Ottawa Naturists / Naturistes de l’Outaouais
Rules and Bylaws
1. Identification
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1.01 Revision |
7 |
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1.02 Date of Issue and Effective Date |
2015-10-22 by a
majority vote of the Board |
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1.03 Date of Ratification |
2015-10-22 by a
majority vote of members at the Annual General Meeting |
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1.04 Supersession |
This
document supersedes the Ottawa Naturists / Naturistes de l’Outaouais
Rules and Bylaws Version 6 approved on October 8, 2010. |
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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. |
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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. |
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1.07 Enquiries |
The President of
ON/NO. |
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1.08 Document Content |
This document
contains the following topics. |
2. Definitions
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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. |
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2.02 Non-landed Club |
A non-landed
naturist club is a club that does not have permanent facilities. |
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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. |
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2.04 Member in Good Standing |
A
member in good standing is a member who has paid any applicable annual
fee for the current membership year and continues to meet the
membership requirements prescribed in this document. |
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2.05 The Club |
The Club,
capitalized, in this document, refers to ON/NO. |
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3. Overview
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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”. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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3.06 Budget Year |
The ON/NO fiscal
year ends on the 31st of August of each year. |
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4. Operating Principles
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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 |
Members
shall set limits on the amounts of expenditures which can be authorized
by the Board collectively, and by individual Directors. Limits shall be
set for the amounts that:
Expenses in excess of the approved expenditure limits must be authorized by a majority vote of a quorum of members present or represented by proxy at an Annual General Meeting or a Regular or Special Members’ Meeting. |
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5. Requirements – Membership
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5.01 Membership Application Process |
To become a member of ON/NO, an applicant must:
First-time applicants for membership in ON/NO shall initially be granted provisional membership status and be issued a provisional membership card. An applicant who is not of legal age must have his or her application co-signed by the applicant’s parent(s) with legal custody or legal guardian(s) to provide the Club with a permanent record of legal consent. An applicant shall be granted full membership status and
be issued a full membership card only after attending three (3) ON/NO
events and having had the back of his or her provisional membership
card certified to that effect. These events shall include at
least one nude event and one meeting which may be a Members’ Meeting, a
Board Meeting or an Annual General Meeting. The Board can delay or
refuse membership to an applicant and cancel an applicant’s
provisional membership status should the Board deem it to be in the
best interests of the Club. |
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5.02 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. |
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5.03 Service to ON/NO Award |
The Board may
grant a lifetime waiver of the annual membership fee to a member or
former member in recognition of lengthy or exemplary service to ON/NO. |
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5.04 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. |
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5.05 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. |
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6. Requirements – Meetings
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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6.06 Voting rights |
Every member in
good standing are entitled to vote on any resolution presented at a
members’ meeting. |
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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. |
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6.08 Voting Majority |
All resolutions
require a simple majority vote to be adopted. |
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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. |
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6.10 Minutes of Meetings |
The minutes of
preceding members’ meetings shall be made available for viewing at all
members’ meetings. |
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7. Requirements – Board of Directors
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7.01 Number of Directors |
The Board of
Directors consists of ten (10) members, of whom two should have French
and English abilities. |
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7.02 Composition of Board |
A majority of
Directors cannot be members involved with commercial naturist
businesses (for example, club owner, etc…) |
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7.03 Eligibility |
Only members in
good standing are eligible to be members of the Board. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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8. Requirements – Etiquette
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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. |
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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. |
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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:
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. Authorities
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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 |
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Individual Directors |
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Members at any members’ meeting |
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Members at the Annual General Meeting |
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10. Responsibilities
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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 |
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Vice-President |
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Secretary |
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Communications Director |
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Treasurer |
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Membership Director |
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Outaouais Director |
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Pool Liaison / Co-ordination Director |
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Social Convenor (Director) |
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Web Administrator (Director/Officer) |
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Newsletter Editor (Director/Officer) |
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11. References
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11.01 Source References |
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11.02 Related References |
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