Guidelines and Forms

Scope and Responsibility of the Steering Committees and Guidelines for Operation

Draft Version 0.3, Date: Oct 13, 2006
Edited by SLCAO Future Directions Committee, 2006

About this document:

This document explains the scope and responsibilities of the steering committees which are appointed by the Executive Committee of the SLCAO or by the general membership in a SGM or an AGM . In this document seven steering committees are discussed. The number of steering committees can be increased or decreased using an AGM decision or by an executive committee decision. Executive committee can dissolve a steering committee, combine several steering committees together to form a new steering committee or appoint additional steering committees as appropriate.

The scope and responsibilities listed in this document are provided with a long term view. It is clear that all these activities cannot be organised in the initial period of the operation. It takes some time to initiate these activities and a steering committee may consider starting with a subset of activities considering the strength of the members and the importance of the various activities.

This does not contain all the potential activities and should be used as a document that provides general direction and guidance. Detailed activity lists included in this document may be changed as required by the executive committees in co-ordination with the respective steering committee. When changing the content the version number should be advanced and the date and a brief description of the change should be included under the section “Version History” below. Any amendment is usually valid until the following AGM and unless approval is obtained the document should be reversed back to the latest approved version.

Version History:

• Draft Version 0.1, Date: 31-03-2002 (by SLCAO Interim Committee, information contact Prema Raddalgoda – (613) 271-8830, Gamini Senarath – (613) 823-8606)
• Draft Version 0.2: Date: 10-03-2006 (By SLCAO Executive Committee – 2005/2006)
• Draft Version 0.3: Date: Oct 13, 2006 (By SLCAO Future Directions Committee – 2005/2006)

1) Co-ordination of activities between the Executive committee and steering committees:

After the establishment of a steering committee, the steering committee members shall meet with the executive committee and clarify their role. Then, a six month/one year short term plan as well as a long term plan shall be developed by the steering committee members and submitted to the executive committee for approval. Once approved, steering committees can organize the activities on their own to fulfill these objectives. The executive committee may keep some of the special activities under their control and will be informed to a steering committee at the beginning of the year. The information on these activities should be passed to the members/executive committee as appropriate.

Quarterly progress reports should be provided to the Executive committee. For this purpose quarterly committee meetings will be held with the participation of the members of all the steering committees and the members of the Executive committee. The executive committee may also organize special meetings with the steering committees as appropriate. In addition, the chair or a representative of a steering committee should attend the executive meetings.

Steering committees should identify the relationship with other steering committees in order to avoid miscommunication. If any issues cannot be resolved by talking to another steering committee directly, the executive committee should be informed.

2) Steering committees and their Responsibilities

1.1. Liaison with the other organisations

• Comprised of: At least 3 members
• Officers: Chairman, Secretary and liaison officer
• Quorum: At least two officers of the steering committee.
• Responsibilities:
  • To establish and maintain contact with and develop good relations with other cultural organizations.
  • To establish and maintain contact with government at federal, provincial and municipal levels.
  • Research and develop a bank of information regarding agencies, contact persons with phone numbers. These agencies could be government or philanthropic foundations. Keep records of this information.
  • Establish amicable relationships with other cultural organizations with intent of organizing and participating in joint cultural events.
  • Publicize book signings by the Sri Lankan writers and poets. Organize book launching parties.
  • Advertise fine art exhibitions, films photography, musical and dramatic events in conjunction with the Special Events Committee.
  • Approach govt institutions to obtain financial support for the activities.
  • Check the possibility of obtaining a regular Radio/TV broadcasting slot for Sri Lankan affairs.
  • Work for registration of the SLCA and obtaining recognition in Canadian community.

1.2. Cultural Committee

• Comprised of: At least 7 members
• Officers: Chairman, Secretary and liaison officer
• Quorum: Four members of the sub-committee including two officers.
• Responsibilities:
  • To help the members of the organisation to continue the cultural traditions of Sri Lanka in accordance with the Canadian multi-cultural society.
  • To create an environment in which our children will grow up being exposed to, respect and learn our cultural traditions.
  • Introduce Sinhala/Tamil Language classes. Seek govt funds for the same.
  • Research and formulate ways of organizing fine art, photography, batik and handicraft exhibitions.
  • Offer support to writers, poets, artists and filmmakers.
  • Work in conjunction with Special Events Committee and the youth committee.
  • Set up cultural events for the year.
  • Contact well-known artists residing in Ottawa and encourage their participation in the events.

1.3. Regional Representatives

• Comprised of: Members of at least four families from the region.
• Officers: Chairman, Secretary and membership officer.
• Quorum: Five members of the sub-committee including two officers.
• Demarcation of regions: This may be changed time to time as agreed in an AGM. Since 2005, we consider four regions:
  Ottawa East (Orleans and Gloucester) , Ottawa West (Kanata and Center Point, Hunt club from South and Fisher and Park Dale from East), Ottawa South (south of Hunt Club Road), and Ottawa Central and Hull (All the other areas – St Laurent from East, Hunt Club from south, Fisher and ParkDale from west)
• Responsibilities:
  • Organize membership drives in the region in order to increase the membership. Look for opportunities to get the community together. As appropriate held regional meetings regularly as well as for special occasions.
  • Maintain a detailed record of names of members with their address, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. (A form will be designed and made available for this information.)
  • Inform Sri Lankans in the area of upcoming special events and solicit their participation. For this purpose, attend Executive Committee meetings regularly when invited to attend to, so that each Area Rep is fully aware of what is happening at the Executive Committee level.
  • Inform Community Outreach committee (or the Executive committee in the absence of an outreach committee) of instances of difficult situations any members in that particular region are facing and require help. Examples are death in the family, prolonged illness, loss of employment, family break up etc. Executive committee or the outreach committee can then take suitable measures to support such families.
  • Contact and inform Executive Committee of interested individuals (adults and children) in the area for sports and cultural events. Select the area team for the upcoming sports events.
  • Inform community outreach committee or the executive committee (as appropriate) the instances of outstanding achievements by the members of the Sri Lankan Community or their kids so that it can be published in the web and the news letters. SLCAO can also organize events to felicitate such cases which bring pride to the Sri Lankan Community.
  • In the absence of the other sub-committees, undertake the responsibilities of carrying out the tasks of those sub-committees (only the portion related to the members in the region)

1.4. Community Outreach/Welfare Sub Committee

• Comprised of: At least 3 members.
• Officers: Chairman and Secretary.
• Quorum: 3 members of the steering committee including two officers.
• Responsibilities:
  • Acknowledge births, deaths, marriages and illness in families of members.
  • Arrange events to celebrate the success of students and adults – Awards Night
  • Assist laid off or unemployed members with their job search, Preparation of CV’s, completion of job applications, preparation for job interviews and assistance with transportation if necessary. Arrange for financial assistance when deemed crucial.
  • Offer ongoing support to families in instance of prolonged illness or death. Arrange for counselling to help family cope.
  • Offer ongoing support in cases of family break up. Assist in accessing appropriate social agencies for counselling, legal aid, lawyers etc. Non-judgmental support for both spouses and family members.
  • Offer ongoing support for victims of violence, alcoholism and drug abuse.
  • Maintain a record of jobs undertaken along with the level of success achieved. No names of families or members of families will be recorded or publicized.
• Some activities of this sub committee and information there of will be available to the Executive Committee only. CONFIDENTIALITY is important. Respected community leaders and religious group involvement may be needed.

1.5 Steering Committee (Sports)

Steering committee (Sports) will comprise of two representatives from each sports sub-committee identified below.

This Steering Committee shall decide the sports to be played, with the approval of the Executive Committee. Some of those identified sports are:

1. Cricket
2. Badminton
3. Table Tennis
4. Carom
5. Netball
6. Golf
7. Tennis

Additional sports sub-committees may be depending on the interest and each committee has following common formation and responsibilities.

The tournaments and practice sessions shall be organised as internal tournaments for the SLCAO members or as open events as decided by the Steering committee and may be held throughout the year. For this purpose, a committee will be appointed for each sports activity and the tournament dates should be informed well ahead of time calling for participants. A nominal fee is charged for the participation to cover the cost of the hall, sports gear and trophies. The trophies will be given in the AGM or in a special Awards ceremony (one for the year). Indoor sports will be played during the winter/fall time to keep members active during that time. In addition, special tournaments such as six-s-side cricket tournaments may be organised time to time.

Each Sports Sub-committee will comprise of:

• Comprised of: At least three members.
• Officers: Chairman, Secretary and membership officer.
• Quorum: At lest three members.
• Responsibilities:
  • To provide opportunities for members of the SCLAO to participate in sports sponsored by the association.
  • To organize the tournament/games as appropriate and select and train teams both male and female identifying proper volunteer/professional coaches wherever applicable.
  • Collect relevant medical information about each player participating in a practice, game or tournament.
    1. Health card number
    2. Name of Family Doctor & phone #
    3. Emergency contact name & phone #

    This information will be filed and taken to every sport venue that players will be playing at. This measure is mandatory in the event of an accident that requires prompt medical attention.

• A player who signs up for any team will have the ability to play as a team with due respect to the coach, referee and other players. If any member of a team displays unacceptable behavior/speech and is uncooperative – the Chair of the Sports Committee has the right to remove/replace the said member immediately. This decision will be final. Players or spectators may not contest the decision of the Sports Committee Chair.
• The decision of the Chair in relation to above (5) will be made in consultation with the President and 2 other members of the Executive.
• Every effort is made to organize the events in accordance with the rules and regulations set out by the Canadian regulatory body of that sport.
• The rule and regulations set out by the governing body should be distributed to all players. These rules and regulations should be discussed with and explained to all the players prior to the beginning of the training,/ practice sessions or games. All referees, coaches and players should have a common understanding of how the game is to be played. Each player should have a copy of the rules nag regulations before the commencement of training. Coaches and referees/umpires for each sports event will be appointed by the chair of the sub-committee.
• The selection of players for a particular team will be based mainly on the level of special skills required for that sport as well as the attendance during the practice session. The other criteria such as the ability to play as a team member, fairness may also be considered. The Sports Committee will be responsible to make an announcement before each game: that spectators are not to be involved in decision making or effect a change in the decision made with regard to the game being played. It is the responsibility of the referee/umpire.
• The Sports Committee will design a code of conduct on and off the playing field.
• Foster a sense of playing to have fun in every team.
• A special event that needs special mention and that needs to be organised by the sports committee is the Annual Tri-City Tournament in which the teams of three cities play with each other (sports to be played are agreed upon among the three organizations). With this tournament, there may be other games played among the three cities. They can include but not limited to Netball and Soccer.

1.6 Youth

• At least five members between the ages of 15 to 25 (inclusive).
• Officers: Chairman, Secretary, Membership officer
• Quorum: 5 members
• Responsibilities:
  1. To efficiently run the youth organisation of the SLCAO and to introduce a program that would help our youth develop a sense of identity with high self-esteem that will help them achieve high goals.
  2. Develop sports teams for both male and female in orders that they become fair minded team players
  3. Organize discussion on relevant topics:
     1. Smoking
     2. Substance abuse
     3. Time management
     4. Study skills
     5. Encourage independent thinking
     6. Develop programs or participate in cultural or sports events to motivate youth to aspire to achieve goals they set for themselves give youth a sense of identity. For example, dramas, youth dance events, sports etc.
     7. Youth committee should work closely with the special events committee to look for opportunities of participation.