Minutes - May 2020


Monday, 25 May 2020

7:00 – 8:30pm EST

Present: Jim, John, Joe, Ron, Tracy, Chloe, Adam, Tiffany, Sharon, Barbara, Monika (Recording Secretary)

Absent: Patricia

 

1. Approval of Agenda

  • Agenda approved.

2. Minutes of Last Meeting

  • No comments

3. Treasurer’s Report

  • $100 added from a PayPal account re: donation for Ottawa October 20 event
  • April 30 balance :$3,044.50
  • A one year subscription is due for our NationBuilder subscription
    • Need a debit or credit card to get 15% discount for paying the annual amount
    • Jim has offered to use his credit card and be reimbursed
  • ACTION ITEMS:
    • Joe to talk to Saul about preferred steps to move forward with the action
    • Team agreed to acquire an OBIN Debit card if possible to simplify making payments

4. June Newsletter

  • Tuesday, May 26 - due date for submissions
  • Friday, May 29 or Monday, June 1 is the release date
  • Newsletter to move forward in the following order:
    • Website
    • E-blast
    • Social media
  • ACTION ITEM:
    • John will reach out to the Basic Income Waterloo group to get idea for June’s newsletter theme

5. Round Table

Joe:

  • Looking for admin support with OBIN
  • Getting feedback on people reading the Minutes
  • OBIN may need another Treasurer due to Patricia’s ongoing unavailability
    • Someone from Ottawa would be best due to the location of bank account
  • Has seen a lot of media coverage recently, during the ongoing pandemic
  • In communication with churches who are talking with the indigenous community on how to best connect with them
  • Annual Meeting is suggested for September
    • Next Cross-Province call to include a discussion on the possibility of an online annual meeting, its time and date

Adam:

  • OBIN’s social media getting a lot of buzz
  • Facebook page is gaining more followers
  • Has shared the Letter to MP’s

Jim:

  • Would love to see more written responses to things posted on the OBIN website
  • Common arguments vs. counter-arguments
  • A commentary/infographic response debunking Basic Income myths using Evelyn’s Forget’s book, Basic Income for Canadians: The key to a healthier, happier, more secure life for all 
  • ACTION ITEMS:
    • An infographic response to be considered by Tracy and Chloe
    • Tracy and Chloe to send Evelyn an email to ask for permission to use information from the book
    • Suggestions to further responses/commentaries will be sent to Tiffany,cc.d to Joe
  • BI essays at university were due in April
    • Had 40 submissions in total
    • Will be hard to pick the best one(s)
    • Hope to publish the winning essay in Winnipeg Free Press
    • Will have an online celebration
  • ACTION ITEMS:
    • Will ask to grant OBIN permission to share the best essay(s) on the OBIN website

Sharon:

  • Website
    • OBIN now has 328 members vs. 301 at last meeting
    • A Zoom meeting was held with Jesse Golem, Joe, Adam and Tiffany to get feedback from Jesse on her experience of the website
    • Started adding videos under different categories
      • Each category has its own page
      • A new section on BI and COVID-19 added
      • Webinars from Tamarak Institute have also been included
  • Now working on a People’s section eg. Guy Standing will have links to his works that are posted on the website in one place for easy access to information
  • Tracy’s letter has been shared as a response to an article
  • Always looking for written commentaries on what’s been already posted

Tracy:

  • Attended The Case for Basic Income for Women; appreciated the involvement from all over Canada
  • Held a debriefing meeting
  • Getting lots of feedback
  • Was more than happy to write the response posted on the website
  • Would love to do more

Chloe:

  • Collected over 70 signatures and over 100,000 youth represented in Youth on Basic Income
  • Recently was featured on CBC Manitoba
    • The link can be found here
  • Ongoing conversations on youth content, webinars, university content
  • Tamarack webinar coming up on May 27 that she is facilitating
  • Wrote an op-ed to Globe and Mail, but it was rejected
  • Formalizing mission and principles
  • Citizens for Public Justice has asked Chloe to write a review on Hugh Segal's book: Bootstraps Need Boots for their newsletter

Ron:

  • Had a 10-12 minute interview with CBC Winnipeg Morning Show
  • Will share with the team an article from Globe and Mail with his written response to it

John:

  • Recently joined Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBI Europe) conversations with approx. 30-50 people present on the call
    • Great discussions on how to move BI forward
  • Locally, BI Peterborough and Waterloo groups are busy
  • BI Hamilton is drafting a letter for delegates to Hamilton City Council at the end of June
  • Is looking for suggestions to effectively reach out to sex-workers and the indigenous community
  • Hoping to have more news by Christmas 2020

Barbara:

  • BI Cases for Health, Food, and Women has taken place
  • Based on the call, the BI Case for Food will choose specific people to join the conversation
  • Case for Women – the indigenous representation expressed concerns that point toward the compartmentalisation of BI to the indigenous community
  • Currently working on briefing notes for upcoming letters for MP(Ps)
  • Is overseeing Lobby Day Letters - encouraging everyone to send them to their MP's
  • Coalition Canada expressed a need for a much-needed expert in linguistic packaging within the political sphere – a retired federal working expert, and someone well-versed in social media

Tiffany:

  • Social media conversations going well
  • Currently holding conversations on lobbying effectively in a more inclusive manner
  • Yet to analyze what has already been communicated on website and social media
  • Working on strategic plan to apply to the group and timeline moving forward
  • Looking to working on vision, to guide language
    • Thoughts from Jim, Joe and Barb:
      • Jim: BI is a means to eliminate poverty
      • Joe: BI is an anchor, but it will not eliminate poverty
      • Barb: BI is what we want; it is part of the bigger picture

6. Cross Province Check-up

Thursday, June 18 from 7 – 8:30 PM EST on Zoom

7. New Business

  • Agreed that it would be useful to have standard business cards
  • ACTION ITEMS:
    • Joe and Tiffany to investigate further
    • John to look into bumper stickers

8. Next meeting date and time

  • Monday, June 22 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST on Zoom

9. Adjournment

  • Meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm