All Hockey Canada, OWHA, and LLFHL Updates will be posted here.
NOTE: ALL of the latest updates regarding hockey and the effect of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the current and upcoming season may be found on the Hockey Canada website, the OWHA website, and the Lower Lakes website. The Ancaster Avalanche Girls Hockey Association will comply with the decisions made by those governing bodies.
OWHA INFORMATION BULLETIN
To: Association Contacts, Voters, Leagues and Registrars,
We thank everyone for their quick attention and support of the direction that has been coming from Hockey Canada and the OWHA regarding the 2019/2020 hockey season and the state of hockey moving forward. We continue to work with our colleagues in the hockey world as decisions are made in the best interests of health and safety. We encourage everyone to keep themselves informed of the information that various levels of government and the medical community are issuing on an ongoing basis. Our primary concern is for our hockey family, their extended families and for society as a whole. As with a hockey team, the world has come together, uniting in a common goal to manage and defeat COVID 19.
Please be advised of some general updates:
- The OWHA web site is updated as important information come available.
- OWHA will send a tweet when there is a new, update posted.
- We are circulating updates via email to contacts and voters and ask this information be shared as widely as possible.
- Our business office is now closed to the general public.
- All staff are working, with some working from home and some working from the office with additional safety measures in place.
- We are not shipping out any materials at this time.
- We are handling mail and any incoming materials with special care.
- We are currently doing our financial reconciliation and will be in touch with associations and independent teams as this progresses. This may take to mid or late April but and we will do our best.
- We are in the process of managing the various logistical and financial aspects resulting from the cancellation of the provincial championships.
- We ask your patience as we work through the various aspects and we do assure you that we understand and support your work in finalizing accounts and reports.
- There is no clear time frame for when hockey activities may resume.
- We are working on contingency plans for various activities.
- We are pleased to answer any questions via email or phone.
- Our first business priority remains receiving updates through hockey and government and sharing information with our members.
We thank everyone for your contributions to hockey and for your individual attention to the safety and well-being of yourselves, your families and all others. You are all in our thoughts and we sincerely wish you well.
OWHA BULLETIN - RE AGMs
The current challenges we are all facing regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic have affected everyone’s daily lives from multiple perspectives. The membership within the OWHA are wonderful teammates as, together, we share positive hockey experiences and players learn sport and life skills and also bond as teammates. Our female hockey family has now expanded beyond sport and beyond all borders as every child and adult is part of a world-wide team that is working together for the health and safety of citizens in all parts of the world. We sincerely thank everyone for your efforts to care for your families and for taking action in support of health and safety for your families as well as for teammates and complete strangers.
Many of our associations, teams and leagues are facing challenges with holding AGMs (Annual General Meetings). Hockey Canada and OWHA have cancelled all sanctioned activities and are recommending that any required meetings are held via conference call or other methods that are not in-person. Some organizations have requirements in their By-Laws or other operating documents that require AGMs to be held in the spring and some require these meetings to be in person. In addition to the absence of sanctioning, the Ontario government has put a restriction on the number of people who may be together. Added to this is the number of people who are in mandatory self-isolation.
New Annual General Meeting regulations (Ontario)
The Government of Ontario announced, on March 31st, support for business corporations, not-for-profit corporations, insurers, and share capital social clubs by implementing an Emergency Order to provide flexibility for corporate meetings. Cabinet approved an emergency order that would temporarily suspend certain legislative provisions and set out replacement provisions (related to the Corporations Act (CA) and Business Corporations Act (OBCA)].
This emergency order applies to not-for-profit corporations incorporated under the Ontario Corporations Act (CA) and gives them the ability to hold virtual meetings; as well as extends the timeframe for AGMs to be held.
This Emergency Order will enable organizations to:
- Hold meetings of directors, shareholders and members electronically or over the phone even if legislation (like Ontario’s Corporations Act) or your bylaws say you can’t. The electronic or phone system has to allow people to communicate with each other simultaneously and instantaneously. So, for example, an email chain over a few days likely would not qualify as a meeting.
- Extend the timeframe by which corporations under the Corporations Act and Business Corporations Act must hold Annual General Meetings (AGMs).
The deadlines for not-for-profits to hold their AGMs are now extended to:
- 90 days after the state of emergency is ended by the Ontario government.
- If the government ends the state of emergency within 30 days before your current deadline, then you have until 120 days after the state of emergency ends.
We encourage you to go to the following site for details:
https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r20107?mc_cid=f45f07bba7&mc_eid=f5ad420435
In order to assist, the OWHA Board of Directors passed the following motion on April 2, 2020.
“The OWHA Board of Directors supports OWHA associations, leagues and independent teams that are not-for-profit organizations incorporated under the Ontario Corporations Act (CA) to hold or postpone their respective AGMs in accordance with the Meetings for Corporations Order issued the Ontario Emergency and Civil Protection Act issued retroactive to March 17, 2020. In addition, the OWHA Board of Directors supports OWHA associations, leagues and independent teams that are not incorporated to follow the same direction. The OWHA will recognize the authority of the current executive and operational documents that will remain in place to manage the operations of the association/league/independent team until such time as next AGM is held. OWHA associations, leagues and independent teams are to provide the OWHA office (info@owha.on.ca) an update on the status of their AGM.”
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