M’CHIGEENG—The United Manitoulin Islands Transit (UMIT) committee met twice recently at Kenjgewin Teg  in M’Chigeeng. Present were the founding board members including the committee chairperson Guy Dumas and Jeanine Roy, regional employment services manager for the March of Dimes Canada, on conference call. 

Mr. Dumas led a discussion of the articles of incorporation and co-operative requirements and noted that the correct title for the co-operative is UMIT Co-operative Inc. as prescribed by legislation. There are four classes of members for the co-operative. The first is the supporter group that includes Manitoulin Island and area and would be individuals, businesses, municipalities and Indigenous governments. 

The second class is the employee, in this case, AJ Bus Lines. The transit consumer is the third class—the permanent and casual riders on Manitoulin Island. The last class is the service provider that includes all not-for-profit charitable organizations.

The committee was also brought up to speed on the support of the Conseil de la Cooperation de l’Ontario (CCO) and were informed that everything will be reviewed and ready for UMIT including the proper documentation and by-laws.

The board also discussed the design for the UMIT logo. Sandy Cook had submitted a design for this and every member of the committee was in favour of adopting the design. The design was then passed on to graphic designer Shane Cooper, owner of Creative EFX, for refining and the use of colour. Along with the logo will go the UMIT slogan ‘Bringing Communities Together Through Transit.’

The members also discussed the job description that will be posted for an executive director for UMIT with Ms. Cook preparing a first draft to email to members.

The (UMIT) committee meeting held December 4 saw the founding board members, Mr. Dumas, Sandy Cook, Christine Sarbu, Rose Shawanda and Betty Bardswich in attendance as well as Paula Haapanen of Thunder Bay, CCO operations supervisor for Northern Ontario. Also at the meeting was guest Jane Woodbury of Mindemoya who told the committee that she had been taking the previous Ontario Northland bus on an almost daily basis, and Jasmine Recollect, representing the Wikwemikong Development Corporation.

Ms. Haapanen began the meeting with an outline of the CCO and remarked that the organization opened an office in Thunder Bay six months ago. “We help get co-operatives off the ground and work with co-ops through every step of the way,” she said. “There are 18 people behind me who can get information for you.” The CCO collaborates in this province with the Ontario Co-operative Association (OCA)—a provincial trade association representing over 1,500 English-speaking co-operatives.

UMIT board chairperson Mr. Dumas told the members that he has campaigned for transit at Wiikwemkoong for the last couple of weeks. He went on to say that UMIT had to ensure that Wiikwemkoong is involved as it had one of the highest usages of the Ontario Northland service on the Island.

KT student support counsellor Christine Sarbu then spoke of the importance of a reliable transit system for the M’Chigeeng school to get the students to class and noted that KT is invested in transportation.

Mr. Dumas also told the members that he and feasibility study author Wally Beck would be approaching the transportation board to see if they would reconsider the application for $1.5 million for transit by UMIT. The government did not accept the application when it was originally submitted by UMIT, as the grant was in place for long distance transit and Ontario Northland was already supplying that service.

The articles of incorporation were discussed. For the section on directors, UMIT will have a minimum of five founding members who will serve for a one-year term, while other board members coming on will serve a two-year term. The terms were set to maintain continuity. Five members of the board will be required for a quorum.

Mr. Dumas also spoke of ongoing conversations with the Central Manitoulin clerk and that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be reached and that the municipality is charging a 10 percent fee for the handling of the $500,000 grant that UMIT received.

“This is a unique project,” Mr. Dumas said, “in that Ontario does not have transit cooperatives.”

At the next UMIT board meeting the detailed contract for the CCO will be presented and the final job description for the executive director’s position will be finalized.