The Flying Shingle
Monday, January 15 2011
Letter to the Editor,
Letter to the Editor,
On January 6, 2011, I attended an extraordinary general meeting called by the Gabriola Health Care Foundation to discuss a special resolution to amend the Foundation’s constitution. At the meeting, other than engaging in initial polite greetings to those seated near me, I did not speak at all, but merely listened and watched the proceedings. I then participated in the vote on the resolution, and left.
As I was departing, the president of the Gabriola Health Care Society (GHCS) & the Gabriola Health Care Foundation (GHCF) accosted me and challenged my right to attend the meeting and participate in its proceedings. She questioned if I was qualified to be a member of the society, to which I responded, “Yes, I am qualified”. “But are you a resident of Gabriola?” she asked. I responded, “Yes I am a resident of Gabriola. I maintain a primary residence on Mudge Island (which is within the electoral district for Gabriola) and I maintain a secondary residence on Gabriola Island”. I suggested she check their membership list for clarification of this information, if she was in doubt. She responded that the society does not maintain a membership list. However, during the meeting, when the GHCS/GHCF were questioned about the nature of their membership list, she, the president of both organizations, had flippantly stated that the local telephone book served as their membership list. My name is in the local telephone book.
According to the constitution of both the Gabriola Health Care Society and the Gabriola Health Care Foundation, “All residents of Gabriola Island, B.C. who assent to the purposes of the society and who are at the time at least 19 years of age will be members of the society”. I, therefore, qualify for membership based on residency and age, and I do assent to the purposes of the society, although not to their methods of achieving those purposes.
Additionally, I am co-owner and manager of the island’s only multidisciplinary health center, which includes an excellent medical clinic, and I am, myself, a licensed health care provider. For the past fourteen years, my husband and I have invested our personal finances and many hours of hard work to maintain Gabriola Professional Centre, the facility that serves the majority of the health care needs in our community. And yet, my right to participate, as a member of our community, in a health care decision that will affect us all, was challenged by the president of both the Gabriola Health Care Society and the Gabriola Health Care Foundation.
Additionally, I am co-owner and manager of the island’s only multidisciplinary health center, which includes an excellent medical clinic, and I am, myself, a licensed health care provider. For the past fourteen years, my husband and I have invested our personal finances and many hours of hard work to maintain Gabriola Professional Centre, the facility that serves the majority of the health care needs in our community. And yet, my right to participate, as a member of our community, in a health care decision that will affect us all, was challenged by the president of both the Gabriola Health Care Society and the Gabriola Health Care Foundation.
What were the real reasons behind this challenge? Are you a member of this society? Is your name in the phone book? Do you want to be a member? Did anyone ask you?
Sincerely,
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