PROBLEM: No protection for staff and elected officials...

Here's some of what happened in 2005...

• A number of long-time Society staff were fired or quit because they spoke out against fraud being conducted by some elected officials.
  
  
• Steve Lee, Laura Anderson, Kristina Kearly and Rigel Vincent had their membership rights removed at the September 29, 2006 Special General Meeting of the Society, for speaking out against the fraud being conducted by some elected officials. These removals were found to be out of order in the October 28, 2005 Report of the Ombudsperson into the September 29, 2005 Special General Meeting.
  
  
• Manny Dhaliwal, Kayce Hopwood, Mathew Huff, Marianna Nahkla and Kyle Sanker are just a few of the elected officials who were removed by the KSA's Board of Directors in 2005. These removals may be out of order for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to:
  
  
  • The fact that the forms used to serve notice to the KSA Board of Directors of the intent to impeach Manny, Mathew and Marianna only contained the signature of Aaron Takhar. This is questionable because:
    
    
    • Under the old KSA Bylaws, only Executive Members could be removed, but to do so one had to serve notice that contained the signatures of two Executive Board members, as well as five members of Council.
      
      
    • Under the new "RAF2K5" Bylaws, notice could be served with only the signature of the President being required. At the September 29, 2005 Special General Meeting, no one was appointed to the newly created positions that existed under the new "RAF2K5" Bylaws. As such, it was clear that the Society was still operating under the old positions and could only be removed under the provisions that used to exist for those positions.
      
      
    • Finally, through some research it has become clear that the Board of Directors may not have the power to remove fellow elected officials. A British Columbia Supreme Court decision (Sangam Educational and Cultural Society of B.C. v. Gounder [1990] BCJ No. 2778) questioned the validity of Bylaws to give a Society’s Board of Directors the power to remove fellow directors. Section 31 of the Society Act provides that directors may be removed from office by a special resolution, but the decision in Sangam interprets that provision to mean that a director may only be removed by a special resolution of the members. As such, it appears that the KSA may be open to legal liability for improperly removing its directors. This is even more damning when one considers that:
      
      
      • Two of the directors who were removed (Kyle and Kayce), were removed in part so that the Reduce All Fees Party could achieve a two-thirds (2/3rds) majority on the Society's Board of Directors, thereby giving them total control over hiring and firing decisions, budget decisions, regulation amendments and more;
        
        
      • All of the above directors who were removed were found to be in conflict of interest on the question of their own removal by the KSA's Board of Directors. As such, they were essentially stopped from defending themselves and for voting in favour of keeping their positions.
        
        
      • This is even more damning when one considers that had Kyle and Kayce been allowed to vote on the question of their removal, the Reduce All Fees Party would not have had the two-thirds (2/3rds) majority that it needed to remove them.
        
        

REMEDY: Ways to protect staff and elected officials...

Here's what should be done to rectify this situation:

• Amend the bylaws to:
  
  
  • Ban the ability of the KSA to remove students from being members of the Society.
    
    
  • Create a system where students can only be placed in Bad Standing, either through the nonpayment of dues or other debts, or through a Special Resolution of the Society;
    
    
  • Remove the ability of the KSA Board of Directors to have control over the removal of its fellow directors;
    
    
  • Place the Conflict of Interest provisions into the Bylaws, thereby ensuring that they cannot be overturned or suspended by Council; and
    
    
  • Provide Whistle-Blower Protection for all staff and elected officials, so that they can speak out when things are not right.
    
    
  • The following document presents a summary of the specific Bylaw changes that could be made to ensure the safety and security of all individuals who chose to speak out against corruption and wrong-doing:
    
    
    • Bylaw changes needed to protect staff and elected officials
      
      
• Reinstate and provide backpay for all elected officials who were improperly removed as directors of the KSA. Furthermore, such backpay should:
  
  
  • not exceed the amount they would have received from the time they were fired up until March 31, 2006, which would have been the last day of the 2005-06 term of office for those officials; and
    
    
  • not exceed the original bi-weekly amount they would have received under the Regulations that were in effect at the start of their terms, as illustrated in the protecting your money article posted on this website.
    
    
• Bring legal action to have all decisions made by the KSA's Board of Directors since the improper and possibly illegal removal of voting members Kayce Hopwood and Kyle Sanker thrown out.