McGill Pirate Party of Canada Club

ryan · Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 22 Location: McGill, Montreal

Ahoy friends,

I have just registered to start a formal club at McGill Called the Pirate Party of Canada Club. It will be a while before it is official, but the wheels are now turning. The plan so far is just to get a bunch of Pirate-Sympathizers together and start scheming about how to build the party. If others start sprouting up similar organizations across the country, we will be off to a good start.

Anyone in Montreal interested in working toward the formation of the Pirate Party of Canada should let me know and we'll schedule meetings.

Anyone passing through Montreal should let me know and we'll start meeting each other and sharing ideas.

For anyone thinking about starting similar organizations at other schools, I'll post the first draft of our club constitution below... it might save you some time. Please feel free to critique. Most of the document is there to satisfy the school's guidelines. We had a little fun with the preamble but there are many improvements to be made I imagine!

I'm thinking that local clubs like these might serve as a good starting point to get PPofC off the ground. First we'll try to establish ourselves locally in isolation; then we'll get the communication lines running and start wikiing together the national movement; then we'll be ready to write up the formal documents, register with the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, and really get cracking!

ryan · Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 22 Location: McGill, Montreal

Here is draft one, the formating is nasty -- sorry

McGill Pirate Party of Canada Club Constitution

Ratified by Membership on:
Ratified by SSMU Council on:

Preamble:

Whereas information and culture must be accessible to the citizens of a democracy and the sanctity of the citizen's privacy must be preserved;

Whereas these necessary tenants of democracy find themselves increasingly under threat, even as technological developments make them more realizable than ever;

Whereas there exists a well-regarded and progressive international movement which seeks to reverse this concerning trend , establishing and registering Pirate Parties to petition for appropriate information policy in countries all over the world;

Whereas these Pirate Parties add a strong, legitimate and democratic voice to the debate over information policy;

And Whereas this voice is currently absent from the Canadian discourse;

We are determined, therefore, to establish The Pirate Party of Canada Club at McGill University, which shall support the formation and registration of the Pirate Party of Canada in federal and provincial politics.

Article I: Name
1.1 The name of the organization shall be The Pirate Party of Canada Club, referred to hereinafter as the Club

Article II: Mandate
2.1 The Club’s mandate shall be to:

a) Recruit a broad range of students and members of the McGill and Montreal community who are interested in information policy

b) Foster discussions and debates about specific issues in information policy and evaluate if there is a need for a Pirate Party of Canada

c) If this evaluation yields an affirmative conclusion, contribute to the formation and registration of the Pirate Party of Canada, and continue to support the Pirate Party of Canada after it is founded

2.2Code of Conduct
2.2.1Respect shall be given to all members, always
2.2.2No member shall make personal profit from the club
2.2.3Any executive member who fails to fulfill their responsibilities shall be subject to the expulsion procedure outlined in this constitution

Article III: Membership
3.1 Membership in a Student’s Society Club is open to everyone.
3.2 Only Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and Post Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) members are eligible to be elected as officers and to hold voting privileges.
3.3 Associated non-voting membership is open to all others.

Article IV: Executive Committee
4.1 The Executive Committee (EC) shall administer the Club and oversee its events.
4.2 The EC is composed of the following five portfolios:
1.President
2.Vice President External
3.Vice President Internal
4.Treasurer
5.Secretary
4.3 The EC shall meet as frequently as it deems fit.
4.4 At least three of the five EC members must be present at an EC meeting in order for quorum to be met.

Article V: Portfolios
For the traditional approach mentioned above, the following might be a core structure. Make sure to adapt these to the activities of your club.
5.1 The President shall:
5.1.1Be the chief executive officer, chief representative, and chief spokesperson of the Club.
5.1.2Oversee all aspects of the club.
5.1.3Ensure the smooth running of the Club as a whole through facilitation of, and mediation with, the various EC portfolios with a vision that is consistent with the Club mandate.
5.1.4Chair all EC meetings.
5.1.5May cast the deciding vote in the event of a EC deadlock
5.1.6Co-sign all financial transactions with the Treasurer.
5.1.7Co-sign all minutes with the Secretary.
5.2. The Vice President External shall:
5.2.1Act as representative of the Club to the community within and outside of the University.
5.2.2Be responsible for developing healthy relations with student and community organizations within and outside McGill, and particularly those in the Montreal area.
5.2.3Be responsible for promoting the image of the Club to the community within and outside McGill University.
5.3The Vice President Internal shall:
5.3.1Be responsible for communication within the EC and with the Students’ Society of McGill University.
5.3.2Maintain the membership list of the club.
5.3.3Oversee and coordinate the programming activities and events of the club
5.4The Treasurer shall:
5.4.1Oversee and coordinate funding for the programming activities and events of the club
5.4.2Co-sign all financial transactions with the President.
5.4.3Ensure the funding and financial stability of the club.
5.4.4Keep track of all financial transactions and receipts in order to prepare the biyearly audits for the SSMU
5.5 The Secretary shall:
5.5.1Take minutes at EC and general meetings, and ensure proper distribution of all minutes
5.5.2Co-sign all minutes with the President.
5.5.3Shall be responsible for booking and arranging meeting rooms, organizing and obtaining refreshments, and drafting agendas for general meetings.

Article VI: Fees
6.1 In the spirit of openness and accessibility there is no membership fee for the club.

Article VII: Finances
7.1 The EC shall examine the financial records, and prepare an audit, complete with records of all transactions and receipts, to be submitted to the SSMU at the end of each semester
7.2 All club bank accounts must be kept at Scotiabank as subsections of the SSMU account
7.2.1Each account must have a minimum of two signing officers
7.2.2In order to receive funding of any kind from the SSMU, the club must have a Scotiabank account

Article VIII: Meetings
8.1 There shall be a General Meeting held in March for the purpose of electing new members to the EC.
8.2 Regular Executive and General meetings shall be held throughout the fall and winter terms.
8.3 Special Meetings shall be called at any time deemed necessary by the EC and/or Committee Chair.

Article IX: Electoral Procedures
9.1 The Vice-President (Clubs & Services) of SSMU or his/her representative shall be the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) with final authority over electoral procedures and validity of results.
9.2 The general membership must be notified of the date of the general meeting 2 weeks in advance to the date of the General Meeting called for elections purposes.
9.3 Elections are to be held before March 31 during the previously mentioned General Meeting.
9.4 The Executive Committee may designate Deputy Electoral Officers (DEOs) to assist the running of elections in consultation with the CEO.
9.5 Elections are to be conducted by secret ballot in person.
9.6 Ballots must be kept in a secure place for 5 weeks after the date of voting.
9.7 The Vice-President (Clubs and Services) should be notified immediately in the event of contested electoral results

Article X: Constitutional Amendment Procedure
11.1Any member of the club may propose an amendment to the Constitution.
11.2order to amend the constitution a two-thirds majority vote at a General Meeting must be in favor of the proposed amendment
11.3All amendments shall be ratified by the SSMU council before they take effect.

Article XI: Bylaws and Policies
12.1 The club shall create and maintain bylaws that cover the operations of the club which are not specified in the Constitution
12.2 The club’s bylaws shall not contravene the Constitution.

Article XII: SSMU Constitution
13.1 In case of any inconsistencies between the Club Constitution and the SSMU Constitution and By-Laws, the SSMU Constitution and By-Laws shall take effect.
13.2If there are any areas not covered in this Constitution, the SSMU Constitution and By-Laws shall take effect.

Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the students present on this, the third day of March in the year of our Lord two thousand and nine.

In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names
.....

Zblewski · Joined: 27 Dec 2008 Posts: 31 Location: Greater Sudbury, ON

If McGill serves as the stepping stone, then that's fantastic for other campuses across the nation. Brilliant move, and I hope other Canadians here and outside the movement take note. Remember that good organization and good media is the key, and it'll do wonders.

jeremy_mccurdy · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 6

Fantastic! If you want, feel free to add article about the club on the wiki I set up:
http://pirateparty.wikia.com

If you don't want to go through the process of editing and such on the wiki, if you send me any written articles or the finalized version of your constitution, I'd be glad to add it for you.

Georges · Joined: 07 May 2009 Posts: 3

Go for it & push for proportional representation at the same else we keep the status quo and nothing changes

pressedham_d · Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 3

jeremy_mccurdy · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 6

I agree, the ideals of the party should stick to copyright issues and personal privacy at least until there IS a party.

ryan · Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 22 Location: McGill, Montreal

Hi Guys,

So the McGill Pirate Party will be going full speed ahead in September when everyone gets back to school.

So far we have a couple of people who are really committed and a number who are interested, but we are definitely on the lookout for enthusiastic montreal pirates who want to get involved. Come September, we're going to start recruiting on campus and running some free culture-ish events.

So far I think everyone is happy to stick to the copyright/patent reform and privacy issues. Most people I've spoken with agree that we should not present ourselves as too radical or too goofy. Our name and symbols are fun and funny, but I think we do want to be taken seriously... which means we'll need to have a well-informed and not-too-unrealistic agenda for how intellectual property, privacy, net neutrality and internet accessibility policies OUGHT to be in Canada.

We want to gather a lot of momentum very quickly with this group, so I'd really appreciate hearing any great ideas about how to find Pirates and get them to come out to meetings.

So far we have a few ideas about how to get people involved and make ourselves visible. If anyone has any great ideas about events or tasks that our new pirate party club should be running, let us know.

I figure our first set of priorities will be:
a) to recruit extremely actively and try to get as many interested people from as many disciplines as possible
b) to start to discuss information issues and whether we need a registered PP in Canada
and c) to start networking with other Canadian PP groups, trying to get other clubs like ours off the ground at Canadian universities, trying to get the official wiki's and/or websites and/or other communications channels up and looking good.

Thats it for now, we'll keep you posted. Tell your friends in Montreal about us. Or, do as us, kopimi, and get pirate/open-culture organizations sprouting up around the country.

Cheers,

Ryan

cpt_chris · Joined: 07 Jun 2009 Posts: 10

i am a current student at dawson college and i'd like to be part of this movement so i'm keeping my eye on this group and will attend events once the 09-10 school year begins. you seem really serious about this and it would be great to have a group in montreal concerning the main issues as described by the pirate party. we should focus on these issues and come up with ideas to spread the word offline and online to others in montreal and all of canada.
as groups like these come together discussions can continue and an official site and list of policies can be made.
if we don't protect the internet we could end up with a censored, monitored "sponsored by rogers" internet that will be no better than television. i want to fight for the internet and defend innovation and information.
take care.

stainedart · Joined: 08 Jun 2009 Posts: 5

Im at concordia!

and i am ready to propagate the good news there!! Very Happy

stainedart

cpt_chris · Joined: 07 Jun 2009 Posts: 10

i really think the good news in the eu has sparked a second wave for this movement like it did after the pirate bay trial.

ryan · Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 22 Location: McGill, Montreal

Its great to see the enthusiasm! There are several others who plan to get involved in Montreal also... So I think we are going to have a very lively movement sparking up!

I figure we'll try to get everyone who is interested together for a big general meeting at the beginning of September where we will try to coordinate how we are going to run the Montreal group (or groups?!).

We'll discuss dates and locations here, so watch this thread.

Spend the summer spreading the word, getting more and more informed, thinking about what kind of events/recruitment efforts we want to get involved in, and inviting the friends you know are concerned with information policy to get involved!

I have a lot of optimism

Ryan

stainedart · Joined: 08 Jun 2009 Posts: 5

Hey,

you have the chart and all, i was wondering for the website if you had any logos or flyers that were done already ? could save some work and a uniform look is always better !

stainedart

ryan · Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 22 Location: McGill, Montreal

So far we've only been using the images from this forum.

http://www.pp-international.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=155&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

mike · Joined: 09 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

Great to see some movement in Montreal! Count me in.

I agree that it is critical to stick to the core issues. To my knowledge all of the European PPs said that they would not get involved in non-core topics and that still got the Swedes their seat. Ergo it is possible to gain critical mass even with a very narrow but high-impact agenda.

I would however propose a meeting before September to be able to maintain the current momentum and to build an initial strategy. From my experience at university (not McGill), volunteers always need something to do from the first day on, otherwise they would quickly lose interest. Therefore something should be ready when the first students show up in September.

Is a meeting over a cup of coffee in June realistic? I am a working citizen, so outside office hours only please Smile