As a federally registered, not-for-profit trade association, CHFA is incorporated under the Canada Not-For-Profit Act. The Act and CHFA’s by-laws are the rules under which CHFA operates. As such CHFA is governed by a Board of Directors who are elected by the members of the Association. The detailed formal requirements of the CHFA election process are outlined in section 24 through 26 of CHFA’s by-laws and can be found here.
Steps in the Election Process
Nominations for directors are made by the nominating committee that has been established by the Board of Directors for the express purpose of identifying qualified Board candidates. To assist the nominating committee with this task, a request for expressions of interest goes out to all Members approximately 150 days prior to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Members via a member bulletin, distributed in both English and French. An expression of interest is an initial, informal notice from a member that says he or she is interested in being nominated to the Board of Directors.
The list of proposed nominees must be considered against an established criteria and approved by the full Board. Once approved by the Board, the proposed list is provided to the membership at least 45 days preceding the date fixed for the AGM, together with a request for further nominations from the Members.
Any Member may make additional nominations for directors, provided that each such nomination is signed in writing by the Member, seconded in writing by two Members in good standing, and consented to in writing by the nominee, who must be a Member (or shareholder, director, partner, member or employee thereof). Each such nomination must be delivered to the Chair 30 days prior to the annual meeting of Members. A list of all nominees shall be mailed to each Member, together with a list of the continuing directors, and the notice of the meeting, which includes the agenda and financial statements. No additional nominations for director may be made at the AGM.
Approximate Election Timeline - Based on April AGM
| DATE | ACTIVITY | |
| October, November | Multiple communications to Members | Requesting Expressions of Interest |
| November | 11:59 p.m. P.T. on November 22, 2023 | Deadline for Expressions of Interest to be received |
| February | Determine Date of Record | Determined by Board of Directors |
| February, March | Multiple communications to Members | List of Nominees and request for additional nominations to go to all Members |
| March | March 22, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. ET | Deadline for nominations to be received from Members. Nominations are now closed. |
| March | Multiple communications to Members | Dispatch all nominations to be forwarded to all voting members with notice of AGM (email) |
| April | March 29, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET | Date of Record, as determined by Board of Directors |
| April | April 24, 2024 | AGM: Vote for Board of Directors and Auditor |
Voting and the AGM Process
Once the notice of the AGM has gone out to all Members, electronic voting for directors, and the Association’s auditor begins.
Electronic voting in advance of the AGM streamlines the voting process, makes it easier for Members to participate and has greatly increased Member participation. The AGM will be entirely held by webcast, making it easy for Members to attend virtually. During the electronic voting process, an independent firm will verify that ballots have been cast only by active Members, and that each Member has cast only one ballot.
The Chair of the Board of Directors chairs the meeting and in accordance with section 16 of CHFA’s by-laws. Only one representative of each CHFA member company or their named delegate is entitled to speak at the AGM.
The following are general components of CHFA’s AGM:
- Welcome Members
- Introduce Board Members and staff
- Review meeting guidelines
- Reports on attendance and confirmation that quorum has been reached, including votes submitted during online voting
- Adopt and approve the agenda (agenda items cannot be added from the floor and must be added in advance by contacting the Board Administrator at board@chfa.ca)
- Approval of the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting
- Presentation of financial statements
- A brief update on CHFA activities for the past year
- Appointment of Auditors
- Nominating Committee report & election of new Board members
- Adjournment
With the election completed, any new business can be brought before the meeting and following this, the meeting will be adjourned.
Amendments to CHFA’s by-laws are normally done in consultation with, or as a result of broad feedback from Members, vetted through the Board of Directors, and must be in accordance with applicable laws and CHFA’s by-laws.
A member entitled to vote at an annual meeting may make a proposal to make, amend or repeal a by-law as allowed by Section 152(6) of the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act. Any proposal made in accordance with Section 163 and submitted within the “prescribed period”.
(Section 163(6)) of 90 to 150 days before the anniversary of the previous AGM (Section 66 the regulations to the Act (the “Regulations”) will be included by CHFA ithe notice of the meeting.
Specific questions may be addressed to board@chfa.ca.