SUBUD CANADA NATIONAL COMMITTEE

November 1st, 1998

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Chairs of the Groups,

The new National Committee has been in office for four months and we are finding our way. The members of the committee have met five times and I'm personally very thankful to the members of this team - Franc, Janni, Paul - who are very dedicated to their duty. I've also been surprised by the unanimity of our views with respect to the issues that have arisen during these first months.

I hope you take the opportunity to follow our work and our discussions in the minutes. On two occasions, we had feedback on some of our comments and, to me, it gives a sense of safety that we will not be allowed to err for very long.

In brief, some of our activities have included the following:

• a) Communicating in Canada You've had the opportunity to read the last two issues of Scan put out by our new editor, Rosalind Priestley.

  A new tool on the net "a discussion board" has been set up by Stephen Hall. (When he mentioned to me that this discussion board would take him twenty minutes to make, I just asked him if he could put it up the day after, which he did.) This is open to all members.

• b) Publishing a national directory and maintaining a register
  I know there have been some questions about the directory. Michaele O'Leary and Maemunah Doran have been very busy correcting the first directory ever published on Filemaker - that was for the last Congress - and Michaele told me, a few days ago, that they should be able to have a new corrected version out soon.

• c) Sending kit to new members
  At Michaele's request a personal letter and one of Bapak's talks will be added to the new members kit.

• d) Communicating with other countries
  Certainly you've heard about the Pan-american gathering which is going to be held in Mexico sometime next summer. This gathering is the outcome of three months of discussions between the Committee Councilor, George Demers, and the other reps in the zones.

  We also received the minutes of the Bali Meeting. One of our concerns is who receives what? (Since E-mail is used more and more.) For instance, the National Committee received four copies of these minutes, two by e-mail and two by normal mail, from different sources. Many articles in Subud newsletters have been consecrated to this meeting, including in the WSA News which, I believe, you should receive. There are two items from the meeting that need to be emphasized: the need for the right latihan spaces; and the need to be open to the outside world.

  Concerning the Committee Councilor function, you may have followed some of our deliberations, in the minutes. We finally asked Sharif to tell us what he understands this function should be. He indicated that Bapak saw it essentially as "something like a foreign minister". Since then, we've asked the national helpers to do some testing to help us feel the importance and to have a better understanding of this function.

• e) Providing financial support to ISC, national and regional helpers and the regional committees
  I believe what these entities expect from the National Committee is that we fund their activities. In this respect it becomes our role to remind the Local Groups of their commitments to send the funds for these activities. Our treasurer-bookkeeper, Janni Jansen, is now raising the alarm. To date most local Groups have not kept up with 1998 funding commitments, and as you can see by the accompanying budget table, less than 60% of committed funds had been received by November 1. Last year ended with $2,424 deficit. This year, if contributions come in at the level they have to date, we can expect a $6,000 less than budgeted. Expenditures have also been lower in some areas, so the actual deficit for the year will be closer to $4000.

  The surplus Subud Canada had two years ago is now only a contingency fund. If you remember well, Honora brought up this issue at the last congress. The reasons: many Groups can't fulfill their commitments, but at the same time they want to keep the same budget: very uncanny... to me.

• f) Providing support to the wings
  The National Committee decided to make it a priority from the outset to provide greater support to the wings, and to arrange regular meetings at least 3 or 4 times a year. The first meeting was held in July at Sandbanks. Another one is expected at the end of November for the follow up.

  g) Bringing up new issues
  From both regions, the national committee has been asked to take positions on issues that, we believe are not our responsibility. We would like to bring these issues to the attention of the membership so that, at the next AGM, workshops may be organized on these topics. Most of these issues concern the function and importance of the Regional level of Subud in Canada. For instance,

  • Should we consider changing the legal status of regions, with each region set up with its own bank account, charity number, and consider the isolated members as its constituency
  • Whether regions should attempt to raise funds directly, from the Subud membership (particularly from isolated members) and through making profits on congresses and meetings
  • Should regional councils meet more regularly, and how should agendas be set

  Some background will be given to these issues in the Scan and the "Discussion Board".

• h) Budget for 1999 has been revised as requested at the Congress and Janni will send you this revised budget in the coming days.

Sincerely,

Samuel

-- Anonymous, November 02, 1998