YANKADI CONSTITUTION

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PREAMBLE
 

This document shall function as the Bylaw/constitution of the Yankadi Social and Cultural Association of Vancouver

 

Article I Name of the Organization
 

The name of this association shall be called: "Yankadi Social and Cultural Association of Vancouver", (Y.A. V) for short.

 

Section 1.1 Name Change
 

The name of the association shall be changed or altered in the following two steps: (1) With the simple majority vote (1/2+1) of membership at a special general meeting where majority of the total members of the community are present a decision can be made and confirmed. (2) Where the majority of the community members are absent from the meeting, a consensus phone call can be made to other members to conclude a decision.

 

Section 1.2 Motto
 

The Motto of the Association shall be Unity, Peace and Progress

 

Section 1.3 Seal
 

The official seal of the association shall be: The map of Africa with the symbol of handshake, drum, and human with flex.

 

Section 1.4 Association Name and Seal Application
 

The name and seal of the association shall be purely used or applied to conduct official matters or businesses of the association only.

The use of the association Name and Seal in any form or manner other than what is stipulated above (Section 1.4) shall be deemed unconstitutional.

No member(s) or official of the organization shall use the name and seal of the association for personal, private, or public function, which does not fall under the jurisdiction of the association shall also be deemed unconstitutional.

If an official is found operating on the name and seal of the Association unconstitutionally, he/she is subject to interrogation and if found guilty should be removed from office.

 

Section 1.5 Mission Statement
 

Yankadi Social and Cultural Association shall indulge to the communal exclusive the civil, social, and cultural aspirations of members of the community in Vancouver, British Columbia through activities that fall within the realm of law, norms, and values of humanity.

 

Article Il Objective 

Section 2.1

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• The objective of the Yankadi Social and Cultural Association of Vancouver shall be as follow:

• Register members and maintain an active registration list of the association in BC.

• Promote the customary norms and values of all members of the association.

• Help resolve domestic, personal, and other forms of conflicts within the association.

• Create a peaceful and secure environment while eradicating all forms of discrimination within the association.

• Develop cultural and social awareness to members including youth.

• Help and support with reintegration of all new members of the association.

• Develop social relationships with other cultural organizations in BC and to external locations.

 

 

 

Article III. Membership requirements and Meeting:

 

 

Section 3.1 Membership
 

A member shall be anyone (resident of British Columbia) who is registered, embraces the constitution, pays dues, attends meetings, and commits to participating in day-to-day activities of the Association.

 

Section 3.2 Membership Registration
 

Membership registration is free and shall be opened to all individuals in British Columbia who choose to be a member and all membership requests must be acquired through filling and submitting application form.

 

Section 3.3 Membership Benefits
 

All registered and active (dues paying) members are entitled to receive benefits if or when possible and require, and the entitlement of the said benefits may differ based on the member(s) operational records within the Association.

 

Section 3.4 Terminations of Duties and Membership involuntarily.
 

The termination of duties or membership shall be done voluntarily or involuntarily.

• Voluntary- any executive officer or member may voluntarily choose to terminate his or her duties and services to the association at any given moment.

• Elected positions require resignation letters while appointed positions to be directed by the president.

• Involuntary- any executive officer shall be impeached by the Advisory and Elder committee, and the vote shall be unanimous in accordance with the constitution and shall be due to the following:

• Engaging in criminal and illegal activities

• Flagrant violation of the constitution of the Association

• Engaging in any form of financial malpractices.

• Abandonment- consistent absence from association activities and the lack of functions up to 6 months without notice.

• Supporting, encouraging, or engaging any activity or activities, which may promote discriminatory hate and disunity within the association.

 

Section 3.5 Meetings and meeting dues
 

All general meetings of the Association shall be held on Saturday, on a biweekly basis, and in-person or other means decided by the executive officers.

The agenda of all general meetings shall include the following:

• Opening prayer

• Announcing agenda

• Collecting meeting dues

• Appointing Chairperson- by executive

• Meeting Minutes

• AOB

• Closing prayer

Note: meeting due is $120 annually; the said amount can be paid in either ways: full or by installment, or per every meeting provided how each member shall desire to pay before the end of the fiscal year.

 

Section 3.6 Location of Meetings
 

The location of all general meetings of the association shall be rotational at members residence and the hosts of the above-mentioned meetings shall be decided by the executive officers and the time for the meeting shall be announced as well.

 

Section 3.7 Duration of Meetings
 

The duration of all general meetings of the association shall be decided by the presiding officer and must not exceed more than 2hrs:30 minutes at any given time.

 

Section 3.8 Decision in Meetings
 

All decisions, which impact or may affect the association must be voted upon in general meetings with the simple majority proportion, and the members in that particular meeting shall be considered as a majority; if more members of the community are present within the meeting, a general decision should be voted. If fewer members of the community are present within the meeting consensus via phone call should be made to make a final decision.

 

Article IV. Program
 

The programs of the Association shall be Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr), Ibrahim Day (Eid al-Adha festival), Youth and women empowerment program.

 

Section 4.1 Ramadan
 

• The Association shall organize members into a group of families to host Ramadan dinner on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on a weekly basis.

• The Association shall conduct a voluntary contribution to help the needed people in the following countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mali, and Ivory Coast.

• The Association shall celebrate the Eid al-Fitr by organizing a Barbecue (BBQ) program on Eid Day, or the week-end following the Eid day.

• Members of the association shall contribute to facilitate the said BBQ.

 

Section 4.2 Eid-al Adha (Ibrahim Day)
 

• The Association shall celebrate to commemorate the Ibrahim Day

• The celebration shall be determined by the executives & the organizing committee in accordance with the association protocol.

• Members of the association shall contribute to facilitate the said program.

 

Section 4.3 Youth and women empowerment Programs:
 

The Association shall organize summer activity or activities suitable for both youth and women of the association and the said activities shall be determined by the executives in consultation with parents.

 

 

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Article V. Duties and Responsibilities of the Association
 

The association shall apply nondiscriminatory cater to members, all forms, following:

or manners of support within the realm of the community in case of the following:

 

Section 5.1 Happiness
 

The joyful activities within the association may include the following: welcoming new-born baby, newcomer/member, and new couple/spouse.

 

Section 5.1.1 Welcoming New-Born Baby
 

The Association shall culturally provide to the parents of the Newborn in and outside of the province the following:

• A general announcement to all community members regarding the new-born baby.

• Community members should gather in groups to greet parents of the newborn baby within 7 to 40 days and shall be held on Saturday.

• Members are expected to Cook, contribute refreshments, and provide amusement to grace the occasion.

• Community members are to participate fully in the baby-naming ceremony if or when required.

• Based on custom and traditional practices of the association, the Association is committed providing $300 dollars to the parents of the newborn baby

 

Section 5.1.2 Newcomer (Spouse/couple)
 

The Association shall honor and welcome the spouse of any member who has newly entered in Vancouver, British Columbia in the following ways:

• A general announcement to all community members about the arrival of a newly Spouse/couple.

• A welcome group comprises community members to greet the newly arrived spouse within 1-4 weeks and shall be held on Saturday.

• Members are expected to Cook, contribute refreshments, and provide amusement to grace the occasion.

 

Section 5.1.3 Newcomer (Relative Visitor)
 

The Association shall honor and welcome relatives of any member who has newly entered in Vancouver, British Columbia in the following ways:

• A general Announcement to all Community members about the arrival of a member relative.

• A welcome group comprises community members to greet the newly arrived member relative within 1-4 weeks.

• The Leadership of the association shall be responsible to organize or arrange a traditional welcome service for the newly member relative.

 

Section 5.1.4 Marriage:
 

The Association shall organize, participate, and morally support any members) who is getting married in Vancouver-British Columbia if the association is informed, honored, or empowered into the wedding program. The support of the association shall be in accordance with the norms and value of the association and may differ based on the individual attachment to the association. Note: The association is not mandatory providing its support or services to any member in respect to his or her request for assistance.

However, a member may choose willingly to solicit help or support in all forms or manners outside of the above-mentioned situations.

 

Section 5.2 Sadness
 

The sorrow activities within the Association may include Death and illness/Hospitalization including other unfortunate events, which may induce bodily harm.

 

Section 5.2.1 Death
 

The Association shall take the following course of actions in the event of death of a Member (s) or relative (s) if the association is informed and permitted to take actions:

• A general announcement in both writing and vocal message via the community platform Informing members about the death.

• The association shall form a delegation to sympathize with the bereaved family.

• Community members are expected to contribute voluntarily towards the bereavement by way of custom and tradition.

• Organize and facilitate prayer service (Quranic recitation) for the deceased if requested by the family members.

 

Section 5.2.2 Hospitalization/Illness
 

The Association shall take the following course of actions in the case of Illness/hospitalization of member in medical distress for more than 2 business days:

• Informing community members about the illness or hospitalization of a member.

• Organizing a delegation to visit and pray for speedy recovery.

• Contributing voluntarily to customarily wish for rapid recovery.

A member may choose to solicit help or support in all forms or manner outside of the above-mentioned situations, but is not mandatory to the association, instead the association shall reach out to its members seeking for assistance.

 

Article VI. Executive Officers
 

The Executive Officers shall be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Association and shall be as follow:

• President

• Vice president

• General Secretary

• Financial Secretary

• Treasurer/Bank

• Assistant General Secretary

• Organizing Committee

 

Section 6.1 Functions of Executive Officers
 

A) The President - the president is head of the association. The president in collaboration with other code officers and members of the association shall democratically and transparently operate the day-to-day affairs of the association.

• The president is the chief executive officer of the association and is responsible for the overall policy making of the Association in accordance with the bylaw/constitution. The president shall have the authority to appoint and dissolve an appointed committee solely reason of advancement.

• By authority vested in the office of the president according to the constitution/bylaw, the president of the association shall represent the association at all formal and informal activities organized internally or external institutions, unless the president decides not to do so due to personal or administrative reasons, in which the vice president will designate:

B) Vice President - In the absence or incapacitation of the president, the vice president shall fulfill all duties and responsibilities of the office of the president.

• The vice president is responsible for overseeing tasks and directing activities of the committees.

• The vice president is responsible to successfully implement the policy or policies of the office of the president. In this section,

• By authority vested in the bylaw/constitution, the vice president shall automatically become president to complete the term when the president is unable to lead.

 

C) Secretary General - The Secretary General shall be responsible to record minutes of all relevant meetings related to the association, and keep record of all documents of the association

• Provide access to the above-mentioned records to the officers and members of the association.

• Maintain active membership rooster; prepare and send out all

official communication of the association.

• In consultation, advice, and directive of the president, the secretary general shall prepare and send out all agenda for all general, executive, and special meetings.

• Ensure that all minutes are taken, and presented at every other meeting to be adopted as the official record of the association.

D) Financial Secretary - the financial secretary shall be responsible for all financial records and matters of the association in consultation and collaboration with the executive officers. The financial secretary shall coordinate with the treasurer to ensure reliable, accurate and transparent financial reports of the association.

• Collect and keep record of all meeting dues, contributions, and donations related to the association.

• Maintain financial records, receipts, and provide monthly financial statements and annual financial reports of the association.

• Work in collaboration with the treasure and transfer all collections and donations of the association to the treasure to deposit.

E) Treasurer - the treasurer is the financial manager and shall be responsible to handle all capital such as petty cash, cheque, note related to the association. The treasurer shall be prepared to provide accurate and balanced account information of the association whenever requested to do so, by the president, Officers or Members.

The treasure shall keep his own deposit record in line with the financial secretary and should work in collaboration with the financial secretary for the sake of accountability, transparency, and accuracy in the interests of the association. In the absence of the financial secretary, the treasure should take responsibility for acting in his/her absence.

F) Assistants - All assistants shall provide technical and administrative support to their respective offices of assignments, and they shall immediately assume the duties and responsibilities of the said office in the absence of the ranking officer.

G) Organizing Committee - In accordance with the constitution, the organizing committee shall be responsible to plan and organize the association programs and activities in consultation, advice and directive of the president, Officers, and Members.

 

Article VII. Board Member(s)
 

Member(s) of the Board shall work in collaboration with the leadership and the Association to enhance goals, objectives, and aspiration of the association. The Members) shall be honest, faithful and remain trustworthy in the discharge of their duties. Note: The Board position is an elected position that is given a priority to all members to contest and be elected. If no candidates contest for the position, the following step in Section 7.1 will take course.

 

Section 7.1 Advisory Board Members
 

The Advisory Board Member shall consist of and remain the three former presidents and headed by the most recent former president of the association.

Section 7.2 Functions of Advisory Board
 

The primary functions of the Advisory Board shall be advising and recommending to the leadership on issues, which affect or may affect the association for preventive solution in the following ways:

• Ensuring the association has a viable governance structure.

• Providing constitutional

• awareness to executive officers and

• members when practicable.

• Help to establish strategic policy and direction for the association.

• Monitoring and evaluating the association performance to determine the level of progress and to recommend areas where improvement is necessary.

• In consultation and collaboration of the Elder Committee, the Advisory Board shall amicably resolve leadership disputes or call for elections.

 

Section 7.3 Elder Committee
 

The Elder Committee shall consist of and remain the five oldest members of the association and with unlimited term of office.

 

Section 7.4 Functions of the Elder Committee
 

The function of the elder committee shall be exclusively safe-guiding and promoting norms, values, and customary belief of the association through the following ways:

• Settling and resolving personal and organizational disputes amongst members within the association

• Heading and handling all greetings matters of the association with the directive and consultation of the leadership.

• Operating exclusively to bring harmony into the association and community.

• Investigating member's long absenteeism from the activities of the association

• Honoring and presenting the results of members consultation to the individual with numerical advantage by nomination to serve as president of the association in collaboration with the Advisory Board.

• Presenting the leadership position to the next nominee with the second highest numerical advantage, if the first person declined the position for any given reason.

• Continuing the above-mentioned trends until the president and vice president positions are occupied and this process shall not take more than four (4) weeks.

• Informing the out-going executives when the leadership positions are filled up to inform the public and cordially present them in the subsequent meeting.

• The above procedures shall be applicable when the election commission presents the election results to the elder committee.

• In consultation and collaboration with the President/Executive, the elder committee shall amicably call any departments for interrogating and as well call for urgent meeting in resolving disputes among members.

 

Section 7.5 Chaplain

The chaplain of the association shall be appointed by the president and shall serve all religious guardianship within the association, and carryout the following functionalities:

• Serving the elder committee with the religious opinions on all relevant matters contrasting customary norms and values.

• Administering opening and closing prayers of general meetings of the association whenever called upon by the president or a presiding office.

• In the absence of the chaplain at any time, any member or executive with religious understanding, may choose to fulfill the functions of the chaplain.

 

Article VIll. Election
 

Elections -the elections within the association shall be based on democratic values. All elections shall be conducted in free, fair, and transparent manners, under the supervision of an election commission to be designated in accordance with this constitution of the association.

The elections shall be held in December every three years following the last election in the association.

 

Section 8.1 Election commission
 

Election-the election commission shall consist of three individual members each from the Executive, Advisory Board, and Elder Committee and be appointed by their respective leadership.

• The Advisory Board shall appoint one person from the board to head the election commission.

• The president shall assign one person from the executives to serve in the commission.

• The Elder Committee shall designate one person as the third members of the commission.

 

Section 8.2 Functions of Election Commission
 

The election commission shall carry out the following functionalities:

• Ensuring transparent and democratic process of elections.

• Registering candidates of all available positions.

• Organizing and preparing a secret ballot for voting.

• Providing to the members the Date, Time, and Location of election.

• Carry out membership consultation via calling to determine an individual for the presidency should there be no interested candidates.

• Reporting/presenting within two (2) weeks, the outcome of members consultations to the elder committee.

 

Article IX. Eligibility To Run for Offices
 

The qualifications to run for any executive or non-executive position in the association shall be and remain a registered member and who meet the following characteristics:

• Must be 19 years and older.

• Must be a resident of Vancouver.

• Must be active and dues-paying members at least for six months.

 

Section 9.1 Terms of Office
 

Term- the tenure of all elected positions in the association shall be three (3) commencing at the beginning of the fiscal year, which runs from January to December this including all elected positions with the association.

 

Article X. Finances
 

All financial transactions, cheques, cash, notes, deposits, and withdrawals of funds of the association shall be done by or within the cognizance of the following officials:

president/ vice president, Treasurer and Financial secretary. Copies of all final transactions, and receipts shall be sent to the office of the General secretary.

 

Section 10.1 Banking
 

The Bank shall be the storage of all the association finances, funds, cash, cheques and notes, except petty cash for day-to-day operations. The association shall have checking/ savings or both accounts in a reputable financial institution in Vancouver.

• The Signatories to the association bank accounts shall be the following officials of the Association.

• President, Vice President, General Secretary, Treasurer and Financial Secretary.

• The above-mentioned officers shall have an individual debit card to easily identify the user of the account to a particular transaction(s).

• Any form of illegal tempering with the association accounts, by any executive officer or member of the association shall be deemed unconstitutional and prosecuted fully in conformity to Canadian criminal law.

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Article XI. Amendments
 

The constitution of Yankadi Social and Cultural Association shall be amended whenever necessary to accommodate and modernize the rules and regulations governing the association by the constitution amendment committee, (an Advisory, Executive, and Senior board members), and shall be done in the following procedure:

• Amendment (s) shall be reviewed by the constitution committee.

• Findings are submitted to the office of the president for general presentation.

• The amendments) shall be voted for acceptance or rejection using the simple majority (1/2+1) proportion.

 

This Constitution was written by Yankadi Constitution Committee

Headed by Karamoh Konneh, Chairman

Date: May 2nd, 2023

Constitution Committee Members

 

• Karamoh Konneh–----------------------------------------------------------------------------Chairman

• Mohamed Kromah—-------------------------------------------------------------------------Secretary

• Abu Jawara—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Mohamed Mansary—-------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Musa Sesay—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Usmaan Conneh—----------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Layee Jawara—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Fatima Syllah —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Adam Konneh —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Mohamed Omo Bility—------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Mohamed Kourouma—-----------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Kafumba Kromah —----------------------------------------------------------------------------Member

• Samuka Dolley—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Member