Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors

Canadian Association of Journalists

Sunday June 29, 2003

Via Teleconference

 

Present: Paul Schneidereit  Trudi Beutel (chair)

              Karen Pauls          Robert Cribb

              Charles Bury         Saleem Khan

              John Dickins

 

Regrets:  Erica Johnson       Jennifer Fowler

              Michelle MacAfee      Amanda Pfeffer

 

 

Meeting convened Monday, June 29, 2003, 7 p.m. EST

 

1. Agenda Approval

 

Additions/Changes to Agenda

Discussion of the Don McGillivray lecture series added to new business passing added to new business. Discussion of potential legal battle over Ontario court document access fees added to new business.

 

Modified agenda approved.  Carried..

 

2. Approval of Past Minutes/Task List

 

Approval of Past Minutes

The January 2003 minutes were not ready for approval but will be presented at the September board meeting.  They have already been circulated though.

 

Task List Review

J. Dickins outlined incomplete task list items.

 

3. Election of Executive Positions – C. Bury

 

C. Bury listed current board members. R. Cribb is in the Past President position. The National Directors are Michelle MacAfee, Karen Pauls, Erica Johnson and Jennifer Fowler. One of our two Atlantic director positions is filled, by Paul Schneidereit. Amanda Pfeffer and Charles Bury represent Quebec. The National Capital chapter has not notified the CAJ of who their director would be. Toronto is represented by Saleem Khan. The regions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta/NWT are unrepresented. BC/Yukon is represented by Trudi Beutel, for the Vancouver chapter. C. Bury explained the differences between Chapter and Regional representation.

 

President

R. Cribb nominated P. Schneidereit, T. Beutel seconded. P. Schneidereit accepted the nomination.

No other nominations were brought forward. P. Schneidereit was acclaimed.

 

Chair

R. Cribb nominated C. Bury, P. Schneidereit seconded.

K. Pauls nominated S. Khan, Trudi Beutel seconded.

R. Cribb nominated T. Beutel, T. Beutel withdrew.

S. Khan accepted the nomination, C. Bury withdrew. S. Khan was acclaimed.

 

Vice-President

C. Bury reminded the board that they could choose to have one or two VPs. Last year there were two.

R. Cribb suggested we have twoVPs,  board agreed.

K. Pauls nominated T. Beutel, S. Khan seconded.

R. Cribb nominated M. MacAfee, T. Beutel seconded.

R. Cribb nominated K. Pauls, S. Khan seconded.

T. Beutel, M. MacAfee accepted their nominations. K. Pauls withdrew.

M. MacAfee and T. Beutel were acclaimed.

 

Treasurer

S. Khan nominated A. Pfeffer, P. Schneidereit seconded.

A. Pfeffer accepted the nomination. A. Pfeffer was acclaimed.

 

Vice-Chair

K. Pauls nominated C. Bury, T. Beutel seconded.

C. Bury accepted the nomination. C. Bury was acclaimed.

 

4. President’s Report – R. Cribb

 

R. Cribb has approached Stephen Ward, of UBC, about drafting a statement of principles for undercover reporting. Other people have been approached to be on the committee, including Leslie Peck from CBC Marketplace, and Julian Sher. C. Bury noted that it could be highly controversial.

 

C. Bury moved to give R. Cribb authorization to go forward with the plan, S. Khan seconded. Motion carried.

 

K. Pauls moved to accept the report, C. Bury seconded.  Motion carried.

 

5. Executive Director’s Report – J. Dickins

 

The summer conference is far from being wrapped up, but the preliminary numbers forecast a $15-20,000 surplus. This is definitely a victory since we had to deal with SARS and a competing conference running the same week. J. Fowler and E. Paul did a great job, and deserve our thanks.

 

A location for next year has not been determined, but should be established pretty soon. David Townsend and Boni Fox Gray, our fundraisers, have recommended we keep the conference in Toronto to foster sponsorship relationships.

 

The CAJ/IRE conference in Montreal is on track.

 

David Townsend, who fundraised for the National Conference through Firefox, has done an outstanding job. The contract has lapsed, and so we’re technically without a fundraiser. David has expressed interest in staying on contract with the CAJ, a move that is definitely in our best interests.

 

T. Beutel asked if it needed to be dealt with immediately.  J. Dickins responded that it did. T. Beutel  asked to add an executive conference call to the task list to discuss the fundraising agreement.  After more discussion it was decided that J. Dickins and President would put a draft proposal together and vet it by the executive.

 

The CAJ/CIDA fellowship is on. After a “grilling” the day before the National Conference, CIDA was pleased with how it went. They were especially happy about the CIDA breakfast and presentations that let the winners talk about their stories. We’ve been approved again for this year. CIDA has said that next year we will be able to “look beyond Africa.”

 

J. Dickins described a project in the office, involving going through past minutes to organize resolutions numerically and place into one “resolutions” book.

 

A hotel at Niagara on the Lake is being looked at for the CAJ/IRE 2004 Conference.

 

J. Dickins and Hal Doran are looking at a new online registration system for conferences and membership. It could be used for chapter events as well.

 

R. Cribb moved to accept the report, P. Schneidereit seconded. Motion carried.

 

R. Cribb asked if David Townsend had started on fundraising for Montreal and if he is bilingual. J. Dickins responded that he will be working on Montreal, and is bilingual. J. Dickins noted that Townsend is ready to start working on packages, as long as he knows the board is ready to negotiate. R. Cribb also noted that Montreal and Saskatoon are both difficult to fundraise for.

 

K. Pauls suggested that the numbers from the previous and  proposed contract should be sent around to the board, so that the board will know where to start. R. Cribb suggested J. Dickins draft a contract that he thinks Townsend will accept. J. Dickins respond that he had already started, and that the CAJ will get a better deal than it had with Firefox.

 

Added to task list: J. Dickins to report to the board tomorrow with current contract numbers and proposal.

 

Hong Kong Fellowship

Because of the SARS situation, John Tam of the HKETO agreed to delay the fellowship. Now that the advisory has been lifted, he would like to run it in the fall.

 

6. Conferences

 

Toronto 2003 Report – J. Fowler

It wasn’t clear whether J. Fowler would be able to present the report. Since some board members hadn’t had a chance to read it, the board decided to discuss the key points and table a full review of the report until the fall board meeting.

 

NWS Saskatoon – J. Dickins

J. Dickins noted that there isn’t much new to report. We have a report from E. Shein sent by email. It outlines the speakers that are lined up, and who is on the conference committee. K. Pauls suggested we invite a committee member to the fall board meeting. J. Dickins said the committee seems to be going in the right direction.

 

Location for 2004 National Conference – J. Dickins

B. Fox and D. Townsend have suggested the conference be held in Toronto for the foreseeable future. R. Cribb spoke to a Kerry Diotte from Edmonton and a couple of other people about Edmonton, and they said “no”, they didn’t have enough people. R. Cribb suggested board members take on some of the organizing. If conferences are held in Toronto, it raises the question of “who’s gonna do it” because the previous committee is worn out. T. Beutel recalled that last year this suggestion came up. She noted that it would need to be “a board undertaking.”

 

P. Schneidereit asked how many people were responsible for organizing Toronto. R. Cribb replied it was mainly 2-3 over a few months. P. Schneidereit asked why it was so few.  R. Cribb recalled that about 30 people agreed to help, but one by one they dropped out.

 

P. Schneidereit asked C. Bury how hard it would be for the board to help from afar. C. Bury suggested that people that were just a smaller part of the last conference would get on board this next year. K. Pauls suggested a centralized board committee to book speakers, so that names wouldn’t get lost between years. P. Schneidereit suggested it be tacked on to the conference committee.

 

P. Schneidereit asked if there were any more potential places. R. Cribb said Edmonton was still viable. P. Schneidereit asked how many people would be able to help in Edmonton. R. Cribb said there were five on the board, but we don’t know “the real number.” R. Cribb suggested six dedicated people would be the ideal number.

 

R. Cribb suggested Winnipeg as another potential target.

 

Added to task list: P. Schneidereit to contact Edmonton to determine whether they’d be willing to take on the conference with board assistance, and decide where the conference should be. P. Schneidereit suggested the conference committee should be helping out more than in the future.

 

IRE Workshop – R. Cribb

R. Cribb reported that IRE is right on track. It is taking place on October 4^th in Montreal.  Will be borrowing from the template of last year: two sessions running at once, one Canadian and one American. The speakers, however, will all be different. IRE will be responsible for the Americans, and the CAJ will be responsible for the Canadians. Last year it was a board-run conference. Julian Sher doesn’t seem interested, Robert Frank might be. M. MacAfee would be ideal. Noted A. Pfeffer also lives in Montreal.   C. Bury said he would be interested in involvement as well. K. Pauls agreed to be an alternate, if MacAfee or Pfeffer couldn’t be involved.

 

R. Cribb suggested this year the conference could be pitched as a weekend: a day of world-class professional development, and a day to see the city. Reporters could bring their spouses and kids.

 

K. Pauls suggested tourist groups set up booths at the conference for the next day. C. Bury noted there wouldn’t be enough people there to make it worthwhile.

 

7. Awards Wrap-up – J. Dickins

 

J. Dickins reported that the awards went flawlessly from start to end, from the judges to the cheques to the awards video done by  the fifth estate people. We are going to be introducing the new award on ethics and spirituality reporting in December, in association with the Centre for Faith in the Media.

 

8. Chapter Reports

 

No discussion

 

9. Membership Committee – K. Pauls

 

K. Pauls suggested that chapters be mailed to notify them that they’re eligible to send regional representatives. C. Bury suggested he draft a report as returning officer. P. Schneidereit suggested every year there be a date chapters have to report back by, and then if the chapters haven’t notified us, the regions are notified. P. Schneidereit suggested that notices come out of the ED’s office.

 

Added to task list: C. Bury to draft a report on chapter and regional representation.

 

K. Pauls noted a need for a chapter liaison, but was not sure if we could do that before the committees are formed.

 

10. New Business

 

Chapter Liaison – K. Pauls

Discussion of chapter liaison shelved until September.

 

Ontario Court Document Fees – R. Cribb

R. Cribb spoke on a potential legal battle against the $28 fee for accessing court records in Ontario. In an informal survey, he found that in the rest of the country it is much more economical. Cribb has been discussing the idea with the equivalent of the CAJ for media lawyers. There is a provincial election coming, so at issue is if action should be taken now or whether we should hold off until after the election. C. Bury suggested we just wait until after the election to approach the government.

 

The fee was raised after the Tories came into power; it was around $5-10 before. Manitoba, PEI and Quebec are free.

 

McGillivray Lecture Series – R. Cribb
R. Cribb spoke on the idea of a McGillivray lecture series, in honour of recently deceased, long-time CAJ supporter Don McGillivray. If we were a foundation, one of the things we would agree to do is to hold public lectures. C. Bury suggested the CAJ’s foundation  be renamed the Don McGillivray Foundation.

 

11. Next Board Meeting

The next board meeting is scheduled for September 27-28.

 

12. Adjournment

C. Bury moved to adjourn, T. Beutel seconded. Meeting adjourned.