Greater Toronto Area Intergroup

The meeting convened at 8 p.m. with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer. Twelve Traditions reading: Reg S. (Melrose).

THOSE MEMBERS PRESENT: Active, Amazing Grace, Anniversary, Bayview, Beaches, Bellamy, Beverly Hills, City Central, Crossroads B.B. Disc., Daily Relections, East York, Erin Mills, Fellowship, Glenholme, Golden Mile, Half Century, Hill, Keep It Simple, Last Chance, Living Sober, Long Branch, Maple, Midtown, Milliken, Mississauga, Mount Dennis, Mount Royal, Newmarket, Oakville, One Day at a Time, Orleta (Polish), Pine Hills, Port Credit, Prince Edward, Principles Before Personalities, Reaching Out, Richmond Hill, Rox Glen Traditional, St. Clements, Sunnyside, Thornhill, Tuesday Night Disc., Twelve Steps, U of T, Unionville, Welcome, Westmoreland, Woodbine. District Liaisons: Districts 06, 18, and 22. Subcommittee Chairs: Archives, Corrections, Treatment Facilities, Twelfth Step, CPC, P.I., Newsletter/Website, Access Ability, ORC.

Errors/Omissions: A member mentioned Item#4 (Motion by the Tues. Night Disc.) in previous Minutes; this Motion was DEFEATED (not withdrawn as recorded). 3 for the Motion; majority were against. With this error noted, MOTION to accept Minutes as amended moved by Dave K. (Woodbine), and seconded by Greg H. (Hill). CARRIED.

CHAIRPERSON’S OPENING REMARKS (Harold Y., Port Credit)

Operating Committee Elections are next month; both Reg S. (Melrose) and John M. (Thornhill), OC senior members, are standing for the Operating Chair position. We also need 3 new Juniors OC members; asked reps to announce this at their group business meeting.

Applause for the ORC! Congratulations to all those committee members/volunteers who helped with this event.

We are in the midst of a 4-year full audit. Auditors are in process; corrections are being addressed. A full audit report will follow.

Last month there was a Motion on the Floor...a lot of confusion around it. CLARIFICATION: the ad hoc recommendation committee informed GTAI about the theme of lack of communication from GTAI to the groups. Ways to improve this: Minutes on website; General Meeting summary page. Also – new budget system in place. Line items indicate were our money is spent. Also, there needs to be one point of reference for communication—currently the executive secretary was the point of contact...right now we don't have this in place. There will be a reorganization of office duties regarding the Executive Secretary position. This has recently been assessed to be a 2-day a week position. We are trying this configuration out for a six-month trial basis. We are also looking into changing how we're currently dealing with 12 step calls: suggestions for tracking calls/enquiries. Also, with the new computers for administration; we can use the old computers for this 12 step initiative.

GTAI QUESTION/SUGGESTION FORM for reps was made available.

John M. (Thornhill), senior OC member asked to address Floor regarding his behaviour last month at the General Meeting; he expressed sincere apologies to both the OC and all Floor members.

7^th Tradition: $143.61.

FINANCE REPORT (Gregg W., Rox Glen Traditional)

This is a much more detailed report, and a different format (hard accountant's format) than previously presented. Gregg referred reps to the bottom line item on page 2: We are in a loss position of just over $11,000. We are doing better than we have projected, and the numbers are better than 1 year ago. Ken C. (Literature Dept.) has resigned; Ken L. was introduced as new Librarian. On a part-time basis in this department is John P.; he will be assisting Ken with medallion engraving, etc. We are currently correcting some of our accounting procedures, and have introduced a better filing system. Thank you to Fran H. for her assistance in this reorganization.

MOTION to accept Finance Report moved by Dave K. (Woodbine) and seconded by Greg H. (Hill). CARRIED.

ACCESS ABILITY (Donna M., Sunnyside)

Committee had a table at the ORC...great conference! Two contacts re: access ability issues; one from England. Another man from Ottawa (blind) shared some suggestions and information for this committee regarding accessibility and other issues. NEXT MEETING: Sun. Apr.20 at 11 a.m. at 234.

ARCHIVES (Roy R., Trial & Error)

Report on file. The Archives Committee did not meet in March due to the weather. We are currently working on operating guidelines for the committee. When we have them detailed to our satisfaction we will make copies available to anyone who is interested. The next piece of work on our plate is to come up with clear rules for selecting material of historical relevance to receive or accept. We may not be interested in Uncle Harry’s collection of AA lapel pins. We may not even be interested in his 12 and 12 or Big Book. The Archive Breakfast last fall has netted just over $1200. I think there are still some tickets sales out there to be handed in. We will soon be starting our planning for the 2008 Breakfast. NEXT MEETING: Fri. Apr.11 at 7 p.m. at 234.

CORRECTIONS (Niels B., Hill)

CF had a table at the ORC. No meeting in April; the next CF meeting will be held 1^st Monday in May. CF Workshop: 1^st Mon in June. Committee now has a webpage.

CPC (Courtney R., Living Sober)

St Augustine seminar was well received. CPC was teamed with PI at ORC. CPC will participate in an upcoming National Conference for the American Society of Addiction Medicine. NEXT MEETING: Mon. Apr.14 at 7 p.m. at 234.

INFO AA DAY (Brad H., Bayview)

This event will be held Sat., May 31(29th annual) at Lansing United. Tickets are $5, available from group reps. NEXT MEETING: Mon. Apr.28 at 7:30 p.m. at 234.

ORC 2008 (Rene T., Silverbirch)

Thanked all for allowing Rene the honour of serving as Chair for the 2008 event. 2,801 registered. Banquet sold out. Meeting rooms packed. It was thrilling to see all volunteers involved and members having a great Conference. A more detailed report will follow next month.

PUBLIC INFORMATION (Courtney R., Living Sober)

The March meeting was well-attended. The committee has created a spread sheet of broadcasters (TV/radio) in Canada with corresponding contact names/numbers. P.I. Events Coordinator (Romana K., Rox Glen Traditional) is getting organized and current. Dist 10 initiative: meeting directories in hotels. This committee is liaising with the Twelfth Step committee concerning channeling all PI relevant calls (i.e. requests for speakers in schools). NEXT MEETING: Mon. Apr.21 at 7:30 p.m. at 234.

RECEPTION (Bill M., Westmoreland)

In attendance at this meeting: 3 district reps, 8 subcommittee chairs, 44 group reps, and 5 alternates.

TREATMENT FACILITIES (Mike C., Beverly Hills)

Report on file. The ORC: All went well. We all should be grateful to Gord H. and Area 83 for the AA Treatment Facilities literature and also Dominic A. for the use of the VCR and TV. As for the volunteers, we should all be proud of our time spent at the table, handing out TF literature and information with smiles on our faces; showing that we were indeed happy, joyous, and free. District 04: The Downsview Dells service meeting, ‘Courage to Change’, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in the Treatment Transition House for Men (1651 Sheppard Ave. W. Downsview) is going well. This meeting could use more AA guest members to show the residents in early recovery what recovery means. District 18: The Leslie Group has donated 5 copies of the Big Book and 20 GTAI meeting directories to the East General Detox. The East General Hospital Service meeting is going well. Bridgepoint Hospital (14 St. Matthews Rd.) is considering an AA service meeting. New Business: The TF subcommittee will be having an information table at Info AA Day, Sat. May 31, 2008. Gord H. Area 83 TF Chair will be supplying AA TF literature and Dominic A. (TF Alt. Chair) will again be supplying a VCR, TV, and the video tape ‘Hope’. NEXT MEETING: Thurs. Apr.17 at 7:30 p.m. at 234.

TWELFTH STEP (Jim O., Markland Woods)

Had a display at ORC and generated new volunteers. Feb. scheduling went well; March scheduling is smooth. NEXT PHONE TRAINING: Sun. Apr.20 at 1:30 p.m. at 234. NEXT MEETING: Fri. Apr.25 at 6:30 p.m. at 234.

WEBSITE/NEWSLETTER (Marv W., Streetsville Action)

WSOH: no report. 2008 Chair needed.

Ad hoc SUBCOMMITTEE (Lynn B., City Central)

The original Ad hoc committee formed in Oct 2005, and was given a 6-month mandate. The 2^nd phase started shortly thereafter; we are now in the 3^rd phase. At the last ad hoc meeting, 2 lists were discussed regarding possible changes to the current GTAI operating manual (Procedures & Guidelines): 1) Items not needing a referendum vote; and 2) Items needing a Referendum. Members will be hearing a Motion later in this meeting to this effect. Subcommittee structure: the Position Paper model proposed reduction of the subcommittees. There is a 3^rd version (radical) that proposes getting rid of subcommittee structure altogether. We need feedback on this. This committee is still researching the idea of Incorporation. They are looking at AA Ottawa (a Canadian example of incorporation – link: www.ottawaaa.org). Request from Greg (Hill) re: future ad hoc papers: put in Minutes. This information is also on the website (www.aatoronto.org). NEXT MEETING: Thurs. Apr.3 at 6:30 p.m. at 234.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: none.

NOTICE OF MOTION made by Wes B. (Long Branch) that we increase the length of tenure and sobriety requirements for the Operating Committee. Details further to this and all relevant sections of the Operating Procedures will be provided at the April General Meeting. Point of clarification made by Michael O’H. (Richmond Hill): A Notice of Motion cannot be discussed or debated during the meeting.

Francis A. (Crossroads Big Book): Al-Anon announcement—their Trillium Conference (Al-Anon’s ‘ORC-like’ event) is coming up at the end of June (Flyers available). Francis informed the Floor that there is AA participation at this event.

MOTION to close meeting moved by Wes B. (Long Branch) and seconded by Dave K. (Woodbine). Carried.