Annual General Meeting 2023

This past Sunday June 4, 2023, after two years of virtual meetings due to COVID-19, voting members and honorary guests of the Vietnamese Women’s Association Toronto (VWAT) were glad to see each other in-person again as they convened to attend the most awaited event of the year: the VWAT Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The AGM was called to order at 11:00 AM with a warm welcome to nearly 100 members, delegates, VWAT staff and observers, followed by the introduction of the incumbent Board of Directors and the AGM Chair. The meeting commenced with the playing of the national anthems and a moment of silence to honour fallen veterans. Among 105 voting members with current memberships with VWAT, 59 attended the meeting (including 5 proxies). The Chair concluded that the total number of attending members was sufficient to reach a quorum, and the meeting was therefore allowed to proceed. Both the AGM Agenda and last year’s AGM Meeting Minutes were accepted and were circulated by a majority vote.

Next, Ms. Binh Minh Hoang, Chair of the Board, delivered her opening speech to cordially welcome everyone to the AGM. Her speech also highlighted VWAT’s proudest achievements from last year. Although the last two years of the pandemic had been difficult with restrictions in Canada and all over the world, VWAT was able to live up to its mandate and continued to successfully provide services to the community, funded by all three level of government. Our association’s core mission is to connect with newcomers from all cultural and social backgrounds in order to help them integrate into their new lives.

The report on VWAT’s annual activities, presented next by Mr. Xuan Vinh Truong, VWAT’s Executive Director, also highlighted our outstanding achievements and continued growth and expansion.

According to the report, the year 2021-22 saw a significant growth of VWAT’s settlement programs and services. We provided 5,148 services to 1,042 clients in total – a 37% growth compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2018-2019. We also welcomed 250 clients from diverse backgrounds other than Vietnamese, accounting for roughly 1/4 of our clientele, representing a 67% increase from previous years, and setting a record high. These numbers demonstrate VWAT’s commitment to inclusivity, opening our doors wide to a multicultural community and in return, we are proud to say we have been well-accepted by the diverse community in Toronto and the GTA.

The ED report featured our biggest achievement from last year in settlement services, which was the successful organization of 4 group meetings to connect newcomers and community members for support and mentorship. These group sessions were organized by our volunteers who were well-settled newcomers under the guidance of our staff, attracting 50 to 100 newcomer participants each.

The number of people using VWAT’s employment services for newcomers increased by 158% over the previous year. Our employment services included mentoring, preparation for licensure/certification, individual employment counselling, networking opportunities, and resume screening and matching. VWAT facilitated 83 employment-related workshops to help prepare newcomers for obtaining employment. The Employment Counsellors had also provided a total of 2,840 employment-related services. More than 434 individual newcomers had benefited from our employment-related services in this reporting year.

The Entrepreneurship Program for Newcomer Women was a new initiative funded by the IRCC in 2022. This program met the needs of our existing clients who sought information on how to become entrepreneurs and for us to accommodate the various needs of newcomer clients with plans to purchase businesses in Ontario. Started in December 2022, the program benefited 62 families. Our employment team also offered 276 services, with 10 workshops focusing on a variety of topics based on participants’ interests, and 120 one-on-one consultation services.

More than 50 in-person as well as virtual classes and workshop sessions were organized last year, covering a variety of topics including Proud to Be a Canadian, G1 Preparation, Food Handlers’ Certification, Digital Literacy, Will and Power of Attorney, and Workplace Communication Strategies, etc.

Many of VWAT’s activities and services also targeted seniors and youth in the community. VWAT staff aided many seniors who were interested in applying for various government benefits. With the New Horizons for Seniors Program grant, VWAT offered two classes to support the healthy aging of seniors around two important areas: Digital Literacy and Brain Health Literacy.

In 2022, VWAT set the goal to reinvigorate our youth program after a few years of pause due to the pandemic. Overall, it has been a successful year with the relaunch of VWAT Summer Day Camp and the restart of the Newcomers Club at York Memorial C.I. The Youth Program Coordinator have also connected with many youth volunteers to help at cultural events hosted by VWAT.

Last year VWAT also organized our in-person Trung Sisters Commemoration event again after a long period of postponement due to pandemic restrictions. This cultural celebration has always been a cherished tradition among the Vietnamese community.

Next, Mr. Vinh Truong passed the floor to Ms. Kim Quy Tran, VWAT’s Treasurer, who reported on details of VWAT’s Financial Statements for the 2021-22 fiscal year. The revenue mainly came from funding by all three levels of government: federal, provincial, and municipal, in addition to grants VWAT obtained from several community, charitable organizations. The Statement of Operations and Statements of Changes in Net Assets for the year ended October 31, 2022 showed that the total revenue increased by 33% compared to the previous year. The expenses also rose accordingly, as VWAT ran newly funded programs and allocated resources to meet the projected outcomes of new programs and services. Based on the audit completed by Chan & Co. Professional Corporation, an independent Canadian auditing firm, it was confirmed that VWAT’s financial statement had been prepared and presented in accordance with all Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations. VWAT also filed its annual organization tax return on time. The audited financial statement was thus approved as presented.

The AGM Chair then announced that VWAT was seeking the re-election of board members for the year 2023-24. The incumbent Board of Directors were approved for another two-year term by all voting members present. Ms. Kieu Tram Nguyen was elected to the Board of Directors and gave her inaugural speech as a new addition to the Board.

The AGM was adjourned at 1:00 PM on that same day.