The Constitution and By-Laws, 1950–2016

The Society legislated for itself constantly and never gathered the record of it. The drafting is in the minutes of the founding meeting; the first amendment is in a 1954 Annual Meeting report; the whole story of the 1956–60 revision is in a signed article by the woman who did the work; the repeal and replacement are two motions printed with their movers and seconders; the last amendments of the newsletter era are a notice of 1987. This page puts them in order and names the issue and page for every claim.

Two kinds of source, and the page says which is which. Up to 1990 is read from the Society's newsletters. 2005 onward comes from the newsletters of those years, and from the Constitution's own 2016 text in the Governance document set. 1991–2004 is in neither, and the Constitution is barely mentioned in those years: the 41st Annual Meeting programme of 1991 records that the By-Laws and Constitution had been revised and reprinted in 1990, and in 1992 new members were to be given a packet including the Constitution. (The 41st Annual Meeting programme, 1991, page 4; Fall 1992, page 3.)

Drafted before there was a Society, 1950

At the organizational meeting of 8 June 1950 the constitution was the fourth item of business, after the name, the officers and the Board of Selection. The minutes — reprinted in full in the newsletter forty years later — record it in these words: “The chief points of a constitution for the new Society were discussed, and such topics as membership qualifications and membership fees were considered. It was decided that a tentative constitution be drafted by the chief executive officers, under Mr. Deane Russell's direction, such constitution to be sent out for the approval and criticism of the charter members, to be later adopted.” An initial treasury was raised on the spot by an assessment of one dollar from everyone present. (Spring 1990, page 9, reprinting the minutes of 8 June 1950; the same paragraph is summarised in the tenth-anniversary history, Spring 1960, page 8, and again in the twenty-fifth, Spring 1975, page 3.)

• Drafted in the winter after the organizational meeting of 8 June 1950, by the chief executive officers under Deane Russell's direction, and sent to the charter members for approval and criticism
• Formally adopted on 29 March 1951 — the date Reta Larmour gives in the newsletter; two later accounts of the Society's own say 15 March, and this page states the disagreement rather than settling it
• Found “inadequate and at times unworkable” by 1956; a tentative re-draft was then run for a year at a time
• Repealed and replaced at the tenth Annual Meeting, 9 April 1960, on two motions from the floor — and mimeographed and bound by a member at his own expense
• Reviewed again in 1984–85 under Dorothy Muma, and amended in 1989 to add a Student Membership at half fees
• A second revision, stalled by a missed mailing deadline in 2005, approved by the General Membership at the 2007 Annual Meeting and distributed by Barbara Chynoweth
• Rewritten a third time over the winter of 2015–16, voted through at the 66th Annual Meeting with one dropped word restored on the floor, and the Society's own final text now sits in the Governance document set

The first newsletter describes the drafting as the work of a season: “During the fall, winter and spring of the 1950-51 season, the new Society's constitution was drafted and approved.” (September 1951, page 1.) The founding president Deane Russell, looking back in 1978, remembered the same thing — that at the first and following meetings “the new Society's constitution was drafted and plans were made to present a program to improve and upgrade the quality of leathercraft in Canada.” (Summer 1978, page 3.)

Adopted in 1951 — on a date the Society gives two ways

“The Constitution and By-Laws of the Canadian Society of Creative Leathercraft, written during the winter following the organizational meeting in 1950, were formally adopted by the Society on March 29, 1951.” That is the opening sentence of New Constitution and By-Laws for C.S.C.L., signed by Reta Larmour, in the Spring 1960 newsletter, page 5 — and she is the member who had spent the previous four years rewriting the document. The date is unambiguous in the typescript.

Two later accounts of the Society's own give 15 March. The undated two-page typescript of about 1971 says “The original constitution was adopted March 15, 1951”, and the fortieth-anniversary history repeats it word for word (Summer 1990, page 3). Neither is contemporary with 1951; neither names a source; and the 1960 article is both nearer the event and by the person with most reason to know. The chronology shows the entry under March 1951 and names both dates. Nothing settles which is right — the constitution itself is not among the Society’s surviving papers.

The first amendment, 1954

The Fifth Annual Meeting made the first recorded change: “An amendment to the Constitution was passed by which the immediate Past President will be a member of the Executive for one year. It was agreed that this action would help to give continuity to our work.” (Summer 1954, page 3.) The clause outlived every later revision — thirty-three years on, the Executive Council is still described as including “all officers of the Society, the immediate Past President, the Chairman of the Council of Fellows, Presidents of the Branches and not less than ten nor more than fifteen members elected at the Annual Meeting.” (Winter 1987, page 7.)

“Inadequate and at times unworkable”, 1956

By the Society's sixth year the document was in the way. “At the time of formation of CSCL, a constitution was drawn up in a tentative form. With the growth of the Society, this draft constitution has been found to be inadequate and at times unworkable. A committee was therefore appointed to re-draft the constitution and a tentative draft has been made. This draft constitution will be in effect for one year, after which time further revisions will be made as necessary. Then copies will be circulated to the membership for comments and suggestions, the final Constitution to be adopted at the next Annual Meeting.” (Spring 1956, page 8.) The expedient of running a draft for a year and then re-drafting it lasted four years, not one.

The re-draft was not only tidying. The Winter 1956 newsletter prints “the requirements for Associate and Fellow membership ratings as listed in the revised Constitution” — three years' practice, a high standard of craftsmanship, work approved by the Board of Selection — so the ranks the Society is best known for were being restated as the document changed. (Winter 1956, page 9; the whole of that story is told in Associate and Fellow — how the Society raised a member.)

Reta Larmour's revision, and the lawyer who put it into legal form

Larmour's own account is the fullest thing the archive holds on how the Society governed itself. “It was realized by 1956, after five years of intense activity by the Society, that its Constitution and By-Laws were quite inadequate. Some clauses had been found inoperable, some were never used, and in many instances no adequate provisions had been made for the proper operation of the Society as it had developed. I was appointed by the Executive Council in 1956 to make a preliminary revision of the Constitution and By-Laws. After several months work with the Executive Council, a satisfactory draft was completed. At this time I was most fortunate to be able to consult Mrs. G.G. Brigden, wife of one of our members — a lawyer whose speciality is Constitutional Law and the writing of constitutions. Mrs. Brigden found that to bring our draft into proper legal form, it needed more revisions in wording and arrangement.” (Spring 1960, page 5.)

The revision could not be finished in time for the 1957 Annual Meeting, and the newsletter of that spring says so from the floor's point of view: “Mrs. Reta Larmour, Chairman of the committee working on the revised Constitution, announced at the Annual Meeting April 6th, that with the help of our expert legal adviser in Constitutional law, Mrs. G.G. Brigden, the Constitution is being made more compact, but it was impossible to have it ready for this Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting empowered the Executive Council to approve and adopt this Constitution and set of By-Laws and to have them printed and sent to members of the Society later.” (Spring 1957, page 2.) Larmour gives the wording of her own motion: “This Annual Meeting empower the Executive Council to approve and adopt the Constitution and By-Laws on behalf of the voting members of the Society.” It carried, “and the Society has been operating under this revised draft up to the present time.”

Then the revision was revised. “The revision of the revision was again undertaken during the winter of 1959-60. Viola Harris and Fred Brown, both with a fine training in parliamentary procedure, worked on a committee with me. Once again we found that a number of alterations and additions were necessary. When our draft was completed, it was carefully checked and brought once again into proper legal form by Mrs. Brigden, drafts were sent to the Executive Council, and at a special meeting on March 20th, the Executive Council — after considering the draft clause by clause — accepted it unanimously for presentation to the 1960 Annual Meeting.” (Spring 1960, page 5.)

Repealed and replaced, 9 April 1960

The tenth Annual Meeting did it in two motions, and the newsletter printed both with their movers and seconders. First, “a motion by Irva Ford, Hamilton Branch, seconded by Harold Booth, Hamilton Branch, that the Constitution and By-Laws as they now stand be repealed, was adopted unanimously.” Then, “by unanimous vote on a motion by Mr. Harold Wilson, Hamilton Branch, seconded by Clara Cavanagh, Barrie Branch, the new Constitution and By-Laws were formally adopted by the Annual Meeting.” (Spring 1960, pages 5–6. The Annual Meeting was held on 9 April 1960.)

Getting it into members' hands took the rest of the year. “The Executive Council is now investigating the best method of preparing the new Constitution and By-Laws for distribution. You will be advised through the Bulletin when copies will be available” (Spring 1960, page 6) — and in the autumn: “The new constitutions are now ready and we are greatly indebted to Mr. Harold Frost for having them mimeographed and bound. A copy can be obtained by writing to the secretary, Mrs. Nina Wilson, Secretary, Canadian Society of Creative Leathercraft, 400 Charlton Avenue West, Hamilton, Ontario.” (Fall 1960, page 4.) Frost, a member of the Executive Council since 1956, is thanked again fifteen years later: the Constitution and By-Laws were printed “by the courtesy of Mr. Harold Frost of Wallaceburg, Ontario” during Fred Brown's fourth year as president. (Spring 1975, page 6.)

What the Society thought a constitution was for

The tenth-anniversary history put it as architecture, and the metaphor is the Society's own: “Every organization, in order to function properly, needs a set of rules. The Constitution not only provides a set of rules but architecturally provides the framework of the building. This framework of our Society was begun at the organizational meeting and rapidly took shape through many Executive meetings during the first few years. However, many weaknesses became apparent and had to be repaired. Indeed, whole sections of the structure had to be torn out and rebuilt and new sections added. The architect in charge of this very important job of reconstruction has been Mrs. Larmour, who, with the expert help of Mrs. Gel Brigden, the wife of one of our members, has worked untiringly anticipating our Society's needs and checking the legal angles.” (Spring 1960, page 10; reprinted in the twenty-fifth-anniversary history, Spring 1975, page 5.)

“Mrs. G.G. Brigden” and “Mrs. Gel Brigden” are the same person, and she is the Lorna Brigden the archive already holds: the 1985 tribute to her husband says “Lorna is a lawyer, and was responsible for putting our Constitution and Bylaws in proper form twenty-five years ago” (Fall 1985, page 10) — twenty-five years before 1985 is 1960 — and her own obituary says the same: “Our Constitution and By-Laws are a fine example of her sound legal expertise combined with an extensive first hand knowledge of organizational requirements” (Fall 1988, page 3). Those two sources name her. The Society thanked the husband too: Gel Brigden was given an Honorary Associate Certificate in 1974 “recognizing his many years of service to the Executive Council” (Spring 1974, page 1).

The 1975 history is blunter about the cost of the work. Of Reta Larmour: “She was instrumental, with the help of Mrs. Lorna Brigden, in hammering out the Constitution of the Society — again a monumental job.” (Spring 1975, page 9.) And on making her an Honorary Life Member: “You gave hours, days, months, in forming the constitution, writing the laws which have made the society what it is to-day.” (Fall 1975, page 7.)

The clauses the Society actually used

A constitution is visible in an archive mostly where somebody reaches for it, and the newsletters show four such moments. The clause on branches was read aloud at branch foundings: at Peterboro in 1956, “Mr. Fred Brown, Vice-President of C.S.C.L., read the part of the Constitution pertaining to branches and answered questions arising from the forming of a new organization” (Fall 1956, page 11), and the Hamilton Guild's own account of its founding meeting records the same act — “Fred Brown read the part of the constitution that concerned branches” (Summer 1966, page 1). The qualification clause was quoted in full when the first Fellows and Associates were chosen (Spring 1953, page 2). Article 3 was cited when the members voted their own fees up: at the 1974 Annual Meeting “it was decided by ballot (according to Article 3, Section 1 and 3 of the C.S.C.L. constitution) to increase the membership fee for 1975-76 to $5.00” (Spring 1974, page 1). And Article VIII carried the Society's name: “A change in the Constitution, Article VIII, was made to change our name from Canadian Society of Creative Leathercraft to Canadian Society for Creative Leathercraft.” (Spring 1975, page 8.)

The By-Laws also governed the Society's own standards body. “The Council of Fellows shall be independent of the Executive Council and serve as final authority in all matters pertaining to the standards of the craft”, and among its duties was “to appoint a Board of Selection (as provided by the By-laws).” (Spring 1975, page 12.)

The aims, as the By-Laws set them down

The fullest statement of purpose the archive holds is the list printed at the end of Fred Brown's C.S.C.L. — What Is It All About?, introduced as “the AIMS AND OBJECTIVES of the Society to which it strived to adhere since the founding in 1950 … laid down in the Constitution and By-Laws.” (Winter 1987, page 7.)

Two years later the newsletter was still holding the membership to them: “These are the aims and objectives as framed in our Constitution and it is hoped that everyone will accept these standards and build a foundation for Creative Leathercraft.” (Spring 1989, page 4.)

Reviewed at thirty-five, amended at forty

In the autumn of 1984 the Executive Council set a committee on it again: “Our Constitution will be reviewed by a committee, led by Dorothy Muma, and any items no longer relevant will be removed if found.” (Fall 1984, page 7.) The following spring the newsletter welcomed the work and, incidentally, recorded how the document reached members: “We were pleased to hear that this newly formed committee is working on updating the Constitution as there are a number of items which, after 35 years, are no longer applicable … New members are advised that there are some copies of the Constitution available, if you do not as yet have one, and it would be wise to arrange to pick one up by contacting the Corresponding Secretary. Copies are, however, limited, and will be updated after report of the Constitution Committee next year.” (Spring 1985, page 11.)

The amendments that came of it are printed in full, with the two-year procedure the By-Laws required. “On motions duly made, seconded and carried at Executive Meetings in Toronto, the following resolutions are to be brought before the 1988 Annual Meeting and voted on at the 1989 Annual Meeting.” Proposal 1 added a membership class: “Student Membership for full-time students up to the age of 20 be at 1/2 of regular membership fees at the time.” Proposal 2 raised fees: “Membership fees be increased by $5.00 to $15.00 in 1989 and a further increase of $5.00 to $20.00 in 1990.” And the rule that made the notice necessary: “According to the By-Laws and Constitution, these proposed amendments must be in the memberships' hands four weeks before the Annual Meeting in order that they be brought before the upcoming Annual Meeting.” (Winter 1987, page 3.)

The last mention in the newsletters is a housekeeping one, at the fortieth Annual Meeting in April 1990: among the business of the Executive Council was “the Larmour Library, collating and re-printing of the By-Laws, listing of all Archival material, and the Annual meeting reports.” (Spring 1990, page 2.) Forty years after seventeen people in a Toronto Y.W.C.A. decided that the chief executive officers should draft one, the Society was still copying it out.

The wording above follows the original exactly for Spring 1960 pages 5 and 6, Spring 1957 page 2, Fall 1960 page 4 and Winter 1987 page 3. Harold Booth of the Hamilton Branch seconded the motion to repeal, and Mr. Harold Frost had the new constitutions mimeographed and bound. Every page pictured above is the original, unaltered; where this account differs from it, the printed page decides, and the difference is stated.

After 1990 — a fifteen-year gap, then a second revision cycle

From here the source changes, and the reader should know it. Everything above was read from the Society's newsletters. What follows is drawn from the modern quarterly newsletter, Canadian Leathercraft, which the Society began posting on its own website, and from the Constitution's own final text in the Governance document set. Between 1990 and 2005 no paper reports a revision or a vote. The 41st Annual Meeting programme of 1991 records only that the By-Laws and Constitution had been revised and reprinted in 1990, and the Fall 1992 newsletter that new members were to be given a packet including the Constitution.

On hold, then underway, 2005–2006

The next mention of the Constitution is fifteen years later, and it opens with a missed deadline. At the 55th Annual Meeting, 16 April 2005, business arising from the minutes “included an issue with the revisions to the Constitution of CSCL. Although the Executive tried to get the proposed changes out to members prior to the General Meeting, the deadline of ‘four weeks before the Annual Meeting’ was not met. Therefore, the Executive Council will take the revision plan back to the table and plan to communicate with members well in advance of the 2006 Annual. No changes to the Constitution have occurred at this time.” (Spring 2005, page 4.)

The Executive Council kept at it through the following two years. That autumn: “Revision of the CSCL Constitution – Peter Grove is arranging a meeting with Council of Fellows members and will report back at the November Executive.” (Fall 2005, page 2.) By January 2006 the project was “on hold until February Meeting.” (Winter 2005–2006, page 3.) And at the 56th Annual Meeting, 29 April 2006, President Peter Grove “commented that the Constitution revision is still a work in progress with hopes that 2007 will bring the revisions to the general membership.” (Spring 2006, page 3.)

Approved by the General Membership, 2007

The Executive Council's own minutes trace the last stretch month by month. November 2006: “CSCL’s Constitution revisions are almost ready for Executive Council approval.” January 2007: “the Executive Council motioned forward the new Constitution Revisions and a mailing to all members is planned very soon. Finally voting by members, on the Revisions will take place at the Annual General Meeting – May 5, 2007.” (Winter 2006–2007, page 4.) By March: “CSCL’s Constitution revisions are completed and ready for approval by the General Membership at the Annual General Meeting – May 5, 2007.” (Spring 2007, page 3.)

The vote carried. “Highlights from the 2007 Annual General Meeting, May 5, 2007 – CSCL’s Constitution revisions have been approved by the General Membership! If any CSCL member would like a copy of the revised Constitution contact any Executive Council member or Membership chair Phyllis McHale.” (Summer 2007, page 4.) Getting it into members' hands was, as in 1960, a separate job: that autumn, “Barbara Chynoweth has completed the Revised Constitution and will distribute email copies to those CSCL members. Those without email will receive mailed copies.” (Fall 2007, page 3.)

Rewritten again, 2016

A third rewrite went through the Executive Council over the winter of 2015–16. In February: “Constitution – Lauch Harrison moved, Paul Kitchener seconded that the Constitution be accepted as rewritten for presentation to the general membership to be voted on at the Annual Meeting. Carried.” In March, “the Constitution Committee reported that the revised Constitution has been sent out electronically to those with Email and by regular post for those who don’t,” and by April the committee “reported that we will be voting on the changes to the Constitution and By-laws at the Annual.” (Spring 2016, page 2.)

The 66th Annual Meeting, hosted by the Norland Branch, passed it — with a correction caught on the floor: “The approval of the revised CSCL Constitution and By-laws with one word added that had been deleted.” (Spring 2016, page 5.) The Summer 2016 newsletter confirmed it stood: “The changes to the Constitution were passed at the Annual.” (Summer 2016, page 2.)

This is the text the Society now keeps as final: CSCL Constitution and By-Laws 2016 – FINAL, in the document archive's Governance set. No comparable full text survives for 1951, 1960 or 2007 — what the newsletters print about those revisions is all that survives of them.

Written for this archive from the Society's own reports, 1950–2016. Every scanned page quoted is linked from the newsletter archive and can be read there in facsimile; the 2005–2016 material is quoted from the newsletters as the Society posted them, and the 2016 text itself is in the document archive's Governance set. The Constitution and By-Laws as adopted in 1951, 1960 or 2007 are not themselves among the Society’s surviving papers: what survives is what the newsletters printed about them, which is why the 1951 adoption date can be given two ways and is.