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The Organization of Canadian Quakers
Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM) of the Religious Society of Friends is the national body for Quakers in Canada. CYM provides a range of activities and programs that support the religious development of Quaker faith and practice and connections within the community in Canada. The work of Canadian Yearly Meeting is managed and carried out by Committees and staff members.
For more on Canadian Yearly Meeting’s history, see the article “A History of Canadian Yearly Meeting.” For more details on committees structures and procedures, see CYM’s manual Organization & Procedure.
Administrative and Governance Committees & Bodies
Clerks Table –provides a Clerk and Recording clerk for Meetings for Worship for Business. They strive to gather and nurture the sense of the Meeting and maintain openness to participation by all. Clerks Table follow-ups on unfinished business of CYM, conducts and signs official correspondence, and receives correspondence and items of business that require consideration by the Yearly Meeting as a whole.
Clerks Committee – Composed of members of Clerks Table, a Trustee Representative, the General Secretary-Treasurer, and Clerks of Finance Committee, Personnel Committee, Nominating Committee. This group considers administrative issues that arise, and looks to the future of the organization. They review items for the agenda for the Meeting for Worship for Business.
Finance Committee – is responsible for providing fiduciary oversight of CYM, supporting the Treasurer and accountant, and working with the CYM Trustees.
Nominating Committee – helps appoint members of CYM committees and the clerk and assistant clerks of CYM by bringing forward names of suitable individuals at CYM’s annual session.
Personnel Committee – The Personnel Committee is responsible for developing and implementing the Personnel Policy for CYM and recommending changes in the Policy to the Trustees.
Board of Trustees – CYM is an unincorporated religious body. It is, therefore, required to have Trustees who are responsible in law for all the undertakings and actions of the CYM. The CYM Board of Trustees hold title to all properties belonging to CYM and is responsible for ensuring their good stewardship.
Committees/Bodies/Reps providing services
Canadian Quaker Library and Archives Committee – is responsible for receiving, overseeing, preserving, inventorying and indexing records and documents of CYM, its constituent meetings, its standing committees, and other related bodies that entrust their records to its care.
Canadian Young Friends Yearly Meeting – is a community of Young Friends aged 13-35 that hold their own gatherings and business meetings.
Canadian Friends Service Committee – the service arm of Canadian Yearly Meeting that addresses the peace and social justice concerns of Quakers in Canada, both nationally and internationally.
Camp NeeKauNis Committee – is responsible for all management and programs at Camp NeeKauNis, located on the shores of Sturgeon Bay near Waubaushene, Ontario, the ancestral lands of the Wendat, Anishnaabeg, and more recently, Haudenosaunee.
Cemeteries – Yonge Street Friends Burial Ground Committee, Pickering Friends Cemetery, Hay Bay Cemetery
Discipline Review Committee – is responsible for reviewing Organization & Procedure and amendments proposed to it.
Continuing Meeting for Ministry and Counsel – provides pastoral care and support for Monthly Meetings across Canada, receives State of Society reports and drafts reports on findings and cares for all meetings for worship, including business meetings held at CYM, among other things.
Education and Outreach Committee – is responsible for supporting Quaker education within Friends meetings in Canadian Yearly Meeting, as well as providing and promoting outreach to the wider public.
Program Committee – serves as a planning and oversight committee for the annual sessions of CYM and acts as a coordinating body for the different groups responsible for aspects of the yearly meeting sessions.
Publications and Communications Committee – responsible for the various media CYM uses to communicate with the Canadian Quaker community: website, e-newsletter, Canadian Learning Series (pamphlets), The Canadian Friend magazine, quaker.ca email addresses, and logo.
Representatives to Outside Bodies: Friends World Committee for Consultation, Friends General Conference, Friends United Meeting, Quaker EarthCare Witness, World Council of Churches, Canadian Council of Churches, KAIROS (Program Circles and Steering Committee), Liaison with the Union of Spiritual Community of Christ (Doukhobors), Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada.
Statistical Secretary: Receives annual membership statistical reports from Monthly Meetings across Canada and compiles findings in a report.
Quaker Life Group: The group is composed of the clerks of Program Committee, Education & Outreach, Publication & Communications, and Library & Archives, a representative of Canadian Young Friends Yearly Meeting, the clerk of Continuing Meeting of Ministry & Counsel, the General Secretary-Treasurer, and the CYM Clerk. They meet regularly, and the purpose is to facilitate collaboration and collaborative planning by making the best use of CYM’s resources to serve the needs of Friends.
Other
CYM in-session – comprised of Delegates from Monthly Meetings, Quarterly and Half-Yearly Meetings.
To contact any of these committees, you can find the contact information here.