Governance at DART

DART meetings are held monthly as well as ad hoc when required.

Members will select two Co-Chairs whose length of term will be a 2 year minimum with a maximum of 3 consecutive years. This is to allow for one Co-Chair to be replaced at a time. Co-Chairs will include a representative of the women’s advocacy sector (i.e. shelter, counseling agency) and will strive to include a representative from the criminal justice system (i.e. police, crown’s office). Where that is not possible, both Co-Chairs may be from the women’s advocacy sector.

Co-Chairs Responsibilities:

• Coordinate the scheduling of the DART meetings
• Facilitate discussion and decision making at the meetings
• Supervise and support the DART Coordinator
• Ensure timely and accurate financial reporting to the administrator of the DART funds
• Ensure that information from sub-committees is brought back to the larger committee
• Ensure that DART members are aware of and meeting the DART membership expectations
• Represent the DART and act as liaisons between the DART and other community groups and agencies

Coordinator Responsibilities:

• Take and keep a record of attendance
• Record and distribute meeting minutes in a timely manner
• Prepare and distribute the agenda in a timely manner
• Maintain a copy of all meeting minutes and project initiatives in the DART binder
• Assist Co-Chairs with various responsibilities and activities, including the organization and delivery of DART and DART-sponsored events

Membership Expectations:

• Members at the table will be expected to have general decision making capabilities on behalf of their organizations for the purpose of fulfilling the goals and objectives of the DART committee.
• Each organization shall have one primary member, who will inform one of the Co-Chairs of their regrets when unable to attend a meeting, and make an effort to participate through written correspondence addressing issues on the upcoming agenda where practical. There will be no secondary members at the table. The rationale for this decision is based on active participation of each member and regular attendance at meetings, making the secondary member option impractical, as they would rarely if ever be present and therefore not be able to contribute to meetings.
• A member who misses more than three meetings during a 12 month period year without making prior arrangements with the DART for a formal leave of absence from the committee will be removed from the DART membership.
• In order that the workload of the DART can be shared equitably between all members, all members are encouraged to participate in some respect each year in at least one subcommittee or project, or as a Co-Chair of the DART.
• Each subcommittee or project shall include at least one primary representative of a DART Committee agency, who shall report actions to the DART Committee at monthly meetings. Additional members on subcommittees or projects do not need to be primary representatives and may be other members of agency staff who shall be appointed to the subcommittees or projects by the DART Committee members at the monthly meetings.