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Thread: 4. Proposal to Enlarge the Executive

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    Default 4. Proposal to Enlarge the Executive

    The president wishes to propose to enlarge the Executive

    Please note that Voting on this motion will be in a special VOTING BOOTH AREA

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    My proposal is that we should add Patricia Gamliel of Montreal, a very high profile lawyer with a national profile to the CFC board of directors. Patricia is an advocate for human rights, for workers and for refugees. She has taken on the federal government and won in court. She has contacts in government and in business and would provide us with a fluently bilingual voice on the board of directors. She has the ability to simplify the law with examples so that even a CFC president can clearly understand it. The vote will be yes or no. If you vote yes, she will join the board and the board will expand to eight members.


    Patricia Gamliel has been a member of the Social Commission since 2018. What does the Social Commission do? Let us look at the FIDE site which writes:

    MISSION

    The FIDE Social Commission ‘‘SOC’’ is dedicated to using chess as a tool for social development. SOC advocates for the use of chess as a tool for social change through action as:

    • An equalizer for gender, social and economic development.
    • For life skills, ethics, good character development and empowerment.
    • A tool to reach out to children-at-risk including those in impoverished communities, refugee camps and those in prisons.
    • To work with organizations that aim to combat problems connected to memory loss and aging.

    Additionally, SOC will support programs that have a positive impact on many lives. Using chess as a platform to empower teachers in communities, as well as providing support that will help children to develop life skills and promote positive social development. The key is to prepare programs, training and opportunities that empower the people that are using chess as a tool for social development within their bases, whether they are teachers, instructors, and/or social workers.
    Providing access to FIDE seminars is a key component to empowering chess promoters and players so they acquire expertise to build chess in their countries. SOC seeks to strengthen the social fabric of communities for encounter through chess that can strengthen the dialogue between generations.
    Chess is an amazing game and tool with the power to transform lives!!!
    Our vision: Enabling the less privileged in society to realise their full potential in life.
    Our Mission: To inspire and transform lives by empowering others.
    Our Values: Compassion, Selfless service, Integrity, Accountability and Equal opportunities for all.
    SOC will be cooperating with FIDE member federations in order to achieve its goals.


    PROJECTS

    Initial projects were put forward as follows:
    Chess in prisons and chess in Shelters.
    SOC will also work with projects in other areas. Another main objective is to preserve the institution of the family. The children will be given the opportunity to involve themselves in an activity which will be beneficial to both themselves as well as their community, keeping them away from electronic games, computers, facebook and other such modern brain draining activities. Chess is a great ‘exit’ from all this. Studies that have been carried out in many countries have shown that the systematic study of chess leads to personal improvement and increase in achieving the academic as well as educational targets of the children.
    Last edited by Vladimir Drkulec; 02-21-2021 at 10:21 AM.

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    On Saturday, February 06, the CFC held an information session on FIDE and its activities worldwide. Each of us present there learned several important new things. For me, of special interest was the fact that the FIDE Council (formerly called the Presidential Board) had quarterly meetings in 2018-2020 and regularly published its decisions which were important to the national federations like the CFC. This information never trickled down to us and the CFC Exec was never informed of the FIDE Council decisions.

    I started digging around for these decision lists and found a lot of information that is directly relevant to the CFC. For example, as early as the first quarter of 2019 (!), the FIDE Presidential Board took the following decision:

    Q1PB-2019/31 "To approve the inclusion in the FIDE Handbook "A quota of 25% of women shall be reserved for the following positions: arbiters in the official FIDE events, principals in the official FIDE events, appointed FIDE officials, FIDE commission members".

    https://old.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/11492-list-of-q1-2019-presidential-board-decisions.html


    The national federations were expected to follow suit.



    This matches very closely the national guidelines communicated to me by the Canadian Olympic Committee at the recent seminar which I have reported on on the English chat which in turn are based on the International Olympic Committee guidelines. Had we been informed and aware of this 2019 FIDE decision, we would have already taken steps which would have encouraged more women to run as directors of the CFC Board.



    Better late than never... Let’s do the right thing and bring the CFC into the 21st Century.

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    If the voting members approve Patricia Gamliel to be part of the board then that is a resolution to add someone to the board.

    The board has the ability to add two people to the board, in addition to those elected at the AGM or any meeting of the voting members.

    Specifically a number of directors up to one third the directors elected at the AGM can be elected by the board of directors. The procedure is outlined in the NFP act section dealing with the appointment of directors. Such directors would serve until the next AGM.

    The position of director is presumed to be a working position, one where the directors are expected to be working to solve problems and in some cases finding sources of revenue for the corporation that is the CFC. The directors and officers are not there to add to the duties of the overworked pieces like the CFC president.

    It is not seemly for anyone to be arguing on some technical grounds - which seem to me to be quite mistaken - for a method to exclude a woman from the board contrary to the direction from our government, FIDE and the Canadian Olympic Committee on the need to include more women in positions of authority.

    The CFC has been accused of being a stuffy old boys club. Let us not prove these assertions correct.

    We could double our numbers by simply bringing more women into our ranks. This should start with our leadership.

    Christina Tao has been a godsend as Youth Coordinator. Patricia Gamliel will be a godsend as well.

    These are times where we should be working to remove any glass ceilings and not seeking to reinforce the ones that exist.

    If a man of Patricia Gamliel's stature and presence was willing to serve on the CFC board of directors I would be in breach of my fiduciary duty to not present such a person to the voting members for election to the board. This does not change because she is a woman.

    I must bring this person to the attention of the voting members when there is such an opportunity. Look at her biography. Do a duckduckgo or google search on her name. Read the article on women in law. Our pawn is on the seventh rank and there is no reason not to add another queen to our arsenal of pieces on the board.
    Last edited by Vladimir Drkulec; 02-21-2021 at 01:20 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Patricia Gamliel View Post
    Good evening,
    This is my first post and might not be my last. However, please accept that when I do post it might not be to answer posts of others.*
    This being said, I believe that as a non-profit org. the CFC is entitled to take advantage of existing government programs including but not limited to loans partially forgivable, the hiring of youth within Canada Summer Jobs programs paid by the government, etc...
    Moreover, CFC's revenues can be increased with various groups membership such as, for example, corporate membership and educational institution membership.*Memberships may also allow for tax-deductible donations to the CFC by making Canadian chess activities eligible for such consideration.
    This can be accomplished through various paths along which general outreach initiatives to Canadian and multinational corporations. Sponsoring chess shall become a win-win proposition.*As well, the CFC visibility may be increased through the FIDE Social Commission as Chess is a universal language and a tool to help low-income families, newcomers to Canada, refugees, and prison inmates. Grants from corresponding government departments may be available.
    Finally, and some of you may have seen it coming, I will help the CFC to achieve gender equality. I will strongly support Canadian girls and women both in chess competitions and in chess governance.

    Thank you for inviting me to apply.

    Sincerely,
    This was Patricia's first post to the forum.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Vladimir Drkulec View Post
    If the voting members approve Patricia Gamliel to be part of the board then that is a resolution to add someone to the board.

    The board has the ability to add two people to the board, in addition to those elected at the AGM or any meeting of the voting members.

    Specifically a number of directors up to one third the directors elected at the AGM can be elected by the board of directors. The procedure is outlined in the NFP act section dealing with the appointment of directors. Such directors would serve until the next AGM.



    Is it your ruling as a Chair for my Point of Interest?


    Then, I move a motion to appeal.


    Reasoning:

    The procedure shall be first to increase the number. Call for nominations. Discuss. Vote.

    As the matter is before the Voting Members, the board of directors "right" to appoint is not valid here. The board of directors don't elect anyone. They appoint. Nobody from directors has called the board of directors' meeting to appoint anyone as well.

    (If the motion need the seconder, someone definitely will support it)
    .*-1

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    Quote Originally Posted by Egidijus Zeromskis View Post

    Is it your ruling as a Chair for my Point of Interest?


    Then, I move a motion to appeal.


    Reasoning:

    The procedure shall be first to increase the number. Call for nominations. Discuss. Vote.

    As the matter is before the Voting Members, the board of directors "right" to appoint is not valid here. The board of directors don't elect anyone. They appoint. Nobody from directors has called the board of directors' meeting to appoint anyone as well.

    (If the motion need the seconder, someone definitely will support it)
    I second the motion to appeal.

    Quote Originally Posted by Vladimir Drkulec View Post
    If a man of Patricia Gamliel's stature and presence was willing to serve on the CFC board of directors I would be in breach of my fiduciary duty to not present such a person to the voting members for election to the board. This does not change because she is a woman.
    You are being more presumptuous than usual this morning, telling everyone why they are opposed and then attacking that reason. The problem is, you are rarely correct in your presumptions. This motion is flawed, the process is flawed, and I would vote against it no matter who had been selected.
    Christopher Mallon
    FIDE Arbiter

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    I would also like to add to the point of order:

    The Agenda, which was sent out as part of the notice of meeting, lists Patricia Gamliel as a candidate for the position of Director at Large. Which I believe is the position already occupied by Mark Dutton. It makes no mention of a motion to increase the size of the Executive. So we saw no motion in advance, and we still haven't seen a motion, just a rambling description by Vlad.

    I also note the notice of meeting was NOT within the legally required timeline (as it was sent out 19.5 days before the meeting started when the required amount in our bylaws is 21 days, potentially making this entire meeting illegal). This is in the LEGAL paperwork filed with the Government of Canada, which Vlad is always using to try to scare us if we break the NFP rules...


    You know, Vlad, an easier way to get a woman on the Exec would be for you to resign, opening up a space and the Exec could just appoint someone...
    Christopher Mallon
    FIDE Arbiter

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    That's going rather far and there's no question we're allowed more than one DAL (director at large). Vlad says we're allowed up to a board of 10 which I do not see in the Act and have requested him to point out the section.

    That said, I do feel strongly that the present 7 director format has well served the CFC for a very long time definitely predating any current member of the board.

    Having also served for years on the board of the BC Chess Federation, my view is that in general having too many MAL's (members at large) i.e. directors without a specific portfolio does tend to clog decision-making. At present while the BC constitution has not been changed the ONLY provincial members at large are those CFC Voting Members from British Columbia who do not hold another position (another BC constitutional requirement) and I think that's a very reasonable compromise since a CFC Governor / VM has demonstrated that he/she has a strong commitment to the success of both the provincial and national federations.

    The current Director at Large position is the descendent of the old Past President position which was made illegal in the new NFP act since 'ex officio' positions (e.g. positions held by virtue of holding another position) were explicitly disallowed in the 2014 "New" NFP Act.

    At this point I'm undecided on Mrs. G but will see how this discussion goes.

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