2023 Annual General Meeting

Celebrates Conservation Successes of Past Year

 

 

Directors and members of the Long Point Biosphere Region  met on Wednesday October 25, 2023, at the Port Dover Community Centre for the organization’s Annual General Meeting (AGM.  The meeting celebrated a successful year of program work and saw the approval of financial statements and the election of directors. In a first for the Biosphere, the meeting offered fully operational hybrid participation giving members the option of in-person and online attendance.

Our project managers Cynthia Brink and Sarah Emons had the opportunity to highlight program work related to  road mortality mitigation along the Long Point Causeway, the visit of the Parliamentary Secretary of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to the region,  the Biosphere’s collaboration with the Mississaugas  of the Credit Moccasin Identifier Project,  efforts to connect local students with nature, and other initiatives to promote conservation as described in our recent newsletters.

The membership also heard that the board has been busy working on governance improvements and the management of its financial statements to meet new provincial rules, a herculean task.  It also required us to re-evaluate the prior year’s financial statements to come into compliance with the legislation. Our membership thus approved the financial statements for the last two fiscal years, and appointed Millards Chartered Professional Accountants to perform an “engagement review” for the coming fiscal year.

“We are grateful to Millards – especially our auditor Alice Petheram –  all of the hard work and diligence in this exercise,” said Tom Via, the Long Point Biosphere Chair, noting that many people at the Biosphere helped in meeting the standard of the review engagement. “We’re committed to sound financial management as it underpins accountability and our ability to serve our partners and funders.”

The meeting also saw the election of Tom Via and Michael VanSickle for three-year terms to the Biosphere board.  Following the membership meeting, the Board met to approve the officers for the coming year: Tom Via will continue as Chair, Paula Boutis has taken on the role of Secretary and Vice-Chair, Michael VanSickle is continuing as the Treasurer, and Brian Craig will continue as President. You can read more about our directors and program and operations team on our website.

We are looking forward to another terrific year and are grateful for the ongoing support of our membership.

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