Resolutions Committee
The Resolutions Committee is a Committee of Council established under STF Bylaw 2.5. The Committee consists of five councillors who are supported in their work by two members of the Administrative Staff. Its members are appointed annually by the provincial Executive, taking into account a variety of factors such as region, gender, years of experience and teaching assignment. Resolutions Committee members are listed at the beginning of the part of the Elections and Resolutions Information booklet devoted to resolutions.
Each Resolutions Committee begins its work in preparation for the Special Meeting of Council in October and is formally dismissed with the thanks of Council at the end of the Annual Meeting of Council in April. The Committee receives and revises as needed all resolutions and notices of motion that are submitted to Council in that school year. An acknowledgement of every resolution is sent to the contact person along with information about the right of any councillor to present a resolution to Council in its original form regardless of changes made to it by the Resolutions Committee.
It is the responsibility of the Resolutions Committee, in accordance with STF bylaws and policies, to rule on the acceptability of resolutions and prepare them for decision-making by Council. All resolutions, except those that arise out of debate on the floor of Council, are reviewed by the Resolutions Committee. Its goals are to make resolutions as clear as possible, expedite decision-making by Council, and ensure the eligibility of all resolutions for consideration by Council.
Resolutions will be rejected by the Resolutions Committee if any of the following apply:
- The resolution was submitted after the resolutions deadline for Annual Meeting of Council and is neither urgent nor emergent, i.e., dealing with subject matter that could not have been foreseen prior to the deadline.
- The resolution is not appropriate to the agenda of a Special Meeting of Council.
- The resolution leads the STF to a policy or action that is outside its jurisdiction.
If two or more resolutions are submitted on the same issue with the same intent, the Resolutions Committee will develop a combined resolution that is moved by all the movers of the original resolutions. The combined resolution will be communicated to the contact persons for the movers of the original resolutions.
The Resolutions Committee may not change the intent of a resolution, but may edit it in order to do the following:
- Remove an argument (not allowed in the body of the resolution);
- Correct grammar or spelling;
- Substitute terminology and formatting appropriate to a resolution or notice of motion;
- Remove inaccurate information; or
- Remove ambiguity and clarify the decision before Council.
If no issues arise with respect to a resolution, the Resolutions Committee approves it for publication as submitted. If minor changes are made, e.g., to correct grammar or spelling or clarify a term, the Resolutions Committee approves the resolution as amended. However, if a change of any significance is made to the resolution, whether through the editing process or the process of combining it with a resolution of similar intent, one of the Administrative Staff working with the Committee will make every effort to notify the contact person for that resolution of the change that has been made. The contact person will be advised of the right of any councillor to present the resolution to Council in its original form.
The Resolutions Committee is not involved in the preparation of the background information from the STF on each resolution or notice of motion. Nor does the Committee edit the Commentary by the Mover(s), except to remove inaccurate information, shorten the commentary to the 250 words that are permitted or correct grammatical errors.
In addition to its work in preparing resolutions for consideration by Council, the Resolutions Committee is available at every Council meeting to carry out the following duties:
- rule on the admissibility of late resolutions;
- tally the vote counts on resolutions considered in the small groups;
- make the en bloc motions to deal with resolutions and notices of motion approved or defeated by 70 per cent of councillors in the small group sessions;
- assist the chair with vote counts in plenary sessions; and
- move the courtesy motion at the end of the Annual Meeting.
As a Committee of Council, the Resolutions Committee is an agent for Council in the implementation of the resolutions process as it has been developed through bylaw, policy and custom. The Committee is not an appropriate forum for debate on the resolutions or on the resolutions process, nor may Committee members advise councillors on the development or handling of resolutions. The Resolutions Committee is also expected to refrain from divulging any confidential information that it receives in the course of its work, e.g., the vote counts in the small group sessions. As a member of the Resolutions Committee, a councillor occupies a position of trust, acting for the Council as a whole in accordance with carefully developed policies and procedures.