BFC Member is now referred to as an “Associate”

The Brampton Flying Club has enjoyed a long and unique history in aviation in Canada.

A multitude of flying Clubs were established after the Second World War using the framework of the Canadian Flying Club Association.  Under the umbrella of its successor, the Royal Canadian Flying Club Association (RCFCA), the Brampton Flying Club became a Not for Profit Corporation in 1946.

The legislation in effect at that time was the Companies Act, 1934.     The Letters Patent of our original incorporation can be found on the north side of the fireplace in the restaurant in the Clubhouse.

Over the years changes were made to the Bylaws, which are the Standard Operating Procedures for the governance of the Club.     In 2004, the membership definitions in the Letters Patent were updated and moved to exist solely in the Bylaws.

In 2009, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (NFP Act) came into effect.   All Federally incorporated Not-for-profit organizations are required to complete the transition to the new NFP Act by October 2014, in order to continue to exist as corporate entities.

For the last three years, the Board of Directors has been working steadily towards completing the transition process to the NFP Act.

In 2013, the Sustaining Members of the Brampton Flying Club approved changes to the bylaws at the time to facilitate the changes necessary to transition to the NFP Act and to protect the historically robust governance of our Club.

In April of this year, the Sustaining Members at their Annual General Meeting approved the Articles of Continuance under the NFP Act.

Those Articles of Continuance have been submitted to Corporations Canada for approval.  Once the Articles receive approval Bylaw Number 1 will come into effect.

You will notice in various documents relating to your involvement in the Brampton Flying Club that there has been a change to the title of what was previously referred to as a “member”.    With Bylaw Number 14 and with what will be Bylaw Number 1, with Continuance under the NFP Act, there are still two significant categories of involvement in the Brampton Flying Club.

The general “member” in the Club is now referred to as an Associate.  There is no change to the responsibilities or privileges that were previously attributed to a “member”.

As far a membership in the Brampton Flying Club, the definition of the Sustaining Member also remains unchanged.    Sustaining Members are the only class in the governance structure that has voting rights, except for very limited exceptions.

The changes in the title of a “member” to an Associate was implemented in order to protect the voting rights of the Sustaining Members, to remain consistent with the successful and historic governance model of the Brampton Flying Club and its legacy with the RCFCA, in light of the changes contained within the new NFP Act.