Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00224)

Thanks Pedro,

Your reply is very helpful. Do you, or anyone on this bulletin board 
have a copy of these Canadian Section bylaws as they were *at the time* 
they were presented to at that GC meeting? If so, I would be very 
grateful to anyone who would be willing to send me a copy of them. I 
would also be very obliged if anyone has a copy of the procedures by 
which the GC is supposed to conduct their meetings. I'm particularly 
interested in the those procedures as they were current in 1991-92, and 
also for 1993-94, if they differ.

I believe that it was Stan Trelor who wrote that the Canadian Section 
was not given any advance notification that this GC meeting would be 
discussing their fate. Do you have any information to the contrary? I 
don't know about GC procedures, but in American parliamentary 
procedures, if this is true, this would be a violation of "due 
process." That is: if an action is contemplated to be taken against a 
Section, the representative of that Section has the right to be informed 
in advance when and where the meeting will take place and be given an 
advance copy of the agenda. The said representative also has a right to 
be present at at that meeting, and has a right to offer a defense and 
evidence to the contrary. I am aware that there was a disagreement 
between the Canadian Section and the International Headquarters for a 
year or two previously over the issue of by-law revisions, but under 
American parliamentary procedure, this fact would not exempt the GC from 
their obligation to give the General Secretary of the Canadian Section 
advance notice of their intention to discuss the relevant issues, and 
their intention to make a decision concerning them at this meeting. 

You wrote:

>I believe later on the former Canadian
>Section conducted a plebiscite among its Lodges and Groups, and the
>majority of them decided to stay within the Theosophical Society in
>Canada, and not with the Canadian Federation of the TS (Adyar).
>

Are you surprised? The friction between the Canadian Section and the 
Canadian Federation was, even at that time, went back over seventy 
years. It strikes me as naive that anyone would expect the Section 
Lodges to simply join the Federation Lodges, particularly after the 
former had been expelled. Keep in mind, that there had been continuous 
friction between the Canadian Section and the PTS going all the way back 
to 1895--which is partly why Besant had authorized the formation of the 
Canadian Federation in the first place.

Thanks
--j






prmoliveira wrote:

>--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Jerry Hejka-Ekins <jjhe@c...> wrote:
>
>
> 
>
>>Since you were present at the meeting, perhaps you can answer some 
>>questions I have: Was a copy of the by-laws in question distributed to 
>>the council members present? If so, were they given an opportunity to 
>>read the document in advance of the meeting? Was the Canadian Section 
>>notified in advance that the agenda of this meeting was to consider 
>>their expulsion from the PTS? Was there a representative of the 
>>Canadian Section present? If so, was he/she given an opportunity to 
>>speak? I am very much interested in learning more about what you 
>>personally witnessed.
>> 
>>
>
>
>As an observer (and not a member of the Council) I did not have access
>to any documents. But I remember that the copy of the amended by-laws
>was made available to all Council members present at the meeting. This
>item was thoroughly discussed in the Council, as I recall, before the
>decision was made. The General Secretary of the TS in Canada at that
>time was not present at the meeting.
>
>Following this decision, the GC also decided to strengthen the work of
>the then Canadian Federation of the TS, which is now the Canadian
>Theosophical Association. I believe later on the former Canadian
>Section conducted a plebiscite among its Lodges and Groups, and the
>majority of them decided to stay within the Theosophical Society in
>Canada, and not with the Canadian Federation of the TS (Adyar).
>
>
>Pedro 
>
> 
>



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