Minutes of DNC Annual General Meeting – August 23rd, 2014.

Agenda

Call to Order

Constitution

Rules of Order

Motion to Accept Minutes of Previous AGM

Adoption of Financial Report

Adoption of Nomination Committee

Motion to Acclaim Those Nominated

Motion to Adopt Co-President’s Report

Legal Committee Report

Aboriginal Committee Report

Tenant Committee Report

Harm Reduction/Health Committee Report

Motion to Accept Agenda – Motion accepted.

Motion to Accept Minutes of Previous AGM – Motion Accepted.

Financial Report:

Treasurer explains how funds are allocated. Report handed out. We received $10,000 in January from Vancity.  We have $4500 left.  We are seeking funding from film industry as other resident’s associations receive this funding. There is a problem in that the funding in dtes goes to one individual formerly of DERA.  We’re working on resolving this problem.

Adoption of Financial Report – motion passed.

Nomination Committee Report:

14 people turned in nomination forms. 12 of those people live in the dtes. There was a problem in past as board was dominated by those who live outside dtes.  We have resolved the problem of people who live outside dtes dominating the board. We allow for people outside dtes to join board. 2 people who handed in nominations are in ‘at large’ category.  X introduces nominees and states where everyone lives.

Motion to Acclaim those Nominated – Motion passed.

.

Co-President’s Report:

The Downtown Eastside Council is an example of how well people can do things to improve the quality of life in their community, rather than have paid bureaucrats do it for us or speak for us. In the past four months we have done the following activities:

•         We ran a harm reduction van, saving lives, until told to stop by VCH.

·         We've posted a legal argument for the equal treatment of certain people who use certain harmful drugs. The argument expressed what we believe is the correct operation of law. People’s human rights are at issue. We understand it is persons before the law, not “drugs.”  We have the assistance of a legal expert. We hope to have the argument heard properly via the media and in a court that has jurisdiction.

·         We've organized a tenant’s rights seminar and assisted people to fill out BC Housing applications, with the assistance of other organizations. We have Ann to thank for this seminar.

·         We continue to work closely with the Street Market, as we share the same values of people empowering themselves with the resources available to them.
   
·         We've begun to develop an Aboriginal Committee to assist the community to identify what programs can most benefit themselves in community.

·         We've gained press through donated services of the Editor of the Gastown Gazette. We have permanent space in that local newspaper.

·         We've done all of this in just 4 months. And on top of all of that we’ve had to hold two AGMs as the previous attempt to hold AGM was disrupted by people from CCAP.

Motion to Accept Co-President’s report - motion passed.

Aboriginal Committee Report

Motion to accept Aboriginal Committee Report – motion passed.

Tenant Committee Report

Many people living in SRO’s would rather live in park in tents during summer. There is a problem of people being overly monitored in SRO’s. People have their i.d. taken. We’ve been advised this is a violation of privacy. We’re exploring tenant’s rights. Many of the rules imposed on people here are only imposed elsewhere in prisons, and mental hospitals. We’re exploring the issue of tenant’s rights.

Motion to accept Tenant Committee Report – motion passed.

Legal Committee Report

Motion to accept Legal Committee Report – motion passed.

Harm Reduction/Health Committee Report

Roughly $60 million is spent in dtes every year on services. $12 million goes to Mental Health and Addiction services.  The medical clinics get a large portion of funding. There appears to be no accountability. The DNC wants people to have a say in how services are run.  One study shows that of 4000 clients who attended medical clinics only 400 returned.

DNC ran a safe injection van everyday for 2 months. Eventually Vancouver Coastal Health said we must stop. As homelessness increases there is greater need for safe injection site. Insite deals with 500 injections but there are an estimated 1500 injections that happen each day in dtes. If you would like to help come to a meeting or contact Ann.

Motion to accept Harm Reduction/Health Committee Report – motion passed.

Moment of Silence

Adjourn