Whitehorse Daily Star

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YG orders Many Rivers to accept members

The territorial government has ordered a Yukon society to accept nine people on its registry of members, in a decision from the Registrar of Societies shared publicly this morning.

By Palak Mangat on March 25, 2019

The territorial government has ordered a Yukon society to accept nine people on its registry of members, in a decision from the Registrar of Societies shared publicly this morning.

That’s after Many Rivers Counselling and Support Services was told to “enter the complainants who paid the prescribed membership fee on the register of members,” by the registrar, which falls under the Department of Community Services.

The department received a number of complaints about the society dating back to October 2018. After an independent investigation, it shared a copy of the subsequent report with the Star in mid-February.

The registrar then reviewed the report and was accepting submissions from the society and the complainants until March 4.

In his decision, registrar Fred Pretorius noted that in order to become a member of the society, there must be two criteria met: paying a fee and subscribing to the group’s vision.

As previously reported, the society wrote in a Nov. 22, 2018 letter that an applicant’s membership had been rejected, as it was incomplete after being submitted.

The group added the application “is not bona fide, in that it has been submitted for an improper purpose,” so would likely be rejected if the person applied again.

That’s because it felt the member did not “subscribe in good faith to the purposes of Many Rivers, but rather the evidence suggests that it is your intention to act in concert with other YEU (Yukon Employees’ Union) members as part of a conspiracy to disrupt the legitimate business activities of Many Rivers.”

The Star’s calls to the Whitehorse office went unanswered this morning. Representatives never returned media calls during the long strike and its aftermath.

The findings come after what Pretorious acknowledged were “contentious and often heated labour relations,” as workers at the society had been on strike since November 2018, before they returned to work in early February.

A short time later came layoff notices – which, in a sign posted to its Whitehorse office, noted was a result of “anticipated temporary stoppage of funding” from YG.

That stoppage came since the group had been listed in non-compliance of the act since last summer, prompting Pretorius’ investigation.

“Not only is there nothing in the evidence presented to me that would allow that conclusion to be supportable, that thinking mistakenly conflates support for the Society’s purpose with support for the Society’s existing management and its business decisions,” Pretorius wrote.

He continued that nothing in the act nor the group’s bylaws suggest it was “‘improper’ for a group of like-minded individuals to pay a membership fee to Many Rivers with the common intention of becoming members so as to rid Many Rivers of its current management and entirely reshape its operational or business model.”

Supporters have not tried to hide this intention, with some even saying publicly a new board is needed.

Friends of Many Rivers, which is not a formally-established group and does not act on behalf of the society, has staged a number of events over the past months showing support for the workers.

Past clients have suggested a new board could be a good call, at times calling the current leadership disappointing and irresponsible.

Signing up for membership and being accepted could grant people more say in pressuring off the existing board, a past client told the Star in February.

As for what’s next, the department notes the immediate step is following the order of the registrar.

“Once they’ve set up their revised registry, they need to issue proper notice to all of their members of the scheduled AGM,” Bonnie Venton Ross, with Community Services, explained this morning. That includes the members who were ordered to be added.

The AGM requires a 21- to 60-day notice period, and all documents that need to be submitted to the registrar like financial statements will need to be approved at that AGM before being passed on to YG.

While there were a number of complaints received about the society, Venton Ross said, the registrar is only able to investigate written ones. That means the order applies only to the nine complainants who documented their grievances.

As previously reported, the complaints alleged that the society did not respond to 22 membership applications made in September 2018.

Meanwhile, the newly-launched Community Counselling Support Services Society will have its founding meeting beginning at 5:30 this afternoon at the Gold Rush Inn Town Hall.

Comments (10)

Up 5 Down 3

Johnson on Mar 29, 2019 at 4:32 pm

You know it is illegal for board members to receive renumeration or compensation for board work with a society?

What sharks? - these are concerned citizens taking huge amounts of day out of their busy lives to help restore an important service that members of our community depend on for their very lives sometimes.

This is an organization that shut itself off from the democratic process and tried to shield it's executive director from outside scrutiny. They deserve what they get.

The Liberals can barely run their own caucus office, never mind have the time to be stacking boards with their membership.

Up 12 Down 2

My Opinion on Mar 27, 2019 at 7:32 pm

@Karl
I was thinking the exact same thing. Saw this happening in several areas I was involved, right after the last election. Must be an organized thing, can't be a coincidence.

Up 5 Down 14

Moose on Mar 26, 2019 at 9:43 pm

@myopinion I agree. Meanwhile you have the Yukon Party demanding the government keep increasing the funds to every organization with their hand out. Thank god they aren't still in power doling out taxpayer dollars to literally everyone.

Up 17 Down 6

Karl on Mar 26, 2019 at 3:24 pm

The Liberals seem to like overloading NGO boards with their own partisan members to force a particular outcome. Don't forget about the Porter Creek Community Association:
https://www.whitehorsestar.com/News/liberals-accused-of-trying-to-gag-association

Up 25 Down 3

It's happened before on Mar 26, 2019 at 8:47 am

This sounds like the Humane Society all over again when Shelley wouldn't accept new memberships...

Up 12 Down 11

Councelling is a neccessity on Mar 25, 2019 at 10:48 pm

I'm glad that Mr. Pretorius got involved...too many shady dealings which result in people not getting the mental health care that they need.

Up 21 Down 3

My Opinion on Mar 25, 2019 at 7:06 pm

This sounds just like the Humane Society. What is going on in these NGO's. Too much money being metered out by this Government I think. Money corrupts.

Up 6 Down 5

Edie rue on Mar 25, 2019 at 6:47 pm

Oddly, the most aggravating thing about this article is the way the Register spoke. There’s no need to communicate like that, it took me several reads before I figured out what was going on .

Up 16 Down 16

Max Mack on Mar 25, 2019 at 4:13 pm

A regrettable decision. The message is that you can control an NGO and its board simply by stacking the membership, as the union clearly tried to do in this case. Something in my gut tells me that the Liberals were also involved behind-the-scenes in this devious little campaign.

Board members on existing NGOs should take Pretorious' decision to heart.

Up 24 Down 9

Groucho d'North on Mar 25, 2019 at 3:17 pm

Some big money in the water so the sharks are circling. Or do you still believe this is about delivering counselling services?

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