meet Sat Oct 11th at 10pm for the purpose off reviewing the proposal from TorontoPCM. The committee shall be empowered to make a decision with respect to the proposal. The committee shall be empowered to make whichever requests of the organization or of TorontoPCM for content or access are necessary, in order to inform its final disposition. This committee shall arrive at a conclusion no later than Oct 21st, 2014.
Sam moves that a committee is create a temporary 5 person committee of the general membership and the exec to meet Sat Oct 11th at 10pm for the purpose off reviewing the proposal from TorontoPCM. The committee shall provide a recommendation to the group which will then be voted on next Tuesday.
12
0
1
Passes
I. Oct 18th Visioning for the future (Kevin)
J. Anti Greenwashing action (in camera) (Ben) (5 min)
K. Request for #FloodBaySt endorsement (Stu) (5 min)
· Likely to be in next week or so, done by Rising Tide, looking for group endorsements – ask for more information
L. Sending people to divestment convergence? (10 min)
· Organize a car/subsidize?
M. TCAN meeting on Saturday, November 1st, 2-4 pm (Stu) (2 min)
N. Protest the Canadian BAR association intervention on behalf of chevron (2 min)
· https://www.facebook.com/events/362158690619108/
O. Tools for Change is hiring part time coordinator (1 min)
· http://www.toolsforchange.net/2014/09/22/tools-for-change-is-hiring-a-coordinator-you-interested/
Ben will chair next meeting
Good afternoon,
In order to avoid any repetition of recent abuse of the
decision-making procedure at Toronto350.org, I think there is an
urgent need for the organization to choose some decision-making,
transparency, and oversight procedures for use going forward. I think
it makes sense to agree on some set of procedures before we transition
to any new organizational structure for the group.
The idea of any such procedures would be to protect the link between
the approval of the group's membership and the actions taken by the
group. In particular, they should protect against any individual or
group imposing decisions through unilateral or otherwise improper
means.
To get things started in a more concrete way, here are some ideas for
the kinds of procedures we may want to implement. We could adopt them
as decision-making guidelines in the interim, and ultimately
incorporate them into our by-laws.
Some possible decision-making, transparency, and oversight procedures:
1) All board meetings, executive meetings, planning meetings, and
committee meetings shall be minuted. Minutes shall be made publicly
available online.
2) The former requirements on fundraising from the shadow constitution
shall remain Toronto350.org policy: "Before a for-profit enterprise
shall be accepted as a sponsor, the matter shall be discussed at a
planning meeting. If any person present objects to the sponsorship, a
simple majority vote shall be conducted to settle the matter. New
fundraising proposals shall be brought forward for discussion at a
weekly planning meeting before being implemented."
3) Major proposals cannot be adopted unless they have been circulated
to the general membership of the group one week in advance of the
meeting where the decision is to be made. Major proposals shall
include those requiring an expenditure of over $500, those that create
new legal obligations for the group, or those that alter the policies
of the group or the powers of executive members, board members, or
officers.
4) Members of the group undertaking negotiations on behalf of
Toronto350.org must receive prior authority to do so through a
planning meeting vote. If negotiations require them to make
commitments that go beyond their approved mandate, they must be
granted wider authorization through an appropriate decision-making
body.
5) Documents that have not been discussed at a planning meeting shall
not include logos or text that suggest that they have been endorsed by
the Toronto350.org organization. Their inclusion can improperly imply
group endorsement for what may simply be the personal initiative of
one member or a small group.
6) No binding votes may be taken when meetings are in camera.
7) No member of Toronto350.org can force any other member to keep
information secret.
8) Guidelines for actions which require secrecy shall be developed,
approved, and made public. An oversight mechanism shall be created to
oversee any such actions and confirm that they are being undertaken in
keeping with the values and objectives of 350.org, and that they are
not creating unjustified risks for the organization.
The list above should be taken more as a set of specific suggestions
meant to drive discussion than as a formal and comprehensive proposal
for oversight rules. It's important that the rules we agree to
themselves arise from and open and comprehensive discussion.
Over and above and decision-making procedures, we also have major
questions to answer about the balance of responsibilities between the
executive and the board, and what role the general membership will
play in scrutinizing and approving the decisions of either.
Instead of thinking about discussion and debate as a stumbling block
on the way to action, we should think of them as a necessary part of
making wise decisions.
Best wishes,
Milan
thugsb
thugsb
Present: Stu, Milan, Ben, Joe, Ariel, Lyn, Tresanne, Yan, Graham, Amelia Rose, Earl, Nadine, Kai, Senti
Chair: Ben
Minutes: Stu
Debriefs
Meeting at Ryerson -- some members met with Ryerson SU president Rajean. New to it, but eager. More support will be good to give.
FOCOS
Stood for ten minutes with signs in silence, flyers were handed out. Strong presence. Removed after ten minutes.
Took over their hashtag: #FOCOS
Good photos, press release going out, and maybe articles in magazine(s)
Divestment action week
Nov 12th, applied for space
Visioning the Future
This Saturday!
Campaign descriptions from campaign leaders are still required, to be sent to Kevin
Divestment has been sent by Ben
Amelia Rose has sent also
Kai, Tina, Kevin
Location: Woodsworth Room
Invite your friends! https://www.facebook.com/events/703842516336492/
HauntBaySt
Costumed event that we may wish to endorse. More info to come.
Pipeleaks
Volunteers needed, Thursday at 10am-noon -- Ben, Yan, Tresanne and Graham are interested but can’t make that time.
Ryerson Workshop on Oct 22nd
We need a volunteer to run a workshop on divestment, 6-8pm. Rajean will support it.
Looking for strategy help
Kai and Stu will run it, with planning help from Ben
Ryerson Divestment Panel, Tues 28th (evening)
Need a volunteer to be on a panel for the launch of the divestment campaign
Maybe reach out to a person who used to be involved with To350 and no longer comes? Fiona, Flavius, Neal. Or Monica?
Carbon Neutral Neighbourhood
2 communities in TO (Junction and Riverdale), one in Guelph so far, but expanding into other neighbourhoods
Does anyone want to do in the carbon footprint survey? It’s a big survey, but due in Dec. Requires bills and such.
Take the survey: http://www.projectneutral.org/
PCM Documentary “Beyond Crisis”
Ad hoc committee met on Saturday: Kai, Monica, Milan, Kevin
Both groups get rights to distribution
It’s about building a relationship, a formal agreement, between Toronto350.org and Toronto PCM (the media team). Kai: Having a partnership seems to makes sense.
The offer is that Toronto350 can be at the table as the film develops, and give feedback and have input into the stories
Should this be a campaign? Maybe a good idea?
Proposal:
Create a short promo video for Toronto350 (3mins) for To350’s use, specifically for Toronto350 to use. This could be used for fundraising, and Kevin is continuing to develop a plan to use it for fundraising.
Create a documentary
Kai has developed a 40 page strategic plan for to Toronto PCM media group.
The point of trying to establish the relationship now is that Toronto350 can help to answer the questions that have come up, and that Toronto350 can have input into it. We can’t have all the answers now, but by establishing a partnership now, Toronto350 can have continual involvement into it.
Kai thinks that TorontoPCM could create additional promo materials to help our group
A To350 promo video will require 3-4 weeks of full-time work away from the documentary, which is what the proposed $1400 would go to. Many NGOs have promo videos, and $1400 is cheap for a video.
The intention is to use the money from To350 to get more money flowing in, and to help some of the main people involved get some reimbursement. It will largely remain a volunteer project, and everyone understands that, and no one is expected to make big bucks.
Kai: The fundraising potential from this is huge, and crowdfunding seems to work pretty well for climate change documentaries.
Stu: gives a speech in support of it, framing it as an infrastructure project.
Milan: The fundraising plan he has seen (1 slide) requires to be developed in more detail.
Milan: The amount we invest can be varied, in that we can a lot or a little.
Kai: The grant support % has a hard cap, and no grants are guaranteed.
Crowdfunding would be split between Toronto350 and TorontoPCM
What are we promising to donors?
That’s a decision for the Development committee
Arts Lawyers could be contacted to go over the contract. Graham will do so.
Stu: Proposes we do this 1 hour consultation. Tresanne seconds. Motion carries unanimously.
Nadine: Concern that the 50% crowdfunding isn’t included in the contract
Milan: We should also check about the NDA
If the main thing we’re getting is Distribution Rights, then maybe it should be in the contract that we have that? That we can distribute via DVDs, online, TV, screenings, etc.
Kai: Asks for conditional approval of the documentary funding, if Graham gets the go-ahead (without there being red flags).
Lyn: What is the $3000 for?
Joe: Let’s separate the motion. First: Allocate $1400 for promo video. Second: Depending on Graham’s consultation not raising red flags, or that red flags are addressed, we match 10% of grants received, up to a maximum of $3000, in order to receive exclusive distribution rights that are shared between Toronto350 and TorontoPCM.
Any other concerns? No
First Motion: Ariel moves, Nadine seconds, for $1400. Carries unanimously.
Second Motion: Stu moves, Nadine seconds, 10 in favour, 0 opposed, 2 abstentions. Motion carries
TCAN meeting Nov 1st, 2-4pm, Metro Hall
They’ll have 5 pitches for new ideas, which they’re hoping groups will take on.
Kai will go. Amelia Rose, Kevin, Stu and Flavius are the current delegation, so we’ll have to change that. Stu will do so.
Press Release about Divestment
Cam sent a request for us to write and send out a press release regarding Mark Carney’s statement that “oil needs to be left in the ground”. He’s Bank of England and previous Bank of Canada. Cam has written a press release, telling universities to get on board quickly, now that FFDivestment is main stream. He wants us to write an op-ed too. Maybe ask Dimitri to send it it (write it for him)? Earl and Senti will work on the op-ed, and should reach out to Amanda. Due: ASAP, esp the press release, but the op-ed could wait a week.
Send a blast to mailchimp list encouraging them to write op-eds, with links
Executive positions
Director of Political Operations
Graham questions whether a “Special Ops” committee is needed, in that they’ll likely be for immediate-response callouts. Stu: maybe useful for having people watching for opportunities, as well as developing messaging.
No takers this week, vote postponed
Please send your exec questionnaires to Kevin ASAP.
Divestment Action Week
March likely to be Nov 12th
Flooding the UofT streets to get people out there and let them know about Divestment.
Waiting on approval from police.
Social Organizing Conference
At Ryerson, Nov 28th-29th. Do we want to run a workshop? Lyn, Joe, Ben, Kevin and Stu are interested. Kevin is bottom-lining.
Montreal Divestment Convergence
We can send 5 people at a group rate (there’s no limit). $30 for group, $40 for individual
Focus on sending the new divestment people
Send to mailchimp -- need a way to collect names.
Ben will collect names.
Ariel, Ben, Joe, Sam, Katie are interested in going.
We’ll offer to pay tickets for first ten people, having a budget of $300.
Joe will ask UTERN if they’ll subsidize.
Stu moves: we’ll ask UTERN to pay for the registration tickets, and Toronto350 will commit $300 to help people get there, whether to pay for more registrations or help cover transportation costs.
Billeting is available for accommodation, but we should also encourage people to couchsurf and such.
Stu moves, Kai seconds, passes unanimously.
Canadian Voice Of Women for Peace is putting on annual conference, themed “Conflict and Climate Change”
No cost for table, but they request we blast it by mailchimp
Nov 9th, 3-5pm.
Asking for endorsement. Graham moves to endorse, Katie seconds, passes.
Would like us to register (~$25) and have a table. Kai will go. Suggestion that Toronto350 pay the ticket.
ClimateFast’s upcoming events
Nov 1st will be a Philippine's Haiyan candlelight vigil.
Dec 1st will be panel for Peru COP solidarity. Seems like it fits the “Paris COP” campaign, and Kai is interested in bringing this up at the Visioning the Future event on Saturday.
Climate Change is Spooky
Still waiting for confirmation at city hall, but since they’re unresponsive, we’ll just go ahead and use the space anyway.
They claimed that you would need a license to do wedding photos there, but that seems like CYA and ridiculous.
Cycle Toronto will support “from a distance”
We could do it at UofT. That could help relationships with Cycle Toronto.
Ben will suggest to Kevin that we move to UofT. That will help with the setup and allow us to be less rushed and not get kicked out by security.
Milan can’t usefully photograph there, so we’re dependent on the drone.
Website
Server is changing on Thursday, so Milan is taking a backup just in case.
Municipal Elections
Chow got over 80% on Enviro Alliance score, whereas Tory got around 60%. There’s advanced voting for the next few days at city hall, and Chow has a call-out for people to come and vote for her on Wed morning.
White poppy campaign -- mentioned, but no time to discuss
Stu will chair next meeting (at 25 Cecil, minute-taker to be chosen at the time)
thugsb
Oct 21
Present: Stu, Tresanne, Kai, Earle, Celia, Alex, Amelia Rose, Graeme, Ben, Sam, Ariel, Lynn, Laurie
Minutes: Ariel
Chair: Stu
Debriefs
Visioning the Future
- Went nicely, “amazingly organized”, Lauren: impressed with plans for the future, well thought out; Graeme: felt some difficulty in including new members in existing campaigns. Kai: thought the structure was good, got me pumped. Graeme: thought the planning section could be a little longer. Kai seconds this: maybe could have been an hour or more. Ben: Kevin wished there were more people, suggested it might have been good to provide food. Graeme: campaign planning could have been shortened, leaders could have done that and then conveyed it. Sam: didn’t need to be shorter, but content could have been reduced given the time it was hard to follow. Group consensus was that the last 45 was effective.
- 35 people there, aprox 25 not active members
Conflict Resolution
- Lynn: Discussion of possibly having a “vibes watcher” to keep us on task and keep the atmosphere amicable. Have the last couple minutes of the meeting to check in. Adequate time for people to prep for decisions. Guidelines for proposals to be considered by the group. When to keep info private and when not to. Might be helpful for a conflict resolution protocol to be developed. Could do a workshop in the next month on conflict resolution and different styles on how to address them. More of a learning and prevention event. Lynn will bottom line this.
Exec positions
. Political Operations
a. Volunteer Coordinator
b. Development - month leave of absence, will continue working on Pipeleaks and PCI
- Kevin will be on a month long leave of absence to work on these projects until December.
Meeting with FoCOS organizers
- Katie: organizers want to meet with us and maybe have us present at a future meeting.
Location for potluck
- Laurie’s house
Documentary
- Kai: Grant application went in today. Kevin stepping back complicates things but everything will be fine. Editing team came up with a clear organizational structure to go through footage. Story team is continuing to work on narrative. Fundraising is looking into a crowd fund. Likely Amanda Hunter will lead this. This will need collaboration with T350 on messaging, etc. This will happen over the holidays. One story that is emerging is connection to upcoming federal election and Canada’s inaction on CC – could incorporate news footage. Could also include Line 9, Energy East narratives. Graeme will be meeting with Arts Legal Council on Thurs.
Cop21
- Kai: Conference of the Parties in Paris, 2015. First time in 20 years that all nations will come together to sign a binding agreement. A huge moment. How will we turn this into a local campaign? Connecting it to an election issue – Canada should have firm commitments. Needs to be a media story – Canada is falling behind but these local groups are working hard and getting somewhere. Sent out a resource package to everyone who attending the Visioning group. Stay involved by getting in contact. By the end of this week there will be a strategy session summarized. Joining the list: Lynn, Stu, Nadine, Celia, Ariel.
- Lynn: booked Friends House for Dec 1st (first day of Lima COP – annual Conference). Event could put pressure on last COP before Paris. Could be a forum with speakers, maybe one from 350, to talk about what we are planning to do in the next year. Could have a skype connection to someone there?
- Graeme: Kai could reach out to his group members looking for volunteers.
- Tresanne and Kai volunteer to help.
Ryerson divestment workshop - can someone commit to being Ryerson liaison that they can ask questions and advice from?
- Vince, Kai will lead workshop at Ryerson on Oct 22.
- Ben will be Ryerson liaison
Divest UofT
. PCJ Panel (in case someone knows good speakers that could help Toronto350 the Trudeau centre could also fly in for their conference).
- Ben: PCJ get a lot of funding to bring people to their undergrad conference. Looking for potential speakers on urban protests. Stu: David Stember is a possibility. Sam: Jamie Biggar, director of Lead Now. Stu: Vanessa would also be good.
a. Text service for nationbuilder for text sign up
- Ben: Text service so students could sign up through class talks. We would only need it in Oct. We would need $14 for one month through Nation Builder. None opposed.
b. Committee
- Ad hoq divestment committee will be formed tomorrow. Ben will follow up with Milan.
Spooky
. Lanterns
- Oct 30th “Climate Change is Spooky” spelling out words with our bodies and taking pictures. Ben: Amanda is taking on lanterns. Laurie: paper lanterns with bike lights in them would work well.
a. Promotion
- Will be at Nathan Phillips square. Will have a drone for photos. The police have been notified. Free bike lights will be given out. Prizes for the best costume.
- Laurie: there are 2,000 couch surfers in Toronto that we could reach out to. Stu will post in TCAN. The event will be 5:30 - 6:30, at twilight. Stu: will go out in single ask emails this week and next week to members and PCM list. Celia: her radio class can do a radio segment. Ben: CycleTO is also promoting, as is CSI.
- More info toronto350.org/spooky, which will be up tonight.
- Volunteers: Tresanne, Graeme, Ariel
- Graeme: Important to restate why 350
Monthly training (Amelia Rose)
- Proposal to do something monthly to bring out membership and get to know them, not necessarily training. Could be social gatherings, films, etc. Graeme: would it be productive to use existing events like Spooky. Stu: we could have monthly film screenings and discussions of new information. Laurie: could ask local celebrities to speak at events. Stu: this would be more of an internal community building. Graeme: something where we could learn collaboratively would be great. Ben: something not linked to campaigns might be difficult, but going through the campaigns might be good. Maybe this could be done by the volunteer coordinator, or a HR person. Stu: could have a Christmas party. A monthly film screening would not need much planning once it is already set up. Would need someone to run this. Ariel, Tresanne, Lynn offer to help with an xmas party. Lynn: we could do a film series on weekends at Friends House, which she would help with.
Glen Murray is hosting a roundtable on carbon pricing - early/mid Nov on weekend
- Provincial minister of the Environment. Sharon asks for people interested in attending. Alex, Celia, Graeme willing to go.
Bylaws
. Membership Requirements
- Stu: new bylaws sent out with changes in purple. Would be helpful if people commented. Not for profit Act says that typical way that new membership is decided is by the existing membership. Previously, attending 2 meetings made you a voting member, but that might not be sensible anymore. Stu: problem is quarum, when we need a percentage of membership to make decisions.
- Brainstorming session
- Graeme: attendance is better than a donation.
- Sam: twice in the last year is good, but not calendar year, because then we all lose membership in January.
- Graeme: is there an easier was to track that, maybe one of the two times has to be in the last month.
- Amelia Rose: What about when someone who is involved with the campaigns but doesn’t come to meetings wants to vote.
- Stu: two meetings OR option – a campaign manager swears you in
- Tina: different criteria for different votes?
- Stu: we should already be discouraging people from voting on things they don’t know about
- Graeme: what if it’s two meetings or $5
- Ariel: but that’s discriminatory to people who have class on tues
- Nadine: what if it’s two meetings or two events, at which they would make an effort to let someone know they were there
- Stu: could be an annual fee, with exceptions for those who can’t pay.
- Graeme: the point of the club is to have more people, we should take away any obstacles to joining
- Katie: paying gives you the feeling of ownership. For example, Acorn uses this method – dues are important because they feel like they’re getting the skill of activism out of it.
- Stu: low threshold for becoming a member is important, but retention is also important.
- Graeme: could pay to vote, have voice heard.
- Stu: already - volunteers are non voting and members are voting
- Lynn: could be $10 regular, $5 student/low income
- Nadine: NDP membership is $5 for some, $25 for those able to pay more
- Stu: makes sense to have a much lower price for those not gainfully employeds
- Ben: getting regular donors is more important at this point
Board members
. Inviting them
- becoming a non profit requires us to have a third level: board members who would meet once a year
- who do we want to invite? When would we vote on them? Need 3 minimum, 11 max, 2 need to be not exec, not paid
- brainstorm of potential members:
- Nadine: Emily Hunter
- Katie: Sabrina Bowman, Doug MacDonald, John Riddell, John Starkey
- Stu: Cameron Fenton
- Katie: Rosemary
- Stu: Milan, Monica
- Ben: someone in Toronto’s First Nation community
- Laurie: Unitarian groups, seniors with free time and lots of experience
- Stu: Anne Russell, Dimitri Lascaris
- Laurie: one of the marchers was a Unitarian minister - Lynn Harrison
- Lynn: Heather Milton-Lightning
- Stu: how should we go about contacting these people?
- Stu: having them come down and see if they like it
- Laurie: laying out what we have done previously
- Tina: Jean Eng
- Ben: Beth Leavins
- Graeme: contact should be done by Stu as President – “would you be interested in being considered for our board”
- How many members do we want initially? Should be an odd number
- Ariel: maybe if they could be required to come to a meeting so we could see how they fit with us
a. Voting on them
b. Having a board meeting
Other Campaigns
- Amelia Rose: Divest All the Things – trying to focus on teachers divesting, could be an Ontario wide campaign
- Tina: Fossil Free Futures campaign – carving out pathways for renewable investment. Contact with Ryerson looking at ways to reinvest for the financial sector.
Upcoming Events:
. #ChooseUs Thursday, UC177 https://www.facebook.com/events/602422493196616/
a. DresSUP, Friday Oct 24th, 7:30pm-11:30pm, Harvest Noon. https://www.facebook.com/events/1476684652595378/
b. Exposing Energy East, Garth Lenz (photographer) event, Sat Nov 1st, 2-3pm, The Richmond, 477 Richmond St. W. Suite 104, https://www.facebook.com/events/1542169449347469/
c. Does Prosperity Need a Rethink? How Can We Better Navigate the Journey? TSSS, Wed Nov 12th, 4:30-7:30pm, University of Toronto, Banting Institute, 100 College St., Rm 131. $30-$65 http://ow.ly/CSq0B
- Stu has asked for a discount for us to attend
d. Launch Party for the Sustainers Club and Report back from the Toronto Caravan to Unist'ot'en, Sunday October 26th, 7:30-11pm. Church of St Stephens in the Fields.103 Bellevue. https://www.facebook.com/events/1539666099598825/ MAILCHIMP and ENDORSE?
- decision to endorse
e. MPP Han Dong's Halloween Dress-up Pub Night! Thurs Oct 23rd at 8:30pm, Nirvana, 434 College St, https://www.facebook.com/events/1476283982642640/
f. Nov 9th 10-5pm Conflict and Climate Change Conference, Metro Hall
g. Nov 1st will be a candle light vigil
Next chair: Graeme
Stu Basden
Toronto350.org Meeting Agenda
Tuesday October 28th 7-10pm
Introductions:
In attendance: Earl, Kai, Graham, Tresanne, Milan, Laurie, Nadine, Ariel, Ben, Lynn
minutes: Ben
Updates:
COP21 (Kai)
making strategic plans.
hope make election issue
group 16 interested persons
Ben: remember Cam saying Damages only realistic thing that can be negotiated. Will be negotiated this year. Paris likely prepackaged
Milan: Can we get a new big org to condemn Canada?
Graham: can be both.
Lynn: slogan, more fossil awards for Canada
Kai: there’s more do to and value statements….
Documentary (Kai)
tagging system developed so they can share and edit material.
wants to consult with Toronto350 so the group can have input.
Asks for members who know To350’s history and were at the PCM to contact kai and help crafting the story ( email k...@toronto350.org )
Specifies if Monica can help. Others also welcomed. Katie might be interested. general media toronto350 rep consult.
Kai says he should have brought his mind map]
Graham:
wrote up a new legal contract after consultation with Art lawyer
lawyer recommended simpler text. Very complicated document to him. Good, but over complicated.
commercial would be owned by producers (Toronto PCM) with the exception of rights granted in contract
Toronto350 will give Toronto-pcm $1400 to producers to cover costs of commercial
the 10% funding backup has not been taken as significant by other funding organizations.
We will no longer do this. Toronto350 will no longer be a market partner because it actually hasn’t helped in funding for grants. Hoc Docs person said in their application process Toronto350 does not qualify as a market partner. By market partner they want a group that can guarantee market and distribution (e.g. Rogers). Toronto350 has no proven track record of distributing documentaries.
Kai hopes for rough draft of ad by next Tuesday
Kai does not think grant applications are effective from a fundraising perspectives.
Kai wants to invest time in creating a crowd-fund for this project.
crowdfund will be run in partnership
Toronto350 will ensure if the crowfund does not earn $2000, Toronto350 will pay the difference. We will ensure they pay the difference. But above $2000 we won’t pay the difference.
messaging needs to be decided.
Graham: we will negotiate in the future what toronto will fund and how.
Kai: is kevin still working on a crowd-funding plan?
Lynn: suggests that the document say the funds will be divided with 350, set a number, or mutually decide. Lynn wants ability to change it be added to the document. Fall-back will build in conflict resolution mechanism. 50-50 division of crowd-fund beyond the $2000.
What does To350 get (Graham) producers would give us distribution rights. Same as before.
They can use imagery logos. We will at their request act as a creative consultant.
They will give us credit in the doc.
in event of breach of contract: we can sue . Or have conflict resolution meeting (lynn).
lynn wants grups to commit to conflict resolution process before (if ever) going to legal process.
Laurie: we don’t have a timeline or delivery date. We should add time frames.
Kai: T350 is not giving their own money so I don’t think this is necessary, we might need to be accountable to other backers’ timelines, however.
Graham: What about putting a timeline on the commercial, not the feature
Decision is commercial will be completed by January 1st 2015
they will strike executive producer out of the document.
kai: happy about review, feelings,
Graham will bold climate change in the document.
Katie moves for signing of agreement, ariel seconds.
11 in favour, no opposed.
Fossil Free UofT Divestment (Ariel)
divestment action week
doing class talks -awareness
art build monday evening; panel tuesday evening; March Wednesday; Thursday pub night!
outreach meeting thursday UC175 4-5pm then take peopleto climate change is spooky.
if anyone knows alumni networks people groups, invite them to the march.
ad hoc committee announced in camera last week. Confidential documents passed around. We expect it to be announced Wednesday 29.
Action Week Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/663371820428524/
Milan: need people to update the brief!
Ariel: pancake breakfast for outreach hope to be planned
Graham: how do we define 200, if a company in 201 moves up to 198, does University have to update, what are the rules.
Laurie (for Tina): Sierra club has fossil free credit card. contact lauretta...@yahoo.com for link.
recommendation: divest all the things should look at elementary school? Thought they divested in the past from (unethical) stocks. Look at how hospitals ontario pension plan (hoop).
Earl will ask elementary teachers how they have divested in the past!
News:
Stu- Has agreed to run a two hour workshop for people at the Workers' Action Centre on Nov 27th 6-8pm, on the basics of climate change, with the first hour being a screening of Weather Gone Wild.
graham is interested. Kai is interested. Lynn interested in attending
Event Direct Action being planned.
in camera discussion.
Graham/Kai - Presenting the updated documentary production agreement including explanation. (attached)
Events:
Climate Change is Spooky
- Where are we at and what needs to be done?
- Promotion! Amanda has reached out to Toronto Environmental Alliance, the Green Majority, and Green Neighbours 21. Our Facebook event page is going strong, and shared it on the City of Toronto Cycling page. I'm writing a press release, which I'll send tomorrow morning. NOW magazine will include the event in their print edition this Thursday.
- We're hoping members can carve pumpkins and bring them to Thursday's "Climate Change Is Spooky"
promote. Every facebook group and email list. you are on. here is sample text. Now
Text for you to share: Toronto350.org invites you to participate in an exciting and iconic event! Join us as we use our bodies (and FREE bike lights) to spell out the most important number in climate science for our newly elected Mayor and Council. Bring your scariest climate-change themed costume and get ready for a climate action "spook-tacle" at city hall. https://www.facebook.com/events/702745389809749/?fref=ts
Amelia Rose: promote this on every group you know of. Outreach yo.
Lynn will ask drummers.
Energy East is a Climate Nightmare
1. Gather friends and allies in your community to carve #NoEnergyEast Jack-O-Lanterns.
2. Deliver the Jack-O-Lanters to your local elected official's office or home.
3. Take some great images, reach out to the media, and share how the action went to build a national narrative that Energy East is a climate nightmare.
Beyond the People’s Climate March: Next Steps in the Fight against Climate Change
Monday, November 3 7:00 – 9:00 pm St. Michael & All Angels Church
green neighbours 21. Thumbs up group.
Divestment workshop Ryerson
-Rescheduled?
-they didn’t show up
Divestment Convergence
- We have paid for 10 people to go
-8 filled two more spaces
-5 billeting spaces found.
Divestment Outreach and Meeting
UC175 Thursday 4pm.
Stu Basden
Toronto350.org Meeting Agenda for November 4th, 2014
Attendence: Graham, Joe, Sam, Ben, Katie, Tresanne, Ariel, Nadine, Laurie,
Campaign Updates:
COP21/Promo video and documentary
COP21 Campaign is going well, with a strategic planning meeting set for tomorrow at 8pm with several key members from the campaign. We're going to be looking at how to actually move all our ideas into action, creating some key milestones and timelines for achievement.
Group to discuss strategy: Myself, Earl, Laurie, Katie, Joe
Promotional video - also going well. Currently a couple key members of Toronto350 who agreed to act as creative consultants (Katie & Stu) are reviewing a potential voiceover script for the film, to tie together the different campaigns and core messages. Stay tuned.
Representation check?
Documentary - going well. No major update, other than story is solidifying and early editing is underway, including the inclusion of Toronto350 within a broader climate action narrative. This will then be able to be brought forward to the creative consultants (Katie & Stu) soon to discuss Toronto350's inclusion. Stay tuned.
Green Neighbours 21 - I was invited to speak to this local environmental group yesterday as a representative of Toronto350 by Judy Vellend (she was at our Visioning event). Their group spent the evening watching Disruption, then hearing about the various campaigns Toronto350 has underway. There were at least 30 people there, all very interested in our campaigns, with many members expressing interest in reaching out to support them. I send Judy the brief descriptions of these campaigns, and let them know to reach out to me if interested in being connected. We spoke about the need for our groups to communicate better, so as to link more folks from Green Neighbours into Toronto350 actions and campaigns. Judy said Green Neighbours is mostly a community "educational" group composed of environmentally-interested folks, who are interested in getting more directly involved in campaigning.
Lyn's VOW event this Saturday: I can only attend for the morning, until about 12:30. It would be good to have a Toronto350 representative for the afternoon.
Fossil Free Futures
looking to talk to a variety of groups, ontario teachers pension fund, etc...
Divest all the Things
Energy East- Kevin needs someone to sort through Energy East filing
surprise filing last week, did direct action with banner. Weren’t allowed in, demonstrated outside, got some media
Kev? Outcome document?
Lessons for broader group engagement in future actions (Kev)? :)
UofT Divestment
Divestment action week is next week!
art build monday, panel tuesday, march wednesday, party thursday
ben will make a general daw email, send to Nadine, send to email lists.
contact churches? Aboriginal groups? Bike chain?
Convergence in Montreal- what connections to make?
Thank You Card for Drone guy
General Discussion
Committee spreadsheet created. Lets start filling them in.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Qn05Qph0mu3ZY0mK9RROTxDArhQ3RrN65SnMg8jre8/edit?usp=sharing
Simplified Roberts Rules of Order for future Board, Exec, and AGM meetings?
http://www.estrellamountain.edu/sites/default/files/docs/psa/simplified-roberts-rules-order.pdf
Tabling and general supply database. Where is the banner?
do we want to do survey of where all to350 stuff has ended up? Katie will take care of it
printing general flyers?
Time to figure out who counts as a member?
Yearly donation?
Meeting attendance?
Combination of the two?
Event attendance?
postpone until we have nationbuilder up and running?
being on a committee?
$5 (more as able) discussed as possible due, to be on voting list for TGM.
In Camera Session for potential action 10 minutes
Additional early December direction action
Opportunities
Wychwood Barns Tabling November 23rd 12-4pm.
Amelia rose, look into tabling.
This is an invitation to participate in a November 22nd community Divestment workshop at Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth Ave.- Monica interested. Ben interested.
Recap of Upcoming Events:
Divestment Action Week:
Outreach: Wed Nov 5th 5-6pm OISE Floor 11 room 115
Canvassing:
Art Build: Monday Nov 10th 4-8pm Haultian Biulding Room 316 170 College St.
Panel Discussion: Nov 11th 6pm Ramsay Wright Building, Room 143
Panel will include members of the divestment community with extensive knowledge and experience such as:Jeanne Moffat and Jane Ambachtscheer, among others not yet confirmed.
THE MARCH: Wednesday November 12th from 12:15pm-1:30pm. BRING EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!
thugsb
November 11th Agenda
Present: Amelia Rose, Amanda Lewis, Chris Wilson (new member), Max, Amanda Hunter, Stu, Kai, Sylvia, Milan
Late: (present for 2nd half of meeting) Ben, Amil, Sam Nadine, Tresanne, Klim, Joe
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Amanda Hunter
Debriefs
There was a film festival at York University. Some people signed up at energy East. People were enthusiastic to know more about Toronto 350. Some people were with Trinity St. Paul’s church and that was interesting. Lots were already informed about energy east.
Campaign updates
COP21
They wanted to do some educational presentation and give it a deadline- Dec 1 which Lyn started. Purpose to use it in schools (Earl is a retired educator and he also contracts teaching mindfulness in high school classrooms). They were thinking that youth could be one useful target audience, specific to key ridings. (Lynn looking into the strategic key ridings in the GTA, campaign shaped around election). 2. More broadly they will also adapt it to other avenues to show to the public. Broad overview of different political platforms, and then some specifics about Toronto 350, encouraging youth to get out there and make an informed decision.
Ways to get involved: there are subteams for this campaign. So there are niches where help may or may not be needed. But we are seeing where people fit into these groups. Katie and Sarah- running social media. etc. Lori- research. Benjamin & Earl- education.
Requests for Volunteers: Lyn needs a poster designer. She mentioned Jade. And some event volunteers. It is a monday evening. Those volunteers will be bossed around at that time, it won’t be very strenuous. Chris Wilson has agreed to be one of said volunteers.
Fossil Free Futures
No update
Divest All the Things
Nothing new, they are pushing ahead. They are trying to divest teachers’ divestment plan. It’s a big job. What you have to do is get the unions to accept a resolution first, and the government runs the teachers pension plan.
Energy East
There was a direct action- Justin Trudeau was speaking of his memoire at the ref library. People went there, went on stage, and they were up there for a minute. Talking about energy east and how Justin should not support it, Justin said, “let them speak,” and nobody was arrested. There were people on a second level holding banners as well. It received a lot of media coverage and social media. CBC coverage.
Lessons to be learned, must have a way to unfurl banners quickly. Ben could have pressed Trudeau harder than he did, insist on a yes or no. Barry people are helpful and supportive. Remember to have someone in the room that remains to grab your stuff. Next event needs to be EVEN BIGGER! We should have our own media for events in the future, but there is a great video that covered this event. Communication difficulties (media director needs to know when direct actions happen).
Fossil Free UofT Divestment Campaign
Discussion of logistics regarding the March on Nov 12th. What if the police don’t block the road? Where should volunteers meet? When? Do we have photographers? Etc.
Also, there’s a divestment pub night at GSU at 8pm on Thurs Nov 13th. Free pizza!
General Discussion
Intern
They will figure out a doodle for the members who aren’t applying to sit down and sort through the applications. There are approx 8 applications.
Guidelines
Its in limbo. Hopefully ready by next week.
PCM Thanks yous
Amanda Hunter has agreed and so has Max to help Stuart
Board invitations
Stuart has heard from half of them. There are approx 5-7 and details are being finalized. Stu will compile them and send out the names. He’ll invite them to a meeting. We’ll likely have a by-election to vote in the board on Dec 2nd, to be announced soon...
Milan suggested a letter of intent written by the prospective board members in question. Lawyers would be great on the board.
Diverse representation is important to Toronto 350 (we will encourage people to nominate both male and female, young and old, and different heritages). There could be a board member role ombudsman/ombudsperson taken on by one of the board members to consider equalities of various kinds. Stu will add to proposed bylaws.
Giving Tuesday Dec 2nd - NationBuilder setup
People are encouraged to donate! It would be great for us to have the Nation builder page up by then. Amanda Hunter to go into the donations page of Nation builder and set that up. Perk: Tshirt. Choice of 350 ones.
Promotional video
There is a story structure (Katie and Stu have been creative consultants). Kai needs the actual quality footage, not ripped from online. The hunt continues. Milan and Monica did a lot of photography and videography in the “earlier years” Be clear that he is looking for “the source” files.
There will be a Script, along with having a couple key spokespeople.
Stock footage will also exist. It will be weaved in tastefully, coming back to the speaker at key point so that you don't have the effect of this “disembodied” voice.
looking for narrators (Amil, Amanda Lewis, Monica, Sylvia all joined possible additional voices/faces)
Kai is willing to modify it to be a crowdfund video as well.
Beyond Crisis
Things moving very well but it’s been an evolution as well. There was a saturday meeting, story decision was laid out. Beyond crisis summary: where the film is at. Crowdfund design needs to be developed. It is key. 4 of the film crew are meeting a film lawyer and costs are being accrued. They need insurance and liabilities covered. they hope to cover said cost with the crowd fund. Internally they’ve been speaking internally about how to best run an effective crowdfund. What is Toronto 350’s role in this? Joint crowdfund- how to split messaging? How does that actually work from an audience perspective? does that work? is the messaging cohesive? It doesn’t make the most sense, especially if we are planning on splitting revenues anyways why wouldn’t we have 2 separate crowdfunds? The partnership is great, but separate crowdfunding seems to be best suited. The contract doesn’t stop Beyond Crisis from running its own crowdfund. Kai suggests that Toronto 350 runs its own and their proceeds will remain their own. None of Toronto 350s core messaging would change, and none of Beyond Crisis’s messaging would change, but now there isn’t this competing dialogue.
Inventory of banners and materials
It would be useful to know where these banners are. If you have any, please let Stuart know.
Ben will look into finding us a space we can use to store stuff at UofT.
Conflict Resolution workshop will likely be in Dec
Greening Sacred Spaces Tabling -- suggestion has been made to do it. Amelia Rose will look into it.
Lilly the coordinator for the Conscious Activism Documentary Series contacted us. The opening night is November 19th from 6-9 in the Debates Room of Hart House. The film being screened is "Everyday Rebellion: The Art of Change" which explores recent social movements and their non-violent creative approaches and the relation of this to sustainable change. She is also looking for more speakers to speak about creative approaches and the effectiveness of this global organization (350 I think?) in protesting climate change. Anyone interested? Kai is interested.
See below for message from Sabrine Jenin at the Scarborough Campus Students Association regarding divestment campaign help at UofT Scarborough Campus. We heard that the motion passed (see page 17-18). People were excited by this connection. We’ve already had connections with Sabrine.
Other Upcoming Events
Divestment March: Wednesday November 12th from 12:15pm to 1:30pm meeting at College and St. George BRING EVERYONE
Divestment Pub Night: Thursday 8pm at the GSU pub.
Social Organizing Conference at Ryerson
We’re not gonna run a workshop, but people may wish to attend.
Stranded Assets owned by the world's Oil, Coal and Gas industries
Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Time: 7pm
Location: Metro Hall, 55 John Street (at King Street West), Room 308
http://tcan.ca/event/stranded-assets-owned-worlds-oil-coal-and-gas-industries
Joe Curnow
November 18, 2014
Attendance: Ben, Joe, Stu, Nadine, Chris, Tresanne,
Milan, Graham, Monica, Kevin, Amelia Rose, Martin, Lyn, Sylvia
Michael arrived late.
Chair: Ben
Minutes: Joe
7:10
1. Names
2. Campaign Report Backs
a. Divestment (Ben)
i. DAW was a success
ii. Debrief happened yesterday with Ben, Joe, Riley
iii. Meeting tomorrow to plan next steps
1. If you have feedback, please send to Ben
iv. We should have recognized territory, forgot
v. Graham: Goal could be to get larger scale press that we can start showing off.
1. BDW: How do we do it?
2. G: Calling press list beforehand
3. BDW: We had Now, The Newspaper, The Varsity
4. Milan: We could make a 12x18 print to send to the President with a card.
a. Milan will get it printed.
b. Kevin: Send as a holiday card.
c. Kevin will do graphic design
d. Graham: We should just send it to the president.
e. What message do we want?
f. Will be discussed tomorrow
b. Pipelines Committee (Kevin)
i. We think the NEB interventions will not happen until the New Year. If they open the applications next week, then we will launch earlier.
ii. We are talking about hosting PCI parties to get people to intervene.
iii. We are identifying allies to figure out other organizations that will do interventions.
iv. The government relations team suggests we start targeting Mulcair in addition to what we’ve already done on Trudeau
v. We need to develop messaging pertaining to offsets, since this is what Mulcair is putting forward.
1. This is a terrible idea, mostly because of justice.
2. You shouldn’t be able to pay to pollute.
vi. There will be a Line 9 event on mapping. It will be November 30th. There is an eventbrite that will circulate.
vii. We can also get involved in the Line 9 campaign at the municipal level. This would target John Tory on Line 9 with a specific climate ask on Line 9.
viii. The Trudeau action was a very good job. The only thing we could have done better is send a press release an hour ahead of time. If we had given the media the story ahead of time would have helped shape the narrative.
c. COP21 Update:
i. The Dec 1 event is the first day of the COP talks called “Canada don’t COP out” at Friends House at 7pm.
1. Speakers include Kai, Margaret from ClimateFast, John H on green jobs, and possibly Connie from KAIROS.
2. Will talk to Amanda about a press release on this.
3. People’s Climate Intervention (Kevin)
The idea is to delegitimize the process when the NEB throws out all of our interventions because they will not accept interventions on climate grounds.
a. Outreach to Allies
i. We are trying to get individual members to fill out PCIs.
ii. Each group should do group interventions, hopefully we won’t have to manage them all.
1. Who can manage the approach to TCAN: Stu
2. Who can manage the approach to AVAAZ: Stu
3. Who can manage the approach to faith groups:
a. Lyn Unitarians and Quakers.
b. Monica: Eastdale United
4. Ask people to send emails to their list and host parties to fill out the interventions. Ask them to stay in touch so they are ready when the NEB opens the process. We are looking for Executive buy in now, maybe initial outreach to their base.
5. When we host a pub night or party, it will be for our people to fill out interventions.
4. Petition Drive (Kevin):
a. Meeting at Richmond and Spadina Starbucks from 11:30-4:00. Lunch is provided.
5. Shop Windows (Kevin)
a. We now have 5 campaigns on the table. Each need resources, have timelines, etc.
b. K looked at Greenpeace to think about ways to manage the campaigns
c. Suggesting the Shop Window model. You put things in your windows when they are relevant. K circulated a mocked up campaign plans to show when certain campaigns might need to be in the limelight. (Divestment in fall, Federal Election in Feb or Oct, NEB in Jan or Feb?)
d. Depending on when the Federal Election is, we will need to focus on different talking points (if it is in Feb we focus on NEB/Energy East, in Oct it’s COP)
e. Prioritizing means we centre a campaign on Facebook, volunteer time, media outreach, etc.
f. Stu: It’s a way to sequence events, build momentum. Other campaigns are working in the background, long term organizing and do a very visible splash. This builds in cycles.
g. Graham: We need to get our campaigns up on the website so we can highlight the work.
h. Ben: How do we institutionalize this?
i. Kevin: It’s a spreadsheet that blocks the months off to show when each campaign retains focus. The board would sit down and discuss this. You have a democratic discussion more broadly and then there is a decision by the board to prioritize.
j. Graham: Seems smart, 5 campaigns is a lot. This plan projects a more organized front.
k. Kevin: it depoliticizes resources. It also democratizes the process.
l. Ben: This doesn’t need to be stiff. We need to be able to respond to specific asks (ie. If the adhoc committee announces they are making a decision in March)
m. Kevin will circulate this to the members list. Make sure people know that the structure is being proposed, not the plan that is in the example.
n. Milan: We should tie the amount of time/resources to the amount of enthusiasm within our group. We should not necessarily allocate the same amount of time unless it makes sense.
o. Kevin: Prioritizing campaigns serves to politicize the issues.
6. Major proposal about giving campaigns $500 in the budget so they don’t have to ask about every expenditure. (Stu)
a. Logistics are not worked out yet. Spreadsheet to manage, get reimbursed through treasurer.
b. Kevin: the finance committee needs to decide on this.
c. Graham: We need this to be clarified, people are asking for reimbursed.
d. We are at 8300-2000 for promo video and intern. Leaves $3800 if we set aside this money.
e. Graham suggests a $500 budget for the year.
f. Stu: We can reassess in 3 months to see if we have additional resources.
g. Milan: Do campaigns get to raise funds that they raise or do they go into specific campaigns that do the work?
h. Graham suggests that campaigns can keep money.
i. Kevin says no, the campaigns can’t raise their own money.
j. Stu: It could make sense to do specific fundraising asks
k. Joe: We need to have a longer conversation about this
l. Kevin: The finance committee gets to decide on this.
m. Milan: But the finance committee isn’t open to members
n. Kevin: They will meet soon.
o. Stu: The finance committee will ultimately decide.
7. Donation pages (Stu)
a. Merging one-time/monthly donation pages.
b. Buttons are up, we need to connect it to an account.
8. Can we MailChimp an activity about Giving Tuesday (Dec 2)? (Kevin)
a. Trying to get members to give money. It’s about posting an unselfie that shows how much money you are giving to orgs.
9. Exec Questionnaire (Ben)
a. Nadine and Tina need to submit!
b. Open position for Director of Political Operations.
i. Run at the By-Election in 2 weeks.
10. Meeting Guidelines are ready! (Stu)
a. Check online to see the guidelines on how to be a chair, take minutes.
11. Intern: (Ben)
a. There will be a more official announcement soon.
12. York U Divestment (Amelia Rose)
a. York started a divestment campaign over the summer. They met today to discuss their plans. They have a faculty member on the committee and they know the investments that York is involved in. They are very small right now, input from us would be very useful. Need help on what we have done, what we could have done better.
13. Burnaby Solidarity Action (Kevin)
a. Toronto350.org should plan/hold a vigil or social media action in support. Possible targets for vigil include Federal Govt. buildings, public spaces (no provincial or municipal connection to issue).
b. What should we do?
c. There was an injunction against the guardians of the land and protestors and 800 people resisted.
d. Kevin: we should just put links in our notes, not discuss what is going on/context.
e. Graham: The KinderMorgan pipeline is trying to twin it through a park. It’s being blocked by people. 800 people broke the injunction last night,
f. Lyn: City council has told KinderMorgan they cannot go through the park. The court decision appeal is going to the supreme court to rule on the municipalities to be able to overrule federal guidelines in certain jurisdictions (intra-vires).
g. Ben suggests we do a photo op at tomorrow’s divestment meeting, suggests #socklessforburnaby because they knocked our socks off.
14. Climate flag: Where is it? (Stu)
a. Does anyone remember who was carrying it?
b. Stu will try to find it.
15. Membership forum (Ben)
a. Reminder to add comments about membership requirements to the planning forum thread.
16. Conflict Resolution (Lyn)
a. Can we do in Jan?
b. Lyn will send a doodle
c. Will focus on communication and conflict resolution.
17. Scientists for the Right to Know meeting (Stu)
a. Stu will represent 350 at this meeting.
b. Do we have things coming up that have to do with science and the public?
c. Milan: The AdHoc committee testimony.
d. Ben: PCI Scientific right to testify to NEB. Get them to do PCIs
e. Lyn: Energy East or COP prep research.
f. Kevin: All of our campaigns would benefit from more science.
g. Monica: Kai will be interviewing scientists and professors. If anyone wants to be on film, that would be good.
18. Pamphlets: (Kevin)
a. Kevin made a pamphlet, needs editing.
b. Needs professional printing.
c. Sylvia will take care of printing.
d. Amanda H to do copy editing
e. Kevin will send pamphlet and instructions about bleed, etc to Sylvia by Thurs night.
f. DECISION: Budget is $100
g. We want 500 copies.
h. Graham will e-transfer cash to Sylvia.
19. CanRoots Training (Stu)
a. We have a standing offer to subsidize people $20 to trainings.
b. Highly encourage people to go.
c. DECISION: We will pay for $20 for people up to 10 people ($200).
d. Kevin: This is an organizing conference, not activism conference. Workshops will not be on issues, will be on how to wrestle with issues.
20. Hootsuite: (Kevin)
a. Social media scheduling platform.
b. $10/month
c. Lets you schedule in advance when posts come out so we can get content to people without overshadowing other content.
d. Can be used to manage linkedin, facebook, twitter.
e. Milan: Effective FB posts and twitter posts are very different, don’t conflate them.
f. Stu: We should disengage the FB and Twitter
g. Ben: We can do FB separately from Twitter to look more like other professional NGOs.
h. Kevin: Our analytics are pretty good. We should look into it more.
i. Kevin will set it up and add users.
j. DECISION: Approved for $10/month.
21. Room Booking (Stu)
a. Many people can book rooms. Should we create an email list that allows people to email and get room booking.
i. Room booking should go through the Operations Director
ii. Ops Director has list of all the rooms available
iii. The Ops Director needs to know who can book at Ryerson, UofT, York.
22. Board Invites (Stu)
a. 9 people have expressed interest in being on the board
i. Milan, Monica, Rosemary, Jean, Dmitri, Lynn, Brandon, Cam, Sabrina,
ii. Add Albert Kohl, Heather Milton Lightning to the list
b. Hopefully everyone can come to the meeting next week.
23. Banner update (Ben)
a. Google doc to identify where things are.
b. Kevin: Create a nation builder tag for when someone receives a banner
24. UT Scarborough officially endorsed the Divestment campaign. (Ben)
25. Yearbook (Kevin)
a. There are no female people writing for the yearbook. If you want to write articles, email Kevin.
b. Select volunteer and campaigner of the year.
c. Who should be profiled:
i. Chris interviews Katie for volunteer
ii. Amanda interviews Ben
iii. Milan: flickr group has full high res images.
iv. Graham will submit treasurers report, Kevin has sent the parameters he is looking for.
v. Dropbox photos to Kevin: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9faq0fiitlobek6/AAC3Jn-1VHiDep66V_bKI-Xca?dl=0
vi. Submissions due Dec 5th.
26. Holiday cards (Kevin)
a. Since Stu is already writing thank yous, should we “cut two carrots with one knife”?
b. Kevin can meet with the committee to produce
27. Solstice Party
a. Stu, Tresanne, Lyn, Ariel will host a solstice party.
b. Invite the full member and PCM lists.
c. Big Party at Amanda H’s new condo.
28. Next Meeting:
a. Minutes: Chris
b. Chair: Kevin
c. Host: Stu’s place or Friends’ House dining room. (Lyn will let us know).
29. Divestment (Milan)
a. Ben Coleman got investment data:
i. Milan can share it
b. UofT has divested from Shell
c. We want to get people to do outreach to the governing council.
d. We will discuss at the divestment meeting tomorrow.
30. IN CAMERA SESSION
31. Events:
a. Social Organizing Conference at Ryerson
o http://www.canroots.ca/east_registration
o We’re not gonna run a workshop, but people may wish to attend.
b. Stranded Assets owned by the world's Oil, Coal and Gas industries
Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Time: 7pm
Location: Metro Hall, 55 John Street (at King Street West), Room 308
http://tcan.ca/event/stranded-assets-owned-worlds-oil-coal-and-gas-industries
c. Join contributors, an editor, and Line 9 activists (see below) to celebrate the publication of "A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice" and the movement against the tar sands. When - Saturday, November 29th, 1pm// Where - Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St, Toronto/ Facebook http://www.facebook.com/events/728954703862511/
d. Graphic Design Workshop, by the best-person-ever i.e. Tina toolsforchange.net , Time: Saturday January 17, 2015 1:00-5:00 PM
e. Sunday, 12:45 Bullfrog talk at Friends House
f. Sunday Eco Fair at 601 Christie St 12-4.
Chris Wilson
November 25th Minutes
Present: kevin, lyn, Heather ML, michael, stu, milan, chris, tresanne, nadine, ariel, amelia rose, monica, jean, Brandon. Ben, Sam, Lynn, Katie joined later. Taylor came just after the meeting.
Board Nominees Present:
Chair: Kevin Metcalf
Minutes: Chris Wilson
Debriefs
TCAN stranded assets
-stu went, capital expenditure in tar sands seems to have peaked, maybe likely to start closing. Opposition to tar sands has done about 20 bn in damage to tar sands
Ganz event
-Stu and Tresanne, Katie, sam and ben went. Focus on civil organization. Got a bunch of signups for Toronto 350, specifically divestment. Talk will be online in the next few weeks
Ottawa debrief
-70 people for Citizen’s climate lobby came to ottawa, learned how to change politicians opinion on climate issues, eg. carbon pricing. Met with a bunch of parties, conservatives included.
Hootsuite findings
-Actualy $10 per user per month, i.e. $1200/year. Hootsuite’s a no go
Petition drive
-Nobody came.
Mulcair action
-nobody attended this either, has been turned into an online action changing bumper stickers for Mulcair’s campaign. Nect time,we’ll get more advanced noticed so people can attend
NDP sticker action
Scientists for the Right to Know consultation
-Happening nov 26th
Intern reportback:
Intern Hired! Welcome Jason!
Stu has done his training, he started Nov. 24th
Initial contract will be for 3 weeks.
Debrief hiring process.
Bullfrog talk at Friends House
-is it more effective to put money into insulation vs. other equipment. Not a decision making meeting
Saturday divestment and ethical investment
-Trinity St paul and Eastminster already divested! A bunch of other congregations want to start divesting as well, had a couple signups.
Eco fair
-800 people attended
Campaign Reports
COP21
Dec. 1st Event
-Amanda will do press work
-Don’t have an indigenous speaker yet, waiting on Carrie Luser
-John Humphrey from steelworkers, Kai will be speaking
-will use $25 for facebook promotional banner
-COP campaign potluck meeting 7pm, Sunday at Kai’s house
Fossil Free U of T
OISE , december 9th, 5-8, contact Joe or ben for more details
Hart House meeting room: 2 pm, Dec 4th
yesterday there was a solidarity movement for burnaby
Holiday card to office of the President.
Fossil Free Futures
Introductions to board candidates:
Jean: small business owner, has worked with 350 in the past, wants to work as support person, eg fundraising, strategizing and getting support from the business community. Jean’s been working with other climate change groups and has access to businesses who can support us. She has some more time available now to help 350.
Brandon: what would the support member’s role be?
Stu: a few meetings a year to help strategize with high level and consulting
Brandon: course director of Philosophy at York. Looking forward to helping with high level consulting. Has been involved w/ 350 since climate march. Has a background in ethics philosophy.
Heather: lots of different board experience, wants to know more about finance, accountability and other structures that need to be established when incorporated. Has had experience w/ working boards, which tend to be too hectic for non-working members.
Involved with Honour the Earth, UNEP advisory, National People of Colour leadership summit - worked with aboriginal groups to encourage youth leaders. Experience with grant work w/ Honour the Earth. Runs the indigenous Tarsands campaign doing behind the scenes work - developed a youth aboriginal organization centre in toronto.
Milan: first pres of toronto 350. Wants to keep 350 from getting bogged down with incorporation. Ie. we should be able to manage growth without losing character
Monica: has been with 350 since inception, in media, creative, VP, exec, divestment and filming. Has experience as a working board member. Wants to make sure that people stay mobile with new structure. Conversations about board elections realized that board members would not have a lot of time, but would need to be trusted - that is, it’s critical to have a member experienced with this particular organization.
Rosemary: Member of the group for approx. 1 year. Values get-stuff-done attitude. Unable to meet on Tuesdays, so she hopes to keep contributing through the board.
Dmytri: class lawyer who has exoerience with class actions against tarsands and other polluters. Is also a member of a class action of ecuadorians against enbridge. Sits on 3 other boards, and involvement with one other group.
Questions re: board candidates
-how many board members do we want?
legally between 3-11, hopefully around 7
-new structure has financial comittee working with board, have we clarified this relationship?
finance will be brought to board on a yearly basis, still needs more evaluation
-is financial officer on the board?
no, they will be on the executive committee
-how do we include diversity in board members, do we want an obudsman for women’s issues?
many boards have a percentage (quota) for board members. A lot of larger boards also have obudsmen to act as advocates and confidantes. This issue needs further discussion
Divest All the Things
-we will focus only on Ontario Teacher’s Pension plan, active teachers are working towards making proposals for their boards and exec. They’ve divested from apartheid in the past.
-OTPP has 3 sub-organizations, we will start with these before moving on to OTPP
York U Divestment
-Still in the beginning stages, might only be focusing on fracking divestment. All divestment meetings at York are public
Energy East
New handout
Focus on NDP
-stickers ready, retweet!
Call for any/all PCI petitions
Cyberactivist Workshop (Mapping)
Reportbacks
TCAN
Avaaz
watiting on response from toronto PCM
Faith
Other
Barrie Group, Scientists for the right to know and Ganz
New Business
Introductions to board candidates:
Jean: small business owner, has worked with 350 in the past, wants to work as support person, eg fundraising, strategizing and getting support from the business community. Jean’s been working with other climate change groups and has access to businesses who can support us. She has some more time available now to help 350.
Brandon: what would the support member’s role be?
Stu: a few meetings a year to help strategize with high level and consulting
Brandon: course director of Philosophy at York. Looking forward to helping with high level consulting. Has been involved w/ 350 since climate march. Has a background in ethics philosophy.
Heather: lots of different board experience, wants to know more about finance, accountability and other structures that need to be established when incorporated. Has had experience w/ working boards, which tend to be too hectic for non-working members.
Involved with Honour the Earth, UNEP advisory, National People of Colour leadership summit - worked with aboriginal groups to encourage youth leaders. Experience with grant work w/ Honour the Earth. Runs the indigenous Tarsands campaign doing behind the scenes work - developed a youth aboriginal organization centre in toronto.
Milan: first pres of toronto 350. Wants to keep 350 from getting bogged down with incorporation. Ie. we should be able to manage growth without losing character
Monica: has been with 350 since inception, in media, creative, VP, exec, divestment and filming. Has experience as a working board member. Wants to make sure that people stay mobile with new structure. Conversations about board elections realized that board members would not have a lot of time, but would need to be trusted - that is, it’s critical to have a member experienced with this particular organization.
Rosemary: Member of the group for approx. 1 year. Values get-stuff-done attitude. Unable to meet on Tuesdays, so she hopes to keep contributing through the board.
Dmytri: class lawyer who has exoerience with class actions against tarsands and other polluters. Is also a member of a class action of ecuadorians against enbridge. Sits on 3 other boards, and involvement with one other group.
Lynn Harrison: Singer/songwriter and Ministry candidate has been connected with 350 since climate march. Frequently speaks on climate change issues, eg this weekend talking about burnaby protests. Would like to be involved in any way possible, either as board member or otherwise.
Questions re: board candidates
-how many board members do we want?
legally between 3-11, hopefully around 7
-new structure has financial comittee working with board, have we clarified this relationship?
finance will be brought to board on a yearly basis, still needs more evaluation
-is financial officer on the board?
no, they will be on the executive committee
-how do we include diversity in board members, do we want an obudsman for women’s issues?
many boards have a percentage (quota) for board members. A lot of larger boards also have obudsmen to act as advocates and confidantes. This issue needs further discussion
Minor proposal: New/recurring workshops (1ST WEEK)
Bi weekly workshops
lots of people have come from PCM but haven’t stayed, maybe because meeting structure isn’t inviting. Workshops would get a chance for new people to be trained, e.g. learning how to do research. Structure yet tbd. Basically a good chance to have a non-intimidating space to practice. Would be a volunteer/outreach committee
Next week: discuss finding committee member to organize this
Different Subjects
Will build engagement
Minor Proposal: Shop Windows (2ND WEEK)
see end of minutes
next week we’ll discuss further.
Scheduling campaigns for effectiveness
Resource sharing between campaigns
See: Appendix 1A
Major Proposal: Campaign Budgets (2ND WEEK)
Proposal to give $500 to each campaign.
Specifics to be worked out by finance committee.
$2500 of about $8000 total budget.
Would start Dec. 21st, logistics still ned to be worked out before then.
Would managers need to give a budget?
-Money would need to stay accountable
Does money transfer over to the next year?
campaigns should strive to stick to their budget, as budgets will be assessed yearly?
would give utonomy to campaigns
Do all campaigns get funded evenly?
for this petty cash, yes, but campaigns can still make formal applications for larger amounts.
Campaigns will need to produce needs assessments in the future to allocate resources properly.
How do funds get distributed?
Will be answered by finance committee, likely method will be prepaid cards.
[VOTE]
Stuart proposes motion to allocate $500 petty cash allowance to campaigns for 2015, effective Dec 21st 2014
Ben seconds
13 in favour,
0 opposed
Motion Passes
General Discussion
Administrative
Exec Meeting Dec. 7th
Campaigns Committee meeting
Will be postponed based on Ben’s availability
Membership requirements
Please see group discussion
Only suggestions in group discussions will be brought to the vote next week, so post any suggestions there.
should there be a broader discussion on membership requirements (eg survey sent out to all existing members)?
Current suggestions
-attend 2 meetings per year, or vouching of 1 exec and 1 campaign member if they can’t make it to meetings
-$25 annual fee, reduced to $5 for students and low income candidates
Membership would require fulfilling all requirements (payment and attendance)
Other suggestions:
-to ensure people stay active, send out a mandatory survey every 6 months.
-instead of keeping an attendance list, let them know at their second meeting that they’re eligible
-instead we could track reoccurring donations so people who join at the end of the year get full value
Striking a Finance Committee
If you are interested in joining this committee please e-mail ke...@toronto350.org
how the finance committee will be governed will need to be decided
structure will be set up by people on the finance committee
suggestion to move finance committee to the hour before the potluck to encourage attendance
Kevin will send out all necessary info to people interested.
Email Kevin if you’re interested
Kevin milan lyn nadine and stu are people currently interested
Striking a Communications Committee
If you are interested in joining this committee please e-mail nad...@toronto350.org
Mailchimp Giving Tuesday Dec. 2nd online action
Mailchimp COP21 Dec. 1st event
Need someone to put all events/meetings on organizational calendar (starting today).
PCI mailing list imports
Q: Will there be a communications member from each campaign?
-no, not on flowchart
-short term platform remains mailchimp, but nation builder will become new platform soon
-Katie and Nadine (and maybe Lyn) will join communications committee
Pamphlets/fiduciary duty
Cost was $66 for 50 pamphlets
Need a volunteer to find a cheaper alternative
should aim for ~14c apiece for double sided, colour pamphlets w/ bleed
We should have 25-30 left for Dec 1st event
Chris will find a better supplier by New year
Striking a Development Committee
If you are interested in joining this committee please e-mail ke...@toronto350.org
Donor Matrix
Reversible Toronto350 stickers (for use inside of windows) to monthly donors
Monthly donor minimums?
T-shirts for those that give $25+/mo
"This Changes Everything" and lunch with the pres for those who give $50+/mo
Sustaining Members/Sustainers Club?
-Proposal to put 33.3% of all donations into land defence fund.
Where would money be going?
-Front line land defenders in Sustainer’s Club
Do donors opt in?
-yes, there would be a suggestion to donate a portion of donation to frontline defence
We need to know where the money is going, ie what sort of transparency will there be?
-audit will include which land defenders will receive money, but not specific expenses
we will always know what frontline project will recieve donation, and make a decision when the recipient changes
there will be ongoing discussions w/ Taylor re: logistics
suggestion to stipulate a maximum cap (e.g. 80%) of donation to go to land defence
Naming donor types
Honorable mention on website
Physical receipts (template designed)
Accepting donations via CC in person.
Katie volunteers to join Development committee
Ongoing Activities
Promotional Video
Bullfrog Power
Stuart will confirm that we are Bullfrog powered
Beyond Crisis Docmentary
PCM thank you/ Holiday cards
List has been compiled, almost complete
Giving Tuesday
What can we get done by the 2nd?
Commitment from all members to participate.
Exec questionnaires
Still need a submission from Tina
Still need a submission from Nadine
CanRoots
$20 subsidy available to members. Please mail receipts to the Treasurer.
Reportbacks from attendees?
Inventory of banners and materials
Rent a storage locker?
UofT students can get a small locker for ~60/year
Michael could rent some office space
Kevin will contact for office space
Yearbook Temporary Committee update
Stu (Word from President)
Stefan (Summary of PCM experience)
Ariel (Divestment campaign writeup) Has someone talked to her?
Chris (Volunteer Profile: Katie)
Amanda (Campaigner Profile: Ben)
Kevin (Energy east campaign writeup)
Graham (Financial Summary)
Submissions due by Dec. 5th.
Any photos or still images you may have which you want included in the yearbook please dropbox to: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9faq0fiitlobek6/AAC3Jn-1VHiDep66V_bKI-Xca?dl=0
Target date of completion: Dec 21st. (beginning of new fiscal year)
Yearbook will be published electronically (not printed) but may be printed in future.
Solstice party
Amanda’s space is $125+25/hr, open until 11:30 and has capacity for 40 ($250 total for space rental)
Katie will contact Owl’s club
will charge $5/ ticket if Owl’s club not available, aim for 50 tickets
Conflict resolution
will happen in January
Greenpeace cyber-activist trainings
Free! Sign up here!
Online training only, will be a skype session
Starting January, those interested must confirm by Dec. 1st
We can suggest course content:
digital security
social media mgmt and strategy
In-Camera Item
Giving Tuesday - we need people to commit to tweeting and sharing and making memes and doing email blasts
We can take pics Dec 1st at meeting
Upcoming Events
Crisis Mapping Workshop:
Date: Sunday Nov. 30th 4:00-6:00PM
Location: GIG@bites Internet Cafe 618 Bloor St. W Toronto ON Canada
Description:
Kevin Metcalf, founder of http://www.pipeleaks.org is running a small workshop intended to teach local pipeline activists the methodology and best practices for mapping out environmental problems. This workshop will specifically on Line 9 and the use of technological platforms and deep research to build full-picture awareness of environmental issues, empowering strategic and tactical decision making for frontline activists.
LIMIT 10 PERSONS
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pipeleaksorg-mapping-tutorial-tickets-14435688533
Don't COP Out:
Date: Monday, Dec 1st. 7:00PM
Location: Friends House 60 Lowther Ave. Toronto, On.
Description:
Speakers: Kai Reimer-Watts, Margaret Rao, John Humphrey, Indigenous speaker (invited) Connie Sorios (tbc) Dec 1st marks an important day: not only is it the countdown to the holidays, it’s also the first day of the United Nation’s 20th “Conference of the Parties” or “COP”, convening world leaders to address climate change. With high stakes and high expectations, several community groups have launched an event right here in Toronto called “Don’t COP Out!”, highlighting the critical importance of international negotiations on climate, and the role we think Canada should play.
Come learn all about the progress being made (and not made) on climate action, and what we can do to help. Hear from local groups pushing to increase our country’s ambition, and gain insight into how these international negotiations operate, and affect all of our futures. This is a free public event, and time will be made for both workshops and questions. Come out to tell Canada: “Don’t COP Out!!!”
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pipeleaksorg-mapping-tutorial-tickets-14435688533
Meeting with Glen Murray on climate
Date: Dec 3rd
Glen murray, Prov. minister of climate change, will hold an inclusive roundtable on climate change, specifically carbon pricing. Lyn will be attending, contact her for more info.
"A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice"
Date: Saturday, November 29th, 1pm
Location: Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St, Toronto
Description:
Join contributors, an editor, and Line 9 activists (see below) to celebrate the publication of "A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice" and the movement against the tar sands.
http://www.facebook.com/events/728954703862511/
CanRoots Social Organizing Conference at Ryerson
http://www.canroots.ca/east_registration
Leadnow "Spark"
Date: December 2nd
Location: Royal Canadian Legion. 6 Spring Garden Ave, North York, Ontario M2N 3G2, Canada.
Description:
Media pundits are saying that Harper might call a snap election this spring. We need to be ready.
Together we can build a huge movement that will vote together on election day to defeat the Harper Conservatives - and move Canada forward with real progress for our democracy, economy and environment.
Leadnow community members across the country are stepping up to host interactive Spark launch events to share the plan and build teams to lead the campaign in their communities.
Let’s Spark a movement to defeat the Harper Conservatives and move Canada forward.
Click here to RSVP and join us in Toronto
Tools for Change Graphic Design Workshop
Date: January 17, 2015 1:00-5:00PM
Location: TBD
Talk to Tina Matei for more information.
Worker’s Action Centre: Climate Change 101
workshop run by Stu and Kai
Next Week:
Chair: Tresanne
Minutes:
Appendix 1A
Minor Proposal: "Shop Window"
In retail sales, items are rotated through a storefront shop window seasonally (ie. jackets and scarves in the winter, short skirts and t-shirts in the summer.) This allows the business to maximize the presentation of its in-demand products. This will maximize in turn foot traffic into the store (very few people will enter a store in January which is offering t-shirts).
The "Shop Window" is a campaign management technique which is used by major NGOs to prevent internally politicizing their campaigns or turning campaigning into a popularity contest. Rather than having campaign managers fight between each other over organizational resources for their campaigns (human or otherwise) this sets out very clearly which campaign will enjoy prominence for the organization at which point in time, improving synergistic cohesion and strengthening all organizational activities.
Each campaign has a pre-determined period of focus (agreed upon by the board at the beginning of the fiscal year). This means that for periods of time, financial support, volunteers, any waged hours, social media, email blasts and planned activities will support those campaigns which occupy the 'shop window'.
Campaign scheduling is as important as budgeting and should accommodate important dates (ie. divestment committee decision, start of NEB process, COP20 start day etc.) in determining which campaigns are active and need maximum support, when.
This also prevents any single campaign from taking up too much space or sucking up resources out of turn and disadvantaging others. It cuts down on the likelihood for conflict and means that everyone in theory will be supporting each others activities as opposed to just advocating for their own. This also gives members the opportunity to moderate their involvement by setting out parameters for their involvement (ie. "These are the campaigns that need volunteers right now.")
People get to try new things as opposed to being overwhelmed by choice (and being split between membership in 2-3 campaigns at a time). It also makes the overall voice of the organization more coherent.
This strategic plan for the year should not be widely circulated beyond the campaign managers, executive and board. It is certainly never published as this can influence the decision making of external entities i.e. unfriendly journalists or target corporations.
Campaigners still keep campaigning when their campaign does not occupy the shop-window. However, certain types of resources (creative, financial, human, communications, social media) will not be made as readily available when a campaign is not in focus. The campaigners will instead want to focus on conducting research, creating new materials, planning for their next shop-window and generally capacity building as opposed to acting. This keeps a healthy ebb and flow for all activities and makes sure everything we do is well supported.
As for finances, if a campaign has cost overruns and needs a budget extension, it is unlikely that the finance committee will approve this extension if the campaign is not in focus.
In order to maintain organizational agility, the Special Activities Committee and Political Operations Director will fill the role of planning and executing shorter-term emergency 'react' requests from campaigns when high-priority events take place outside of the window.
How it works:
Campaign managers submit a needs assessment (time, people, general schedule) to the board who then prioritize and evaluate based on their understanding of strategic priorities. Campaigns can also need to set their own goals and deadlines. Evaluation of criteria should largely be an apolitical decision based on practical or material factors influencing the organization or campaign.
Benefits:
Drawbacks:
Gives campaigns dedicated prep time
Increases campaigner workload
Cuts down campaign conflicts
Less agile
Makes better use of resources
Board sets strategic priorities
Increases strength of each campaign
Slows down tempo
Gives members solid expectations
Fewer choices for members
Fewer ongoing activities
Fewer ongoing activities
Narrative coherence
Narrative dominance
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
1
*
*
2
*
*
3
*
*
4
*
*
5
*
*
EXAMPLE 2015 Campaign Shop Windows
* Federal Election Contingency *Federal Election Scheduled
1- Divestment
2- Energy East
3- COP21
4- Divest All the Things
5- Fossil Free Future
Stu Basden
Dec 2 Minutes
Dec 2nd Agenda
Attending: Stu, Sam, Graham (pronounced Grey-um), Kev, Tresanne, Milan, Nadine, Amanda L. Ariel
Minutes: Ben
Introductions (3 min)
Campaign Debriefs
Hiring Process:
Skype interview positive
Web developer doing great job!
Send in changes you want made to our webpage
li
Nationbuilder, lists import ed. Nationbuilder this week. Ontario350 nextNationbuilder, lists imported. Nationbuilder this week. Ontario350 next
Stu and Kai presentation for workers’ centre went well.
Don’t COP Out
areas of improvement cited
brutal honest debriefings very very successful for DeBriefs
preaching to the choir - other organizers
many perspectives. Core theme COP 21
we didn’t list build. didn’t get sign up.
speakers were not youth.
event was off topic.
Kai was the only one who talked about COP.
commercial, branding, promotion of Toronto 350 would have been helpful.
we put branding, didn’t have control over the messaging.
avoiding similar partnerships in future considered.
Kev - Energy East web
training went well. Going ot be holding it again in January
Energy east on nationbuilder
faq sheet online
Fossil Free UofT
strategy meeting Thursday
Deepening knowledge -- indigenous solidarity training next tuesday. Contact b...@toronto350.org for more info to attend if interested.
Meeting Thursday
Finish Strategizing
Tuesday
milan, send picture as is. Modifying it doesn't make sense.
Giving Tuesday
successful. Happy with results. 7 New monthly donors
Please keep it up asking friends and family. Keep up giving Tuesday through the week
Graham - Banking update:
determining how to do transfers best
kev will forward spreadsheet.
finance committee
campaigns keep receipts
gave finance report
tools 4 change
to350 will subsidize tools for change $20
kev will contact
CIN
will table Climate Impact Network event
will find someone when they ask us near their March or April conference
Business Cards
will send around to exec
stu authorized to spend money on exec business cards $200
In Camera item discussed
Scientists for the Right to know
Stu attended high level meeting
Forming an email list
Imminent election risk considered. They want a put science back on the agenda campaign.
Member interested in high level science campaign needed
Stu:
encourages people to make meme
Use picture in article, you get higher turnout.
Add comments. Pictures get shared more
you will be more effective.
Importance of spelling, image, quality concerns .
The mothership recommends don’t brand memes.
Going with nationbuilder not Hootsuite. Nationbuilder can do the same thing scheduling social media posts.
Nationbuilder, lists imported. Nationbuilder this week. Ontario350 next
Board Voting:
We are choosing 7.
Dotmocracy for top 7 people
Discussion and summary of Board members.
Gender Ratio is 3 Men and 7 Female
Possible:
Brandon Fenton
Climate leader
swell dude
Dmitry Lascurs
lawyer who supported us
brilliant
Heather Milton Lightning
NES student at York
incredible speaker, person, experience
Jean Eng
helped organize Do The Math Screening
business leader at pure and simple products
Lynn Harrison
Theolegy at UofT
offering to be chaplain and helping with Trauma of climate change
Milan I.
Founding member!
Attended the most meetings!
PhD candidate at UofT!
Monica
most variety exec positions
founding member
PhD graduate at OISE
Rosemary F.
acts directly
brilliant
nice. writer
Sabrina Bowman
Environmental Defence
fabulous ally.
Taylor Fluke
long term activist in Toronto
organized many groups. works in film.
Spent summer at Unist'ot'en
Conversation
Concerns of board liability
discussed that they would not be involved in planning direct actions, and would not be liable for issues.
We also haven’t done lock down/high risk
Some of had board experience before
Brandon beloved teacher. Good connection to York groups.
Board Members Elected
Brandon Fenton
Dmirty Lascaris
Heather Milton Lightning
Jean Eng
Milan Ilnyckyj
Monica Resendes
Sabrina Bowman
Election
Katie Krelove elected unanimously for Director of Political Operations <3
Kai COP 21 debriefing
potluck, new faces
want presenters in pairs for labour, groups, clubs, uni, half hour format about climate change as a thing, political platforms of Cndn parties, to what you can do.
will be doing presentations and social media, trying to hit voting age students
Etobicoke Centre and York Willowdale identified as swing ridings and target areas
Global Divestment Day of Action
many things discussed
- potential committee discussed
Chair: Katie
Meetings for Dec 23 and 30 will have to be at someone’s house
Good joke: Santa must regret giving out coal now, because it’s ruining his home.
Milan
Chair: Katie
Minutes: Milan
Present: Katie, Rob, Robert, Stuart, Amelia Rose, Nadine, Amanda, Ben, Sam, Joe, Nicky, Milan
Agenda
* Introductions
* Debriefs
* Campaign updates
* Decisions
* Non-campaign updates/Committee updates
* New non-campaign proposals/Volunteer ops
* Committees break-outs: Creative, Political Ops, Development, Finance
* Voting on items deferred earlier?
* Upcoming events
* Next week
== Introductions ==
New Meeting Format -Trial!
* Intended to be quicker, more engaging, and focused on decision-making
* The intent is to get through all business in 1-1.25 hours
* That would leave the last 45 minutes for committee breakout groups (may not work tonight due to low attendance)
== Debriefs ==
Non-campaign related
* Christmas cards in progress
* One idea for bringing more people in: having a brochure or website designed to bring people up to speed with volunteering for the group
* There is: "Steps for joining Toronto350.org" https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/toronto-350/GlFD9cRHoX8
* Rob may be willing to make a more visible website about this, with more information for potential volunteers
* Volunteer Coordinator: Tina, ti...@toronto350.org
* People probably come to their first meeting with little idea of how the group works
* Robert, who is here for the first time, learned about us through the Workers Action Centre, the Steelworkers' Hall, and having met Amelia Rose
* Also recently attended a meeting on the COP
Group largely organized around campaigns with email groups and meetings of their own
== Campaign updates ==
COP 21
* From Kai: COP21 Presentation - almost finished, sending back to Earl for review, will send to broader team shortly. Discussing possibilities for alternate name for campaign that is more accessible to general public.
**ASK: Having a "presenter's training" for all interested presenters next Friday, December 19th, at 7pm, Kai's place (2 Glenavon Road, apt 2). I will send an invite to the broader membership soon as anyone can come out to this & learn how to deliver our presentation to a broader audience. The presentation is designed to be done in pairs where possible.
* Rob would be interested, as would Katie
Divest U of T
* Meeting with Bryan Karney and Tony Gray - description of the meeting to be circulated soon
* Updating the brief has begun
* We still need someone to lead on Donate After Divestment (mostly a matter of NationBuilder) -Katie may be able to
* If you are interested in helping to write a section of the updated brief, please contact Milan
* Orientation happened for lobbying the ad hoc committee and Governing Council
* If you are interested in lobbying members of either committee, contact Graham -he will be helping to match up experts on each panel with volunteers with similar interests of backgrounds
Divest Teachers (Amelia Rose)
* Campaign called: "Divest All The Things"
* Aim: divesting anything other than post-secondary schools
* Group decided several months ago to focus on the massive Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
* Probably "one of the most difficult to go after"
* Aim is to bring a resolution to the Annual General Meeting in the new year
* A meeting is happening this Friday: 4pm at OISE, fifth floor
Pipelines (Katie)
* Previously focused on Line 9, but now focused on Energy East
* Last week, Jim Prentice visited Toronto and met with Kathleen Wynne and Phillipe Couillard
* Convinced them both to back down on asking for a climate review of Energy East
* Kathleen Wynne Energy East Flip-flop last week
* Wynne says they will now only look at the impact of building the pipeline in Ontario and not at its content
* Along with other groups, we helped get several hundred people to call her office
* We still want people to call her office
* Most people have been directed to the website to write emails, but it's good to call too
* One big part of the Energy East effort is the People's Climate Intervention (we want many people to submit applications to speak to the National Energy Board (NEB) about climate impacts)
* NEB doesn't presently consider climate impacts
* Applications expected to open in January
* Plan is to have parties to help people fill out the ten-page application
* Katie is talking with the coalition of Line 9 groups to see if people will be willing to put together parties for this
* There are online NEB information sessions on how to fill in an application -One this Thursday
* Katie will try to take part
In camera item
Last Wednesday, Stu met with Glen Murray (provincial MPP on environment and climate change)
* 30-40 people present, mostly heads of other groups
* Including the Citizens Climate Lobby, unions, someone from the cement industry
* "Really encouraging meeting" -unions stressed concern about climate, cement representative advocated a price on carbon
* Murray is working on a strategy with other provinces on a national-level energy and emissions policy, to circumvent federal inaction
* The hope is that all provinces will be in agreement -Presently, Ontario, Quebec, B.C. on board already -Even Alberta and B.C. 'somewhat on going'
* Some speculation that Alberta may be willing to accept such a deal in exchange for Energy East being approved
* Monthly or bi-monthly meetings with these civil society groups are being considered, to provide updates on this strategy
* Big report expected in the new year, about the seriousness of climate change and the need to address it
* They want assistance in publicizing it
Fossil Free Future (Stu)
* Alterna Savings has received a proposal to divest from fossil fuels
* Another case of an item meant to be brought to the upcoming AGM
* Tina now in Europe for two weeks
* We bank at Alterna, so may be able to play a role in the meeting
== Decisions ==
Membership Requirements -Vote?
* Already widely discussed, including at: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/toronto-350/alvf7sjI7CE
* Proposal from November 12th: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/toronto-350/alvf7sjI7CE/jYXOdOkck_8J
* Proposal from November 25th: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/toronto-350/alvf7sjI7CE/MHHaeRboqjAJ
* How many meetings required? Any way to waive that? Annual cost? Any physical perks for joining?
* One option: Attend two planning or campaign meetings (or be vouched for), pay either $20 or $5 depending on financial status
* Some discussion of means for monitoring how active members are, potentially via a regular survey
* Another option: 1) You are eligible to become a member after you attend any two meetings (either weekly planning meetings or campaign planning meetings). I think we can use the honour system for this. 2) Becoming a member requires paying a small annual fee, with a reduced option for (self-identified) students and those on low incomes 3) Annually, when a person's membership is expiring, we will set up NationBuilder to automatically send them a very short survey. It could ask how they have been involved in the group, any suggestions they have, etc.
* Would these be requirements for being on the mem...@toronto350.org email list? Is there non-voting membership?
From the proposed bylaws:
* Subject to the articles, there shall be two classes of members in the Corporation, namely, Members (or “Voting Members”) and Volunteers (or “Non-voting Members”). The following conditions of membership shall apply:
Members: Voting membership shall be available only to individuals who have fulfilled the requirements of becoming a Voting Member.
* The term of membership of a voting member shall be annual, subject to renewal in accordance with the policies of the Corporation.
* As set out in the articles, each voting member is entitled to receive notice of, attend and vote at all meetings of members and each such voting member shall be entitled to one (1) vote at such meetings.
Volunteers: Volunteers are non-voting members.
* Non-voting membership shall be available only to individuals who have fulfilled the requirements of becoming a non-voting member.
* The term of membership of a non-voting member shall be annual, subject to renewal in accordance with the policies of the Corporation.
* Subject to the Act and the articles, a non-voting member shall not be entitled to receive notice of, attend or vote at meetings of the members of the Corporation.
At present, doesn't detail the membership requirements
What will members vote on?
* Electing the executive, electing the board, voting on motions, etc
* We may want to restrict voting on major proposals
* Current rule: "Major proposals cannot be adopted unless they have been circulated to the general membership of the group one week in advance of the meeting where the decision is to be made. Major proposals shall include those requiring an expenditure of over $500, those that create new legal obligations for the group, or those that alter the policies of the group or the powers of executive members, board members, or officers."
Might we want to allow people to attend a certain number of meetings or actions to have the membership fee waived
* Keeping track would be onerous
Is there enough of a quorum here to vote on this?
* Stu thinks it's too small
NationBuilder does allow membership options, like tagging people who donate through a certain form, with automatic removal after a set time
Global Divestment Day - flagship idea
* Worth discussing without many of the key organizers here
Minor Proposal: Shop Windows
* On December 3rd, an email went around saying: "'Shop windows' got left off the agenda tonight, despite being an important and well thought-out proposal... I guess that means all members agree with the proposal."
* Not discussing an item does not constitute a decision in favour of it
* Decisions are not made unilaterally by email
* What do people think of the proposal itself?
* We will come back to it
== Non-campaign updates/Committee updates ==
Promo Video -will be ready by December 16th (Kai)
Documentary (Kai)
* "[H]ad a film retreat this past weekend at Crowe River Studio that went enormously well, around the theme of "Beyond Concept" (a play on our title, Beyond Crisis). The focus of the retreat was on actualizing much of the conceptual work that has been done, moving from idea to reality. This shift in focus is happening quite quickly, and moving in a great direction. A few practical updates: we have postponed our film crowd fund til after the holidays, likely late January/early February for a number of strategic reasons. We have also begun filming the crowd fund video, based off of a script developed in-house. We have a major website overhaul in the works to create a more immersive web experience, and our storyline is finally being translated into contacting major subjects for future filming, and moving into the editing room. Once we start editing in more detail and diving into the story, we'll be able to reach out to TO350 as a subject/partner for relevant input - estimated date for this: post-holidays"
* A documentary a group is putting together on the People's Climate March in New York City, which involves a lot of footage of the action of our group
Website transfer update (Stu)
* Jason (paid intern) in third week
* Has imported everyone in our email lists
* Working hard to get the rest of the website imported (probably by tomorrow)
* Redirects need to be put in so that old links to files will still work
* We also need to set up more user accounts
* He intends to complete the entire to-do list regardless of how many hours it takes: petitions, form builder, users, user permission levels
* He won't import Ontario350 things
* Will this mean him going well over? We are paying him for 45 hours of work plus running a webinar
* We don't know how much he is likely to go over by, but probably 10-15 hours over
* He has been very nice and pleasant to work with
* He will be running the webinar in the new year (exact format remains to be determined)
* Plans to come meet everyone at the solstice party, and is willing to DJ
* He is coming in from Waterloo, so cannot bring speakers -Could somebody provide some?
* What would it cost to rent from Long and McQuade? -Stu will look into it
* He will also send a request to the members' list
Yearbook -nothing has been sent in aside from the financial report and lots of photos from Milan
* Yearbook may not get made at this point, for lack of content
* People have not been eager to write it
We could have a succinct (less 'fun') annual report that just includes a short financial statement and a summary of what we have done
When was the intended date?
* In Canada, the fiscal year is January 1st to December 31st for normal people and April 1st to March 31st for government (who cleverly worked out that managing these things over the holidays doesn't really work)
* The idea was to send copies to some of our most notable supporters
* Preparing a minimal annual report should be considered a volunteer opportunity
== New non-campaign proposals/Volunteer ops ==
Web Design -We need a designer!
* Stu "makes it work" but "doesn't make it pretty"
* Rob knows a volunteer who may be willing to volunteer?
* NationBuilder does have plug-in themes like WordPress, but there are only eight and they are not particularly useful
* To modify it significantly is pretty involved
* One aspect is having someone with a critical design eye go through the site and point out problems
Co-hosting of the Climate Impact Network (CIN) town hall of federal leaders to discuss climate change (Amelia Rose)
* They have already agreed to table at a conference next year
* Another group promoting electoral reform may have teamed up with the CIN, trying to get the federal leaders of all parties to talk about climate change at this conference or during that week
* They want us to sign on to a letter from many different groups
* Draft text of the letter is not yet available
* Do we want to endorse a letter when we haven't seen the text?
* The chance of them ever actually producing a letter may be low
* We can say that we are willing to look at a draft letter and potentially sign on to specific text
Be weather prepared (Stu)
* After Hurricane Katrina, Stu quickly saw people with bright coloured signs highlighted how the extreme event "is climate change"
* Part of the "Connect the Dots" campaign -Visually strong
* Create signs that say "This is climate change" so that we can have them on hand when there's extreme weather and take a photo and get it up on social media to take full advantage of the opportunity
* Other text is possible, highlighting the links between climate change and extreme weather
* Creative Committee or campaign?
* Doesn't especially fit a campaign, but potentially something good to be prepared for
Highway bridge banners (Stu)
* This is probably an idea for a campaign, or even the art committee.
* It's where we create several banners to hang from highway bridges saying things like "There's more jobs” “In clean energy" "Than the tar sands" "Keep Canada clean!" "Toronto350.org/clean" (Creative Committee or Campaign)
* Possible model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma-Shave
* Lead Now is targeting ridings where Conservatives may be vulnerable
* We could stress how there are more people employed in clean energy than in the oil sands
* How long would we expect the banners to stay up?
* Potentially, a few people could stay and watch them for a few hours
* Not a lot of foot traffic near such bridges, but could be taken down by city officials
* We could aim to put it up for a rush hour
* Banner cost is just materials and time, probably $20 each
Skipped items: global divestment day, shop windows (substantive), frontlines support idea, Kai's recurring workshops proposal
New/recurring workshops proposal -Volunteer Op (Kai)
* Kai's idea was to have workshops run every 2-4 weeks by people who are relatively new to the group
* Opportunity to get a topic, do some research, and present for about 15 minutes to the group
* Would help them build knowledge and presentation experience?
* Too scary for people?
New people are welcome at every Tuesday planning meeting
* Perhaps there could be a monthly intake meeting just for new people?
* The Citizens Climate Lobby has a weekly conference call that serves a similar purpose
* Greenpeace also does something similar
* Could also involve a monthly effort for members to bring a friend who isn't already involved with the group / calling for action on climate change
* Better to replace a weekly meeting or be additional? -Probably best to be additional
* Ideal venue? A bar? Someone's home?
How many people would likely show up?
* There have been past efforts at recruiting meetings where more presenters showed up than potential members
* We might want a more active campaign to recruit people, including in the business community
Stu and Rob will work on having something like this in the New Year
Global Divestment Day (Feb 14)
* Cam Fenton planning a meeting with the 350 mothership, and intends to report back to us
* Do we have a good venue in Toronto?
* What will oil prices likely be doing then?
* Is there some kind of messaging we would use that would focus on fossil fuel price uncertainty?
Ontario Model World Health Organization (Stu)
* They have offered to let us sponsor their event
* Being put on by the University of Toronto Global Health Group
* Sliding scale ($100 for name on website, $3,000 for maximum fanciness)
* Not especially climate related, and not really in line with our objectives
Stu attended a Green Party meeting last night
* His riding association is looking to sponsor events
* Possibly for a few hundred dollars
* Has to be in the riding that includes Ryerson
* Would be during the next three months
* They would want to table there, and perhaps speak for a few minutes
Giving Tuesday (Stu)
* We got about $200 in recurring monthly donations
* More of his relatives will be donating soon
* Ask your family! It could be a Christmas present
* We want to put out further email blasts asking people to donate
* Our NationBuilder databases distinguish between people focused on divestment versus pipelines -Ideally, we want targeted messages for each
* Could be spaced out over the next few weeks
Are we using MailChimp until January? Or moving to NationBuilder now?
* Simple text emails are pretty easy via NationBuilder
* NationBuilder has better analytics for us (who clicked a link, went to the donate page, actually donated, etc)
[Amanda arrives]
Volunteer opportunities as of today:
* COP 21 campaign - looking for presenters for its education presentation, holding training session Friday December 17th -Kai will email everyone -The aim is especially to present it in neighbourhoods that Lead Now is targeting
[Ben, Sam, Joe, Nicky arrive]
More volunteer opportunities:
* Making an introductory leaflet for people at their first meeting (Rob and Stu), along with fixing up volunteer webpage
* Donate After Divestment webpage for alumni (Jade, Katie, Sam)
* Update the divestment brief (Milan has started; Ben willing to help after his essays), including answering the first three questions from the ad hoc committee
* Lobbying committees (Sam and Graham involved)
* Divest All The Things meeting, Friday December 12th at 4pm at OISE on the 5th floor, talk to Amelia Rose
* This Sunday - Kathleen Wynne event around 2pm near Yonge and Eglington (Katie and Ben will be there) -Facebook page should go up tonight -There is a draft press release that could benefit from review
* Application parties for the People's Climate Intervention (Ben, Stu, Katie) -Outreach to other groups is ongoing
* Yearbook / brief annual report alternative -The Dogwood Initiative puts out an annual failure report
* Monthly introductory people for new people, in addition to planning meetings (Rob and Stu) -One alternative we have discussed before is a designated greeting person, or a small group
* Proposed signs and banners (extreme weather signs, highway overpass signs) -Do we want to brand the highway signs with our logo/website
* Joining the Creative Committee generally (Amanda)
Perhaps we shout prioritize the global divestment day action over more general banner-making / promotional activities
* Should we make a carbon bubble or a pipeline for it?
== Voting on items deferred earlier? ==
Membership requirements
* Stu summarizes earlier discussion and the proposals on the table
* Should we consider a lifetime subscription rate?
* If we do surveys, should they be every six months or every year?
* Possible survey questions: how have you been active? where in the city do you live? which campaigns most interest you?
* Probably best to have different questions on different occasions
Ben moves that the membership requirements be set as discussed, including in terms of attending two meetings, paying $5 or $25, and an annual survey
Would we rather vote on them individually?
Vote on requirement to attend two planning or campaign meetings, or be vouched for by an executive member or campaign manager
* In favour: 8
* Opposed or abstaining: 0
Vote on having an annual fee of $25 ($5 for students / low income)
By when do people need to pay?
* Within the next two weeks, if you don't want to miss any serious votes
* How long will this take to set up via NationBuilder? -Probably just a couple of hours
This would be for all voting purposes, mostly using the honour system to track who is a voting member for ordinary meetings
* We can formally check the listings for general meetings, by-elections, etc
Would having a fee discourage people who attend meetings rarely?
* It would only block people from voting, not from attending meetings
* This may be seen as a barrier regardless
What would the purpose of the fee be? Just to raise a bit of money? Psychological purpose - people would value it more if they had to pay something?
* Is time in place of money a possibility we should allow?
* Or is a one-time payment better?
Various people favour no fee, a yearly fee, or a single lifetime fee
Should we vote on per year / one time only?
Possible fees ($25/$5 per year, $25/$0 per year, $5 forever, or $0)
It's 9pm and we have to clear the room
* We will discuss and vote on this at the start of next week's meeting
== Committees break-outs: Creative, Political Ops, Development, Finance ==
Not worthwhile with seven people present
== Upcoming events ==
Solstice Party - get your tickets soon at to350.nationbuilder.com/solstice2014
* Dec. 21
Tools for Change
* Register here: http://www.eventbrite.ca/o/tools-for-change-1382386439
* Know Your Rights: The Essential Activist Legal Primer, Time: Saturday, December 13, 2pm - 5pm
* Graphic Design Fundamentals, Time: Saturday, January 17, 1pm - 5pm
* Setting up and Improving Your Group's Structure, Time: Saturday, January 24, 2015, 1 - 4pm
== Next week ==
Milan will chair
Ben will take minutes
Stu Basden
Toronto350.org Meeting December 16
Present: Stu, Sam, Amelia Rose, Tresanne, Katie, Keegan, Lynn A. Madeline, Monica
Chair: Milan
Minutes: Ben
Debriefs:
Pipelines
Action on Wynne’s street
she only said she want a full environmental assessment of Energy East
Follow up letter suggested by Stu
Liberal MPs told not to talk to us because we would press them to say things they can’t say
Idea of handwritten letter to Wynne - saying we aren’t targeted at you, but what you’ve done. Keep communication open.
We should write an editorial, own the social license discourse because this is what Trudeau and Mulcair are using to avoid action.
We should define sustainability. Build fossil fuel infrastructure is unsustainable.
Ben and Sam willing to help Katie with this
Stu will check with Sharon about minutes from when we met with Glenn Murray
Lessons for how we martial people
Katie: should we have a better action list of how any people we can contribute to the
NEB Experts
We want to find credited experts to apply to the NEB (esp. Public health, climate science), NEB is opening for funding.
Stu, health lecture, and faculty tagged in Nation Builder.
Sam, we can maybe draw people in
apply with relevant information or expertise
interest impacted by decision, we could apply to ‘participate’, directly affected, relevant knowledge, or interest
Katie will research how we could move forward, Cam could answer?
Divestment Campaign
Ariel Wrote a draft response <3
contact Milan to help update the brief - mi...@sindark.com
between January and march we will be given the opportunity to address the committee.
Having authoritative speakers would be good.
volunteer opportunity: can
Global Divestment Day of Action Call Debrief
ideas for things Feb 13
Pan Am climate summit before pan amm
scouting has happened. Contact Ben if you want info.
COP 21
training session this Friday.
7pm Friday contact k...@toronto350.org for address.
Step it up Canada thought of as a name change, mediocre, don’t cop out got a down, cop i
Ad with some monies on facebook seeing what gets response
copgasm, cop in put forward as idea. or climate justice. still being decided.
Membership
we will differentiate members and volunteers
2 meetings or vouched for by campaign managers
Sliding scale fees proposed
lifetime fees
surveys put forwards as an issue
questions about welcoming new people.
Thank-you card by campaign manager, once a month, that can be given to a valuable volunteer, counts as membership fee for that year.
problem with this: volunteering is not a commodity
psychological buy-in when you pay for something
Tresanne is awesome!
discussion, ritualistic, solidifies membership
remembering stu’s position that people get a t-shirt they can wear when they come out to meetings.
Proposal: $5 if student or low income. $25 regular — voted down. 4 in favour. 7 opposed.
Mandatory survey as a condition for membership voted for.
Membership conditions after this meeting
attend two general meetings or be vouched for by a campaign manager
no cost
we will give a t-shirt to recognize membership, and work to have some form of social recognition (e.g. drinks/coffee)
donation will be suggested later. But not mandatory.
survey completion will be mandatory for membership
Shop windows
voted down as a major proposal with no objections unanimously.
Winter Strategy Session
Stu we should do one in January
Cam in Jan 7-9.
We’ll do it after, get Cam’s input
Spring action in Quebec or Montreal
Conference of the Federation meeeting
considering mobilization around that. There may be in Quebec.
All We Want is a Climate Review Song
lyrics made by Ben
Sam will help edit
we’ll do it at the Solstice party
BRING EMBARASSING XMAS PROPS
Be ready to have fun.
We shall sing and make a viral video
get your tickets to Solstice party http://to350.nationbuilder.com/solstice2014
Finding Stuff
Ben will look into space over the break
Meeting about integrating New Members
Katie and Tresanne will attend.
Board Liability
Milan and Monica will investigate how this works.
Next Meeting
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Milan
Announcements:
Council resolution workshop . Contact Lynn if you’re interested.
Anti-fracking speaking from elsipogtog, 5th of january, Friends house at 7pm, free but donations welcome.
Canadian electoral alliance event (date/place?)
thugsb
Planning Meeting Minutes - Dec 23rd, 2014
Present: Stu, Milan
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Milan
Solstice party debrief
About 20 present, well below the 50 total we were aiming for, but approximately in line with the number of tickets sold
Room was $250, supplies another $35, income of about $100
Net loss of about $185
Venue was somewhat hard to find, perhaps a bit uncomfortable for our group
Thanks to Amanda for hosting, and to everyone who volunteered
Campaigns
Pipelines
New campaign leaders
Ben, Sam, and Katie may be interested in taking it over
Are we continuing with the People’s Climate Intervention?
Kevin has requested the list of people who have signed up so far
No decision from the exec at this point
Letter to Wynne
Stu hasn’t started yet
Wynne editorial
No update
COP21
Workshop
About ten people attended
Purpose: training people to provide the PowerPoint presentation which has been produced
Divest U of T
Ben graduating in a few months, and will be passing on the campaign manager position
Milan is continuing to update the brief, with additional input from Ariel so far
The same questions from the ad hoc committee discussed in previous planning meetings could still use answers
If you are interested in helping to write, contact Milan: mi...@sindark.com
Updating the request
What to do when the list of 200 companies changes?
Maybe - automatically divest from any new companies added to the list
For removed companies, maybe the divestment commitment could be lifted if more than 90% of their business becomes non-fossil-fuel related?
Would create a burden of research for the school, but having no way to get off might raise objections
Rio Tinto is on the list, but may already be less than 10% involved in fossil fuels based on revenue
Perhaps we can find a better alternative means of allowing companies to be de-listed
Engineers Without Borders
On December 19th, Michael Waglay emailed Kevin and Stu
He is concerned with the connections between EWB and the fossil fuel industry
Would we want to approach them about changing any of this?
He suggests that contacting them and/or setting up a website could be helpful
Would anyone be willing to get in touch with them?
Alternatively, perhaps someone would be willing to research their overall stance on climate change
Meeting with Cam—time?
He is in town January 7th - 9th
Stu will send out a Doodle to find the time when the most people will be able to attend
This meeting is meant as a way to get some input before our Winter Strategy Session
One main topic of discussion is likely to be Global Divestment Day
Divest All The Things
No updates
Fossil Free Futures
No updates
By-election?
By-election on Jan 6th for the position of Director of Development
Stu will send around notice by email
Current definition of position from the constitution: “The Development Director shall have primary responsibility for the acquisition of new financial resources for the group and to maintain supporter relations. The development director shall chair the Development Committee and coordinate with its members to establish and implement strategic development plans to improve the organization's financial standing. The Development Director shall chair the Finance Committee in support of organizational administration and shall coordinate with its members on the establishment of budgets. In this role, they shall liaise with the board on the financial management of the organization.”
Interim Director of Development
Does anyone want to take this on temporarily?
Stu is checking the email account for now
Membership survey
We have a by-election announced, and technically no voting members
If people want to vote, they will have to complete the survey first
Does that mean everyone getting NationBuilder accounts? We do want the surveys to be sent automatically every year
We already imported the members list to create NationBuilder accounts
Are we asking everyone involved to complete it now, or just people who have been involved more than a year?
We are asking everyone, via the members list
Anyone who has been to two meetings and completes the survey will be able to vote
Survey questions
Mandatory: “What has your involvement with Toronto350.org been over the past year, and what explains your current level of involvement?”
Optional: “What suggestions do you have for improving the functioning of the group?”
We agreed that the results won’t be anonymous - should only a few people have access, to prepare a public summary?
Should the whole exec have access? Or those involved in editing the website?
Anyone who is able to edit the website will have access to the survey results
We will ask for one or more volunteers to look through them and provide a summary for the group
Stu will send a link tonight
Formation of the board
What do we want from the board?
Board members have been asking
Not meant to be a ‘working board’ but rather an ‘advisory board’
They will have oversight and legal obligations, as the result of incorporation
Monica is looking into liability issues
‘Board empowerment clause’?
The idea is to give the board access to the information it needs to meet its obligations
As phrased, could it cause problems?
Is it OK to have this as an informal understanding?
Perhaps it’s something Monica and/or Dimitri could advise on
Probably better to discuss when there are more people
Squads
Milan has been doing some thinking about more efficient ways to match up people who are willing to undertake tasks with people who need things done
One possibility is for organizers to advertise the tasks they need done, and for volunteers to report to them directly about their progress in completing them
We may want a Craigslist-style internal ‘job board’ where volunteers list their interests and skills, and where organizers list their needs
If you are interested in helping to develop the idea, contact Milan. Alternatively, we can discuss it at future planning meetings
Committees
Development
Cards have been sent! Still need to send emails…
Stu will handle that
Crowdfund
Do we want to use the new promo video? Or a video with a more tailored request for donations and goals described?
The documentary crowdfund is expected at the end of January
Would it be better to do ours at the same time or a different one?
A different time may be more likely to yield good results
What’s our purpose? We want monthly donors more than one-off donations
Monthly donors would let us set up a more regular budget
It would be good to have some concrete ‘anchor task’ that donations will be applied toward
Options? Buses to go to Quebec in the spring? Organize a massive rally before the provincial climate summit in July?
Yearbook
Tresanne and Lyn have volunteered to write copy
Milan has a set of photos picked out
Graham has already prepared the financial summary
Format? Document? Webpage? PDF may be a good thing to have
Up to the people working on it
Stickers - promised already for monthly donors
We need someone to design them
Stu will ask Kai
We could have both generic ones and others tied to specific campaigns
Especially if someone can make a template, Milan can cook up one related to the divestment campaign
Introductions for new members
Meeting - Stu, Tresanne, and Katie are working on it
Leaflet - Rob and Stu are working on it
Write-up - New idea of Stu’s: he will create a document with some guidance on what to do with new members
If we want to have one-on-one meetings with them, we will need volunteers - this document would provide some guidance on how they should go
Communications
Website
Content is now copied, but Stu still needs to switch DNS
User accounts and permissions still need to be setup - Stu
We have a volunteer designer! Rob’s friend will do it in January
Promo video is expected to be up soon
Mailchimp
Nadine has written a good message
Stu isn’t sure if it should go out on Christmas Eve: “Need a last minute gift? Give the gift of activism!”
This sounds like a good idea
We could then send a subsequent round of emails before the end of the year, in which we could use the new promo video
Upcoming events
Winter Wisdom Workshop
Doodle is up: http://doodle.com/333h6mqkzh4gnvnk
Respond by Dec 30th, we’ll announce date next week
We still need a space, for about 20-30 people
Hart House or Massey College are both possibilities
Stu will send another reminder toward next meeting
Board meeting Jan 15th
Liability
Next Meeting
Location: At Stu’s again
Chair: Milan
Minutes: Stu
Crafts!
thugsb
Toronto350.org planning meeting minutes: 2014-12-30
Present: Michael, Amelia Rose, Gorett, Ben, Tina, Katie, Tresanne, Milan, Stu
Chair: Milan
Minutes: Stu
Introductions and welcome
Statement of anti-oppressive values update (Katie)
Katie has created a working document that has been shared with the members.
Katie was tasked with producing some text at a recent executive meeting and has his current draft available as a Google Doc upon request.
There’s also a zine intended for facilitators, that she is intending to distribute.
Although there seemed to be general acceptance and approval of the document, a member of the group had strong problems with the document, stating they didn’t understand why a climate group should be commenting on the nature of oppression in society. They claimed that the anti-oppression movement is consistently one of the most oppressive movements in society.
There was a feeling that it is important that everyone should have a voice in our meetings, and that oppression should be acknowledged, as refusing to acknowledge oppression would invalidate other people’s lived experience.
The objector’s concern was that by focusing on oppression, Toronto350 would not be able to mainstream the climate movement. They also stated that they thought 350 was not an organization that was concerned about anti-oppression, although maybe that has changed?
It was then pointed out that we seem to be reaching out quite effectively. Furthermore, attempting to mainstream a movement while still excluding the majority of humanity, through the oppressive system of exclusion we live in, would likely fail. Not to mention future generations.
Do people wish to discuss this further? Yes. This is a working document.
Historically, both Toronto350 and 350.org have become increasingly concerned about anti-oppression principles. It was made clear to the president at a spring workshop that the mothership does wish to work with anti-oppression principles. Toronto350 held its first anti-oppression workshop in summer 2014, and has increasingly discussed these principles, especially after being stimulated by the discussion around the PCM.
An alternative document will be drafted by Michael, who will bring it to next meeting, in order to continue this conversation. They were also wondering if people wished to engage this further, or whether people weren’t interested and “whether we worked with anti-oppression principles or not is a closed question.” It seemed that people didn’t wish to ignore anti-oppression, yet were open to hearing Michael’s comments and alternative document.
Ben’s suggestion:
“Equity matters here on indigenous land
so check your space and privilege, it’ll give everyone a hand.
and if you feel oppressed, well that’s not the best,
please let us know, put our principles to the test
Let’s begin!”
People liked this.
Do we really want to read something along these lines at every meeting? Would it serve a useful purpose or just be repetitive?
This has been postponed to a future meeting. However, it was mentioned that if we wanted to be clear about working with anti-oppression principles, so as to avoid the kind of discussion above, then stating it each week would help the group’s clarity.
Campaign updates
Which campaign is Global Divestment Day part of? Or is it a minor campaign in itself?
It’s relevant to two of our campaigns. The UofT campaign will be doing their own campus action on that day.
Is someone willing to bottom-line the flagship event? In terms of personnel, the people who will be conducting the flagship action are people who are involved in the Pipelines campaign.
We’ll be discussing with Cam next week when he is in town. A bottom liner will be decided around that time. There’s also a conference call with Cam this Friday, contact Katie for more details.
Pipelines
We need one or more new chairs for the campaign
Ben, Sam and Katie are hoping to co-run this campaign.
And someone to bottom-line the People’s Climate Intervention, if we are to remain involved—this will be bottom-lined by the 3 campaign co-leaders.
Ben:
Can we have 15 minutes to strategize about Energy East?
We don’t have time, since the anti-oppression subject took up so much time.
Divest U of T
Milan is continuing to work on updating the brief. There’s also a list of tasks for volunteers: contact Milan if you’re interested.
We should be thinking ahead to contacting people who may be willing to appear before the committee early next year
People who can speak with authority on different sections of the brief: science, economics, law, etc
People who represent the university’s main components: students, faculty, staff, and alumni
This isn’t urgent at this point, as we have a wide window of when they could be invited. We can wait until we know more details.
COP21
From Kai:
“"Step Up, Canada!" campaign - we had a very productive recent meeting between myself and three others from the People's Climate Movement, organized by Emmay from that group who is stepping up herself to help with campaign management. During it we agreed on core objectives for the campaign, as well as finalized the name (Step Up, Canada!). Prior to the holidays we had a separate, larger meeting that was well-attended to do the first workshop on our public presentation.”
“The presentation has undergone a revision since to shorten, and is now in the 20 - 30 minute range. It has not been finalized but hopefully will be soon so it can be circulated more broadly, and perhaps posted for download to the main Toronto350 site to empower others. We will be hosting another workshop session that is focused more on training in the new year - stay tuned.”
“Call for event organizers: The "People's Climate Movement" who we've been working with on the Step Up, Canada! campaign will be planning several major events in lead-up to COP21, and are interested in our help/participation. These events will likely include a large march in solidarity/protest, to pressure Canada to action. They will be organizing for this soon, and will pass on dates to meet for anyone interested once they're set.”
There was consideration of whether there was a response to Lima. Also, how will people shift Canada’s position? Should they be focusing on the UN process? Or are there more effective ways to change Canada’s position. We need to be focused on how we can make a difference. There’s a lot of COP-fetishism in climate circles, that doesn’t get us anywhere. However, the COP campaign has been effective at bringing in new people from non-activist backgrounds, which is valuable. We could also use the campaign to encourage greater action from people in other climate groups.
Let’s postpone this discussion for the Winter Wisdom Workshop, and when the campaign lead is present.
Divest All the Things
Educators for fossil fuel divestment and climate action
Website at: educatorsclimate.wordpress.com/
Brief and resolution at: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31404540/OTPP%20fossil%20fuel%20divestment%20brief%20and%20resolution.docx
According to Brian Young this is an effort by Adam Davidson-Harden in Kingston
Amelia Rose: “The person who runs that site is named Adam, and I am getting my information from him mostly as he is the one you started to work on the OTPP first. Katie put me in touch with him and have been coordinating with him ever since.”
How can we collaborate with them? We’ve been in touch and have been working together for a few months.
There has been discussion about the Global Divestment Day, but no decisions.
They’re also looking for teachers to engage.
Fossil Free Futures
Tina has been away, but intends to work on this more in the next few weeks. Tim Nash would be a good person to contact.
Promotional video and documentary
From Kai:
“Beyond Crisis documentary - going very well, but I would prefer to update in-person! We're excited to be entering the New Year with new energy, and a desire to get editing and moving on piecing together this film, with newfound subjects, quickly. Our date to launch a crowd fund come the end of January/early February (once folks have recooperated from holiday spending) is still set and good to go.”
“Promotional video - This is now released and in Toronto350's control in perpetuity! I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to work on this for the team, and am simply wondering how best to leverage this to promote different campaigns, fundraise for Toronto350 etc. going forwards. I want to emphasize that the promotional video should now be seen as a shared tool for all Toronto350 campaigners to use to engage a broader audience, so anyone should feel free to share it with others to promote Toronto350 and its campaigns.”
How do we want to release the promo vid? Email blast? Crowdfund? Website?
Those ways will largely connect with people who already know us. Is there harm in sharing it now? It could potentially put people off a crowdfund, as they’ll see us as recycling content.
We can also use it for tabling and such.
If we use it for a crowdfund, we’ll need to recut it to make it into a fundraising ask, which is something Kai has previously volunteered to do.
Major proposals
Changing the Operations Director’s roll, as chair of the Campaigns Committee, to be in charge of organizing the twice-yearly strategy sessions. This should be done in collaboration with the president. Exact text to be written by Ben.
We’ll also be removing the Campus Outreach Committee. Amelia Rose will create new text for the position and circulate it before next meeting.
We’ll also be merging the two committees chaired by the Political Operations Director. Katie will create new text for the position and circulate it before next meeting.
Volunteer opportunities
A new Director of Development is needed
By-election next week - complete the membership survey if you want to vote
Is anyone planning to run? one person expressed potential interest
Shape My City
Yasmin has suggested that we can promote events at: http://shapemycity.com/about.php
Does somebody want to volunteer to check it out and/or put up regular updates? Katie and the comms committee will look into it.
Annual report / yearbook
No updates, but intention to do it is still there.
We are still deciding on a time for two events. Please complete the Doodles if you are interested:
Winter Wisdom Workshop date: http://doodle.com/333h6mqkzh4gnvnk 6pm Sat Jan 24th, Ben will look into booking a room.
Meeting with Cam Fenton time: http://doodle.com/8akmcyteqiw9c3m6 8pm Thurs Jan 8th. Katie will try to book a room at OISE for about 20 people.
We also require a location for each
What’s the plan for our crowdfund?
Will we be raising money for some concrete project or task?
What we need is someone to do admin work, but that’s not sexy.
We could also crowdfund for a big summer action, which is sexy. The money coming in could then be used to employ someone to organize it, including doing the admin work.
The job-board (see below) could also be a good thing to put money into, but it’s also not sexy.
Who will bottom-line it?
It somewhat falls to the Dir of Dev.
When will it happen?
Not at the same time as the documentary crowdfund. So we’re looking at more like March, which is also when things pick up economically for a lot of people (Jan and Feb are tight).
How do we connect with other campuses, beyond UofT?
Rajean at Ryerson indicated that divestment was a priority, but hasn’t been very active.
John and Erin at York have been doing something. They only meet monthly, so progress is slow, but things are happening.
The OPIRG at York is connected to creating an ongoing process concerning divestment.
It seems that the campus engagement is entirely focused on divestment at the moment. Therefore, this is falling to the divestment campaign more than the Campus Outreach Committee.
We can probably let the other campuses do their own thing, and not really engage the other campuses at this point. Therefore, the Campus Outreach Committee is basically defunct at this point.
Ideas for improving productivity
There is an ongoing discussion of ‘squads’ or ‘teams’ at: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/toronto-350/IwyUC4FEbBk
The idea is to have something scalable, which having a single volunteer coordinator is not good at.
There are open-source job boards.
The problem: We’ve got lots of people who have skills and time, and we’ve got good organizers who can do stuff. But we’ve not got a good way to assign things and pass off those tasks, nor to track whether they’ve been done.
We’re also working on getting a Snowflake workshop run for us, likely in February. This could work well with a job-board.
Website transition to NationBuilder
Milan transferred over the DNS to NationBuilder
Direct links to files seem to work, for instance: http://toronto350.org/divest/fossil-fuel-divest.pdf,
But many don’t:
Stu will be restoring the old site under a subdomain in the next couple of days.
Updating website content:
We need someone to make the divest section more accessible (what exactly do we mean by ‘accessible’? Simply more up to date? Or more informative for people not already well-versed in the topic?)
We need someone to make pipelines more accessible
Sam is reporting problems with the membership survey. Is anyone else having issues? No. Stu will connect with him and try to make sure this is fixed, as well as sending out a reminder to fill out the membership survey before the by-election.
The current scrolling transparent overlay in front of an unmoving background looks cluttered and confusing:
It’s probably also difficult or impossible for people with visual impairments or who are using accessibility software to understand
This was edited today. It’s been put back to the previous blue theme. But we do badly need work on the website.
People didn’t like a static background image.
Stu will set up admin users for all exec in the next two days, and send them links to “how to edit pages” videos. All execs will try to clean up two pages by next meeting.
We should also be showing off the great work we’re doing, such as the Trudeau and Wynne actions. They should be on the homepage.
Other tasks:
It would be good to to have someone go through the website and find out things like: 1) out of date pages, 2) pages that need more/better content, 3) pages that don't make sense
Also, add pictures to: http://www.toronto350.org/campaigns
And locate any broken pictures and links
Next meeting
Chair: Tresanne
Minutes:
Location: Steelworker’s Hall
Event announcements
Lyn:
“There is a potluck and song circle (or socializing) on Friday January 2nd at Friends House 60 Lowther Ave, 5 - 9 pm (food at 6 pm, music 7:30). Sharon Rosemary and I are putting this together for climate and pipeline activists and rsvp to me for the potluck is appreciated, all welcome at 7 pm for social. I'll repost to the members list.”
“Please rsvp to Lyn if you are coming for dinner, all welcome 7 pm on for music and sharing; at 8:45 Sharon is heading to karaoke and you can join in. Friends House is alcohol-free- there is a pub down the street for after…”
Carbon Price Forum
Being put on by the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and moderated by Stephen Lewis
The forum will take place on Tuesday, January 27 from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. It will be in Toronto but livestreamed and taped so you can even see it at home.
Isabel Bader Auditorium, 93 Charles Street West, Victoria College University of Toronto
Tuesday, January 27th from 7:30 to 9:00pm
Doors open at 7:00 pm
Panelists: Nicholas Rivers, Chairholder, Canada Research Chair in Climate and Energy, University of Ottawa; David Robinson, Associate Professor of Economics, Laurentian University; Katie Sullivan, Director, North America and Climate Finance, IETA; Gray Taylor, a leading climate change lawyer working in Toronto
Course on advocacy and governmental relations
Being taught by Jessica Bell at Ryerson from January 15 to April 15, on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:30pm
“Anyone can take this course as it's through the continuing education department. If you're a Ryerson student you could try and secure credit to take the course and have it contribute to your degree or program. Some students in other schools might also be eligible to take the course and get an out-of-university course credit; it depends upon your program.”
“Voluntary and nonprofit organizations need to advocate effectively on behalf of their constituencies and their organization. The course provides hands-on, applied training that will enable those working in the third sector to advocate and lobby effectively on behalf of their specific constituency, and also as part of broader coalitions (social movements) for change. Topics include influencing the public policy process, identifying and accessing government bodies and resources, developing effective public and government relations strategies.”
Breakout groups
This week we worked on assigning people to the various committees.