Sherry Lewis appointed HSA Region 7 Regional Director

Sherry Lewis, a family services worker at the Centre for Child Development in Surrey, has been appointed Regional Director to represent HSA members in Region 7 on the HSA Board of Directors.

Lewis was appointed by the Board of Directors in accordance with the union’s constitution, which states that “if a vacancy occurs within six months of the expiry of the term of office, the vacancy will be filled by the Resolution Committee member elected by that Region.” The current term expires April 21, 2023. The position was declared vacant effective end of day December 9, 2022 by a vote of the union’s Board of Directors on December 8, 2022.

The Board of Directors voted to remove Jas Giddha as a board member under board policy 2.08 (GOV)* that declares a Board of Directors position vacant if a Regional Director misses two consecutive meetings without communicating a compelling reason for their absence. The Board of Directors made several attempts to communicate with Giddha to address his attendance at board meetings, both in advance of and after meetings of the union’s board of directors on October 17 and 26, November 3 and 9, and December 7-8, and offered mediation to attempt to resolve any differences. 

* POLICY BRD-2.08 (gov)
3.13 The Board of Directors sets the expectation that every Board Director shall make every effort to attend every Board meeting in its entirety, whether full-day, partial-day, or evening meeting so that the governance of the Union can proceed in a timely manner. The Board shall excuse a Director from attendance, provided that the Director sends their regrets along with a compelling reason, acceptable to the Board, for their non-attendance. The Board shall declare a Director’s position vacant if a Director misses two consecutive meetings without providing a compelling reason, delivered to the President and acceptable to the Board, for missing at least one of those two meetings. The minutes of the Board of Directors’ meetings shall reflect the timeframe for each Directors attendance.