Foster Kids vs. Profit Corporations

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Catégorie: Justice sociale

Quand: 03:14 21 août 2008 au 03:14 21 août 2009

Introduction

The Foster Care Council of Canada has embarked on a campaign advocating for all children and youth who are Society Wards and Crown Wards (foster children) under the legal custody and control of a Children's Aid Society to be afforded the same rights and privileges that members of the community enjoy when they become “Regular Members” of a Society.

Before we get into the campaign, compare the high degree of transparency and accountability a profit corporation has in contrast to that of Ontario's Children's Aid Societies.

Profit Corporations
Large, profit corporations are governed by a Board of Directors. Those Directors are elected by people who are called "Shareholders". Shareholders are people who invest money in the corporation by purchasing "shares".

Therefore, because people can invest their own money in a corporation of their choice through the purchase of shares, those shareholders are given certain rights and priviliges to have their voices heard by the Board of Directors and the Board of Directors have certain legal obligations to those shareholders.

Money = Rights
Because the shareholders have invested their money in the corporation, they have the right to inspect the financial documents of the corporation, to call special meetings of the shareholders if they feel it necessary to resolve an issue of concern to them, and many, many other rights and priviliges.

Those rights and priviliges are outlined in Federal and Provincial Legislation such as the Canada Corporations Act and the various provincial Corporations Acts if they are provincially incorporated.

By-Laws
There are even more rights and priviliges assigned to shareholders within the corporations governing "Constitution" or "By-Laws". These governing instruments are specific to that particular corporation as created by the Board of Directors and approved by the shareholders.

So in review, large profit corporations are governed by a Board of Directors who are elected by shareholders, who have rights and priviliges as stipulated in the corporation's By-Laws. The Directors must answer to the shareholders as they are the ones who have placed their own money into the pockets of the large corporation to assist them in conducting their business.

Compare
Large profit corporations, through their Directors, go to extreme lenghts to ensure that they are accountable to their shareholders who elected them and who entrust them to operate the corporation how they want it to be operated.

Profit corporations, for example one that we are all familiar with (Tim Horton's) are very open and honest (transparent and accountable) to their shareholders as evidenced by their publicly accessible Principals of Governance, Governance Guidelines, Committee Membership, Audit Committee, Pre-Approval Policy, Audit Committee Charter, Compensation Committee Charter, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Charter, and Board of Directors Principles of Governance - Philosophy, Role and Mission.

External Oversight
Tim Hortons also has a public listing of the companies and individuals who monitor and analyse their performance. Look at the overwhelming number of corporations who "monitor" Tim Hortons.

BMO Capital Markets David Hartley
CIBC World Markets Perry Caicco
Citigroup Investment Research Glen Petraglia
Cowen and Company Paul Westra
Credit Suisse Winston Lee
Goldman Sachs Steve Kron
JP Morgan John Ivankoe
Merrill Lynch Rachael Rothman
National Bank Financial Jim Durran
RBC Capital Markets Irene Nattel
Research Capital Stuart Morrow
Scotia Capital Turan Quettawala
TD Newcrest Adina Bloom
UBS Securities Vishal Shreedhar


Legal Transparency and accountability
They also go on to publicly report on the number of and content of lawsuits against them in their regulatory filings.. ( http://www.timhortons.com/en/about/filings.html )

Children's Aid Societies
Now, try and find the same level of transparency and accountability at any of the websites of Ontario's 53 Children's Aid Societies listed on the following page. Visit their web sites and find their policies on governance, membership information, detailed financial information, etc.( http://www.oacas.org/childwelfare/locate.htm )

Our Ward Membership Campaign
Children's Aid Societies are non-profit corporations which are governed by a community elected Board of Directors. The Societies offer members of their community "Regular Memberships" which gives them as members certain

Affording Society Wards and Crown Wards these rights would enable them to oversee and participate directly in the development of their Society's programs and services which seriously impact their lives for years.

Lack of Oversight
Since the Ministry of Children and Youth Services has prevented the Ombudsman of Ontario from having oversight of Children's Aid Societies in in the province, this campaign is more important than ever in ensuring that children under the care and control of a Children's Aid Society are empowered to have their voices heard regarding the services they receive from them.

If you wish to see the rights of children who are under the custody and control of all Children's Aid Societies strengthened, please contact us so we can discuss what it is you can do to help, which does not require money, but does require a phone call or two on your behalf to get the ball rolling.

To start, call your local Children's Aid Society and ask them if their Wards are able to become non-voting members of their Society... if they don't understand what you are talking about, give us a call at 613-228-2178 and maybe we can talk about you getting a membership in your local Children's Aid Society so you can see for yourself what is going on.... or not!
at 8:43 PM Labels: Ward Membership
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2008 CAS Membership Awareness Campaign
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INTRODUCTION

Children's Aid Societies are non-profit corporations. As such, they are governed by a Board of Directors. Also, members of the local community can apply to become what are called Regular Members. The Societies offer memberships as a means of ensuring that the programs and services they provide are supported by their community.

Society members can hold their respective Society and members of the Board of Directors accountable through elections during their Annual General Meetings (AGM).

If an issue of concern to the members (which could be you) arises before the next AGM, and they can drum up enough support amoung themselves, (1/10th of the members according to the ss. 295 of the Corporations Act) they can requisition the Board to call a member's meeting regarding the issue with a view to coming to some kind of resolution or change -- such as the introduction of, or an amendment to, a Society's Policy or By-Law.

If there are problems between the Board and the members, such as things not being done as they should be, any one of them can apply to a court to resolve the issue in a fair and transparent manner.

Unfortunately not all Societies openly promote the fact that memberships are available to the members of their community. This could easily be done by making membership applications available to read in their waiting areas, printing application forms on the flyers handed to clients upon receiving services from them and other similar measures.

In response to learning how some citizens have been treated with respect to their requests for membership with various Children's Aid Societies we launched the 2008 Children's Aid Society Membership Awareness Campaign in order to inform the public of how they can better advocate for improvements to child-welfare services through memberships with their local Children's Aid Society.

PHASE I - LEGISLATIVE MOTION

As Phase I of our awareness campaign the Council was able to advocate through Andrea Horwath and her Assistant Sheila White, for a Private Member's Motion in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario which seeks from the Ontario Government through the Minister of Children and Youth Services, that all CAS's let the members of their local community know the fact that their Board meetings are open to the public and that the meeting minutes and Society By-Laws can also be reviewed upon request. The Private Member's Motion reads as follows.

41. Ms. Horwath - That, in the opinion of this House, the Government of Ontario should instruct all Children's Aid Societies to publish information electronically on their websites, where available, and in print format, readily accessible in the lobby area of each CAS office, which informs the public of their ability to attend and make presentations at the regularly scheduled Board of Director's meetings, the schedule and Minutes of those meetings, and further, in the same manner as mentioned above, to inform the public of the fact that CAS memberships are available to people who reside in, or who conduct business within the jurisdiction of each CAS, to provide details on how to apply for membership, and to provide access to the Society's By-Laws in the same manner.

The Council has recently requested a meeting with the Minister of Children and Youth Services to discuss this and other issues. You can read the letter here


What you can do
You can contact your local MPP and ask them to please support Private Member's Motion #41 by asking them to contact the Minister of Children and Youth Services and ask her to send a "Directive" to each of the Children's Aid Societies in Ontario instructing them to post on their websites and in their lobbies a shedule of Board Meetings for each year, and a notice that anyone can attend them, review their minutes and review the By-Laws of the Society upon request.

PHASE II - 2009
Phase II is still under development... more to come.

Coordonnées: johndunn@afterfostercare.ca

Lien Web pour information supplémentaire: http://www.afterfostercare.ca

par afterfostercare