To Ontario Council Club Presidents:

Information regarding the following topics is provided in this e-mail:

• Registration now open for the 2024 AGM & Conference
• Nominations now open for the Ontario Council Elections for 2024-2026
• April 1 deadline for amendments to the Ontario Council proposed Resolutions
• 2024 Membership Challenge
• 2024 Carolyn Day Award
• 2024 Advocacy Survey - please respond by April 1, 2024

All of this info is contained in the March edition of OC News, but we wanted to make sure that all OC club Presidents received a separate e-mail so you can follow up with your Clubs. Thanks for all you do for CFUW and for Ontario Council.

The 2024 Ontario Council AGM & Conference is taking place in Windosr on May 24th and 25th, 2024. The theme of the conference is W/E Break Barriers. (W/E = Windsor/Essex)

The 2024 AGM & Conference will take place at the DoubleTree Windsor Hotel located at 333 Riverside Dr. West in Windsor. Registration for the AGM & Conference is now open. The registration fee is $130.

TO REGISTER PLEASE CLICK HERE

As Teresa mentioned in her message, Ontario Council has established a special club grant to encourage as many clubs as possible to send a delegate to the AGM. If your Club has sufficient funds to finance your delegate’s attendance at the conference, we ask that you do not apply for this grant, to allow our funds to stretch further. We will at least be able to offer Registration fees, but additional money towards accommodation and/or travel is possible depending on the total number of applicants.

APPLICATION FOR A CLUB GRANT TO ATTEND AGM 2024

Deadline for submission is April 15, 2024

To get all the information about the 2024 AGM & Conference, including hotel reservations, program and agenda, and how to get to Windsor, please click here.

Ontario Council Elections 2024-26

The CFUW Ontario Council Board of Directors is inviting all the ladies of Ontario Council clubs to consider a very worthwhile opportunity to lead! Our 44 year history has exemplified our tremendous efforts in uniting and serving the women and girls in Ontario…

And you can continue this rich legacy! Support CFUW Ontario Council and take Action!

In addition, this opportunity allows for personal growth, enhancement of leadership skills, a passionate commitment to serving the purposes and goals of Ontario Council.

The Nominations Committee, chaired by Teresa Habs, CFUW Barrie, and joined by Anne Groulx, CFUW Cambridge, Carol Sproule, CFUW Peterborough, Heather Conlin, CFUW Southport, Helen Robb, CFUW Barrie and Wendy Taylor, CFUW Orillia, will welcome your nomination and application forms. Candidates must complete both an application form and a nomination form. Please click here for the Nomination form and here for the Application form.

The Nominations period runs from: March 15 to and including April 20, 2024. The role descriptions for each position – president, secretary, treasurer, advocacy co-ordinator, committee chair of education, committee chair of legislation, committee chair of status of women and human rights, committee chair membership, communications chair and six regional directors – are available on the OC website at https://cfuwontcouncil.org/about/executive/.

The CFUW Ontario Council Board will conduct elections for all director positions at our 2024 AGM, to be held May 24^th and 25^th, in Windsor. So please mark those calendars! 

Ontario Council Proposed Resolutions

Two clubs, CFUW Muskoka and CFUW Windsor, have submitted resolutions to be voted on at the 2024 AGM. Clubs may now consider the proposed resolutions and determine whether to support them as written, or to propose amendments.

CFUW Muskoka Resolution

Protecting Ontario’s Vulnerable in Cold Weather Conditions

RESOLVED, That CFUW Ontario Council strongly urge the Provincial and Municipal governments to adopt a policy that:

1. Mandates a safe and reasonable temperature at which Warming Centres will open to ensure the health and safety of our vulnerable citizens.
2. Mandates this temperature to be -5⁰C to 0⁰C.
3. Mandates these Warming Centres to be open 24/7 when such temperatures occur.

You may view/download CFUW Muskoka's submitted resolution, including Background and Bibliography, by clicking here.

CFUW Windsor Resolution

The costs of medical appliances, which enhance the quality of life of all citizens in Ontario require legislative regulation.

RESOLVED, that CFUW Ontario Council urge the provincial government to expand the definition of health care to include medical appliances and those appliances be recognized as an integral part of health care.

RESOLVED, that CFUW Ontario Council urges the provincial government to regulate the costs of medical appliances in the Province of Ontario as health care necessities.

RESOLVED, that CFUW Ontario Council urges the provincial government to establish a Medicine Appliances Review Board under the authority of the province to regulate the scope of medical appliances that are medically necessary and the costs of these medical appliances.

You may view/download CFUW Windsor's submitted resolution, including Background and Bibliography, by clicking here.

Club Review & Amendments

April 1: Deadline for Clubs to submit amendments

To submit an amendment, please use the Resolution Amendment form. An amendment is a proposed change meant to strengthen, clarify and support the original resolution.

• It must be relevant to the subject of the Resolution.
• No new subject may be introduced an an amendment

A separate Resolution Amendment form should be completed in Word for each Resolution being amended and returned to the CFUW Ontario Council Resolutions Chair no later than April 1st.

The proposed resolutions and the amendment form are also available on the Ontario Council Policy & Resolutions page of the OC website.

The OC Membership Challenge is back! Your Club could win $300 for Recruitment or $300 for Retention. It’s simple to enter. You just need to answer 5 questions for recruitment and/or 5 questions for retention, in 250 words or less for each category. The 5 questions are:

For recruitment of new members:

• What was your single most effective strategy?
• How did it work?
• How did you measure your success?
• What would you do differently?
• Have you tried this before?

For retention of new, recent and long-term members?

• What is your primary strategy?
• How did you measure your success?
• What are the results of engaging new members?
• Would you do anything differently?
• Why is it successful?

Download the Membership Challenge brochure and follow the instructions to submit your Club’s application! Applications must be submitted on or before April 20, 2024.

Carolyn Day, a Past-President of Ontario Council, 1998-2000, was the Environment, Clean Water and Great Lakes Policy Advisor from 2000 until her death in 2018. What started as a concern about Walkerton turned into a passion and a knowledge base. During her time, she wrote more than 40 briefs and letters, attended many meetings on our behalf and was even called by government on some occasions. This award is created in her honour.

Tell us about your work to support the environment, locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. Please complete the Carolyn Day Award application and email Teresa Habs, copied to your Regional Director by April 15, 2024.

The 2024 Advocacy Survey was sent to all Ontario club Presidents last month. The results from this survey will inform advocacy initiatives undertaken by Ontario Council for the next four years. Your Club’s participation is extremely important. We ask that the Club President, Advocacy Committee Chair or Designate complete the survey following membership consultations - one survey per Club. Sufficient time has been given to allow for membership discussion and the closing date for the survey is April 1st. The survey takes five to seven minutes to complete after the membership consultation has been completed. Thank you for your continued support!

If your Club has not already responded, you may access the survey here. But please remember, only one survey response per Club.