Canadian Theological Society – Annual General Meeting Minutes (draft)
St. John’s College, Winnipeg, MB
June 2, 2026
3:30 pm
Members present: Steve Martin, Alice Candy, Joshua Zentner-Barrett, Mykayla Turner (check), Doris Kieser, Tim Harvie, Jon Coutts, Justin Stratis, Chanelle Robinson, Fiona Li, Nick Olkovich, Jane Barter, Caleb Upton, Daranne Harris, Ryan Turnbull, Jean-Pierre Fortin, Don Schweitzer, Nick Olkovich, Michael Buttrey, Mike Mackenzie, Warren Schmidt, Natalie Wigg Stevenson, Rob Fennell, Morgan Bell, Murray Evans, Nate Wall-Bowering, Michael Morelli, Daniel Rempel, Christine Jamieson, Christina Conroy
Welcome and Land Acknowledgement
President Christine Jamieson welcomes everyone and acknowledges the land
Approval of Agenda
Motion: Doris Kieser. Seconded: Tim Harvie
Approval of the Minutes from 2025 AGM
Approved: Michael Buttery Seconded: Jane Barter
Reports
×Secretary – Christina reports that as of the Winnipeg Meeting, 59 members. 22 Full (37 Discounted). Numbers are slim. Christina anticipates two related issues: whether people presenting papers must pay membership dues or just conference fees; if we can “recycle” past-presidents for executive service and/or extend the presidential term to two years.
×Communications – Michael reports updating the website and welcomes suggestions and prompts about website content.
×Student Representative – Josh reports that we have good student representation at the conferences and are still looking to connect with Congress on this.
×Past-President – Nick will include his report when he presents nominations.
×Vice-President – Michel Andraos has resigned for personal reasons.
×Treasurer – Michael reports for Carolyn and presents last year’s budget. He notes we are lower on membership fees, but conference revenue came in higher than expected. Question: Why aren’t we drawing income from the Jay Newman Fund. Answer: the last cycle ended before congress last year. We are opening a new corporate account with all the required documentation. The Bank of Montreal had not realized that we were incorporated and so now we needed two signing officers that show up in person in order to make the necessary shift. This will take 4-5 months to complete. We then vote on the budget.
Budget approved: Rob Fennell. Seconded: Don Schweitzer
×DEJ Chair – Fiona refers to her written report and summarizes: the guest this year was Lucy Delgado; the DEJ student panel is tomorrow. Fiona encourages people to join the DEJ.
×Program Chair – Daniel reports that we had more individual paper submissions than last year. Last year we had more panels because of our collaboration with NAIITS. Daniel notes that because we were outside of Congress, the role of Program Chair was entirely different and complicated entity. We should consider this when choosing to operate independently in the future.
×President – Christine expresses the honour it has been to act as president and her appreciation for the executive. Christine highlights that we will talk about our relationship with Congress in a few minutes and offers thanks and a gift to Ryan for his detailed work in making this independent conference happen. Christine also acknowledges the Brill Press representative and welcomes him to say a few words. He welcomes engagement and submissions.
Acknowledgement of CTS members and friends who have passed
No names have been submitted
Nominations/Elections (Nick)
Nick brings nominations to the floor. Nominations proceed in collaboration with the two most recent past presidents. Because the vice-president, Michel, had to step down, we needed someone with experience to step into the president’s role without the usual term as Vice-President. Nick thanks Jean-Pierre for letting his name stand.
Nick presents the slate of candidates. The slate includes the new names: Jean-Pierre Fortin (president), Sarah Travis (student rep), Patrick Nolan (program chair).
Motion that the candidates as presented be elected as a slate.
Motion: Morgan Bell. Seconded: Steve Martin
The vote is approved and the candidates acclaimed.
Feedback on Conference Format and Planning for 2027 – Decision regarding hosting the 2027 CTS conference apart from Congress 2027
The executive solicits feedback on conference format and location. The options are: going with Congress again collaborating with NAIITS and exploring holding an independent conference in Calgary at Ambrose University; holding CTS in Toronto using Darren Dias as the contact person. The membership discusses the options and empowers the executive to make a decision with the discussion in mind.
Discussion:
×Question: Some ask about CSSR. Answer: They are meeting independently next year.
×We will check with Patristics and CSBS to see if they are attending Congress in Burnaby.
×Regarding an independent conference: CTS will still pay membership fees to Congress and there is no repercussion if we do not join then for two or three years for the annual meeting. We have been assured by Congress we can do our own thing. Ryan Turnbull reminds that this conference was reasonable because of his relationship to the College, and because we received money from local entities: Providence ($300), St. John’s College ($1000) and Diocese of Rupert’s Land ($1000). Daniel Rempel notes the significant extra work. The membership notes that if we continue this way we may have to hire administrative help. Jane recommends that we remind other societies that they need to provide their own administrative assistance. Aaron from Brill notes that we can draw publishers if you have a larger gathering.
×The membership asks society to consider accessibility in making their decision. They also ask us to consider potential tacit endorsement of Ambrose’s administrative choices if we choose to consider Calgary. This is reiterated by several people and the executive is asked to only consider spaces that respect academic freedom.
Motion to empower the executive explore conference to consider various possibilities and make connections with other societies
Motion: Doris KieserSeconded: Rob Fennell
About the possibility of cycling back into the CTS Executive
Considering the small membership and the possibility that we will move away from The executive would like the society to consider the ability to extend terms, and extend the president’s tenure for two years. Chanelle Robinson asks us to consider recruitment strategies.
Ambrose follow-up and state of the field (challenges similar to what happened at Ambrose University and an update on the Ambrose situation)
×Update on the situation at Ambrose and the acknowledgement of Jon Coutts present with us. Administration does not recognize that tenure has anything to do with financial strategies. Nothing was resolved. The faculty, in response, successfully formed a union. A repercussion of Jon Coutt’s lay-off is that he was no longer protected under academic freedom, was charged by his denomination for insubordination of belief and had his ordination revoked. Jon Coutts takes the floor and expresses his thanks for all the people who wrote about tenure to the board and administration. And for the moral support. ×Providence underwent something similar. A tenured faculty member was laid off. Dan expresses the inherent problem when cuts are divvied equally. Faculty only have faculty to cut.
×Michael Morellli reports similar moves on the West Coast. Trinity Western has hit hard by the international student limitations.
×Rob Fennell urges the membership to resist the rhetoric of businesses and colleagues in terms of money. He notes the trend of academic senior leadership going to people in the business community. He exhorts that we must be prepared to take on senior leadership ourselves.
×Murray (guest from U of M): suggests we issue a press release – but come out on social media etc, but these things need to be said. Murray sees a momentary critical mass here. The odd donor, the odd child of an alum might wonder what on earth has happened if they see it in publication. Commend you to this that someone might happen to you.
Other business: Jane asks for the second year in a row that CTS take steps to become an Apartheid Free community. There are steps that need to be taken. The executive can look to see in this moment of financial transition if we can divest from those that are supporting arms and Israel.
Adjournment 5:05 pm
Motion: Josh. Seconded: Warren Schmidt