Trillium Report
It is easily understandable that OCA members would be disappointed with the Trillium report.
A few comments may suffice:
1) The Trillium Foundation refused to release any information except the legal agreement that was signed between the OCA and the Trillium Fund. In particular, Trillium refused to release the reports submitted by Thorvardson to the fund.
2) Thorvardson has always maintained that he gave all pertinent documentation to Chris Mallon. Mallon has always maintained that Thorvardson gave him none or very little documentation regarding the Trillium fund.
3) At the 2009 OCA AGM, the meeting voted to direct the committee from ever contacting the Trillium Fund again.
4) Regarding the Canada Closed, most participants from this championship were contacted but many could not remember the details of payment. As far as could be determined, Thorvardson did not have or was unwilling to release financial records for the Closed.
5) While I, Eric Van Dusen, had grave concerns over Thorvardson's handling of the Trillium grant and the Canada Closed, much of the EOCA executive including Garland Best and Aris Marghetis were much angrier than myself.
6) The underlying purpose of the exercise was not to assign blame, mete out punishment or retrieve the lost money, but to identify weaknesses in the OCA governance structures and make recommendations to stengthen those governance structures. Since the OCA is made up of four leagues, my only suggestion was to require a signature from treasurer's of three of the four chess leagues. It was the only way I could see that no one person or league dominate the executive structure. That particular suggestion was dismissed as too bureaucratic or cumbersome at the 2009 OCA AGM.
In closing, it is my opinion that the trail was way too cold in order to gather the kind of evidence that is required for a legal proceeding. The committee was simply unable to gather the legal documents from Thorvardson or the Trillium Fund.
The president, Chris Mallon showed little interest and gave little or no support in facilitating the committee's investigation. The OCA AGM decided that no further contact with the Trillium Fund would be permitted and had no interest in strengthening governance structures because they felt that such restructuring would be too bureaucratic.
That was the democratic will of the attendees of the OCA AGM. While I may disagree with the decision of the assembly, I am required to respect it and carry out its will to the best of my abilities. After the AGM, it was my feeling that in practical terms, the investigation committee was not in the position to make significant progress.
Hence, I submitted my findings to Michael von Kietz. He wrote the first draft of the report, which was then reviewed by Egis and myself. This revised version was then presumably was sent to the OCA Executive.
I commend all the committee members for their hard work. All of us tried our best. However, I do feel that the committee did come up short.
Eric Van Dusen
Last edited by Eric Van Dusen; 12-22-2009 at 02:05 AM.
Eric Van Dusen
CFC Past-President 2010-2011