Accountability

It seems that Boards of Directors are invincible. The Board has the luxury of having legal protection - legal protection which the members pay for, yet the most vulnerable members have no way of appealing the Board’s decisions, unless they pay for legal counsel themselves. Community Legal Clinics rarely step in.

Boards of Directors must be accountable to the members and must be transparent. As I previously stated, our co-op is one step away from being bankrupt, yet we do not receive financial statements or updates of any kind. We were supposed to have a quarterly meeting in September. The Board stated (at a recent eviction meeting) that the reason why we haven't had an All Members Meeting is because they are waiting for the financial statements, but I think it has more to do with a certain Motion before them.

Our lawyer has not yet received a response from the co-op to letters she sent to them in July and September of 2008. Yet, the Board threatens to revoke members' subsidies if they do not hand in ALL documentation demanded by them by a certain date. Included in this documentation is the requirement to submit a copy of ODSP's drug card, which has nothing to do with the calculation of one's subsidy. Our lawyer has confirmed with the Privacy Commissioner's Office that we are justified in viewing this as a violation of privacy rights. I queried the Board about these letters before the eviction meeting was called to order. There was no response.

Confidentiality? It is an open secret in this co-op that there is no such thing as confidentiality. Board members keep personal information of members in their own units; Board business is discussed amongst friends. There is lax office security and overall gross incompetence in the management of this co-op. During a recent eviction proceeding, the Board of Directors released the members' entire file to the membership, including their S.I.N. numbers, dates of birth and banking information. No apology was issued by the Board for this severe breach of confidentiality.

AND this is the tip of the iceberg . . .