MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL AND GENERAL MEETING OF MEMBERS

OF SQUASH ONTARIO

Held at Sports Alliance of Ontario

1185 Eglinton Avenue East in the City of Toronto

on the 7th day of June 2008 at 9:00 o’clock in the morning

Lolly Gillen, President of Squash Ontario, called the meeting to order and acted as Chair of the meeting.  Sherry Funston acted as Secretary of the meeting.

Lolly introduced the current Board of Directors and the professional staff of Squash Ontario and gave those present backgrounds on each of these individuals.

The Chair stated that she had been informed by the Secretary of Squash Ontario that proper notice of this meeting had been given to each member of Squash Ontario and to the Squash Ontario auditors. The Chair also reported that a quorum of members of Squash Ontario was present in person or by proxy. She, therefore, declared the meeting to have been regularly called and properly constituted.

The Chair then presented a list of regional representative members in attendance or represented by proxy and the number of votes each would have, calculated in accordance with the Bylaws of Squash Ontario, such list reading as follows:

Brenda Forbes                               Toronto & District                         7 votes

William Malmo                                Western Region                           3 votes

William Malmo                                Southwestern Region                   2 votes (proxy)

Mikola Czich                                   Ottawa & District                         2 votes

Stacy Bell                                       Central Ontario                          2 votes (by `phone)

Simon Hall                                      Niagara Region                           1 vote

The Chair noted, for the record, that there were 17 votes eligible to be cast and that the quorum for the meeting was 9.  The Chair also noted the absence of a delegate from Northwestern Ontario Region, Northern Ontario and Huronia.

 Upon motion duly made, (Simon Hall), seconded (Brenda Forbes) and unanimously carried, it was

Resolved that:

The minutes of the Annual and General Meeting of Members of Squash Ontario, held on 2 June 2007 be amended to correct the number of votes eligible to be cast from 19 to 18.

Upon motion duly made, (Simon Hall), seconded (Brenda Forbes) and unanimously carried, it was:

The reading of the amended minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Squash Ontario, held 2 June 2007 at the White Oaks Resort and Conference Centre in Niagara on the Lake, be waived and approved.

Board of Directors’ Report

Lolly Gillen advised that the “state of the union” report from the Board of Directors was included in the annual meeting package but that Directors would entertain any questions from the delegates. Lolly specifically thanked the chairs and committee members of the High Performance, Officiating, Junior Advisory, Masters and Doubles for their hard work this past season.  She indicated that the Board report covers a number of highlights, including  Jennifer Birch-Jones being recognized by the Ontario Government as a recipient of the Special Achievement award at the Sport Awards Ceremony in April 2008.

Lolly touched briefly on the Strategic Planning Forum held in April in Toronto and thanked all 31 people who participated for giving their time and commitment to Squash Ontario and to developing strategies to grow squash in Ontario.

Lolly closed by thanking her fellow Board members and staff for their support, and in particular, thanked Robbie Osher for his work in the Finance portfolio, keeping the finances of the Association on track over his 6 year term. And Lolly thanked Rob Brooks who unfortunately was not in attendance but she wanted it on record how much Rob has done for Squash Ontario and for squash in Ontario over the past 10 years.

Vice President, Finance Report

The financial statements of Squash Ontario for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2008 were presented by Robbie Osher, Vice President Finance.

Robbie indicated that we have enjoyed six consecutive years of surpluses and advised that he supports and recommends that the Association keep a minimum of 12 months operating funds on hand.

When queried about this, Robbie advised that this would ensure that the Corporation would be able to function should, for example, the Government of Ontario ceased to provide funding.

A question was raised with respect to the grant monies for Active2010 (2005-2006) which had to be returned.  It was explained that the program had included a number of junior skills camps to be held across the province; the person who had been contracted to manage the program was not able to free up enough time to allow all of the camps to be held. As a result, we were not able to fulfill our commitments to the Ministry and therefore had to return a portion of the grant.

Appointment of Auditors

Upon motion duly made (Brenda Forbes), seconded (Simon Hall) and unanimously carried, it was

Resolved that:

Messrs. BDO Dunwoody be appointed auditors of Squash Ontario to

hold office until a successor is appointed at a remuneration to be fixed       by the Directors, the Directors being authorized to fix such                           remuneration.

Acts of the Board of Directors

Upon motion duly made (Mikola Czich), seconded (William Malmo) and unanimously carried, it was

Resolved that:

The acts of the Board of Directors since the adjournment of the 2007         Annual General Meeting be ratified and confirmed.

Election of the 2008/20010 Squash Ontario Board of Directors

Robbie Osher, Member of the 2008/2009 Nominating Committee presented the slate of Directors on behalf of the Committee.  He advised that the Nominating Committee was comprised of Rob Brooks (chair), himself, member of the present Board, Bill Malmo (Western region), Vincent Taylor (Masters Committee Chair), and Brenda Forbes (Toronto & District).

Upon motion duly made (Simon Hall), seconded, (Bill Malmo) and with one abstention (Mikola Czich of Ottawa & District),

It was

Resolved that:

The following people are elected Directors of Squash Ontario to hold

office until the next annual meeting of members or until their                       successors are elected or appointed.                                                                                                    

Lorraine Tétreault, Jennifer Bennett, Mark Sachvie, Robert Todd

Review of Nominating Process

Several people were interested in how the nominating process works and asked if it was possible for the new Board to poll other sports to ascertain what nominating procedures they use.

Upon motion duly made, (Mikola Czich, seconded (Brenda Forbes) and with 5 votes against as cast by Bill Malmo (Western Region and proxy for Southwestern Ontario),

It was 

Resolved that:

The Board of Directors would review the current nominating process, such review to include but not be limited to identification of individuals for the slate, election process and number of individuals offered on the slate, with a target date for completion of the review to be set for 1 December 2008.

Appointment of Legal Advisory

Upon motion duly made, (Brenda Forbes), seconded (Simon Hall) and unanimously carried, it was

Resolved that:

Hillary Findlay, LLB PHD. Of the Centre for Sport and Law be named the

Corporation’s legal advisory for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

Other Business

.

The status of the Squash Canada Junior Committee was raised by Mark Sachvie.  Lolly Gillen advised that she and the President of Squash BC had spent the past 10 months crafting and re-crafting terms of reference for the Committee, each time getting feedback from all provinces and territories.  She further advised that the issue has now been included on the agenda for the Squash Canada annual meeting which is being held on June 21st in Ottawa.  She felt confident that the Committee motion would pass given the inclusiveness of the process to craft the terms of reference.

Strategic Planning

At this point in the meeting, the Chair advised that each of the Rapid Response Teams as created at the strategic planning forum would present their findings and recommendations.  The three teams created were communications, regions and membership.

All three presentations were excellent and the chair thanked Tom Craig, Brenda Forbes and Lorraine Tétreault for their preparations and presentations.

Good discussion ensued regarding the 3 focus areas.  One or two people were in favour of leaving the regional structure as it is with just some tweaking; some people voiced concern about a tiered membership structure.  Everyone was engaged and enthusiastic about the process which had begun and looks forward to the next steps.

The recommendations from each of the Rapid Response Teams will be reviewed by the Board of Directors which will prioritize the initiatives with respect to expediency and funding.

Appended to these minutes are the complete slide presentations.

Resolved that:

The 2008 Annual and General Meeting of Members be adjourned.

Dated this 23rd day of June 2008

ABOUT THE BOARD

Jennifer Bennett

Is a registered nurse who has been working for Pfizer Industries for the past 10 years. She began playing her squash at Ryerson in Toronto and has been a “card carrying” member of the Toronto & District Women’s League for 12 years. She was President of the league for 5 years and is currently a member of the Fitness Club in Mississauga.

March Sachvie

Is the Racquets Director at The Club at White Oaks in Niagara on the Lake. He has been Chair of the Junior Advisory Committee since 1999 and was and continues to be a driving force in developing junior squash in Ontario. He was vice president Competitions and Technical of Squash Ontario from 1999 – 2005 and returns to assist the Association in enhancing its competitive continuum as well as broaden our rankings program.

Lorraine Tétreault

Is a Senior Chemist with Health Canada. She served as Vice President, Communications from 2007-2008 with Squash Ontario. She chaired the Masters Committee from 2005 -2007 and is a member at Goodlife Queensview in Ottawa.

Bob Todd

Is an independent entrepreneur who started his own business in 1977, eventually selling it to Home Depot in February 2006. He has served on a number of Boards as chair including Evergreen Marketing and has been a member of the Squash Ontario Masters Committee. He is a passionate squash player and father of two budding young squash athletes. Bob is a member of Fabulous Fitness Racquet Club in Concord.

Michael Bertin

Is a Department Head in Business Studies at Halton Catholic District School Board. He has been Vice President Operations for Squash Ontario from 2007 – 2008 and also, midway through the past season, temporarily assumed the portfolio of Competitions. He has been a Chair of the Squash Ontario Masters Committee and is a member of the Racquet & Fitness Academy in Toronto.

Tom Craig

Is Manager of Information Technology for the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Department. He has been Vice President Regional Development from 2005 – 2008 with Squash Ontario.  Tom was president of the Western Region Squash Association and is a member of the Guelph Athletic Club.