Tuesday, 6 April 2021
7:00 – 8:30 pm EST

Present: Barbara, Caterina, Chloe, Craig, Joe, John, Kevin, and Tracey.

Regrets: Richard and Adam

Absent: Netta, Ron, and Tiffany

The meeting opened with an announcement from Barbara that she has been invited to speak to the twelve-member Standing Committee on Finance at their meeting next week.

1.0 Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved with the addition of a review of the Rob Evans video.

2.0 Treasurer’s Report

The financial update from the Treasurer is as follows:

• We received 3 donations during the month of March 2021 for a net of $57.35;

• On the expense front, we paid $655.00 to Better Creative for the video production; note that Joe received confirmation from Barbara Boraks and Sheila Regehr that we could leverage $500 of the BICN restricted funds to assist with the payment of the video. Note, that in the month of December 2020, plus the month of January 2021, all donations, $964.61, had been earmarked for the video production.

• In the bank account, after extracting the externally restricted funds, there is a net available to OBIN of $1,667.14;

• There are no known outstanding expenses at this point.

3.0 Content Management Update

Joe reported that Piers Eaton, a gentleman from Toronto with experience in writing and editing has volunteered to join the Content Management team.

Action: Joe and Chloe will interview Piers for the position.
As Roger Romero has offered to volunteer a few hours a week for Social Media, both positions should be considered filled for the present time.

4.0 Technology: NationBuilder Update

Caterina and Saul are working together to develop forms for collecting data.
Action: Saul is to follow up.

5.0 Action Items Related to February Roundtable

• Preparation of C-Team Members’ Video

Action: Chloe offered to prepare a video in May. Others are encouraged to do so.
Action: It was agreed that the videos would be put on YouTube.

6.0 Roundtable

Caterina reported that:

• 6-7 people are taking part in a Basic Income program in Hamilton;
• Lois Wilson, Moderator of the United Church of Canada is promoting a program to draw attention to the moral imperative of a basic income for Canada. She is asking Canadians to light a candle at 12:30 pm on Thursday, 8 April and to post a photo of this on Social Media in support of a Guaranteed Livable Income for all Canadians;
• she has been in touch with the United Church Climate Justice committee.

John reported that BICN is working with a climate activism group, The EnergyMix. They recently received a Federal grant of $481,000 to carry out a one-year climate/environment study and how a basic income could fit into our response to climate change.

The Rob Evans videos were discussed and there was agreement that the first of the three options submitted by Saul was the preferred option. It was also agreed that the video should include subtitles.

7.0 New Business

• Update from Craig on the Social Media Video Campaign and its content

Craig introduced Dr Elaine Power who is participating with him in the Social Media Video Campaign called “No One Left Behind”, which they will launch in the next month. The program consists of the release of a blog post and Twitter post accompanied by the rollout of a video once a week for six weeks.
Craig also noted that Dr Power had recently published a book entitled "The Case for Basic Income" focusing on the stories of participants in the Hamilton area.

8.0 May Newsletter – Reminder

The next newsletter will be published on 30 April and C–Team members are asked to submit comments to John by 26 April.

9.0 Schedule for Next Meeting

It was agreed that our next meeting would be held Tuesday, 4 May at 7:00 EST.

10.0 Adjournment Time

The meeting ended at 8:40 EST