QUESTIONS
Are you concerned about transitioning to a new board, given so many of the current board have been serving for so long and so many are leaving the board – won’t this amount to a “brain drain” that will impact the SPCA?
Everyone on the current board is responsible for writing up what was done, how it was done, and this information will be passed over to new board members. Examples – how to do the Canada Day parade and the dog job are already written up. Also, we are not going away – we just don’t want the responsibility to keep on in the same roles. We will be available to help with the transition. A lot of these things are well organized. The coil bound books (2006) provide background.
What king of time commitment is involved in being a Board Member?
That really depends on what committees you are on, and how many events and activities you want to be involved in. It is busier around event times which are typically twice a year. The calendar takes quite a bit of time.
Are the events the same every year?
The events and activities have been the same for a while because we are a small group and our Board has really been “maintaining” operations. It is easy to do the things you did before because you know how to do them. There is nothing stopping the newly elected board in September from taking on new initiatives and dropping past events or activities. Most current events we organize take place between May and November. December to April is pretty quiet. It might be easiest for new board to maintain what we have done in their first year to get their hands wet, but that would be the decision of the new Board.
We also have a list of ideas that the Board has had, but that we have not implemented, so there are some alternative ideas that new Board members could take a look at as starting points. We do have volunteer members but sometimes you don’t get a big response to requests. Like any organization, we need to have a good volunteer base for big events.
Experience has taught us that if your event involves the family pets, getting people out is never a problem.
How will the new board figure out who does what.
The new board would come into effect at the AGM, in September. If you think you are interested in the Board, you can get a feel for what interests you by coming to our next Board meeting to see what we are doing. The current By-laws require that you be active as a member for one year before you can serve on the Board, but we are looking to bring an amendment forward at the AGM to change this so we can encourage and support more active involvement. Once the new Board is elected, they will set their priorities and determine what committees are needed and people will likely put their names forward for those committees that are a match to their skills and interests.
Are your bylaws on your website?
Actually, I don’t think so, but they should be, I guess
When is your next Board Meeting?
It is on April 30th at Nova Court. Encourage folks to attend; it is a lot of fun.
Will the Board members that are stepping down stay on to assist the new Board members or continue to attend Board Meetings?
Janet indicated she would be back in capacity as Past-President to help the new President, but she was looking for a more hands-off role, now that she is expanding full time with her design company. Robin indicated she didn’t want to get sucked back in to doing everything, as she needed a break. Both indicated they would make themselves available to help new board members transition into new responsibilities. It was suggested that the dog jog in September, the parade and participation in the spring trade show are great ways to get involved as a new volunteer. It was noted that if after attending this meeting people had an interest in SPCA, but not serving on the Board, attendance at Board Meetings as a spectator would still provide opportunities to be informed and to get involved in one-off activities that were a fit.
Are you involved in animal control?
No. We used to be involved. It was good to know that we are out there. In many other communities the SPCA doesn’t do animal control. Dog control is handled in Yellowknife by City bylaw enforcement. SPCA refers calls to bylaw. If animals are abused, bylaw is there.
We have a good relationship with RCMP and City bylaw – and coming up is our “be kind to animals week celebration” and we have invited the RCMP and Bylaw. NWT SPCA board has identified that given a change in the Board is coming in September, we need to step up our relationship with RCMP and City – and the upcoming cake event celebration includes invitations to both these groups.
Is City Bylaw the ones responsible for investigating animal abuse?
YES. There is not a lot of animal abuse here. There are more likely to be neglect issues such as people leaving cats in apartments when they move or letting them out in winter and then the cat’s ears freeze. The new bill introduced doesn’t help with any of that.
Does the relationship work between the committees and the actual Board?
In an ideal world, the committees would be made up of members and some board members. The reality is that as we’re so small, it is often the Board itself that is a committee for a special activity or event. We hope that with increased members, committees could work separately on specific events or projects. A small Board for us means that we are limited to a small mandate. We are a very, very small not-for-profit.
Did you say there a capital fund set aside for shelter?
Yes. Take a look at the financial statements. Last year we had a surplus, so we transferred funds into our shelter fund.
Are you a registered charity and can you issue tax receipts?
Yes. We are a registered charity and donors get tax receipts. Our secretary is a registered chartered accountant, so she handles the matters related to accounting, and meeting financial requirements.
Are you linked with other territorial or provincial SPCA organizations?
No – there is no link between us and other SPCA’s. Each SPCA operates independently. We are a member of Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, but our membership is about sharing their expertise on education and legislation. They have some national positions on things NWT SPCA does not share. For example, matters dealing with wildlife are not within our mandate, but it is for some groups who are members of CFHS. We have decided not to have wildlife in our mandate – just domestic pets. We feel there are too many cultural aspects around wildlife and that it is a sensitive issue that we prefer not to take on. We feel it is best to focus on where we can make the biggest impact, which is why we are focusing only on domestic pets.
There are a lot of people shooting and wasting caribou meat? Does your organization have a position on that or get involved?
Wildlife caribou waste is not in our mandate. Domestic animals is our mandate. The territorial government handles the monitoring of wildlife and sets regulations for caribou and does monitoring and law enforcement on these matters. This is the view of this board at this time.
Are most other SPCA’s connected in some way to protecting wildlife?
No. Typically they are focused solely on domestic pets. Some boards may choose wildlife, this board has chosen not to. This is not something we get involved in.
Does this board have a position on the shooting of the polar bears?
Our mission is about domestic pets. Each of us here probably has an opinion that is personal about the polar bear situation, but our SPCA mandate is domestic pets, so tonight’s meeting is not the forum to get involved in polar bears. It is a controversial and frustrating for many, but we are not hear to talk about that at this forum but we welcome you to come out to our board meeting at the end of the month where we usually end up discussing things like that.
What was the vision for the shelter and where did you get to?
Research was completed. We visited the Canmore and Calgary shelters and saw the magnitude of work to build and operate a shelter was overwhelming for our small group. We have had discussions with the City to get land. As many here know, there is no land available and what has been made available has not been appropriate for what we needed. Beyond the capital costs, the cost for ongoing operations including things like WCB insurance was overwhelming. The information on how to build is available from other shelters. Edmonton is still working on building a shelter. The land is the first step. You can’t get funding until you have land.
How do those other shelters keep themselves running?
They have huge populations and some have private and core funding to keep alive. In Whitehorse a number of vets contribute cash and in kind services. There is not enough population in Yellowknife and only one vet.
Has Dr. Pisz ever been approached to add a structure on his land?
This has been considered, but they are a business that runs a shelter. They handle adoption for homeless animals, set adoption guidelines etc. They have the city pound contract and get money from the city to take in the strays, so for SPCA, it would be a financial issue. There are also restrictions regarding who SPCA can give money to. We couldn’t just say here is $30,000 to help build a new building. As an organization that accepts charitable donations, we cannot give those funds to private businesses. We did look at how to get land and they did discuss building but we did not want to lock future boards into dependence on one local business.
So do we have to wait until September to get involved or can we start showing up to monthly meetings?
Elections are not until September, but you can get involved now as a member and volunteer. Our current Bylaws require members to have served for a one year period before they can be elected to the Board, but we are working to change this.
Does that mean we have no say?
It means that until you are a member of the Board, you cannot vote at Board meetings. You still can join a committee and volunteer.
Do you ever have more than one meeting a month?
We tried. when we had more people to have separate committee meetings, but since we are small, often the lines between a Board Meeting and committee meeting are blurred and more often than not they are one in the same. We might have a special meeting for special events sometimes.
What is your decision making process.
We have to follow our bylaws. We talk something through to get a consensus. If we cannot get a consensus, then we take a vote and 51% wins the decision as per our bylaws. I can only think of two instances when we have had to go to a vote. The board has to approve all expenditures.
About cats – what is the cat situation in Yellowknife? Are there stray cats and is there a bylaw for cats?
There is no bylaw in YK for cats. There is a stray cat population in downtown Yellowknife downtown over behind the Explorer Hotel. It is not a huge population, but what we know is that it is best to just leave them alone as they are not likely to be able to transition to being domesticated.
Do the members of the SPCA assess the animals or does Great Slave Clinic?
Medical evaluation is done by Great Slave Animal Hospital. Our role is to write adoption descriptions of animals. If we know the animal bites, we don’t typically advertise it for adoption, although the Animal hospital will still work to get it out for adoption.
Do you have a pet fostering program?
No. We tried. The person who is fostering has to pay for the entire adoption fee to the Great Slave Animal Hospital, as it is their program and their animals. We have nothing to do with fostering at this time.
If NWT SPCA had a shelter, would they get the bylaw contract to run the pound?
Not necessarily. It could be tendered and we may not be selected. We do know that Great Slave Animal may like to give up the pound contract, but the SPCA is not in a position to take it on.
