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YWCA Canada says the repeated postponing of the YWCA N.W.T.\u2019s annual general meeting (AGM) violates the northern chapter\u2019s bylaws and risks eroding public trust.<\/p>\n
YWCA N.W.T.\u2019s bylaws state that the organization must hold an AGM no later than six months after the end of its fiscal year. The organization\u2019s fiscal year closed on March 31.<\/p>\n
In a statement released Friday, the national charity said that it has spent the past several weeks engaging with the territorial organization to better understand \u201cgovernance decisions and offer support, interim leadership options, guidance, and recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement comes after YWCA N.W.T. postponed its annual general meeting for a second time on Wednesday, saying it needs time for an independent review of the organization.<\/p>\n
The meeting was first postponed in September, shortly after the dismissal of former executive director Hawa Dumbuya-Sesay. At the time, Dumbuya-Sesay said she was dismissed without being given a reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a statement earlier this week, the territorial organization said the delay was needed to allow for a \u201ccomprehensive independent third-party organizational audit and review” that would look at things like governance, leadership, workplace culture and accountability.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The national board said that although it supports “continuous improvements,\u201d it is \u201cconcerned\u201d about the resources and time required for the independent review the YWCA N.W.T. has announced. <\/p>\n
Not informed in advance about delay<\/p>\n
YWCA Canada said it did not receive advanced notice of the delays. <\/p>\n
The national board sent representatives to attend the planned AGMs before learning of the postponements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unusual that we were not engaged prior to important governance decisions,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n
YWCA Canada also said that it offered advice to the territorial office \u201cbased on established protocols,\u201d but that \u201cthose recommendations have not been fully adopted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The letter adds that the national organization has not received the information and documentation requested.<\/p>\n
It also raises concerns about board membership status and whether all members were included in recent decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a membership-driven organization, postponing the AGM delays members\u2019 ability to exercise their membership rights \u2014 rights that are fundamental to accountability, good governance, and public trust,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Since financial statements must be approved by membership, the delayed AGM also risks impacting YWCA N.W.T.’s ability \u201cto meet reporting and disclosure obligations to YWCA Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement also noted that YWCA Canada has no authority under its bylaws to intervene directly in an independent member association. It is urging the YWCA N.W.T. board to schedule its AGM as soon as possible, and temporarily stop all staffing changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this matter is not resolved in a timely manner, we are concerned that ongoing uncertainty and governance challenges risk diverting attention, time, and resources away from the vital services YWCA N.W.T. has been providing for more than 60 years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
YWCA N.W.T. says client services will not be impacted<\/p>\n
In an interview with CBC on Thursday, Lynn Napier, a board member of YWCA N.W.T. said the decision to delay the AGM was made unanimously by the board after \u201ccareful consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween the first postponement and the second postponement there was some feedback that raised some issues for the board about \u2026 due diligence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took some independent counsel and made a unanimous decision to postpone the AGM until January to allow for an independent review,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Napier said neither the delay nor the independent review will impact client services.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“Those services are going to continue. There’s no risk to any of those services,” she said.<\/p>\n
YWCA N.W.T. told CBC News that it will respond to particular questions about its bylaws early next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":943922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-943921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}