Calgary Area Human Rights Committee – March 9, 2022
March 15, 2022
Attendees:
Lindsey Sparks-PSAC Staff
Kathy Ajram-Chair UTE (30022)
Lisette Serrano – UVAE (30032)
Ade Fayemiwo- AGR (30048)
Mayfred Gyamfi- Secretary UTE (30022)
Guests:
Tim Hubick-PSAC Prairie Region Representative for individuals with disabilities
Steve Sukhbir- PSAC Prairie Region Representative LGBTQ2S+
- Land acknowledgement
- Call to order @ 18:10 upon meeting quorum
- Review and adoption of agenda
- Unanimously agreed
- Approval of previous meeting minutes
Unanimously agreed
5. Annual Report from Chair: The past year has been an extraordinary one for the committee, membership, our families, friends and for the global world. What we thought was going to be a few months of an international crisis of Covid-19 turned into two years of up upheaval for most of us, not just in our social lives but at home and at work. As more and more of us continue to find ourselves in isolation at home and dealing with the impact of this horrific virus, our committees continues to work on the importance of human rights and attempted to engage our membership in areas that we could. In 2021 the committee met four times and actively worked on finding meaningful ways to engage our membership virtually. We attempted to find new ways of doing things, brainstorm, innovated, we continued to provide our members with various means of communication that were different to us; such as electronic information leaflets, and virtual postcards. We sent welcoming and promotional invitations to invite others within our region to attend our human rights committee meetings. I felt that this is a year where the Prairies completely demonstrated true solidarity among and across the region. All the various committees held multiple meetings throughout the year with the office of the REVP along with specific regional committees to discuss common issues, practices, procedures and ideas. As a result of these meetings we invited one another to our various event, we learned different ways of doing things from each other, we heard one another’s successes and challenges and we supported each other along the way. Throughout the pandemic the equity seeking groups that the human rights committee represent saw many challenges and some well overdue victories.
Although we did not have the ability to go out publicly we advocated through the human rights committee, we discussed various topics involving our equity seeking groups and we tried to find ways to bring the issues to light within our regular meetings. Since there is still a lot more work to be done, the human right committee will continue to do what we do best which is to advocate, discuss, educate and to fight for our equity seeking population both in the workplace and throughout the community. It has been a true privilege to be the chair of this committee for two years and I thank everyone who has participated and supported the committee in engaging and educating our members, I am very proud of what the committee has become and where it will go in the future now that restrictions are being lifted. Although it has been a difficult year it has been a good one and I thank each and every one of you for being here and taking part.
6. Annual Report from treasurer (provided by Kathy in the absence of James Huang): The annual financial report is almost ready to be submitted for Tim Hubick’s review. The balance on the account as of December 31, 2021, was 226.16, however that account balance did not take into consideration some outstanding expenses that we had to reimburse to our members dating back to 2019. In November 2021, after resolving our banking issues, two cheques were issued, one in the amount of $7.35 to compensate for a member’s parking incurred in May 2019 and $25.00 paid to a former HRC executive for reimbursement for some art work used in an event we coined as Signs of Solidarity. Both cheques were cashed and balance as of January 31,2022 is 199.21.
7. Annual Report from secretary: Over the last year we have had a lot of meaningful conversations, although it was a difficult year in the area of membership engagement due to the pandemic we were able to collaborate to still ensure we involved our membership. During the year, we demonstrated, received and provided great support to our counterparts in the prairie region, allowing us to learn from one another and share ideas to move the causes of the various equity seeking groups forward. There is still quite a bit of work to be done but I am hopeful that this committee is up to the challenge and well able to do the needful for those we represent, we have demonstrated that not even a pandemic can slows us down and that with the combination of our unique talents we can achieve much more. It has been an absolute pleasure to serve as the secretary of this committee.
8. Old committee business: For the month of February, and to commemorate African Heritage Month, we created some virtual postcards that highlighted a few strong matriarchs from our very own Prairies. The postcards were distrbuted through the RO distribution list and we also included some links to family friendly YouTube videos.
9. New business-
2022 budget/plan: The committee agreed and voted on the following unanimously for 2022 plans:
Video to PSAC Prairie website: $750
The cost in truly unknown to us as we do not know what work will be required the edit and compile video. The intent of this is to have a video on the website that explains what each committee does, who is welcome to attend, and how to register, as we know a huge population of our members do not receive the invites to meetings but peruse the PSAC Prairies website. We hope this will attract greater counts and voices at meetings.
This expense, however large or small, could be shared between committees.
Bear Clan Patrol: $200
Committee intends on making new donation of items that are needed for vulnerable populations. We plan to attend a patrol at least one evening with the Bear Clan and would like to purchase (and solicit locals for contributions) items such as: soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, socks, shampoo, and conditioner. We were also hoping for PSAC water bottles. Patrol likely to take place in June if possible but may moved to September, dependant on current situation.
Pride: $1500
Cost of trailer rental: $750 (rental to cover period to decorate)
Sponsorship costs: (Not posted)
Decorations:
Calgary Pride has not yet offered details on what is to occur this year, however we would like to be prepared if we are able to participate. We would also like to request PSAC swag such as pride flags, tattoos, and lollipops if available.
10. Annual Reporting package: It is due March 15, 2022 and it has been completed and finalized and it will be sent to Tim Hubick shortly. Account balance as of Dec 31, 2021 was 226.16, after paying out reimbursements of $32.35. The actual year end account balance was $201.16
11. Next meeting: Next meeting tentatively set for May 18, 2022