2021 Extraordinary General Meeting

Per the request made of the Board during the AGM on May 1, BCCPAC had scheduled an Extraordinary General Meeting for Wed July 7 at 6pm. The purpose of this Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) is only to review the remaining 8 Ordinary Resolutions submitted prior to the AGM. The motion for the EGM was clear: “WHEREAS there was insufficient time to debate and vote on Member Resolutions at the 2021 AGM AND in accordance with section 3.5 of the BCCPAC Bylaws, membership is requesting that the Board call an extraordinary general meeting so that these remaining Resolutions may be addressed.”

The EGM is an event for Regular Members in good standing - that means only those DPACs and PACs who have paid the annual fee by Dec 31/20. In addition to posting information and registration forms on our website and repeatedly posting to both Facebook and Twitter starting June 4, we also emailed current voting members directly (3x) in June, noted in the June Newsletter and in the AGM Minutes.

Thank you to the members who registered and to those who attended (not all who registered attended). At 6pm we had only 58 voting members present of a possible 70 registered.

Our Bylaws require that we must have specific quorum to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting and to vote during the EGM so we can formally conduct the special business. Section 4.2 of our Bylaws also require that “No business, other than the election of a chairperson and the adjournment or termination of the meeting, shall be conducted at a general meeting at a time when a quorum is not present AND if within 30 minutes from the time appointed for a general meeting a quorum is not present, the meeting, if convened on the requisition of members, shall be terminated.”

Unfortunately, BCCPAC did not receive sufficient registrations and proxies to move forward with the planned EGM meeting. Our deadline for registrations was June 25 as was communicated; we accepted all late registration proxy forms up to 12nn on Tues July 6th.

The eight resolutions may be brought forward by their proposers early in 2022 for discussion at the AGM in 2022.

Thank you to those who raised good questions during the brief time the meeting was active last evening. As was mentioned, the current Bylaws are not 100% clear and simple in many sections.

We are seeking guidance from our parliamentarian to improve the Bylaws for the benefit of our members. Our C&B Committee will be leading that work with the Board to bring forward clear changes as Special Resolutions for the 2022 AGM.

Interested in being a part of that Committee? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. And we will be surveying members during that process as these would be significant Bylaw changes which require members input before they are proposed.

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One of the most fundamental principles of parliamentary procedure is one person - one vote. Any variation of this must be clearly articulated in an organization’s Bylaws. While BCCPAC Bylaws permit proxy voting, it does not set out the ability for one individual to have more than one proxy vote at any one time. This means proxies are 1:1 and multiple proxies are not permitted.

Per Section 3.9 of our Bylaws, each Regular Member shall appoint one official delegate to represent it and cast its vote at any annual general or extraordinary meeting of the Society.

Per Section 4.10 of our Bylaws, “A proxy may be received from each Regular Member in good standing provided that the proxy is in writing and signed by a minimum of two members of the Regular Member’s executive, and the proxy vote is cast by an official delegate of the Regular Member”. Proxy Vote forms must be received and properly certified by the BCCPAC office prior to the start of the EGM. Proxies may only be exercised by the person to whom they have been designated by the Regular Member in good standing. Proxy cannot be transferred to another person or transferred to another meeting. Proxies from the AGM cannot be used for the EGM.

All Regular Members in good standing who paid their membership dues by December 31, 2020 are entitled to attend, VOTE AND SPEAK at the EGM. These members must submit their completed 2021 EGM Registration and Proxy Vote Form (signed by two members of that member’s PAC or DPAC executive) by email by 11:59 pm on June 25/21 to ensure attendance and in order for ONE (1) official delegate to exercise voting rights on their behalf during the EGM.

Per Section 2.1 of our Bylaws, “Regular members are “the members of the Society are Parent Advisory Councils, District Parent Advisory Councils and individuals who, in accordance with these Bylaws, become members and have not ceased to be members”. Per Section 2.10 of the Bylaws, “All members are in good standing except a member who has failed to pay any undisputed subscription or debt due and owing by that member to the Society and the member is not in good standing so long as the debt remains unpaid”.

Per Section 4.9(a) of our Bylaws, “A Regular Member in good standing as at December 31 of the membership year is entitled to one vote, to be cast in person by the official delegate designated for this purpose by the Regular Member.” Our membership year is September 1-August 31 and per Section 2.6(d) of our Bylaws, “A member shall cease to be a member of the Society by failing to pay any undisputed subscriptions or debt due to the society (including any net membership fees) by December 31.

In the School Act, parent is defined: “means, in respect of a student or of a child registered under section 13, (a) a parent or other person who has guardianship or custody of the student or child, other than a parent or person who, under an agreement or order made under the Family Law Act that allocates parental responsibilities, does not have parental responsibilities in relation to the student's or child's education, or (b) a person who usually has the care and control of the student or child.”