| 1.01 Revision | 6 |
| 1.02 Date of Issue and Effective Date | 2006-10-08 by
a majority vote of the Board |
| 1.03 Date of Ratification | 2006-10-08 by
a majority vote of the members |
| 1.04 Supersession | This
document supersedes the Ottawa Naturists / Naturistes de l'Outaouais Rules and Bylaws Version
5 approved at the Annual General Meeting Meeting of October 14, 2003 |
| 1.05 Application | These rules and bylaws apply to all members of the Ottawa Naturists / Naturistes de l'Outaouais (ON/NO). When you apply for membership you are promising to abide by the rules, and to assist to the best of your ability the Board of Directors in upholding the rules. |
| 1.06 Approval Authority | Any changes to the bylaws may be made by a
majority vote of the Board, but they must be confirmed or rejected by a majority vote of a quorum of the members. If this is not done, at the latest, by the Annual General Meeting following the Board's
vote, the changes lapse and become void. If a rule made by the Board either lapses, or is rejected by vote of the members, the Board may not bring in any rule with similar aim or effect. Only a vote of the members can then be used to approve the rule. |
| 1.07 Enquiries | The President of ON/NO. |
| 1.08 Document Content | This document contains the following topics. |
| 2.01 Naturism | Naturism is a way to live in harmony with nature, characterized by social nudity, which favours self respect, the respect of others and that of the environment. |
| 2.02 Non-landed Club | A non-landed naturist club is a club that does not have permanent facilities. |
| 2.03 Board of Directors | The Board of Directors is a committee elected by the members to conduct the day-to-day business affairs of the Club, and commonly referred to as the Board. |
| 2.04 Member in Good Standing | A member in good standing is a
Regular or Junior member who has paid the annual fee for the current year, or a
Lifetime member, who possesses a valid membership card issued by ON/NO, and continues to meet the Requirements of this document. |
| 2.05 The Club | The Club, capitalized, in this document, refers to ON/NO. |
| 3.01 The Name of the Club | The Club is a Corporation with a bilingual name: "Ottawa Naturists/Naturistes de l'Outaouais", and is commonly referred to as "ON/NO". |
| 3.02 The Concept of the Club | ON/NO is a non-landed naturist club, created as a social club for naturists of Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec, with a mandate to serve naturists of both English and French languages. |
| 3.03 Objectives of the Club | The objectives of ON/NO are:
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| 3.04 Head Office of the Club | The head office of ON/NO is in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. |
| 3.05 Seal of the Corporation | The ON/NO seal is held by the President of the Club, and is in the form impressed on the cover page of the original paper copy of this document. It is used by the Board when the Corporation issues a formal legal document, to positively identify that the document was issued by ON/NO. |
| 3.06 Budget Year | The ON/NO fiscal year ends on the 31st of
August of each year. |
| 4.01 Role of Board of Directors | The members elect a Board of Directors, which is a committee to conduct the day-to-day business affairs of the Club. The Board:
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| 4.02 Limits on Expenditures | The members set limitations on the amounts of expenditures which can be authorized by the Board collectively, and by individual Directors. The limits are currently:
Expenses in excess of these limits must be authorized by
a majority vote of the members. |
| 5.01 Cards and Expiry | All yearly memberships expire on the 31st of
August. Membership cards are issued for each membership as follows: one card for single persons, or two cards for families, couples or any two members having the same mailing address. You may be asked to present your current membership card for admission to any ON/NO event.
The card remains the property of ON/NO at all times and must be
surrendered upon request. Note: In order to unite all naturists and to help advance the acceptance of naturism across Canada, ON/NO maintains a club membership in one or more national naturist organizations, and strongly encourages its members to individually join a national organization. The Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN) and the Fédération québécoise de naturisme (FQN) are both affiliated to the International Federation of Naturism (INF), and they along with The Naturist Society, are highly recommended by ON/NO. |
| 5.02 Provisional Membership Category | When you apply for membership with ON/NO for the first time, you will initially be issued a Provisional membership card. If you are applying on your own and are not of legal age, your parents will have to co-sign your application to provide the Club with a permanent record of legal consent. To obtain a card, you must:
You will be issued a Regular
or Junior membership card only after attending three (3) ON/NO events and having had the back of your membership card certified to that effect (At least one nude event, and one Regular or Annual General Meeting). The Board can delay or refuse you Regular membership and cancel your Provisional membership if they decide it is in the best interests of the Club. |
| 5.03 Junior Membership Category | You may become a
Junior Member provided :
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| 5.04 Regular Membership Category | You may become a Regular Member provided you:
|
| 5.05 Lifetime Membership Category | The Board may elect any
person to an honorary Lifetime membership for lengthy or exemplary service to
ON/NO. |
| 5.06 Membership Fees | The annual fees for membership in ON/NO may be set by the Board, but any change must be confirmed by a majority vote of members at an Annual General
Meeting or at a Special Meeting called for this purpose. |
| 5.07 Cancellation of Membership | The Board may cancel your membership if you:
Note: A written notice will be the preferred method for contact, but is not a requirement. |
| 6.01 Regular Members' Meetings | Regular members' meetings will be held in February, April, June and December of every year. The first half of each regular meeting will be the working part, where members will participate in the discussions of ON/NO's regular business activities. The second half of each regular meeting will consist of social events, which may be organized by either the Board, or members appointed to coordinate the event. Notifications to members for regular meetings shall be listed in every issue of the newsletter.
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| 6.02 Annual General Meeting | The Annual General Meeting will be held in October of each year, but not in the week of Thanksgiving Day. At that meeting, the following items will always be on the agenda:
Notification to members for the Annual General Meeting will normally be given in the newsletter, but shall always be given at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting. |
| 6.03 Special Meetings | A special meeting may be called at any time by the President, by the Board, or by a written request from twenty (20) members in good standing. Notification to members shall be given at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting.
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| 6.04 Disbandment Meeting | A disbandment meeting is one that would be called by the Board if the Board has resolved to permanently end all naturist activities of ON/NO. Notification to members shall be given at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting. The procedure for Disbandment must be in accordance with the
Ontario Corporations Act Chapter C38 Section 132, 230-241 under current Ontario Law. |
| 6.05 Right to Attend | Every member in good standing has the right to attend and to participate in all debates at any of the members' meetings. Note: ON/NO strongly encourages members to attend members' meetings as often as possible and to participate. The meetings are the only means to create a dynamic Club and generate new Club activities. |
| 6.06 Voting rights | Every
member in good standing are entitled to vote on any resolution presented at a members' meeting. |
| 6.07 Voting Proxy | A member with a right to vote may be represented by proxy at any members' meeting. The proxy member must present a signed letter of proxy from the
member he or she represents at the meeting. A member in good standing may exercise a proxy for only one (1) member at a meeting. A Director may exercise proxies for any number of members. |
| 6.08 Voting Majority | All resolutions require a simple majority vote to be adopted. |
| 6.09 Quorum | The quorum for a members' meeting is twenty (20) members in good standing (including Board members) being present physically or by proxy. If the quorum is achieved at the beginning of the meeting, the meeting may continue and resolutions may be passed even if the quorum is no longer achieved later on in the same meeting. Note: For a disbandment meeting, the quorum required is 50% plus one (1) of all members in good standing being present physically or by proxy. If a quorum of members is not obtained at a meeting, and the Board deems it necessary, they may take special measures to obtain a vote in any way that they decide is reasonable and fair. This could mean sending ballots out with the newsletter, using a telephone survey,
calling a Special Meeting to coincide with a naturist event, or other
appropriate methods, so long as the entire membership is notified. |
| 6.10 Minutes of Meetings | The minutes of preceding members' meetings shall be made available for viewing at all members' meetings. |
| 7.01 Number of Directors | The Board of Directors consists of
ten (10) members, of whom two should have French and English abilities. |
| 7.02 Composition of Board | A majority of Directors cannot be members involved with commercial naturist businesses (for example, club owner,
etc...) |
| 7.03 Eligibility | Only
members in good standing are eligible to be members of the Board. |
| 7.04 Board Positions | Following each election of Board members, the Board members elect among themselves a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Director, Outaouais Director, Pool Liaison/Co-ordination Director, Social Convenor,
Communications Director and one (1) other Director. The Board may combine positions in any reasonable way, and appoint members in good standing as Officers to any position other than those listed above. |
| 7.05 Signature of Contracts | Any two of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, or Treasurer are authorized to sign contracts or other documents on behalf of the Corporation provided they are of legal age. The Board may approve the delegation of this authority in general or for specific types of documents. Any person authorized to do so by the Board may affix the Seal of the Corporation to such documents. |
| 7.06 Term of election | The Board members' term of election shall be two (2) years from election date, and they may be re-elected for not more than three consecutive terms. To allow for continuity on the Board, normally
five (5) Board members will be elected on alternate years. If a Board member resigns during the first year of his/her term, a replacement will be elected at the following election for a one-year term, to maintain the alternate year split. The election term starts as soon as the election meeting is adjourned. If elections are not held, the present Directors remain in position until their replacements have been elected. |
| 7.07 Remuneration of Board Members | Board members
are volunteers and as such are not remunerated for their services.
Members may, from time to time, authorize and fix the amount of an honorarium to be paid to Board members for the year then ending. Any change must be approved by a majority vote of members at an Annual General Meeting or at a Special Meeting called for this purpose. The honorarium, if paid should be in a nominal amount suitable to help defray transportation cost and other out-of-pocket expenses voluntarily assumed by Board members. |
| 7.08 Vacancy | In the event of a vacancy on the Board, the Board may optionally appoint an eligible person to complete the year until the next election. The
Board may continue to operate with vacancies as long as there are sufficient Directors to form a quorum for Board meetings, provided the rule on Composition of the Board is not violated. If the number of Directors falls below a quorum, a
Special Meeting must be called to elect new members to the vacant positions. |
| 7.09 Board Meetings | In order to get organized, the Board of Directors will meet as soon as possible following the election meeting of ON/NO members. They can meet at any time on call from the President or at least two (2) Board members. However they must hold regular meetings a minimum of five (5) times annually in January, March, May, September and November. |
| 7.10 Quorum for Board Meetings | The quorum for Board meetings is four (4) directors, including at least one of the Executive, that is, the President, Vice-President, Secretary, or Treasurer. |
| 7.11 Effective Date for Board Resolutions | Any rules or bylaws, modification or cancellation of any rules or bylaws, or changes to membership fees,
including those requiring confirmation by the members, take effect as soon as they are approved by
a majority vote of the Board. |
| 8.01 Background | It is impossible to put all the requirements of good naturist etiquette into this document, but members must take it upon themselves to learn what is acceptable and what is not. If you are not fully informed, talk to naturist friends and acquaintances, do some outside reading. Be open and above-board with people when interacting in a naturist setting. But above all, if you are in doubt about proper behaviour in a situation, err on the side of caution. The following items depict only the most important points. |
| 8.02 Other Clubs and Beaches | Members must at all times respect the rules of other naturist clubs and beaches that they visit. Remember that the reputation of your Club depends on your behaviour, and if we lose our reputation, we will not be able to book facilities or landed clubs for our events. |
| 8.03 Harassment |
While
ON/NO does not presume to prohibit mutually accepted, affectionate
gestures nor to govern the acts of consenting adults in private, sexual
harassment has no place in naturism and is not tolerated at ON/NO events Peace of
mind and body for men, women and (especially) children is most important
in a clothes-free environment. Naturism should be an enjoyable experience
for everyone. ON/NO expects its members and guests to treat each another
with dignity and respect Any of the following constitutes unacceptable behaviour: · persistent staring, stalking or following; · voyeuristic positioning; · crowding of personal space; · masturbation or other sexual acts or displays; · any aggressive acts or threatening body language; · unauthorised photography/videography; · unwelcome communications, that is: o any unwanted advances, remarks, suggestions, solicitations, propositions, gestures, threats, ridicule, innuendo or comments of a crude, racial or sexual nature (especially when directed toward obviously unwilling or underage persons); o persistent attempts to engage another person in clearly undesired conversation; or o unsolicited comments about a person's body or genitalia; · unpermitted touching, that is: o any presumptuous touching of another persons' body without their consent (including hugs, massages or other familiarities); o any intentional touching of a minor without parental consent; or o any public fondling of a sexual nature. ON/NO members and guests are urged to help maintain our relaxed, family, atmosphere by reacting, in a timely manner, to any situation they feel is unacceptable by the above definitions. If possible, make your disapproval or unease known as soon as possible to the person who offended you, in an attempt to resolve the situation. If the behaviour persists or if you are unable to speak with the person, bring it to the attention of a Board member. Complaints shall be responded to and investigated without delay. Confidentiality shall always be respected. Harassment, as defined, can result in expulsion, revocation of membership and, where warranted, could lead to criminal prosecution
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| 8.04 Photography |
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| 9.01 Authorities Table | The following table outlines the authorities within ON/NO: |
| The . . . | Have the authority to . . . |
| Board of Directors |
Note: Expenditure authorization limits for the Board and for individual Directors may not be modified
by the Board. A majority vote of the members is required. |
| Any two of the President, Vice-President, Secretary or Treasurer |
|
| Individual Directors |
|
| Members at any members' meeting |
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| Members at the Annual General Meeting |
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| 10.01 Responsibilities Table | The following table outlines the responsibilities of the Directors and Officers within ON/NO: |
| The . . . | Has the responsibility to . . . |
| President |
|
| Vice-President |
|
| Secretary |
|
| Communications Director |
|
| Treasurer |
|
| Membership Director |
|
| Outaouais Director |
|
| Pool Liaison / Co-ordination Director |
|
| Social Convenor (Director) |
|
| Web Administrator (Director/Officer) |
|
| Newsletter Editor (Director/Officer) |
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| 11.01 Source References |
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| 11.02 Related References |
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