2018 Planning Meeting Minutes
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Executive Meeting Proposed Agenda
December 19, 2017
Land Acknowledgement
I acknowledge the sacred land on which the United Steelworkers Hall operates. This land has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this territory.
Introductions
Amelia Rose
Kalina
Valerie
Kyla
Kristof
Liza
Review of agenda
Priorities for 2018
Breakout Updates and decisions on recommended 2018 priorities
Divest Campaign
People wanted three things: focussing on post-secondary institutions, banks, and pension plans
Expressed maybe we should go for smaller targets first
New person working to divest general pension plans - if we do want to do this campaign, we’ll need a lead who can be on executive because Brian is unable
Ryerson, York, and UofT campaigns are moving forward (York and UofT have asked for our assistance now and then)
One of the two areas that seem to have the most interest from our volunteers and a good area to go because we don’t have to spearhead
Possibility to increase membership through these partnerships
It’s more about the faculty and staff pensions than student tuition
Kristof will gauge volunteer interest to see who’d be active
We need to be able to measure the progress of campaigns to see if we’re spending our time efficiently
Potentially have more than one person taking the helm
If we’re putting out a call for a campaign lead, we need to make the goals of the campaign clear
We should outline the goals for at least a year in advance for each campaign
Probably be good to start at universities because we’ve had the most success there - maybe we should focus on supporting the existing university initiatives
Actions: find new divestment campaign lead - contact Amelia Rose if interested in working on this campaign, Kristof send out
Provincial Election Campaign
No one was really interested in the provincial election
There will be a lot happening around the provincial election
People weren’t clear about how we could mobilize around environmentalism for the provincial election
Could be lumped in with education
Municipal Campaign
Talked about two things: retrofitting a school and the election
Caleb did a lot of research surrounding the school project, but we didn’t have capacity to pull it off
Buildings are covered under the city’s climate plan so schools will be included in that anyways
Talked about issuing a report card for the election candidates
Group looking at ten points that should be covered
Good Jobs for All Coalition and $15 and Fair are both municipal work as well - not necessarily a campaign around it, but definitely information to be distributed
Good Jobs for All is pressuring Toronto Community Housing to make greener choices
Can also partner with Our Toronto and Sidewalk Toronto (both working on Quayside neighbourhood) and GreenPac
People have expressed that if we are going to get involved in politics, they want to know exactly who we’d vote for
People also expressing ONE report card would be best, not one from each individual organization
Actions: Valerie and Amelia Rose keep going to meetings, Valerie remains campaign lead
Pipelines Campaign
Pipelines not in Toronto that are on people’s radar
Line 9 is also on people’s minds (goes through Toronto)
We’ve been told to focus on Toronto more and be more visible
Asked to hold a panel discussion
The other big campaign people associate with our group
Education
People want to be educated on a variety of topics
The Energy East educational was a success - people came who were not our usual members
We should look at the list to figure out what we should host (have one in January)
Partnership
Indigenous Solidarity (include Jan. meeting with Nancy Rowe-Henry)
Hasn’t been a very active element
Labour groups, environmental groups
General calendar of when big protests and events are happening
Creating new partnerships and strengthening existing ones
Want to do more around indigenous solidarity - in January we’ll be holding a meeting about how to make our space more accessible to indigenous and minority peoples (4th Tuesday)
Good Jobs for All and $15 & Fair are both very diverse organizations in a lot of ways
Make people more aware of our partnerships
Finances
Board Decisions
We’re on financial lockdown
Going to get a monthly report from Treasurer
Money for events should be kept separate than float money
Until January we’ll be tight for finances
We’ve met basically all our financial commitments for 2018 (minus the president’s salary) so extra money made is beneficial
Kristof can reach out to the labour movement, but the money may not be free
Pushing for things like divestment and TransformTO that may make the labour movement more
Fundraising
Staff
Don’t want to hold funds for other organizations
Confuses our finances
Fall 2016 we helped with fundraising for Chippewas, April 2017 we held for the PCM
Liza panicked when she didn’t know about the new NationBuilder page - she doesn’t know whether the bank will accept the money and then we go into debt
The money may get taken out before we actually receive the money donated
Make sure board members and executive members are part of any email related to finances
Decisions like holding funds need to go through an approval process (at least via email)
People generally feel like we have larger capacity than we actually do
Board is going to work on grant applications and other funding opportunities
Amelia Rose will be creating a fundraising plan
Campaigns / Programs
Most grants are geared towards this area
All grants Tresanne applied for we didn’t get (most were geared towards staff which are harder)
Grants are done for 2017
Donations by individuals are much better
Training by Tim C. (new member)
Going to help us with phone banking
Maya (board member) said we raised good money at last phone banking
Money goes to two different places: PayPal (we have to manually put in bank) and Stripe (automatically goes into bank)
Amelia Rose will send Liza names of people who donated at last phone banking to make sure the money has come in
After major events we should be sending an email to donors saying thank you and showing them where their money is going
Fifth Tuesday of January could be another phone banking day with the first half hour being training from Tim
Outreach / Messaging
Urgency of Climate Crisis
Climate justice
Be a voice for the vulnerable (as opposed to being about policy, etc.) - don’t BE the voice, but SUPPORT the voices
Diversity
Frontline communities
Active volunteers
30-40 active volunteers is ideal
Kristof’s union has 60,000 members with 400 active members
Need a ladder of engagement to gauge who is an “active” member
Brand awareness and clear direction are key to retention
Need a communications coordinator and a new website
Valerie is happy to work with our future Communications Coordinator on a communications plan
Part of our call out to find someone to work on the website - Kristof had someone who reached out and was interested
When people see “last updated on” and it’s an old date, they tend to think that the website or organization is dead
The OTPP tries to keep updated on the funds that are being planned
Would need an administrator to go in and “clean up” every week to keep track of comment threads
Kristof has connections to progressives who may be interested in building for NationBuilder - Ground Forest Digital & Compass 360
When we get someone who wants to work on the website, they should be actively involved with the group
Need to work on rebranding ourselves
How do we get more traffic to our website? The more people see what we’re doing, the more they’ll donate - should our site be embedded on other people’s websites?
More detailed advertising and marketing plan to promote social media posts and attract more viewers
Media
Have a media section on our website, but it hasn’t been updated in awhile
We have had large media in the past (mostly because of divestment) so we do have available coverage
There are groups all across Canada who are getting media attention by submitting op-eds and other things - we should be trying to be more present to the public
Media will drive more people to our group - we want them to be able to recognize who we are just by hearing our name
Even if a story is happening that relates to a specific campaign, they may reach out to other groups because our voice is small
Communications plan would also include media exposure
Perhaps each campaign can develop a media section and work with the coordinator to create a plan
We have to make sure we’re CASL compliant - contacting donors is okay, but when people sign up at events and in other ways, we need to keep the slips to prove that they gave us their information
Have to make sure people who sign up opt-in as members
Have to ask people whether or not they want to continue receiving our emails - no response means opting out
This falls under the board’s responsibility
Kalina will send email with fonts and colour codes
New Space
Meetings
Have to be done by 8:30 so there are times where we’re unable to finish
Has to be accessible
Holding Materials
Held in various different places across Toronto
Art Builds
Can be done at Steelworkers, but it’s not the nicest and can’t be held
Can be done at Greenpeace, but need permissions each time
Action Plan for 2018 priorities
Key Dates
January 2018 Calendar
350.org Event - Jan 31st.
New Communications Coordinator
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January 16th Campaign Meeting Minutes
Land Acknowledgement (2min)
I acknowledge the sacred land on which the United Steelworkers Hall operates. This land has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this territory.
Intro + Names (5min)
Maya - board member, not sure what she wants us to do
Katie - celebrate the cancellation of Kinder Morgan
Anthony - interested in cultural transformation
Sara - wants to learn and be part of a group
Valerie - make the issue of climate justice prominent in provincial election
Kristof - would like our volunteer base to grow
Kevin - keep working to pressure city hall to approve $ for TransformTO
Kalina - have a little more fun this year
Matthew - wants to be able to bring the movement back to India
Amelia Rose - president, wants group to do more outreach, be more present
Tim - get active and see what’s going on
CAMPAIGN PLANNING (90min)
Summary of Campaigns at Exec Meeting on December 19th
Municipal campaign will likely be dropped due to lack of capacity/resources (info will still be shared about what other groups are doing). Through our involvement with TCAN and other orgs we are still involved in municipal goings-on.
Divestment - want to expand the campaign to not just be OTPP. A new group called Shift is looking on pension plan divestment in particular so we’ll be working with them. Members have expressed interest in banks, universities, etc. If you have any ideas, always feel free to share! City of Toronto is not invested in fossil fuels.
Pipelines - we’ve worked on Energy East, Line 9, will likely expand into a “Fossil Free” campaign so people with similar interests/goals can work in the same sector
Provincial Election - new campaign that doesn’t have a defined shape yet. Two years ago we did a campaign around the election involving direct actions, phone-banking, door-to-door canvassing, etc. that got people active.
Breakouts
Divestment
First campaign was to divest UofT, but they said no
There’s a new group at the university that has expressed interest in working with us on revitalizing that campaign
York is also trying to divest - it’s harder because they have a body that reviews all their investment proposals and once they agreed to divest, the university wanted to shut down the body
Ryerson has also had an on and off campaign that hasn’t made huge headway
Last year we protested outside TD Bank in solidarity with 350Seattle and other cities against the institutions funding fossil fuel projects
Our organization’s money is in Alterna Savings (also somewhat invested in fossil fuels)
Pension plans are much harder to get to divest - they don’t feel like they’ll be able to make the same money with different investments
Our OTPP campaign has been running for three years, others have been on the same task for six, we can keep chugging along - we’ve been told we’re “on the right path”
Next six months will bring some outreach we can do around OTPP
Hard to get people to go against employers to encourage them to divest
We could go against the CPP - a huge amount of money - but we haven’t been involved with that in the past. Others have been.
Members have expressed the fact that they want to divest their own money - it’s hard for this to be significant
Has there been any effort to contact the UofT Alumni and get through divestment that way? Sara has connections to a prominent person and will reach out.
Divestment has become more popular in the news lately with lots of big money coming out of fossil fuels, it is becoming more tangible.
Climate needs to make its way into ethical investing conversations.
Every year divestment has been a topic put forward at the OTPP AGM, and last year they had more questions (they divested a small amount from Enbridge last year, but it wasn’t huge news)
Next Steps: Amelia Rose will connect Sara with the UofT divestment group, reconnecting with our active OTPP group and making it more present in our day-to-day
Provincial Election
Great opportunity to partner with other groups
Good Jobs for All Coalition is very interested in working with us (Greenpeace, LeadNow, Sierra Club Ontario, the Atmospheric Fund, Aamjiwnaang, anti-HydroOne privatization peeps, etc.)
We are a non-partisan group (we do not choose candidates to back)
Goal: not only identifying what the climate justice issues are, but raising them during the campaigns/elections
Can choose certain ridings to work on specific things (getting people out to meetings)
“Pledge” to support climate issues when you’re voting - a way to get people to sign up so we get their information
Cap and trade, renewable incentive programs, HydroOne, etc.
Ontario’s fund from cap and trade was around $9 million for last year, which is technically supposed to go to green initiatives
Carbon tax doesn’t necessarily go back to green things
Katie has a friend from Environmental Defence who knows a lot about cap and trade and carbon tax - want to get him in for an educational
Provincial government is really pressuring John Tory to privatize Toronto Hydro
Next Steps - reach out to other groups to see if they’d be interested in collaborating on a “climate rubric,” identify the large climate justice issues for the city (i.e. public transportation), create outreach campaign plan
Valerie will reach out to Myeengun Henry of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, Carolyn of Good Jobs for All, Fight for 15
Katie will create a GoogleDoc with organizations people have contacted - email her if you’re interested ka...@toronto350.org
Katie will create a Doodle poll for an initial provincial election meeting
Pipelines / Fossil Free
Energy East was stopped in the fall
We’re in solidarity with all the Kinder Morgan resistance, but it’s hard to be super active when it’s so far away
Goal of the campaign was always to stop the tar sands, but expanding the campaign makes it more accessible
350Canada is doing a similar campaign this year
Tech Frontier mine is under review (new “biggest” mine in the tar sands)
Katie was contacted by 350 Syracuse, HydroOne is working on a deal to buy a hydro company based in Washington that owns part of a coal plant that has had large resistance due to its carbon emissions and 350 Syracuse is wondering if we can put pressure on HydroOne and Kathleen Wynne to make it a stipulation of the purchase for them to set a date for the plant’s closure. Sierra Club is also very on top of this.
Aging Line 5 pipeline in the Great Lakes has mounting resistance (people in Michigan have reached out, it may be undergoing some sort of review or expansion soon…?)
Next Steps: find out more about what Canada350 is doing around the new tar sands mine and what the regulatory process is, our focusses will be the Tech Frontier mine and Hydro One.
Anthony will come back with lots of research!
Report Back
Maya - provincial election & tar sands mine
Valerie - provincial election
Kristof - divestment, Hydro One & Montana mine
Kevin - provincial and fossil free
Kalina - provincial and fossil free (but going to stay out to lend general support)
Matthew - wants to learn more about the group, but divestment is main
Amelia Rose - likes them all!
Katie - provincial because it’s been a while since we’ve done something local
Anthony - want something super Torontonian to rally behind, interested in the Frontier Tech mine and the Montana mine
Sara - UofT divestment, provincial election, HydroOne
Tim - Hydro One, provincial elections, fossil free
Earth Day Film Event
2-5 minute film competition with the theme “What is Toronto’s most beautiful outdoor spot, and why is its preservation significant to you and the city?”
Kalina will finalize graphics and get quotes for venues
Rally / March
Tim Hortons - Jan 19th 8am-9am, Bloor and Dufferin (national)
Women March on Toronto: Defining Our Future - Jan 20th, 12pm-2pm - City Hall
Tabling
Pipeline Play - Jan 20 @ 7pm - 9-day play about Kinder Morgan (tabling will be from 7-8pm) Katie, Amelia Rose, Kevin will table
OISE Environmental Fair - Jan 27 (Matthew, Kevin, Kalina, Katie available)
Educational
Katie will contact Patrick Derochie from Environmental Defence about Cap and Trade Program
Science for Peace Conference
Help promote and spread to other climate change groups
Want to have big policy piece suggestions
Reading Group
Katie is putting together a reading group for Art Manuel’s Reconciliation Manifesto - contact her if you are interested! ka...@toronto350.org
AOB
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Land Acknowledgement (2min)
I acknowledge the sacred land on which the United Steelworkers Hall operates. This land has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this territory.
Intro + Names (5min)
Hala - went to Quebec City this month
Namrata - recently came to Canada from India, done work with Greenpeace & 350.org, wants to work with orgs here, saw word of the meeting online
Kevin -nothing that new and exciting
Dylan - recently graduated from university studying environmental governance, saw word of the meeting online
Tim - thinking of investing savings
Amelia Rose
Kalina - celebrated birthday
Jennifer - on the phone
ELECTION + OTHER VOTES (10 mins)
Voter Identification (optional)
People eligible to vote will receive a symbol of that ability
A member would have been to at least 10 meetings
Election of Exec and Board Member
Positions
Admin Coordinator
Namrata 5-Y 0-N 0-A
Dylan 0-Y 0-N 5-A
Communications Coordinator
Jennifer - 4-Y 0-N 2-A
Campaign Coordinator - Fossil Free Campaign
Kalina & Kevin (co-leads) 5-Y 0-N 0-A
Campaign Coordinator - Divestment
Dylan - experience in politics, geography, not as easy as people think to make the transition from an investment in fossil fuels, not as shiny as other campaigns, but very effective 6-Y 0-N 0-A
Tim Hortons Rally - Feb 13th
Sponsor Location?
Location? - Near Runnymede or Downtown
Time?
Some Tim Horton’s locations are removing benefits from their workers and ending paid breaks, and there have been protests (about 50 locations)
Concerns about protesting locations that aren’t necessarily taking away benefits or breaks - as a franchise Tim Horton’s has individual business owners so just because one location is making bad decisions, doesn’t mean they all are
Need to ensure that the location is definitely one doing bad, or else picketing outside could have the opposite effect on the workers and business
Because Tim Horton’s is still a corporation, the solidarity protests could make the people at the top put pressure on individual owners to do things ethically
Amelia Rose will get more information on the locations and whether or not we can confirm that they are guilty restaurants
Living Room Climate Action Workshops
Create as a project?
Group of around 15 people that gather in a neighborhood spot, listen to a speaker about what they can do about climate change
Interested in our help for this project going several months
Our group would like more information on what exactly this entails
It could end up being a lot of work for a short event
Good potential to reach people who wouldn’t normally come out to our meetings (a teacher from Humber College so it’s in Etobicoke)
Would be good to incorporate a hands-on or workshop-type element instead of just having a speaker so they can implement the information
Can either do the same presentation in multiple neighbourhoods, or do different ones in the same neighbourhood
Kalina may be going to Humber to speak about the importance of the arts and creativity in creating lasting change - could we somehow combine the two things?
They want it to be more oriented towards what they can do in their community
Wants to empower her local residents to make positive changes for the climate
Amelia Rose will gather more information on what exactly is wanted from us
Summary:
New Campaign Leads
Dylan - Divestment (w/ Hala as the “divestment elf”)
Kalina & Kevin - Fossil Free
New Executive Members
Namrata - Administrative Coordinator
Jennifer - Communications Coordinator
Congratulations to everyone on their new positions!
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Campaign Meeting Minutes
February 27th, 2018
Land Acknowledgement (2min)
I acknowledge the sacred land on which the United Steelworkers Hall operates. This land has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this territory.
Intro + Names (5min)
Amelia Rose
Stefan
Alex
Kevin
Anthony
Dylan
CAMPAIGN PLANNING (90min)
Breakouts and Report Backs
Provincial election
They are having a planning meeting next week with the Good Jobs For All Coalition which is already planning on having a project centred around the election.
There was support for an idea of informing the public and creating a report card, as has been mentioned before
Divestment
In the past the Divestment campaign mostly functioned as a support hub for schools
Now that most schools have hit roadblocks and Dylan suggests that we should turn our attention away from that
Brian Yonge is leading the divestment campaign with the Ontario Teacher’s Pension and may need help next week at a meeting with the Secondary School Teacher’s Pension
Suggestion of finding a publicly traded company, maybe with a green image and put pressure on them to divest their investments
Local financial advisor, Tim Nash, who we could work with to create a green financial planning information package
Suggested idea: effecting a credit union’s base to ask for divestment
Fossil Free
Still in the research phase
Line 9 is a pipeline that runs between Sarnia and Montreal owned by Enbridge which has recently been repurposed to run dilbit up towards Montreal
Because Line 9 runs through Toronto, a possible leak could harm communities, including the Chippewa of the Thames
New strategies include: banning Dilbit from entering city limits and appealing to the supreme court to uphold city bylaws
Alex is writing a PhD on Line 9 and similar pipelines and the stories that we tell around those pipelines!
The second is the Teck Frontier mine
Kevin suggests a Toronto350 report on when Canada needs to go carbon neutral which we can bring
The suggestion is raised that we would need academic backing. Also, has this been done? More research is needed.
AOB
International Women’s Day (IWD) March and Justice for Tina Fontaine. Meet at Bloor and St. George at 12:45pm.
IWD: Sat. March 3, Rally at 11 am, march at 1 p.m., Fair at 2 p.m. at OISE
Justice for Tina Fontaine: March 3 at 2pm–5pm at City Hall.
Dylan shares that Patagonia has released a database of environmental organizations that is searchable, Toronto350 can add itself to it.
Stefan raises that Federal Budget day has just passed and there are a couple things that are obviously missing.
Alex is working on a play about Line 9 and they are thinking of touring it along Line 9 and a collaboration might be in order with Toronto350 to deliver informational content
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CAMPAIGN MEETING MINUTES
MARCH 20, 2018
Chair: Kevin
Minutes: Kalina
Land Recognition
I acknowledge the sacred land on which the United Steelworkers Hall operates. This land has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this territory.
Introductions
Kalina – communications coordinator
Katie – working on the provincial campaign
Valerie – been going to Good Jobs for All meetings, working on prov. Election
Kevin – Fossil Free campaign lead
Dylan – currently Divestment campaign lead, but may have to step away
Anthony – had a bigger beard last time, sent letter on behalf of Toronto350 to the Athabasca First Nations in Alberta who are opposing the Frontier Teck Mine
Frank – working on a book about global warming
John – works for Minister of Transportation for Provincial Government, looking to be more involved in local advocacy
Tim – works in international development, interested in climate, gender issues, etc.
Rosana – told about the group, wanted to come check it out!
BREAKOUTS
Provincial Election
Reaching out to other groups (unions, etc.) to develop “manifesto” with key questions/issues that can be put to candidates during campaign
“report cards” can be used as educational tools for our members and other orgs
Challenges:
Narrowing down the issues
What stance we want to take on each thing
Outreach is a big part – Valerie and Katie have been going to the Good Jobs for All meetings, and Valerie has been attending a new climate caucus
We have reached out to Environmental Defence – we had an educational about climate pricing and the carbon tax
Goods Jobs for All has quite a large base
LEAP is potentially interested, but doesn’t have capacity at the moment
Angela Bischoff at Clean Air Alliance says they’re focussing on the Pickering Nuclear Plant, there’s a climate alliance creating
Community Benefits Society has been involved in the Good Jobs for All meetings and have some success stories to share
Have the third draft of a “climate charter” that has similar goals to TransformTO, good and specific demands
At their April meeting they will likely be looking to finalize this document
Can do more outreach!
15 & Fairness
2 months ago, the climate caucus was formed (been about 3 meetings so far)
Avi Lewis will be the keynote speaker at the Friday event
Challenge around climate for the election is that health care and minimum wage issues might be at the forefront
Picking up Naomi Klein’s words about enriching and empowering those works in low-carbon, low-paying jobs
Next Steps:
Narrow down the issues
What tactics we want to use once our message is established
Potential launch event for the material
Could also hold a debate centered around climate justice issues with a local friendly politician
Talked about doing things door-to-door, would have to be a strategic riding
Developing social media and outreach/promotional materials for the people who want to use our information, creating talking points
Who is interested in this campaign? What is its capacity?
Better to think about things strategically and realistically
Katie believes it’s important to highlight the importance of cap and trade in our demands because the conservatives have said they are planning to scrap
We want to push people to ask conservative candidates what their plans are about climate change
The goal is to keep climate one of the major things we are talking about
What is the current situation?
Is it a climate situation?
Is it keeping Ford out of office?
Would it be time efficient to focus on turning Ford’s supporters in a specific riding?
Key ridings will be Etobicoke and Scarborough
Conservatives have a weak backbone on the carbon tax – they are economically vulnerable – it might be beneficial even just to highlight
If they pull out of the cap and trade program, the federal government will be applying their own programs anyways
Covered in drafter charter is:
Carbon pricing, cap and trade
Being spent on subsidies for individuals for electric cars, etc.
What else could this be spent on? Could we focus more on lower-income opportunities?
Continued investment in rapid transit
Transferred to municipalities
Continued investment in renewable energy – things need to be more fleshed out for a provincial focus
Tim – perhaps we can see if one of these issues need to be fleshed out by one of our partners
Add elements about indigenous issues – can we reach out to Myeengun?
How to we get our message out in a riding?
All the groups will likely be sharing tools
Make the whole election completely accessible to our members
Let people know when events are happening, get them to be present
Jessica Bell is a cycling and TCC advocate that might be able to organize a debate in her riding around climate change
If there is already a debate scheduled, can we include a section about climate?
Collaboration and coordination with other 350 groups in Ontario
Our funds are still frozen, so we need to be aware of our financial capacity
Anthony likes the idea of working with other 350 groups
One thing we’re good at is getting people out – so if we can just get people to show up to vote, that would be a win
Need to be inviting people to events strategically so their time capacity isn’t being wasted
DO YOU WANT TRUMP IN CANADA?
We need to get out the youth vote and the racialized vote! People need to show up, that’s how we’re going to win this thing.
Are we able to speak about the difference between parties?
Should stick to critiquing policy
Can present all the information, and let people decide
Would we be able to say, “this is what’s at stake if you vote for this person?”
Would be more “what is at stake for the climate in this election?”
SUMMARY:
Interests: climate questions, debate events, 350 coordination
Dual strategy – strategic targeting in ridings, engaging youth
Next steps: incorporating more climate justice and indigenous issues into the drafted charter
Katie will reach out to other 350 groups and assess our NationBuilder followers in terms of ridings
Campaign meeting in next couple weeks
Sign up if you’re interested!
Fossil Free
Kevin has been meeting with Gerry Dunn in regards to Line 9
Kristof knows the NDP candidate in Davenport who says Line 9 is basically a done deal, but is willing to hear questions and concerns
Kevin has sent questions for Kristof to forward and we are waiting for a response
Does the province have the authority to conduct their own environmental assessment of the pipeline?
The Environmental Assessment Act was not really used during the Line 9 approval process
Provincial Secondary Land Use Program – Enbridge owns land under this program and has certain obligations (i.e. can pay for all damages themselves), land used to belong to Hydro One
$1.2 billion Kalamazoo Rive clean up was same company
Land was owned by Ontario, but Hydro one did approvals of private corporations who wanted to use it
Is there anyone who could be a voice in the province against this pipeline?
Could we get people involved in this issue again? Can this tie into our provincial campaign at all?
When you inform people about Line 9 and where it is, people are very shocked, but the NDP approved it, then the Chippewas of the Thames went to the Supreme Court arguing they weren’t consulted, but lost, so it’s a hard issue to see the next steps for
Issue of insurance and land use could be a new way into the opposition
In NEB reports, there was a complaint Enbridge couldn’t pay, but Kevin couldn’t find the contract to back things up
Had municipal representatives who were saying it’s out of their legal jurisdiction, but they don’t realize how much their voice can matter
Another route for Line 9 is something like Burnaby
Trying to hold up their city by-laws against Kinder Morgan at the Supreme Court
Hudson vs. Bratec (?) ask Kevin
If we can argue that Line 9 presents health and environmental risks to our city, we may be able to get dilbit banned from Toronto
If we could find a medical professional that would be willing to speak on the effects of oil, gas, and heavy dilbit
Could be the best approach to getting this thing stopped
Because we’re doing a provincial election, we’ve decided that we are going to see if there are any MPPs willing to be a voice on Line 9
Kevin will get in contact with John Ridell – he will tell us whether it’s worthwhile
Teck Frontier Mine
Biggest mine of the tar sands
Decided last campaign meeting that it wasn’t local enough for our capacity
Athabasca First Nation is fighting it to protect their land and environment – arguing that their consent is important
We have reached out to see if there is any way we can be in solidarity with groups out west
Canada350 is really working on this campaign
They have a new petition going because of NEB restructuring, etc. and they are trying to get Teck Frontier covered under these new stricter environmental assessments
Comments that environmentalists should do more around natural gas
Portland Energy Centre – natural gas electrical generating station partnership between TransCanada
Check in with Environmental Defence to see what they’ve done related to natural gas in the past
Measure based on carbon, but natural gas can release more methane
Bigger than just individual projects, contribute to discourse on fossil free future
If anyone is interested in helping with campaign planning or research, get in contact with Kevin
Does the LEAP manifesto cover this? We need a date for getting off fossil fuels
Has there been an economic analysis done of what happens with a tar-sands phase-out? If Canada loses all this income, how do we replace it?
GreenPrint for Greater Toronto
Pembina Institute, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Oil Change International, Broadbent Institute, Canadian Labour Congress
Kristof is reaching out to volunteers to see what campaign they want to be part of – create GoogleGroup to share ideas, documents, etc.
LeadNow is organizing rallies across the country in support of Kinder Morgan – Friday there is one at Carolyn Bennett’s office at 12:00pm
WaterDocs
Who is available to table?
Anthony and Dylan are a maybe – is Amelia Rose tabling?
Amelia Rose Khan
TORONTO350 GROUP STRUCTURE
MEETING MINUTES - June 19th
Chair: Amelia Rose
Minutes: Kalina
Attendance:
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Kyla (Board Member)
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Amelia Rose (President)
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Anthony (Volunteer Coordinator)
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Kalina (Communications Coordinator)
Meeting Summary: Out of our strategy sessions, we agreed that we wanted to change the structure of our group. We want regular members at the top of our organization with executive members at the bottom making sure we’re fulfilling our duties as an organization. This was seen as too hard a task with past team members but is something we still want to implement.
We have debated giving up our non-profit status for financial reasons, but last time this was brought up, the executive wanted to keep status because of an upcoming march.
When a new board was elected, they have noted that we need to change our structure because we are losing members and enthusiasm by making our meetings too bureaucratic. Our Treasurers have noted it is a lot of work to maintain our non-profit status when what we really want to be doing is creating change.
Executive, board, and regular members have agreed to have this meeting to redetermine our course and see better how to spend our energy. Too much time was tied up in administrative duties when people are looking to our organization to be able to act on social/climate issues.
We have had non-profit status for three years but began as just a group of people meeting.
About Non-Profit Status:
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We have applied for two grants that do not require non-profit status
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Non-profit groups can have an employee
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There are liability concerns that fall on the Board rather than the membership
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At one point we had two employees, so it was necessary
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Have to file with the CRA (without this status we just have to have a separate bank account for the organization and keep track of our own finances well)
Go-Around:
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Unofficial legal advice we’ve been given is to be incredibly transparent about our fundraising and finances, and that the main gain from non-profit status is the liability coverage
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Because a Board has liability insurance, it would protect our organization and members from any incoming lawsuits
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Anthony – has been excited about reforming the structure of the group! A lot of the values our group is aligned with have to do with horizontal distributions of power, so it seems counterintuitive to have a multi-tiered organization. Judging by our meeting attendance this evening (3 people) and the fact that there are a whole bunch of people who are very involved in what we’re doing right now, obviously we are missing the mark on getting people excited about our group and regular meetings. This points to advantages with abandoning the non-profit status of the organization.
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Kyla – agrees with Anthony, giving the membership some political change would be good. We should be a group like the other 350 groups across Canada that are just people coming together for a specific goal. We should focus on uniting for particular activities and events rather than getting caught up in administrative things. Thinks we should disband the non-profit status because we could save money and time with all the CRA details. We will need to see how to restructure the power in our group – what will this look like? Giving people more of a voice (i.e. op-ed submissions in the Toronto Star as Toronto350’s takes on…etc.). There will still need to be positions of leadership and oversight, but members need to be given more freedom and opportunity. Need to think about revamping the website and how we can connect with the other 350 groups! Makes sense that Toronto350 should be one of the strongest branches in the country so we should strive to open up our communication and solidarity with other groups.
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Anthony – need someone in a role to be constantly checking emails, will still need a Treasurer role. We can structure it so that we have roles, but those roles aren’t necessarily authoritative.
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Kalina – Agrees with everything being said, but just thinks we need to have a specific strategy on how to implement them. Roles, even though not authoritative, should have clear outlines so we`re not reinventing the wheel each time make a posting to see if anyone would be interested in being a voice or writer
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Kevin – is in favour of us continuing as a group without Campaign Leads or executive because we have been able to accomplish things on a shorter timeline. Facilitators and back-up facilitators should be chosen at each meeting and should not be the same each time. This will allow members a new opportunity to learn and see how the room reads. He does not want to return to any top-down structure because it does not keep members motivated or interested. Going around the room when making larger decisions is more inclusionary and democratic. People come to our group wanting to do something about the everyday problems they are experiencing so we need to let them do that.
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We will have to figure out our central decision-making structure – need to examine the four pillars of our group and determine where exactly our values lie
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Kyla – having a 350 ambassador would be helpful – any new faces should be greeted warmly and feel included immediately (this person/people should be designated at each event)
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Amelia Rose – agrees with what’s being said and is fine with losing non-profit status. We should change the structure, and this status has been rather cumbersome without a lot of benefits. Regarding the executive roles, they feel we do need organizers to keep things floating along. What they’ve learned from 350 local groups in the US is that they have two paid staff (one that does what’s needed, the other focusses on volunteer coordination). There needs to be some direction and connection or else it will be confusing and/or people might not have the same resources. They believe most roles can just be dissolved into the group, but a few that we need to maintain.
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Kalina – need to have a log of all our resources so people can reference them
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July 1 – KALINA NEEDS TO CHANGE TORONTO350 STATUS ON FACEBOOK
Unanimous vote: Toronto350.org will be withdrawing its status as a Non-for-Profit Organization in 2018.
Additional Thoughts:
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The LeadNow Day of Action came out of a call that was quickly organized by Brian and Amelia Rose with 350 Canada and other members
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Decision-making strategy right now is ad-hoc, it’s more democratic than our top-down approach
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Need to be very clear in our communication
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Need to examine the ways we gain and retain members – people come because they want to do environmental work, not be part of an environmental organization
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The divestment team at UofT was very enthusiastic because it was a very clear goal that people could get involved with
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OTPP campaign has been going on for several years, but because people can’t see it, they don’t get involved (we have 3-4 people consistently working on this one)
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When the group is excited and focussed on a certain project, and then that disappears, what does our decision-making process look like?
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When Amelia Rose organized the LeadNow Day of Action, people were asking who organized the event – Kinder Morgan opposition is not connected to one group
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Depending on what decision is being made, it might make sense to have deadlines for decisions (i.e. send out emails with information to allow people to provide feedback with a 2-3-day deadline for responses)
Next Steps:
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Create documents for resources (i.e. media contacts, event spaces, etc.)
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By September 1 we want to have an outline available
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After Kinder Morgan things die down (IF they do) we can gauge interest
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Focus on building community relationships rather than building our organization
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We will check in with each other on Wednesday, August 1 to assess our situation
Amelia Rose Khan
- Kalina - hung out with boyfriend
- Phil - went to Friend’s House regarding the cutting of Toronto’s councilors
- Colleen - got in touch with her city councilor (says to be prepared for a phone call if you send an email!
- Hary - at the ClimateFast meeting as well, worked on talking points
- Monica - went to an event about renewables and solar
- Kevin - is no fun
- Frank - did a submission against the Arctic Pilot Project in the 1990s, the project died because the price of natural gas collapsed
- Amelia Rose - what a week of Toronto announcements!
- Colleen was talking to Toronto MP who was giving Federal talking points about
KM at a town hall and residents were very intensely questioning the motives
- Are we continuing to reach out with Kinder Morgan materials?
- Do we have the outreach calendar with local enviro/climate events?
- Kalina – our message tends to be aggressive. Was listening to a podcast with energy experts who brought on Republicans who were supportive of climate action and they spoke about feeling shamed by “the left”
- Economic argument of climate change is approachable
- Need to be having productive conversations with people, but we need to stick to the scientific truths
- People are scared to have their minds changed
- Next steps: once a month beer meeting where we can chat climate
- Next steps: outreach calendar with environmental days
- Are we continuing this messaging?
- Sean – as Canadians, we need to be looking at our greatest contribution to the climate crisis
- Are we tying this into our Sept 8th event?
- Sean – spoke to two MPs who were very uninformed and don’t know how to vote outside what they’re told
- We only have so many people at hand, so we need to choose where we spend capacity
- We (climate supporters) are not alone
- Other countries have other means to go renewable
- Next Steps: having a resource page/sheet for ways to take action
- Next Steps: seeing who is interested/able to attend outreach in-person
- Pairing the economy and the climate, will lead in to municipal elections, but not be focused on them
- Want to do something educational, interactive and fun that can be accessible for children as well
- Monica: contact people willing to talk about renewable energy contracts and cancellations
- Sean: online media/videos about renewable energy to show at event (astronomy, etc.)
- Kalina – will contact Lyle and Bob (Solcan) to see if we could do a solar panel
building workshop
- Group started in 2012 after the Radiohead concert
- 350.org put out a call for local groups, and there was a group that had done outreach in Toronto that started one here
- Wrote a 200+ page brief about why they wanted UofT to divest
- Two successful things: brief was used in other divestment campaigns around the world, and the committee that the President set up was called the “divestment principles” in New York
- Had people then entering roles such as volunteering, communications, etc.
- People wanted things on their resume, and this eventually became the executive branch of Toronto350.org
- Held several rallies and marches in Toronto
- “Members” were originally people who had attended two meetings and had a voting role within the organization
- Don’t want people to pay to be members
- Became a non-profit to look more professional and open doors for other opportunities
- Have had employees in the past (i.e. website design, president)
- We dissolved our non-profit status last month and got rid of our board
- The numbers on our executive committee often fluctuate, yet our regular members seem to stay consistent (those who stay in contact other than meetings)
- Also had collaborations with different groups and people (LEAP Toronto has been the most recently)
- Had two screenings of “Do the Math” where Elizabeth May came and spoke
- Earlier this year we had a lot of executive meetings with little attendance and discussed whether we need this branch or if it would be better for us to divide the roles amongst members
- Our goal should be to be a concentrated source of solid information on climate change and the transition to a renewable economy – we aren’t large enough to create a movement on our own, we need to grow our members
- Needs to be enough people at each meeting that are up to speed so we don’t
lose our momentum at or between meetings
• We have struggled with long-term campaigns
- Perhaps we should close some meetings to ensure that there is some dedicated time to productivity
- Should we get rid of the executive committee?
- Perhaps we should close our meetings to non-members and have one open meeting or so per month where people can get involved
- The more creative and fun our ideas are, the more members we’ll retain
- Y – 7
- N – 0
- A – 2
- How will the more logistical sides of the group run?
- Who is now in charge of our finances?