The 2005 Ontario Region annual meeting was held in Edmonton on June 17. The meeting featured two guest speakers and a focus on the political campaign to fix the Social Housing Reform Act (SHRA) so that it works for housing co‑ops.

Keynote Speakers

The Honourable John Gerretsen, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, spoke directly to concerns co‑ops have raised with the SHRA. He committed the government to working to fix the major irritants in the Act. Read a summary of the Minister’s speech.

Riki-Kay Middleton, a young member from Beaver Creek Co‑op in Waterloo, spoke about the importance of developing youth leadership in co‑ops. She outlined the positive experiences she had in the Co‑op Young Leaders program run by the Ontario Co‑operative Association and encouraged co‑ops to participate in the new youth leadership mentorship initiative launched by CHF Canada.

Resolutions

Delegates passed two resolutions submitted by members, both calling for changes to the SHRA.

Resolution R1, Fixing the SHRA: Together we can do it, calls on Ontario co‑ops to turn up the heat in the campaign to win changes to the SHRA and for the Ontario Region to make winning changes to the SHRA its number one priority in the coming year. The motion passed with unanimous support.

Resolution R2, An amendment to the Social Housing Reform Act, asked for a specific change to the Act to allow long-term members paying market rent priority for RGI assistance when they face financial hardship.

Delegates from BC joined the meeting to sing a song expressing their support for Ontario co‑ops in their campaign. Read the lyrics for Change SHRA, SHRA, sung to the tune of Que Sera, Sera. The song was written by Wendy Dragomir from Le Coeur Housing Co‑op in Vancouver, with the assistance of Thom Armstrong.

Council elections

Delegates elected two at-large Council members, Carol MacEachern and Joseph Zebrowski. Mark Paul was acclaimed as the local federation member on the Council. On June 20, the new Council held its first meeting and elected its executive.

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Long-term service awards

The Ontario Region honoured 46 co‑op housing employees for long-term service to housing co‑ops. The awards are presented to co‑op employees who have served for five, ten, 15 or 20 years as staff in housing co‑ops.

On-line and downloadable documents

• Minutes of the 2005 Ontario Region annual meeting (pdf)
• Resolutions considered at the 2005 Ontario Region annual meeting
• CHF Canada 2004 annual report (pdf)
• Report on actions taken on the 2004 Ontario Region annual meeting resolutions (pdf)
• Resolutions considered at the 2004 Ontario Region annual meeting

• Summary of Minister Gerretsen’s speech