Our 2022 Annual General Meeting
The QFHSA’s 78th Annual General Meeting (AGM) is coming in early June! For the third year in a row, the meeting will be held on Zoom. The QFHSA’s staff and Board of Directors are very much looking forward to the return of our organization’s in-person events, which we hope will happen in the 2022/23 school year.
As in previous years, the QFHSA’s committees have been looking at the recent educational landscape and studying the latest legislation that will affect our parents and our students. This has led to the creation of a number of resolutions, which the QFHSA Resolutions Subcommittee will present for adoption at the AGM. The complete text of the proposed resolutions for 2022 is available here.
Join Us
Each local Home and School Association is invited to send one delegate to the meeting. Please contact the office at info@qfhsa.org or the president of your local Home and School Association.
Memories from the 2021 Annual General Meeting
The Quebec Federation of Home and School Associations (QFHSA) closed out the endlessly surprising and challenging 2020-2021 year with its 77th Annual General Meeting. Held on the evening of June 3rd, the online event was attended by delegates from over 20 local Home and School associations across the province of Quebec. They were joined by representatives from a number of organizations, including the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, and the Quebec Provincial Association of Retired School Educators. An Inspiring Presentation
The event began with a presentation by Ms. Heidi Yetman, President of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers. Ms. Yetman spoke about the challenges Quebec elementary and secondary school teachers are facing—everything from safeguarding the health of their students during the COVID pandemic to their long, laborious contract negotiations with the Quebec government.
8 New QFHSA Resolutions
The QFHSA’s Resolutions Subcommittee presented eight resolutions, all of which were adopted at the meeting. The product of timely research conducted by the QFHSA’s Education, Rights and Resolutions Committee, the resolutions focus on such challenges as the teacher shortage, curriculum problems, shortcomings in the way school elections are organized, unhealthy school buildings and the climate crisis. You can read the resolutions in their entirety here.
A Warm Welcome for New and Returning Board Members
The QFHSA is very pleased to welcome Nick Giannakoulis, Samantha Patel, and Chris Schaler, all newly-elected members of our board of directors. This year’s annual general meeting also saw the re-election of six current members of our board. The slate of directors for the 2021-2022 year is as follows:
Rosemary Murphy, President
Ginette Sauvé-Frankel, Executive Vice-President
Maxime Côté, Vice-President
Natasha Drysdale, Vice-President
Wanda Leah Trineer, Treasurer
Debi Brown, Secretary
Linton Garner, Immediate Past President
Elizabeth “Bobbi” Brown, Director
Nick Giannakoulis, Director
Samantha Patel, Director
Brian Rock, Director
Chris Schaler, Director
Outgoing directors Meaghan Dufour and Renate Sutherland were thanked for their important service to our organization.
Looking Back… and Ahead to a New Year
The QFHSA’s 202-2021 Book of Reports provides details on the Federation’s activities over the past year. In the book’s annex is our organization’s Financial Statement to December 31, 2020. This document is available below. Our local Home and School associations have more than met the challenges of this past year; they have worked incredibly hard to enrich the lives of the students and families in their school communities. Each year, the QFHSA helps local associations recognize the heroes in their midst—and there were many heroes in 2020-2021! In a year when most Home & School volunteers were not allowed inside school buildings, school staff often stepped in to lend a hand for Home and School initiatives. It is no surprise, then, that this year’s list of Unsung Heroes includes staff from several schools alongside Home & School volunteers. All of our Unsung Heroes and our Golden Torch leaders deserve our sincere thanks for their perseverance and drive during this unforgettable year. The complete list of the year’s award recipients along with the winner of the QFHSA Newsletter Award is published in the summer issue of the QFHSA News (available in early July). The QFHSA looks forward to the 2021-2022 school year with much anticipation and hope for our local Home and School associations.
Memories from the 2020 Annual General Meeting
The 76th Annual General Meeting, which had been scheduled for May 2, 2020, was postponed to August 22, 2020. The meeting was held via the Zoom platform due to restrictions on public gatherings in force at the time. The program was a very simple one that covered the basics that needed to be addressed: adoption of an agenda; approval of the minutes of the May 4, 2019 AGM; acceptance of the financial statements; the proposal of a budget for 2021; the election of new members of the QFHSA board of directors, and the appointment of the auditor for 2021.
Although we missed the camaraderie of getting together in person and sharing the H&S spirit, we look forward to next year when, hopefully, we will be able to connect with everyone in a meaningful way, even if, again, it cannot be in person. The annual Book of Reports, usually distributed by email to the delegates, is available below for all H&S members to reference.
Memories from the 2019 Annual General Meeting
Already more than a year has past since we were able to all gather together at the 75th anniversary edition of the QFHSA Annual General Meeting. The event, which was held on May 4, 2019, featured presentations by Fo Niemi, the executive director for the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) and Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed, the founder and editor of the CanadianMomEh.com blog and a frequent contributor to the Montreal Gazette.
Though it may be some time before we can all meet again in person as a large group, here are some photos of the memorable event.