ECMAS meeting February 12, 2001

[There being no secretary at the time, ECMAS was not in the habit of taking and reading minutes of these general monthly meetings. This write-up was done on a one-time volunteer basis by the girlfriend of the person identified here as Source A. It was never presented to the group or adopted as official minutes, but was supplied to me months later by the president--FC.]

Present:

Bob Bouvier Elsie Cable Gary Devries

Rick Fowler Bev Fowler Will Schaffrick

Ferrel Christiansen George McGeough Jiggs Haiden

[Source A] [the girlfriend] Ron Dupuis

Wayne McDonald Lyn Yaremko

Meeting called to order at 7:01pm

NEW BUSINESS

1. Crime Prevention Application – ([the girlfriend])

The Alberta Justice has acknowledged receipt of the Grant application, and once there has been word on a decision, the board will hear about it.

2. There was a recommendation to have a meeting with John Booth. Gary Devries will arrange this. He will also try to find some people who can also attend this meeting with John to discuss several issues pertaining to custody and access. Some of which are:

- Access coordinator amendment to the bill

- Reciprocal access agreement

- Notice of Motion for “exercise of Parenting Time”

- Some coordination of the education act, or dealings with day homes and childcare facilities in order to obtain access or information about one’s child.

3. Jiggs presented the opportunity for a second location to hold another weekly support group meeting in St. Albert. There were concerns about someone not being able to provide adequate legal expertise at these second meetings. A solution to this would be that the meetings could hold a bit of a different focus. [The vote was that only emotional support would be given, not legal help. The girlfriend's failure here to present the wording of the formal motion, even being vague about the different "focus", would appear to reflect a reluctance to fully report that decision, which her boyfriend disliked.] Approval was given to try another weekly meeting for a period of 8 weeks. At which time Jiggs will report back to the board the progress of these meetings. [Source A] will chair these meetings along with Jiggs. [Back] The help line will promote this support group as well as the Tuesday night support group meetings.

Ferrel suggested having some “information” style presentations for people to attend. He has a list of several contacts that have expressed interest in doing these presentation information sessions.

4. George McGeough, a social worker, will talk with Jiggs and produce a handout to give out to the support group attendees.

OLD BUSINESS

1. Bob informed people that he is looking for people that have “human rights charter violations”. Bob will give more details as this progresses.

2. The board is meeting on Monday February 26, 6:30pm at [the girlfriend’s] house, to go over the bylaws, make changes and get these done. At last! [the girlfriend’s] address is [address, phone omitted]. Everyone who is able to come is asked to bring a chair, as seating is limited. There is plenty of room for the chairs, just no chairs. [Correction--it was an ad hoc-committee meeting, not one of the ECMAS Board]

3. Rick Fowler, once these bylaws are in place is going to bring them when he meets with Kevin Quayle.

4. Next “Law Day” is Saturday April 21, 2001.

5. Parking at the new meeting location. If you park in the paid parking at the West of the building, remember to bring in your parking pass and stamp it for free parking. The stamp is on the same table where the free coffee is set up.

6. There are Board member positions open, if anyone is interested or knows someone that may be interested or would be a good candidate, please forward your name to Bob Bouvier.

Meeting adjourned at 9:05