CPRA Renewal Events summarized for RNS members
Dear RNS members,
The Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA) is undertaking a major restructuring of its governance and its focus as a national voice for the recreation and parks sector. The highlights of the changes are in the timeline below. RNS has been part of the discussions since the beginning and has provided its membership with a couple of updates previous to this. CPRA has also had some communications directly with its own members, some of who are also members of RNS.
The following is a summary of significant events in the CPRA timeline of renewal. It is reflects an
RNS perspective and is shared with members to update you, and to invite input from you that will inform your Board’s decision about its future relationship with CPRA. Please read it through and provide comment to the Board if you wish by emailing the Executive Director Trudy Payne at tpayne@recreationns.ns.ca
or Linda Atkinson at lmatkinson@eastlink.ca
. Please have all comments in by August 14 th . There are two questions at the end of this piece that may help you respond. Thank You!!
2007 - PARTG (Partnership Agreement Renewal Task Group) created to review and improve various partnership agreements that exist between CPRA and P/T s. The work quickly transformed into a discussion about the relationships behind the agreements and CPRA structural and operational issues.
This ultimately led to a restructuring of CPRA that is going on now.
2007 – August 2008 – the PARTG developed a proposal to which provincial and territorial partners such as RNS provided significant input and feedback. RNS strongly advocated for a debt free alliance and a commitment to reasonable membership fees. This position was captured in a motion of the Bd in its June
2008 minutes.
August 2008 – CPRA and its provincial and territorial (P/T) partners accepted a proposal from PARTG to restructure CPRA and the relationship between partners.
Highlights includes : -CPR Association will retain its name but restructure to act as a CPR Alliance.
-It will focus on national advocacy, national research, national policy and standards and relationship development with other national players.
-It will focus less on membership services.
-Membership categories will include the P/T partners, corporate, organizations and individuals.
-Bd of Directors will include one representative of each interested P/T partner.
-Each P/T partner will approve its own mechanism to appoint its representative.
-P/T partners will pay an annual membership CPRA fee. It will reflect the partner’s ability to pay, using an approved formula (TBD).
October 2008
-Other revenue streams include provision of services and grant sources.
-The proposal was accepted by the CPRA membership at its AGM.
-A Transition team was struck to research and make recommendation as appropriate to guide the transition to the new CPRA.
It had a challenging timeline that required its work be completed by April
2009.
-Dawn Stegen, former Executive Director of RNs was a member of that team, sitting as a CPRA member and not in her capacity as RNS E.D.

November 2008 -
January 2009
March 2009 -
May 2009 -
-The RNS Bd committed to move ahead in January with a decision on whom to appoint to a new CPRA Board.
-It reaffirmed its commitment to support this transition and to proceed accordingly and within the intention of the June 2008 motion noted above.
-The RNS Bd appointed Linda Atkinson to represent it on the new CPRA BD until her term with RNS expires in fall 2009.
The Bd reviewed the Transition Team report, which was circulated as a draft since the expected audited financial report and debt retirement plan were not complete.
The following motion was passed. “RNS contact CPRA, copying the
Transition Team, asking for an update on the audit and the timeline for the potential notice of motion for by-law changes and other activities required to conclude the creation of the renewed CPRA.”
-The Bd recognized its need to develop a long-term appointment protocol.
The new RNS Executive Director and Linda Atkinson attended a meeting of
CPRA and the P/T Partners. The meeting was largely dedicated to moving forward with a new CPRA Bd that would operationalize the main points of the
Transition Team Report, and conclude the business of the old Bd. A statement was prepared for the P/T partners. It is as follows:
Statement for Partners
At the October 2008 CPRA AGM, members of CPRA authorized the creation of a Transition Team to implement the transition from the existing organization to a renewed national alliance of Provincial and
Territorial Partners.
All Provincial and Territorial Partner organizations supported, in principle, the renewal of CPRA as an alliance, on which they would serve as directors. The renewed CPRA will have, at least initially, three primary roles as follows:
1.
Proactively educate about the benefits of parks and recreation (to better articulate the values and show their implications in public policy and decision making);
2.
Promote a national research agenda (to support above noted educational role, to develop and ratify national policies and standards where applicable, and to improve the practices in the field); and,
3.
Connect all elements of the field through communication and liaison (building connections with other national and international organizations that are aligned with or share parts of the CPRA mandate in order to expand its influence and relevance).
At the NPT Meeting, on May 7-8, 2009 the partners confirmed the need for a strong national voice and that starting anew would be both costly and would have a negative impact on the field nationally.
Reassured by legal counsel that the Provincial and Territorial Partner organization would not be liable for any current or future debt of the national organization, the PT Partners confirmed that they are prepared to be members of the renewed alliance and entrust the new board to carry on the business of the renewed association and to manage the remaining debt, so that this can be a strong, sustainable organization.
At this same meeting, these partners created an oversight committee, action plan and budget. The budget is based on projected revenue and expenses for a one-year start up operation.

Each Partner organization agreed to seek approval from their respective Boards to become partner members of the alliance, to approve the proposed membership fee structure for the start up year, and to appoint a Board representative.
In the interim, CPRA will circulate a resolution to its current members to approve the move to a new governance model for CPRA of a national alliance so that the governance changes will take place as of
July 1, 2009.
This is a pivotal time in the evolution of the parks and recreation movement in Canada. We, as representatives of the partner organizations, are excited about the opportunities that this new alliance will provide.
Again, as noted in the Statement, an Oversight Committee was established to oversee and support the transition of the current CPRA to the new CPRA.
From the perspective of the RNS Bd it was important that there were still no audited financial statements and there was still debt on the books. While the CPRA Bd had made inroads into the debt, the actual amount of outstanding debt was hard to determine, and there was no substantial debt retirement plan.
The Bd sought and considered advice from a volunteer with significant knowledge of non-profit sector accounting and financial practices. It also obtained a legal opinion about any liability the RNS might incur through its representative to a new CPRA (alliance model) board. The Bd is assured is does not assume unusual or untypical liability.
June 2009- At its June meeting the RNS Board had considerable discussion about it willingness to support the new CPRA, while there are financial unknowns. It remains committed to the objectives of the new CPRA. The discussion concluded with the approval of the following motion:
Motion: The RNS Board will inform the CPRA Oversight Committee, RNS members and other interested parties that the RNS Board supports the benefits of a national voice for the parks and recreation sector, a national research agenda and education on the benefits of parks and recreation. Before entering this new partnership with CPRA, RNS is committed to consulting with its members, considering the decision within the context of its own finances and as well as a final CPRA audited financial statement. The Board is cognizant of its own earlier motion that CPRA be debt free before RNS support it. At this time, RNS is not prepared to amend or rescind that motion.
Subsequent to the acceptance of the motion, the Oversight Committee was advised and a request to see the final CPRA audited statement was lodged with it. The Bd is still awaiting this.
July 2009 - This communiqué is intended to update RNS members and to seek your input.
There is also other material posted on the RNS site you may wish to read as background. (Transition Team report).
Although the RNS Board supports the concept of a National voice for recreation in the country, we acknowledge that our primary mandate is to the membership and to Nova Scotians. We have been cautious about moving forward until we have details regarding the amount of debt and the debt reduction plan. In addition, the Board is interested in ensuring that the resources that the Association will be expected to commit as one of twelve members of the Board of the new alliance will not jeopardize our ability to serve the needs of the membership and of Nova Scotians.

Please respond to RNS on this topic by answering the following questions, or generally providing your thoughts. 1) How accurately does the position of the RNS board reflect your own opinion of this situation?
2) Are there other issues or options you feel the RNS Bd should consider?