Greater Toronto Area Intergroup
GENERAL MEETING Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The meeting opened at 8 p.m. with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer. The 12 Traditions where read by Florence B. (Noon Rap).
THOSE MEMBERS PRESENT: Amazing Grace, Anniversary, Aurora, Back to Basics, Bayview, Beaches, Bellamy, Beverly Hills, Bloordale, Bramalea Care & Share, Brampton Recovery, City Central, Daily Reflections, East York, Erin Mills, Eventide, Fellowship, Glenholme, Golden Mile, High Park, Hill, Keep It Simple, King City, Lakeshore, Leslie, Long Branch, Markland Wood, Markham Village, Oakville, Orleta (Polish), Pine Hills, Port Credit, Principles Before Personalities, Richmond Hill, Rox Glen Traditional, Royal York, Saturday Morning Disc., St. Clements, Stepping Stones, Sunnyside, Twelfth Tradition, Unionville, Welcome, Westmoreland, Willowdale, Woodbine. District Liaisons: Districts 06, 14, 18, and 22. Subcommittee Chairs: Archivist, Corrections, Treatment, Twelfth Step, Newsletter/Website.
Adoption of Minutes (May 2008): Motion to adopt Minutes as presented moved by Dave (12 Step) and seconded by Niels B. (Hill). Motion is carried.
Opening Remarks: John M. (Thornhill), Operating Committee Chairperson
We are back to regular business and have a complete OC committee. We will have a regular schedule. We had our first special information session [re: Notice of Motion], and there were some rough spots in the meeting. However, there was some good sharing and some grey areas were illuminated. There will be another special meeting on July 15, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. (at Glebe Rd. Church), for those of you who would like new or more information.
7th Tradition: $161.96
Finance Report: Gregg W. (Rox Glen Traditional), Finance Chairperson
This past month there were no discrepancies, and we are on track. All is looking good. Our auditor delivered our Year End Report for Dec 2007. I have a limited number of copies with me; we can also e- mail them to you. I want to remind you that the Finance committee is still in need of two members. The applicants should have some accounting knowledge or people with some business experience. Please mention this service opportunity at your groups.
Questions: Bill from Bellamy Group – Do you intend to report the actual reserve amount? Gregg mentioned that it is on our year end finance statement. There have been no transactions in the last five years. The current face value is $85,000.00.
Subcommittee Reports
Ad Hoc: Lynn B. (City Central) - The Special meeting was held on the 12th. A lot of you did not understand the need for the going through this process. The original Ad Hoc committee started in Oct. 2005 as a direction from the floor due to low attendance and decreasing donations at Intergroup.
As well, the committees were having difficulty getting people involved. It was decided to have an Ad Hoc Committee started to do some fact-finding. Part of the process was to look outside at other IG’s in North America, to see how they did things.
In April 2006 a position paper was presented to the floor. And three recommendations were presented as a referendum and approved by the floor.
We are currently looking at the P & G to improve the communications on IG. Currently finance has been looking for two members for a long time and this is indicative of what is happening.
The P & G in bold italics: this document (which was presented to the Floor at this meeting)would be what the changes would be – or might look like -- using our best thinking at the moment, and what it would look like if the motion is approved. I also want to mention that Doug R made the motion, but I want to be clear that it was made at the bequest of the Ad Hoc committee.
Please feel free to contact me at the following e mail address if you have any questions: bridgesover@sympatico.ca.
It was also apparent that there is a lot of misunderstanding of the Operating P & G, which has been a problem all along.
We have been given the go ahead from the floor that this is a time for change for IG. One of the problems is that the P&G have been imposed upon you. The people who put this together are long gone. We are hoping to streamline our structure, to require less people. We currently have 18 sub committees.
A rep from the floor mentioned that we should all be patient and that this is a work in progress and all will be presented at its appropriate time.
A discussion began about 12-step calls. There were 326 12-step calls for 2006 and 146 for 2007. We are lacking in our volunteer data base. Both the still suffering alcoholic and the membership are affected adversely by this.
Accessability: Donna M. (Sunnyside) – Workshop at the Kingston Assembly was very good. We had some good questions asked of us at this event. On May 9 we attended Mayfest (cultural festival for the Deaf) which we do every year. There were a lot of teenagers this year asking questions. On May 31 we went to Info AA day. We had good attendance at our table and a lot of visitors, in addition to interest from people out of town on how they can start their own committee.
In early June we went to People in Motion. This is the largest event for people with disabilities. This was really well worth doing. We borrowed CPC’s display sign. We were also able to give a Braille Big Book to a person in need. Our next event will be District 22 Service Day on Sept 13. We have a couple of new members but we are always looking for new people. Our next meeting is on July 20 at 234.
Archives: Maire O’B. (Leslie) – We have confirmed that the Archives Breakfast will be on Sun., Nov 2 at the Oasis Convention Centre. Two speakers will be attending: Ben W from Thorncliffe Park Group and also Kay H with 55 years of sobriety from Thornhill Group.
East Toronto Archives Breakfast was held and was a great success. This is held by Dist 22 & 18 and held in May.The Archives is now in the process of moving from the 5th floor down to the 2nd floor. We will be moving to the back of the Literature Department. We are currently in the process on renovating the space. On Sept 11, 12 and 13 there is a National Archives Workshop event, in Niagara Falls USA. Next Archives meeting: Fri. July 11 at 7 p.m.
Twelfth Step Committee: Jim O. (Markland Wood) - People on the phones make a commitment to be at 234 and people are not showing up for their shifts. This is not fair to others, so please commit to your shift; if not, please call in advance. The phones are being left unattended if people don’t call ahead. The computers are now installed on the Greeter desks.
Operating Chair, John M., shared the following: the 12 step committee is probably the most important committee. It is this committee that receives the incoming calls from the still suffering alcoholic. The lack of people is totally unacceptable. It is time that people got off their but and come down and offer their time. It is time for us to give back some. These comments were applauded.
Jim: there really is a need for people to help out. For example, on a Saturday there are 9 people and on the Saturday morning no one shows up. So I have to go down to 234, or someone else has to go to cover the shift. I have not been in the position long enough to see where the problems are and am looking at this.
There are currently 164 telephone greeters.
Mike C. (Beverly Hills) mentioned that 12 step calls are not being offered and this was confirmed by Jim.
We are looking at VOIP for the future so that we will be able to forward calls. With the computers we will be able to do searches for a persons’ name on the Data Base. We currently only have the ability to have people answer the phones at 234. In the future we will be looking for alternatives, like off-site Twelfth Step work. Next meeting: Fri. July 25 at 6:30 p.m. at 234.
Website/Better Times: Marvyn W. (Streetsville Action) – July issue out now. The 8th Annual 11th step Picnic is mentioned. We have put together a beginners’ guide to general service. This is an insert in the better times this month.
We are in transition. Our editor Bernadette is rotating off the committee. We have decided to have 2 co-editors because there is so much to do. We have one person (Elaine from the Port Credit Group), and we are looking for one more person to be the co-editor. Andy our Webmaster ends in Oct. We are looking for a new Web master. If you have an interest please contact us. I want to thank the OC for allowing me to be the Chair for Website and Better times. My tenure ends in Dec, and we will be looking for a new chair person. This position has done wonders for my sobriety so I just want to say the rewards are many.
The Website: We have put on a meeting alert page; this is when a change has taken place with a group i.e. a time change etc. When this happens, an alert will show up. I just want to clarify that we have not taken off the wheelchair access indicator. It was mentioned that the literature price list is outdated and should be updated. This will be rectified. Next meeting: Sat. July 12 at 1 p.m. at 234.
Reception - Rick Mc. (Six Points): 46 groups were present this evening.
There was a MOTION made on the floor by Maire O’B. (Leslie) and seconded by Gerry M. (Fellowship) MOTION to hear reports from both the Treatment Facilities and Public information subcommittees.
John shared his personal opinion about committees not sitting in the summer time, and consequently felt that reports were not needed from those committees as a result. A lively discussion ensued among Floor members. The person that offered the motion left the meeting.
It was asked why all the sub committees are listed on the agenda, if they won’t be giving reports? John responded that the Agenda lists all the subcommittees normally, as it is a basic format; however, not all committees give reports at every meeting (i.e. seasonal functions like the ORC and WSOH).
John – Is here anything to be said for the Motion?
A vote was made for the motion. There are 10 for, and 21 against. The Motion was defeated.
The Voice of the Minority was exercised by Glen (East York Group): He is concerned that Tradition one is being abused, and shared his feelings on this process. As a result of Glen sharing the above, it was asked if anyone wanted to change their previous vote; 1 person wanted to do this.
Another vote was taken regarding allowing all sub committees at the mike tonight. The vote was 14 for and 23 opposed. The motion was defeated.
Unfinished Business
Regarding Bryan W’s (Rox Glen Traditional) Motion about the new executive secretary: He feels that the new position should be a non-alcoholic. John: He is not here now, so we cannot deal with this tonight. We will roll this over until next meeting.
New Business
Phil (Bayview): I know we are all here for service for the still-suffering alcoholic. There are some sub committees that take more time than others. I was wondering if there is a way to shorten the length of time for some of the committee reports. It was suggested that we could suggest at the beginning of the reports that they be kept brief.
Sherrin (Royal York): There are constructive ways that some of this might be handled. The committees could negotiate times before their reports come out. This is one idea.
Wes B. (Long Branch) made a MOTION that “Any change from the published Agenda be made by a vote from the floor.” The vote was 34 for and 2 against. 3 abstentions were noted. The motion passed.
John summarized: It is our [Operating Committee’s] prerogative to disband the committees as per the P & G. I don’t want this position if this is the type of crap that is going to take place. I don’t want to be attacked like we are lawyers... we are just AA members trying our best to be of service; please remember we are just volunteers like you.
Motion to close moved by Jennifer D. (Eventide); Nino (Stepping Stones) seconded. CARRIED.
Meeting adjourned with the Lord’s Prayer.
NEXT GENERAL MEETING: Tues. July 29 at 8 p.m. at Glebe Rd.