2011 Annual Convention (October 28, 2011)

The 2011 Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan Annual Convention was held at the Hotel Saskatchewan in Regina and it was a busy day for the nearly fifty convention delegates representing members from across the province.

Convention delegates received a number of presentations from guest speakers. Garry Aldridge of Points West Consulting Inc. of Regina gave a presentation on “Unionism in the Age of Social Media”. This presentation talked about the growing importance of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blogs to both unions and union members.

  Gary Aldridge - Speaking Notes

 Garry Aldridge - PowerPoint Slides

In another presentation, convention delegates heard from Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan Legal Counsel, Gary Bainbridge, who spoke about current legal issues in the health care workplace and answered a wide variety of delegates’ questions on these important issues.

Later the convention heard from Elisabeth R. Ballermann, President of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta. In a presentation called “United We Stand, Divided We Beg”, Ballermann spoke about the importance of all unions, including unions representing specialized health care professionals, to work together in defense of high quality public services.

“Public services are secure, reliable, high quality and trusted. And they’re good value for the long term, but most of all they are available to you when you need them, not just when there is a market for business to provide the service for profit,” Ballermann told delegates.

  Elisabeth R. Ballermann - Speaking Notes

Elisabeth R. Ballermann - PowerPoint Slides

Following these presentations, convention delegates conducted the annual Business Meeting of the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan. During the Business Meeting, delegates received annual reports from the President, the Executive Director, and from the union’s eight Committees: the Finance, Provincial Negotiating, Communications, Emergency Fund, Grievance, Annual Convention, Regional Council Development and Constitutional committees.

President's Report to Convention

Executive Directors Report to Convention

Finance Committee Report to Convention

Committee Reports to Convention

Delegates were also asked to consider a number of proposed amendments to the union’s Constitution and Bylaws.

Finally, the 2011 Business Meeting ended with the presentation of the Roberta Ekberg Award. This award is given annually to recognize outstanding, long standing commitment and contribution to furthering and promoting the vision, well being and interests of the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan. The 2011 Roberta Ekberg Award was presented to the union’s outgoing President, Cathy Dickson by Natalie Horejda, a member of the Union’s Board of Governors.