Vision Vancouver 2010 Annual General Meeting

On Wednesday, April 28, Vision will be holding its fifth Annual General Meeting at the BCIT Downtown Campus (555 Seymor Street). Registration will begin at 6:00 PM and the meeting will start at 7:00pm. There will be live musical entertainment during registration.

The meeting will feature a speech from Mayor Gregor Robertson and party's Co-Chairs. In addition, the AGM will also see the election of the party’s next Board of Directors and other party business. If you have any questions about the meeting, feel free to call the Vision office at 604-568-6913 or email info@votevision.ca

There will be a social event at the Railway Club  immediately after the meeting concludes.  We hope you will decide to spend the evening with us so we can celebrate our accomplishments together.

PROPOSED BY-LAW CHANGES:

Vision Vancouver is five years old this year. As a party, we’ve been through two elections and two sets ofnominations meetings. The Board of Directors decided it was time to do a full review of the Constitution and By-Laws to ensure they reflect best practice and to ensure we have the tools to effectively govern the organization

There are no changes suggested for the Constitution. The Board is presenting to five special resolutions forchanges to the by-laws. The proposed changes are outlined in the attached document.

CANDIDATES FOR THE BOARD EXECUTIVE:

David Eaves
An expert in negotiating and public policy, David publishes regularly on public policy in the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail and Embassy Magazine. As a negotiation consultant, David works with leading companies across North America, helping them develop and implement strategies for maximizing value from partnerships, alliances, customers, and suppliers. In addition, David works with non-profits and government agencies, consulting on public policy and strategy. In the past he volunteered extensively with Canada25, a non-profit think-tank that engages Canadians aged 20-35 around the world in public policy debates. In this capacity he served as Canada25's lead author of "Charting a New Path: A Compass for Canada's Future,” written at the request of the Privy Council Office. In 2004 was lead author of "From Middle to Model Power: Recharging Canada's Role in the World.” David was an Action Canada Fellow and held a Sauvé Scholar Fellowship at McGill University in Montreal. Born and raised in Vancouver, David is a graduate of Queen's and Oxford University. David is currently currently the Policy Committee Chair of Vision.

Denise Taschereau
Denise is the Co-Founder of Fairware Promotional Products Ltd, a Vancouver based company specializing in ethically sourced, sustainable custom branded promotional products. Previous to launching Fairware, Denise was the Director of Sustainability and Community for Mountain Equipment Co-op for seven years. At MEC she was responsible for overseeing MEC’s national efforts to be a leader in social and environmental responsibility. Denise is currently currently the internal co-chair of Vision.

Denise was on the board of BEST for over 3 years, including one year as the Chair of the Board and Chair of the Board Development Committee. She was an inaugural Fellow of Action Canada, a national public policy leadership program and sat on the City of Vancouver’s Ethical Sourcing Policy Task Force. Prior to MEC, Denise spent two years as the Director of Policy and Communications for the Recycling Council of BC. She has a Masters in Resource and Environmental Management from SFU and lives in East Van with her partner, their two children, and lots of bicycles.

Shauna Sylvester
Shauna Sylvester is a Fellow at the Simon Fraser University Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue and the Director of Canada’s World - a national citizens’ dialogue on Canadian international policy. Prior to developing Canada’s World, Shauna co-founded and served as the first Executive Director of IMPACS – the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society, a charitable organization devoted to strengthening democracy by increasing the voice and profile of civil society and advancing media freedom internationally. Prior to founding IMPACS in 1997, Shauna worked for fifteen years with a wide range of non-profit organizations, businesses, and educational institutions in Canada and abroad. She organized the Canadian preparatory meeting for the UN Conference on Women in Beijing and served on the Canadian delegation to the Prepcom IV of the Rio Summit on environment and development.

Shauna holds a Masters in Management from McGill University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Simon Fraser University. In 2005, she was honoured with an Outstanding Alumni Award from SFU for her community service work. In 2003, Shauna was also recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in the Globe and Mail after receiving a similar award in 2000 by Business in Vancouver Magazine.

Ron Laufer
As a consultant in electoral practices, Ron has extensive experience administering electoral events in Vancouver as well as abroad. Working with organizations such as the United Nations, his beliefs in strengthening democracy have taken him to places such as Afghanistan and Kosovo as well as others like Ukraine and Austria. His extensive experience abroad has highlighted the many strengths of Vancouver, but has also provided ideas on how to further strengthen the city for the many newcomers and longtime residents alike. Ron is a firm believer in Vision Vancouver’s progressive values and has been active with the party for the past several years, including the last exhilarating municipal elections. Ron is determined to for the needy.

Ron was born and raised in Vancouver and serves on a variety of non-profit boards and committees. He holds a MSc. in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelors of Commerce from the University of Victoria. Ron enjoys biking and walking the streets of Vancouver which allows for greater interaction with the community and its surroundings. Ron is currently a member of the Governance Committee of Vision Vancouver.

Caroline Neufeld
Caroline Neufeld is a Community and Development Consultant with Jim Green and Associates. She has worked on many election campaigns and for Vision Vancouver on the 2008 civic election.

Prior to coming to Vancouver in 2008, she worked as a political advisor to former Winnipeg MP Lloyd Axworthy, and former Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray. She worked closely with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Big City Mayors Caucus on a nation wide campaign to raise awareness of Cities and how they are funded; she was the Winnipeg representative on the Winnipeg Partnership Agreement , a tri-level agreement, and was very active in the arts community in Winnipeg where she was a Board Member of Jazz Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Arts Council, and the West End Cultural Centre among others.

A strong supporter of the arts in Vancouver, Caroline has worked with the Arts Alliance, the Contemporary Art Gallery, and is a volunteer for and supporter of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.   

Tiffany Kalanj 
As the spokesperson for the OnePassNow Coalition, Tiffany Kalanj has been at the forefront of Vancouver students' call for access to fair priced Universal Transit Passes (U-Pass). Tiffany organised the largest student transit rally in BC history, the U-Pass Bash, and is at the forfront of a growing youth movement to bring real change to our underfunded transit system.

A proud member of CUPE 15, Tiffany has served on both the CUPEBC Women's Committee as well as a director on the CUPE 15 executive committee from 2005 - 2009.

Tiffany was elected as the Women's Representative on the New Democratic Youth Committee and served on the Federal Council of the New Democratic Party from 2005-2007.

Tiffany has a degree in Policical Science from Simon Fraser University and has been an Organiser for the the Students' Union of Vancouver Community College since 2004. She was a very active volunteer during both Vision civic campaigns and can be found running with friends on any given Sunday.

Sage Aaron

Sage Aaron is a Communications Officer and the new media specialist at the Canadian Office and Professional Employees union, local 378.  Sage is responsible for internal communications for the busy 14,000 member union and staffs high-profile activities including recent province-wide issue campaigns, Chinese communities outreach and the work of the organizing department. She is an accomplished campaigner with a successful track record as an organizer or volunteer during every election – civic, provincial or federal – since 2001.

Sage’s formal training in journalism has helped her develop a keen, strategic approach to all her professional activities from the challenging and complex world of membership based organizations and grassroots public outreach, to the trenches of election campaigns and the demanding work of provincial and federal constituency executives. 

Sage joined Vision Vancouver in 2005 and was a staff member on the first Vision election campaign. She is committed to the goal of ensuring a compassionate, progressive and pragmatic civic government. She has lived in Vancouver for over ten years and currently resides in the Commercial Drive neighbourhood with her partner, James.