By-Law #2: Article 14: Appeals to Membership

14.1 When a Member Can Appeal

A member cannot appeal a board of directors’ eviction decision to the membership if the grounds of termination are:

  • Arrears
  • Persistent late payment
  • Domestic violence
  • An act involving drugs or violence
  • An illegal act, or
  • An act or failure to act that impairs the safety of others.

14.2 How to Appeal (for all other reasons)

  1. Notice of appeal

    A member who wants to appeal must give written notice to the co-op office within seven days after notice of the eviction decision was given.

  2. Member’s statement

    A member who appeals can include a written statement with the notice of appeal. The board of directors will give a copy of the statement to each member with the notice of meeting or separately before the meeting. This paragraph is limited by the
    Co-operative Corporations Act.

  3. Board statement

    If the member delivers a written statement that is distributed to the membership, the board of directors can deliver a written statement in response.

  4. Date of members’ meeting

    The members’ meeting to decide on the appeal must be at least fourteen days after the notice of appeal is received. The board of directors can call a special meeting to decide on the appeal or put the appeal on the agenda for another members’ meeting.

14.3 Appeal Information

  1. Limited information on agenda

    When an eviction appeal is on the agenda for a members’ meeting, the agenda will only state that there is an appeal, the name of the member or members who appealed, the unit address and a short statement of the grounds for eviction.

  2. Information package

    The co-op will prepare an information package that includes only:

    • the Notice to Appear including anything attached to it
    • the eviction decision
    • other written information that was presented by the member or anyone else at the board of directors meeting that made the decision.
      The information does not include a member’s statement referred to in sections 14.2(b) (Member’s Statement) and 14.2(c) (Board Statement). Those sections will apply if the member delivers a statement under them.

  3. Personal information about others in information package

    The board of directors may decide to omit names and/or personal information about others from the information package unless those persons give written consent to including that information.

  4. Available at office and at members’ meeting

    Members may come to the co-op office during ordinary office hours after delivery of the agenda and before the members’ meeting and read the information package. The information package will be available to all members at the meeting. Copies may not be made except by the co-op and the member who appealed.

  5. Request to distribute information

    The information package will not be distributed in advance of the meeting unless the member who appealed requests it before delivery of notice of the meeting. In that case the Notice to Appear and eviction decision will be distributed, but the board of directors may decide not to distribute some or all of the other information.

  6. Disclosure at members’ meeting

    Discussion at the members’ meeting will normally be limited to things mentioned in the information package. If the member or member’s representative brings up other things, then the board of directors or staff can disclose other relevant information, including personal information about the member.

  7. Personal information about others at members’ meeting

    If anyone wishes to raise personal information about others that is not in the information package, section 16.1(b) applies (When members raise things about someone else). This may limit the information that can be stated by the board of directors, staff or member who appealed.

14.4 Procedure at Members’ meeting

  1. Chair

    The board of directors will decide whether the meeting will be chaired by the president, another director or an outside person.

  2. Member and representative can attend meeting

    The member who appealed has the right to attend and vote at the members’ meeting. The member can have a lawyer or other representative at the meeting. The member and any representative can speak at the meeting. They can also deliver written statements at the meeting.

  3. No taping

    People present at the meeting can take notes but cannot record the meeting, whether by tape or any other device.

  4. Secret ballot

    Voting on motions about the eviction decision will be by secret ballot. This does not include procedural motions, such as a motion to end debate.

  5. Quorum

    The quorum at the meeting will be the normal quorum as stated in the Organizational By-law. If the quorum is not present thirty minutes after the meeting is scheduled to start, or a quorum is not present at the time of the vote, the board of directors’ decision is confirmed. The meeting cannot be continued on a later date.

  6. Membership decision

    The members’ meeting can confirm the board of directors’ eviction decision or replace it with any other decision which the board could have made. This includes changing any terms and conditions for a performance agreement or a conditional eviction. A simple majority vote is needed. The board decision is confirmed if the meeting does not pass a motion to change the board decision.

  7. Effective date of decision

    If a member appeals an eviction, the decision is not effective until the appeal is decided or dropped. If the appeal is not successful, the termination date will be the latest of:

    • the second day after the members’ meeting
    • the date stated in the eviction decision
    • a later date decided by the members at the meeting.