The creation of a Women’s Director position was among several by-law revisions recently unanimously approved by Cricket Canada’s members. The revisions were approved during Cricket Canada’s May 15., 2021 Special General Meeting.
The newly created Women’s Director position on Cricket Canada’s Board of Directors will be reserved exclusively for women. It is intended as a first step towards the Cricket Canada Board Of Directors’ increased and improved diversity.
Cricket Canada’s creation of its Board of Director’s Women’s Director position is just the latest of several initiatives it has implemented towards the further development and promotion of Canadian women’s cricket. This follows Cricket Canada Board’s October 2020 establishment of a Durriya Shabbir headed Women’s Cricket Committee. One of the Committee’s first acts of duty was its January 2021 appointment of Fowzieh Yaqubian as Chair of the Women’s Cricket Selection Panel.
The revisions to the previous by-laws which had been in place since 2017, were driven by a number of factors. Among these was Cricket Canada’s wish to move closer towards Sports Canada’s current established governance standards for national sports organizations, the need for much greater clarity as to its membership requirements, as well as the need to clearly define the role of the nominating committee within its election process.
The additional revisions made to the by-laws include:-
- The re-definition of the requirements for provincial membership, including a more detailed definition of “effective control”.
- The establishment of procedures to determine if a member retains effective control, and how membership might be impacted if it is deemed that a member does not have effective control of cricket within their province.
- The expansion of the Nominating Committee’s role. Along with running the nomination process, the Committee’s members will henceforth also be tasked with identifying candidates who bring needed skills and competencies to the board.
- A better defined process by which votes are allocated to members at general meetings.
Following legal review, the full by-laws are now available on Cricket Canada’s Website. The newly revised by-laws will also all be in place for Cricket Canada’s 2021 Annual General Meeting, scheduled to be held this coming June.
