Monday, August 24. 2020
7:00 – 8:15 pm EST
Present: Jim, John, Chloe (Youth Liaison), Joe, Richard, Ron, Adam, Tracy and Kevin
Regrets: Sharon, Barbara, Beatrice and Tiffany
Richard Pommainville was welcomed as the new Treasurer for the OBIN Coordinating Team.
1. Approval of Agenda
The Agenda was approved without discussion.
2. Treasurer’s Report
Richard reported that he had received account details from Patricia; she had paid some bills earlier in the day. He noted as well as of August 24, at 4pm we have $ 2,987.75 left in our bank account. This amount includes reserved funds for the work that Barbara is doing, funds secured from BICN and Sisters of Providence.
The net balance for OBIN is $ 904.48.
Jim added that we had forgotten to cancel the wik.com account with the result that the bill went through. He tried to contact them, without success to date, but believes the sum involved is approximately $ 300.00 which he is attempting to have refunded into his personal account. Joe noted that from now on all fees/bills would go directly to Richard to avoid such problems in the future.
3. Technology: NationBuilder
Joe reported that the planned meeting with the C-Team and Saul could not be arranged as originally planned; hopefully this will happen in the not too distant future. He is still investigating other sources for technical assistance as this is a critical time for Basic Income. In the meantime, Saul is working on the list developed in discussions with Sharon last March as time permits. At present, there is no money to hire additional consultants.
We have our annual meeting at the end of September and our annual dues will be due.
4. Website Content
Sharon sent her Website Content Report by email as she was not able to attend the meeting because of ongoing health challenges. The website update report is attached to the minutes as an addendum. (see below)
5. Newsletter -August, September
John reported that the material for the newsletter was coming in in dribs and drabs and the August Newsletter did not get published. We must have all articles in to him by Friday. Chloe inquired about what limit should be put on the length of the articles and John suggested 200-250 words. John said he would work with Sheila and Malissa in an effort to get the newsletter out next week, Tuesday, September 1 at the latest. (This is critical for our advertizing campaign for BI Day and the AGM.) The Newsletter will include Save the Dates notices for BI Day and the AGM. The E-blast will follow in about 4 to 5 days providing action details for these events.
The final submission date for material to be published in the October newsletter is September 29. John apologized for not being able to get the August newsletter out as planned.
5. Basic Income Day - September 19, 2020
Adam circulated a copy of his revised document for the E-Blast. Joe noted that we need to add a paragraph about the Poster Campaign for BI Day along with the posters. This led to a discussion about the access to the AGM Zoom call and concern about trolls.
Adam encouraged all members to print out and distribute posters throughout their respective communities and to write to mayors, city councillors and MPs. Kevin referred to Chrystia Freeland’s book on economic and social inequality and asked if anyone on the committee might have access to her in this regard. Jim suggested we wait to see Freeland’s position in regard to the follow up to CERB. Richard added that Minister Freeland is business oriented but perhaps Jean-Yves Duclo, might have some influence.
6. AGM Update
Joe said we needed three messages to remind people. (1) Save the date on September 26 (now moved to September 1); the (2) e-blasts about September 6th; and (3) a reminder on September 10-12th.
7. Round Table
Adam reported that we are doing well with Facebook, posters and messages to MPs, in preparation for Lobby Day.
Tracy indicated that the ‘Case for Women’ was progressing but slowly. She will also be providing a rebuttal to a news article.
Robert Kiley will be stepping down as BICN Youth Coordinator. Chloe and Kendal will share this role for the immediate future.
BICYN has 100 people who have sent letters to MPs and we are recording a broadcast this week on youth.
In connection with BI Day, it was noted that any help with this program from youth would be appreciated.
John reported that he is reaching out to local groups and to the AGM. He added that the Municipality of Hamilton is expanding and is trying to make its voice heard more broadly. He indicated as well that efforts are being made to get BI started in South Africa.
Jim noted that he was lead for the 2 subgroups for the Statement of Principles and AGM Planning - both have gone well.
Richard referred to Pope Francis’ statement in support of Basic Income and inquired about the possibility of getting the churches more heavily involved. He indicated as well that he had written to the Canadian Conference of Bishops in this regard but had yet to receive a reply. Kevin added that getting leadership and support from the churches would help avoid having BI become a partisan political issue.
Joe commented that we need to increase membership due to the fact that politicians need and count numbers to sense public support.
Joe reported that he would be collecting the business cards tomorrow and required everyone’s address along with the numbers wanted. Joe added that he was prepared to waive the costs of mailing; cost is 20 cents per business card.
Jim mentioned that we need a recruitment committee to help identify potential candidates for the C-Team election. Tracey and Joe agreed to join Jim as members of that committee.
Joe reminded everyone that they have been requested to provide Sharon with bio data and photos for the website.
As there were no comments on the Statement of Principles, it was agreed that it should be added to the minutes as “accepted by the C-Team to be ratified at the AGM Business Meeting.”
8. New Business
Richard emphasized the importance of reaching out to faith communities as a mechanism for non-partisan support and recommended as well that we focus on the government’s September 23rd throne speech as an indicator of how the government might be leaning in terms of Basic Income.
9. Next Meeting
It was agreed that the next meeting would be held Monday, October 5th at 7 pm. It was agreed as well that we should formalize our schedule by holding our meetings, whenever possible, on the first Monday of every month.
Addendum: Website Update ( Sharon)
- BI News Digest - new format for posting NEWS going forward - weekly digests instead of single posts
- link to the News page digest... https://www.obin.ca/obin_basic_income_news_digest_-_22_august_2020
- temporary bio page...for C-Team review- Once everyone is satisfied with it, this page will become the new C-Team page
- updated the current About C-team page
- Please forward your bios and headshots to Sharon if you haven't already or if you don't see your info on the page
- Please decide on what email addresses should be on the bios page....(personal emails, the OBIN main email address that will receive all emails and then be redirected to the appropriate person
Website Statistics:
- Number of NEWS posts to date: 60 including one digest that included 10 posts >>> total posts to date = 70
- Number of Members (as of 24 Aug 2020) : 502 !!!
Reminder:
- When sending material to be posted please indicate in the subject line that it is for posting to the website.
- Please advise where on the website it should get posted, NEWS ? and what specific area of the website, if that is desired as well.
- For the future, posting of the link, article, etc. will be done weekly in the digest format.
- If your post is urgent and needs to be posted right away and as a single post because of time sensitivity and importance, please advise accordingly.
- As always, preambles, introductory and contextualizing narratives make a difference so we aren't just posting links to stuff.
Supporting material from meeting discussion submitted by Richard