DNC Board Meeting - March 28, 201310 Board Members in AttendanceAttendees: Herb Varley, James Oickle, Diane Johnston, Bill Beauregarde, Jean Swanson*, Jacek Lorek, Roland Clarke, Richard Cunningham, Tami Starlight, Dave Diewart*, Debbie Krull, Ludvik Skalicky, Artist Dave**non-board members---------------------------------------------------------------Proposed Agenda1) Dave's Hunger Strike2) Jean Swanson's Address3) Financial Update4) Announcements - SRA Prior Action5) Committee reports LAPP Shelter Committee Street Market6) General Meeting Planning---------------------------------------------------------------Richard cooks a delicious meal.Herb does the opening. Round of introductions. Herb assumes the role of chair---------------------------------------------------------------Dave introduces his hunger strike for social justice. It is about the dire situation that is going on in the community. It as an act of desperation. The city has not been listening to us. They are not respecting the LAPP process.Demands:1) Sequel 138 - condos are a major threat to the community. Things aregoing to change dramatically. This site should be 100% social housing.2) Cop Shop - city wants this to be a venture capital hub. We wantthis space to be for social housing and community groups.3) DTES to be a social justice zoneDave wants support from DNC. Also requesting support at actions coming up. Board could draft a statement by the DNC to be read at the next action.MOTION: Richard motions that DNC supports Dave's hunger strike and draft aletter in support so it can be read at events in the future. Jacekseconds. James abstains. motion carries---------------------------------------------------------------MOTION: James motions to accept agenda, Richard seconds, motion carries---------------------------------------------------------------Jean Swanson's AddressJean Swanson gives a great presentation on the recent social justice campaigns of CCAP. She also asks that several statements that she found objectionable be removed from the previous minutes of the DNC board meetings.A discussion ensues. There is an objection to changing the previous minutes because they were approved.MOTION: Roland motions to change the style of minute taking in the future to include only decisions and motions and not to include any personal comments. Herb seconds the motion. Motion carries.Roland offers a personal apology for whatever part he played in the detailed recording of the minutes at previous DNC board meetings that Jean Swanson found objectionable and also that such minutes contained attribution of comments to named individuals and were written in a style and with such content and wording that were described as objectionable by Jean Swanson of CCAP during her presentation.Roland makes a specific request that this apology be added to the minutes.Roland motions to conduct the rest of the meeting in camera. No objection.Jean Swanson, the remaining non member of the DNC board, leaves the meeting.---------------------------------------------------------------Financial UpdateThere are three signers now at the VanCity account - not because this is all that we voted on, but because all the signers have to go in at once. Decision that Roland will send an email to Catherine Ludgate to help us with this process for the future. Catherine has committed to funding the DNC, a check should arrive soon.---------------------------------------------------------------General MeetingDecision to add homeless Dave to the Agenda. Idea to invite the traditional mothers to sing an opening - Debbiewill try and arrange this.Tuesday at 4pm at VANDU set for GM planning meetingFacilitators volunteered:Debbie, Diane, Roland, Jacek, Ludvik, Richard, Herb all volunteer tofacilitate the general meeting discussion groups---------------------------------------------------------------Herb gives LAPP reportLots of discussion on the LAPP---------------------------------------------------------------Shelter GroupDNC Committee on Homeless Shelters is planning to apply for a seat on the new restructured RSCH---------------------------------------------------------------Street MarketFunding received for the next year of operations, and meeting for larger market group that will be able to plan markets all over the DTES and turn the DTES into the market district---------------------------------------------------------------Housing CommitteeDiscussion of VANDU plans, and possible cooperation and participation---------------------------------------------------------------Motion to adjourn meeting.Herb leads the closing and invites everyone to do a round of thanks and healing.
DNC Board Meeting March 21, 201311 board members presentAttendees: Garvin Snider, DJ Joe, James Oickle, Diane Johnston, Ludvik Skalicky, Jacek Lorek, Debbie Krull, Bill Beauregarde, Roland Clarke, Richard Cunningham, Stan S.*, Kelvin Bee-----------------------------------------------------------Proposed AgendaBankingLetter to VanCityCoV Small GrantsUnder the UmbrellaGeneral Meeting Planning-----------------------------------------------------------Garvin Chairs. Garvin reads the constitutionRoland reads the minutesJacek motions to accept the minutes. Bill seconds. Motion Carries.
Roland gives a summary of banking situation. VanCity not functional yet. Need to make sure that we have enough signers so that we can get a hold of them and they will actually get down to the bank and showtheir IDs.MOTION: motions to add DJ Joe as signer, Ludvik Skalicky seconds, motion passes.-----------------------------------------------------------Letter to VanCityDebbie - LAPP supports it. Criticism is that the dollars should be allocated toward existing social groups and the building should be torn down.Roland reads the letter regarding the VanCity project.Kelvin mentions that Frank Paul was held in that space. The first nations need to go in their first regardless of what happens.Garvin - this is just a letter of support for a certain direction.Bill - I'm for private use of the building to subsidize the non-profitsDebbie - I'm speaking in favor, since it is moving forward anyway. We might as well be part of the process. Wants to make sure that a clensing take place in that space before anything happens.Kelvin - it was a holding cell. This is very important. I also need totalk to the board and correct some stuff.Debbie volunteers to write this passage that makes the proper discussion of residential school survivors.-----------------------------------------------------------General MeetingLudvik - posters are designed. I can print them tomorrow.Roland shows a proof of the poster.Garvin still has not heard back from PIVOT regarding assistancefacilitating the meeting, Helesia Luke will be joining us.Roland, Richard, Debbie, Garvin - volunteers to facilate.Need to decide what the stipends are for the level of committment thatpeople give.Kelvin says that we might be get in trouble if the board pays itself.Richard - says that he personally got money for facilitating lastyear, so it was done by the DNC traditionally.Debbie feels that this should be payment for appreciation for the helpthat they have given.Kelvin - because this board has not done anything yet, this is an option.Roland speaks about the model of VANDU that has been worked out overyears about how to fairly allocate stipendsGarvin speaks to referring this to committee to decide the stipends.Jamie's presentation can be put at the end of the agenda, so ifanything happens, we can just skip it.Jamie has to come to the board and present his ideas in order for usto put it on the agenda.Bill says that he may not be able to come to the meeting because of afestival that is going on.Garvin - Helesia Luke will be coming to the general meeting. She is agreat contact and can help us in the future.Debbie - is there any update on Catherine Ludgate and our money?No update.-----------------------------------------------------------Community Small GrantsMeet after Street Market Meeting on Monday to write up a bunch of letters.
DNC Board Meeting Minutes - March 14, 2013Total of 13 Board Members in AttendanceAttendees: DJ Joe, Kelvin Bee, Jamie Richardson, Rob Morgan, JohnSkulch*, Ludvik Skalicky, Bill Beauregarde, James Oickle, Jacek Lorek,Diane Johnston, Leo Mayo*, Roland Clarke, Richard Cunningham, TamiStarlight, Herb Varley*non board members-------------------------------------------------------AgendaOpening, Housekeeping, minutes, agenda, etc...Media/Phones/Internet - JamieCommittee ReportsGeneral Meeting-------------------------------------------------------Kelvin does the openingThe board accepts Kelvin as the chair for this meetingKelvin makes a declaration that those board members that have been appointed do not do not have the right to vote tonight. No one objects.Housekeeping - Herb, James, Leo, Roland volunteerRoland volunteers to take minutes, Tami objects to Roland taking the minutesJames Oickle motions for Roland to take the minutes4 votes for Roland, Rob M abstains, Tami votes againstMotion passesReading of the minutesKelvin asks if anyone has any comments or objections to the minutesRob M comments about the LAPP safety committee. Rob was sitting right next to Tracy, and he agreed with Tracy that Richard has not been ratified as co-chair. He denies that it was lateral violence and Tracy just said what she believed. Rob objects to the DNC board of directors sending out a message like this. This is why he abstained from voting for Roland to take the minutes.Herb states that the co-chair committee agreed that Richard was not the co-chair and told the DNC that they could not change the co-chair.Jacek objects that these statements were not about the minutes. He re-states that this conversation is about the minutes.Roland offers to correct any inaccuracies in the minutes made by anyone who was actually at the meeting.Debbie speaks to the difficult transition of the new board. She said that Richard did share that he was disappointed that he was made to sit down. Debbie says that the interaction was described as hurtful, and that this was the first report back from the LAPP that we have received, and it was hurtful for everyone that was present at the meeting.Rob speaks again that he believes that it was not lateral violence.Roland speaks again and says that all of these issues can be discussed later during the LAPP discussion, but would like the comments to be confined to issues related to the accuracy of the minutes.DJ moves to accept the minutes, Jacek seconds. 4 votes in favor. Herb abstains. Tami votes against. Motion passes.Herb motions to accept the agendaJacek says that we should add an agenda item to talk about what Tracy did.Rob says that Tracy doesn't want to come to the meeting because she feels unsafe.Kelvin volunteers himself and Jacek to talk to her about the incident.Jamie seconds the motion. motion passes.-------------------------------------------------------Jamie begins a presentation on media/phone/internet wants to give a presentation to the membership at the GM to instruct people how to follow the DNC tweets. Tells everyone to send START to 21212Jamie suggests that the board should tweet out the location and details of the of the general meeting, and everyone should be involved in receiving the twitter feed.FOLLOW @dtescouncil, or FOLLOW @VanCopWATCHMOTION: Roland motions that Jamie do this at the general meeting, motion carries-------------------------------------------------------Committee ReportsHousing CommitteeDebbie - invited Jean Swanson to be on the committee, she said that her time is all full. Debbie says that she has gotten a lot of interest in doing a squat for housing. She designed a plan for a squat team by a single parent. Need a child care team, lots of teams to be put together. Need to tie issues to homelessness and more socialhousing also child apprehension issues. Also advance the issues with paramedics and firefighters. There is a big imbalance in the city budget. Mentions fear inhirent in a squat, wants volunteer firefighters involved in the squat to raise the level of safety. Wants paramedics perspective as well. Issues like black mold as a health threat due to inadequate housing. Wants to run a squat in one of the BC housing units that are empty or vacated.Kelvin - summarizes that we should call on the membership to support a squat. He expresses doubt that we could do it in a BC housing building.Richard - #1 it should be a vacant building. #2 VANDU is also planning that strategy and we could form an alliance with VANDU. Something has to be done before the election. We need to do something to get somemovement on the housing issueLAPP ReportHerb - thinks it is a good idea but thinks that we should hash it out some more.Kelvin - there is a lot of conflict in the LAPP issue, and we all needto respect each otherRob - Tracy said that she had nothing against Richard personally.There is still a conflict and we can only solve it at a generalmeetingKelvin - it is under the constitution of the DNC that everything hasto go to the general membershipRoland states that he will immediately offer a motion to reverse theprevious decision to change co-chairs if Herb agrees to come to boardmeetings and give reports on the LAPP, and perhaps Richard couldassist, or some other solution could be found.Richard says that he never wanted to take Herb's seatHerb says that Michael is waiting for ratification, so what Tracy saidwas not out of line. He says that he would be happy to have a shadowand would acceptRichard to help him.Debbie says that the LAPP has so many meetings that it takes a lot,and we are building capacity and we need to help each other.Tami - thinks that it is quite interesting about the LAPP. She hasmixed views on the LAPP. A lot of stuff is being watered down. Verybitter about how this board has gone about to change the process.Feels that the board undermined Herb, and went directly to the City ofVancouver. If we truly want to work with our community we need toexamine how we deal with our community. She objects to the minutesthat keep slamming CCAP. CCAP has nothing to do with it. It is theelephant in the room and the board has to deal with it. She rememberspostering in the snow and rain to make sure that a general meetinghappened. We need to not become a top heavy board and meet with thegeneral membership whenever we want.James - the decision to remove Herb was a tough one. At week three orfour we decided that we were not getting anything back. At some pointwe need to have the discussion that Tami wants to have.Jacek - Actually everyone knows why we did not have a general meetingfor the last few months. Everyone knows why and they are just notsaying it. I can say that my part of the conflict, it was a conflictwith CCAP. The people that were supposed to make the conflict go away,they did not. He dropped the conflict because he did not want tocontinue it. Can anyone actually say what the conflict is?Richard - we did not have the funds, and we did not have access to themembership lists. Now we can do it, and we have enough money to payDodson for some of the past bills, and hopefully we can have meetingsevery month.Debbie - When I came in and joined this process, I did not intend tobecome a board member, I just wanted to observe. I have always been inthe loop.Tami defers to HerbHerb - submits a report and describes the report on the LAPP. Reportwill be added to the minutes. We have been gathering a tremendousamount of information on these round tables. May 29 we will read areport from these round tables. He has been pushing for rent controls,social housing, and other issues. The city has been translating whatwe say into very neutral and non-politicized language that can meananything. We are getting a lot of lip service. He agrees that it is asoul sucking vampire, to quote roland. ALIVE has initiated a disputeresolution with the two co-chairs. He admits that he is not pro-Scott,but that he does give him more allowance than he deserves. In thecaucus group, we are developing a plan to push for a social justicezone in the Opp District. We are also pushing for a post LAPP watchdog group. The LAPP is not going well, but we never set a firm walkingpoint, so now we are stuck.In regards to the co-chair stuff, this isn't the first time I'vefloated away from the DNC. Last summer, Ivan, or Wendy or Tami wouldpull me back in. This time, no one did this.Herb says that he would be happy to have a shadow. He says that he hasbeen attacked by many parties already, and felt that changingco-chairs was a humiliation. He felt that it was very disrespectful tonotify the City that he was replaced. Feels that he has very littlerespect from the city to start with.Wendy has said that she is not coming back, so he is stuck with theposition until November.Kelvin calls out asking whether the board accepts this report. Theboard accepts the report.Herb gives his regrets that he has an UNYA meeting next week and willnot be able to attend.DJ motions to make Richard Herb's shadow at the LAPP, Lu seconds,motion passes. Richard and Tami abstains.Monday at VANDU at 5pm for a special DNC board meeting to plan thegeneral meetingMotion to adjourn, Herb does the closing.
