Statement of organizational intent
The purpose of Vegan Option Canada (VOC) is to make vegan options available in Canada.
Vegan Option Canada wants to ensure that, throughout the country, vegan choices are available to those individuals who wish to have them, when it comes to food as well as all aspects of life (education, clothing…). In particular, VOC is working to make vegan options available in the public sector.
VOC advocates that the right to access vegan alternatives, particularly vegan meals, should be recognized as a human right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Driven by the priority to alleviate suffering in the world, VOC’s specific aims are to improve human health, protect animals and reduce environmental degradation.
Decision-making process
Formalization of Vegan Option Canada’s decision-making process
The decision-making space of VOC is its Agora, whose instructions formalize the decision-making process.
Decision Process: Eligibility of objections
If a member challenges the admissibility of an objection, he or she may request arbitration from the VOC Board of Directors, which must render it within 15 days.
To guide the Board of Directors in this arbitration process, which follows the principle of radical transparency, eligibility criteria are proposed:
- an objection that gives priority to an ethical principle other than that of VOC (alleviating suffering) is out of order;
- an objection is inadmissible if it is based on knowledge or beliefs that are not normally acknowledged by democratic institutions that have the mission to validate information (data, proposals, arguments, hypotheses, theories, etc.). “Democratic institutions” are those who have the trust of the community, even if their legal status is not strictly public; for example, legally private but publicly auditable institutions operating according to radical transparency could qualify for this status;
- an objection that is based on an illogical argument is out of order.
The arbitration report is recorded in the Agora archives.
Consent decision-making and quality of discussions
Vegan Option Canada’s decision-making process is based principally on consent.
Consent decision-making promotes discussion. It is the quality of the argument that prevails, not the number of participants.
The quality of the discussions is crucial for the proper functioning of VOC, especially on a subject as emotional as the animal issue, which puts some people in a vulnerable position. It is important that all participants feel comfortable and safe in the VOC discussion spaces. The WebmasterTeam, in charge of the administration of the information system, ensures this quality and must intervene with the participants if their communication is deemed inappropriate.
What does “safe space” mean? There are two levels at which it can be understood:
1- feeling comfortable or confident in a space or with people;
2- feeling safe and/or physically and psychologically protected from oppression and/or aggression.
So one has to be vigilant about how one communicates with the other in general.
Be careful with remarks that appear innocuous but have a negative dimension (example: irony directed against a participant’s proposal). Communicating in this way is never desirable.
Be careful as well with jokes about the animal issue, which can make people uncomfortable even if they are meant to relax the atmosphere. Would you make a misogynistic joke in a women’s rights movement or a homophobic joke in a gay rights movement?
Administration
Accompanying allies for participants of Vegan Option Canada
Any new participant is connected to an accompanying ally member who helps them discover VOC using the Welcome Guide.
Radical Transparency
By default, all documents from Vegan Option Canada apply the principle of radical transparency. Any new participant is informed of this by the welcome email following registration.
Official Word of Vegan Option Canada
The official communication of VOC (website, standard mail) must be validated via the Agora.
However, the Communication Council is mandated to be the spokesperson for the association and can speak without validation by the Agora if necessary.
A member cannot speak on behalf of VOC unless they have a mandate.
The Communication Council of VOC has the mandate to perform the following tasks:
- make technical improvements to the official texts;
- approve submissions of content to be published on VOC platforms (including the website and social media channels);
- approve the final draft of the newsletter;
- administer social networks; and
- communicate by mail or email.
To implement this mandate, two Communication Council members are sufficient for proposals that are considered minor.
As the VOC website is the main platform for communicating VOC’s official texts, the “comments” function (allowing users to express themselves) is deactivated, in order to avoid confusion; any proposed exceptions to this general rule must be validated via the Agora.
Assigning Access Codes to Vegan Option Canada Information Systems
Members of the VOC WebmasterTeam hold access codes to VOC information systems (website, social networks, collaborative platform, email, Google account), which is a major responsibility.
In order to secure the informational heritage of VOC, the Board of Directors of VOC has a mandate to appoint the members of this WebmasterTeam.
Delegation of Financial Authority and Accounting Process
Vegan Option Canada’s forecasted budget is validated through the Agora.
Only the VOC Board of Directors has delegated authority to incur expenses or other financial transactions as part of this budget. The Board of Directors has the ability to delegate this authority by imperative mandate.
For operations not planned in this budget, the Board of Directors may incur expenses of up to $1000 annually.
The Treasurer signs for the association’s payments.
The Treasurer ensures the completion of each financial transaction (including verifying the accuracy of its figures, with supporting documents) and has it certified by the Board of Directors prior to making a payment, booking and archiving of accounting documents. The accounting information system is radically transparent.