Ottawa, April 29, 2021
Notice to the Members of the Canadian Museums Association from the CMA Board of Directors
Recent communications sent out to the members and stakeholders of CMA have caused confusion regarding the Annual General Meeting, which had previously been planned for this coming Monday:
- A privately-organized session was scheduled immediately prior to the official AGM and has been repeatedly advertised as a “Special Meeting” of CMA members. That private April 30, 2021 session is not connected-to or organized by the CMA
- Statements or actions taken at that meeting have no legal effect on the CMA;
- Individuals who do not represent the CMA have communicated to members and outside parties, including the Government of Canada, in a fashion which has caused the recipient to believe the correspondence came from the CMA;
- This week, a document called “CMA Board Nominees” was published to members. This was clearly styled to appear as an official list of candidates. It is not. In fact, it excludes many candidates.
Such conduct is disrespectful to CMA members and especially, to the staff of the Association. The Board of Directors will not tolerate such conduct and hereby notifies all members:
- The Annual General Meeting will be rescheduled, and held virtually on May 25, 2021 at 1 p.m. (ET), to RSVP please visit the member's portal;
- The complete list of eligible candidates for the Board will be issued no earlier than May 12, 2021;
- Official communications from the CMA shall bear the CMA logo. No member may use the logo;
- The publication of any materials styled to appear to be from the CMA shall be grounds for the revocation of membership.
It is regrettable that the actions of a few people made these steps necessary. We encourage CMA members to save the date of May 25, 2021 in their calendars, and we look forward to seeing those participating at next week’s conference.