• UUs of the Salish Sea: You Are Invited!

  What:  General meeting to discuss membership criteria When: Sunday June 7, 2-4 pm.
  Where: Molly Nye House, 940 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver

  Light refreshments will be provided. We recommend you attend in person if you are able, but we will provide a Zoom option.

  Items for Discussion

  PREAMBLE

  This material is intended to help us develop policies and procedures consistent with the bylaw we approved a year ago.  It assumes that we will be maintaining a “register of members”.  At the time we began our dialogue on this subject, there were those among you who objected to the very idea of us having “members” at all.

  While our research clearly indicates that we must maintain a membership roster if we are to gain or maintain official recognition either Provincially or Federally, we would like to hear from any of you who objected to the idea so we can better understand the reasons behind them.

  BACKGROUND MATERIALS

  Article 1: Membership of our bylaws reads:

  Individuals who support all the Canadian Unitarian Council’s (CUC) Principles, support the purposes of the society and who agree to abide by the congregation’s Covenant of Healthy Relations as well as the Community Covenant are eligible to apply for membership.

  Admission may be granted by agreement of current members following the Society's Procedures.

  Members in good standing may participate in all decisions of the Society,            including those that occur at annual General Meetings or at Special Meetings.

  Members who behave in ways that are found to violate the Covenant of Healthy Relations (CHR) will be subject to procedures and processes as may be established by the general membership.

  Behaviour that threatens the safety and well-being of any member of the Society or people in the broader community may result in that person’s membership being revoked.

  Our task now is to create policies and procedures needed to implement this bylaw. Thus far the Membership Task force have agreed on the following general process:

  Someone applying for membership should be familiar with Unitarian Universalism, with the nature of our own congregation, and specifically with our Mission, Vision and Covenants.  They should also be prepared, in writing, to abide by our Principles, and Covenants. (This process still needs to be fleshed out in more detail)

  DISCUSSION ISSUES

  We have identified several issues that require your direction:

  1.What does becoming a member mean? What does it imply?  What kind of commitment does it imply? (This is distinct from asking what does it allow us to do, such as the ability to vote at general meetings, please note,)

  2.How stringent should the Membership Circle be in recommending someone for membership? Two extreme options:

• a.        Strict: candidates should be formally interviewed and, and if from another UU congregation that congregation should be consulted as to their behaviour while there;
• b.        Generous: people’s prior activity is irrelevant. What matters is their behaviour with us.  Signing agreement with our covenant of healthy relations should suffice.

Of course, you may decide on selecting an option somewhere between these two positions. Where would you like us to stand on this issue?

3.Should the membership as a whole decide at a General Meeting whether or not someone, upon the recommendation by the Membership Circle, should be admitted (or removed) as a member?

If yes, then we will develop a process (for example) that would entail the Membership Circle sending out the names of the candidates to the full membership asking if anyone with knowledge of these people has any issues with any of them. If so, they would send their concerns to the MC who would look into them. A final list of recommended candidates would then go to the full congregation for approval.

If no, then with whom should the final decision reside?

4. Wherever the final decision resides, someone will have to develop a detailed process for dealing with members who violate the covenant. Likely, this work will be carried out by the team working on developing the Healthy Relations covenant, hopefully with the participation of members of the Membership Team. Would you like to be part of this process?

Your Membership Task Force:  John Slattery, Joy Silver, Jessica Motherwell, Robyn Newton