Governance/Legal/Nominating Committee

Committee Members: Jennifer Monte, President Halton PC
Guido Kelly, ONRC President
Omar Ellis, ONRC Director
Renato De Tina, President St Luke Conference Hamilton
Theresa Riccardi, Vice President York South PC
Peter Thurton, President St Clare Conference Toronto

Mandate: The Committee is responsible for:

• Advising the board and all members on matters of law, including but not limited to charity law, employment law and good governance policies and practices.
• Preparing a slate of Directors for elections to the Board when vacancies occur.
• The development, identification, orientation, education and recruitment of candidates for the Board.
• The development of director and officer position descriptions, including a full description of the responsibilities and accountabilities under the law and By-law #5, associated with each role, and the expectations of each subsequently elected or appointed candidate with regard to codes of conduct, conflicts of interest, participation and the like.

Activities during 2025: The Governance/Legal/Nominating committee met regularly (8 times) by electronic means and completed the following activities for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2025.

• Facilitated incorporation by-law review and approval process.
• Facilitated the election by acclamation of one director, Francis Fernandes (3-year term), at the 2025 AGM and the appointment of two directors, Paul Beamish and Wendy Fougere-Yip, with those two positions to be elected at the next AGM for the remainder of the term (2-year).
• Developed a draft Board Orientation Manual for new directors.
• Concluded the Continuance (import) of ONRC to the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporation Act (CNCA). ONRC is now governed by CNCA as of December 2, 2025.
• Documented activities of the committee through meeting minutes and a monthly activity tracking log.

Focus of activity for 2026:

• Ongoing engagement and collaboration with Councils and Conference across Ontario regarding issues of governance and charity law.
• Recruit and interview candidates for five open Board positions (three 3-year terms and two 2-year terms), prepare the election slate, preside over election at 2026 AGM.
• Continue work on the Board Orientation Manual for new directors.
• Continue documentation of committee activities.

Jennifer Monte, Chair
Omar Ellis, Board Liaison to Committee
Governance, Legal and Nominating Committee of SSVP Ontario Regional Council
(email: governance@ssvp.on.ca)

---