The CEIU National Executive, at their May 13th, 2020 meeting, voted to postpone the CEIU National Triennial Convention to 2021. The CEIU Convention will now be held from August 16th to 20th, 2021, at the Hilton Lac Leamy Hotel in Gatineau, Québec.
The decision to postpone the CEIU Convention was taken by the CEIU National Executive, first with the health and safety of our members and the CEIU staff during this pandemic as the main concern, as well as also considering motions that were passed by the PSAC National Board of Directors in April 2020 which were taking in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and direction of public health officials.
The NBoD motions are as follows:
1. The 2021 PSAC National Triennial Convention be rescheduled to 2022, and the PSAC Regional Conventions be rescheduled to 2021, on dates that do no overlap with any rescheduled PSAC Component Triennial Conventions.
2. Suspension of timelines contained in Local, Branch, DCL, Regional, Area Council, and Component By-Laws regarding the scheduling of Annual General Meetings, Conventions, and the election of delegates to Component and PSAC Conventions until September 1, 2020. If required, this date can be extended by the NBoD.
3. Suspension of the timelines contained in the PSAC Constitution concerning timing of Component Conventions, and the election of delegates and submission of resolutions to the PSAC National Triennial Convention.
With the postponement of the Component and Regional Conventions to 2021 and the PSAC National Convention to 2022, the PSAC National President was asked to provide the NBoD with clarification on how such postponement will impact the triennial cycle and mandates of elected officers. The PSAC National President has confirmed that:
i. Moving the conventions forward by one year will extend the current cycle and mandate of elected officers by one year.
ii. For elected officers their mandate would be extended until the date of the rescheduled convention election.
iii. The subsequent cycle will be for two years only; for Components and PSAC Regions, this cycle would be 2021 to 2023 and for PSAC National the cycle would be 2022 to 2024.
iv. This way, we can respect our triennial cycle as directed in the PSAC Constitution. While the NBoD has the authority to suspend timelines, the NBoD cannot amend the PSAC Constitution.
The CEIU National Executive understands that postponing the Convention to next year will extend our current mandate and shorten the mandate of the newly elected NVPs. However, with the present pandemic that our world is living with presently, the health and safety of all our members was our main priority.