CONSTITUTION BY ENGLISH

MOHANDES CONSTITUTION (Rev. 2021-5-5)

CHAPTER ONE – PREAMBLE

1 – Name

MOHANDES refers to the Canadian Society of Iranian Engineers and Architects.

2 – VISION

MOHANDES strives for professional, moral and cultural excellence, through smart and productive utilization of engineering knowledge and expertise, keeping up with evolving scientific and engineering trends and contributing to local, national and global communities.

3 – MISSION

Highlights of the MOHANDES mission are as follows:

a – To attract, organize, inform, devise and support members and the Iranian Canadian Engineering Community at large to achieve their desired standing in the Engineering and business community in Canada.

b – To ensure that the full cycle of Immigration/Integration of Iranian engineers to Canada is well understood, observed, monitored and measured and remedial action is taken on timely basis.

c – To encourage members to pursue higher level of formal and informal education and promote professional activities through seminars, workshops, events and volunteer work.

d – To provide networking opportunities in order to promote professional and cultural relations with other professional individuals and organizations and promote business opportunities.

e – To encourage and support students of engineering disciplines, innovations and new engineering frontiers and recognize outstanding academics, engineers, students and entrepreneurs.

f – To maintain and promote higher moral, ethical and professional standards by encouraging volunteer and humanitarian activities through promoting Iranian cultural, engineering and architectural history and to participate and host cultural, recreational and sports activities

g – To establish mechanisms for acquiring budget and fundraising to enable MOHANDES to deliver its desired services. 

h – To expand activities of MOHANDES by establishment of local chapters, subsidiaries and confederation with similar organizations.

4 – OBJECTIVES

Main mid-term objectives of MOHANDES, without limitation, are as follows:

a – To organize engineers and architects with Iranian decent.

b – To encourage members to pursue higher level of formal and informal education.

c – To promote professional activities through seminars, workshops, events and volunteer work.

d – To provide networking opportunities.

e – To facilitate adaption of Iranian engineers and architects to the new environment.

f – To promote Iranian cultural, engineering and architectural history.

g – To promote professional and cultural relations with other professional organizations.

h – To create and promote business opportunities among members.

i – To raise the funds needed for MOHANDES activities.

j – To encourage and support students of engineering disciplines.

k – To promote multidisciplinary activities among members.

l – To pose against any sort of discrimination and encourage and support gender equality.

m – To encourage and promote innovations and new engineering frontiers.

n – To maintain and promote higher moral, ethical and professional standards.

o – To recognize outstanding academics, engineers, students and entrepreneurs.

p – To promote and encourage volunteer and humanitarian activities.

q – To provide guidance and mentoring to young engineers and newcomers.

r – To participate and host cultural, recreational and sports activities.

s – To promote particular relations with managers of prudent private enterprises as well as relevant government officials.

t – To promote Canadian-Iranian perception in the local, national and global societies.

u – To establish new chapters in areas with more than fifteen (15) members.

5 – AFFILIATION

“MOHANDES” is a non-political, non-profit, and non-religious organization which serves Iranian Engineers and Architects in Ontario and elsewhere. “MOHANDES” is not subsidiary or affiliate of any other organization.

6 – LOCATION

Legal office of MOHANDES is at Unit #217, 6021 Yonge St., North York, ON, Canada which may change from time to time by resolution of the Board of Directors.

7 – TERM

MOHANDES has been established on 1988 for an unlimited term and its registration completed on October 23rd, 1989.

8 – GENERAL STRUCTURE

Organizational structure of MOHANDES consists of

1) General Assembly  

2) Board of Directors

3) Board of Trustees

 CHAPTER TWO – MEMBERSHIP

 9 – MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA

An individual could become a “member” when she/he is willing to accept vision and mission of MOHANDES, pays membership dues, fills out the application form and satisfies at least one of the following criteria:

(a)   She/he is a registered or licensed professional Engineer or Architect in any province or territory of Canada.

(b)  She/he has a bachelor degree in engineering, engineering science, applied science, technology, or architecture from a credited international educational institute.

(c)   She/he has a degree in engineering technology (3 years of post-secondary study) Plus one (1) year of experience in the related field.

(d)  She/he has a diploma in engineering technology (2 years of post-secondary study) plus two (2) years of experience in the related field.

 10 – CATEGORIES OF MEMBERSHIP

 10-1) Any member conforming to the criteria of paragraph 9 becomes a “regular member”.

 10-2) Members who satisfy one of the following criteria are considered “active member”:

a – At least one year of activity in one of the special interest groups or their subgroups in the past three years.

b – At least one year of activity as a volunteer member, in one of the operational committees in the past three years.

c – At least one year of activity as member of BOD in the past five years.

 10-3) Board of Directors can nominate prominent social, scientific and professional figures to be granted “Honorary Membership” of MOHANDES provided Board of Trustees passes the motion.

 10-4) Any corporation registered in Canada that has at least one MOHANDES member among its directors, and works in the field of engineering or its related industries, can become a “Corporate Member”.

10-5) Any university student who is expected to become qualified for membership in two years could become a “student member”.

10-6) Any member, after twenty years of uninterrupted membership of MOHANDES, will become a “MEMBER FOR LIFE”. Rights and privileges of this designation shall be defined by BOD.

11-MEMBERSHIP FEES

Continuation of membership is conditional to payment of annual fees as follows:

11-1) Regular member shall pay the regular fee as defined by BOD.

11-2) Corporate member shall pay corporate fee as defined by BOD.

11-3) Board of Directors can offer substantial discounts to graduate student and newcomer members up to 50% and undergraduate students up to 80%.

11-4) Honorary members are exempted from membership fees.

12 – SUSPENSION OF MEMBERSHIP

Any member that loses necessary criteria of membership or has breached the code of ethics specially paragraphs 49 and 50 or has been in default of payment of annual membership fees for more than a year, is reported to the disciplinary committee for proper penalty.

CHAPTER THREE – GENERAL ASSEMBLY

13 – DEFINITION (GA)

13-1) General Assembly is the highest decision-making authority of MOHANDES and consists of all members who are eligible to vote according to paragraph 17 herein.

13-2) General Assembly is held at least once a year in the month of May to elect the Board of Directors, the Board of Trustees and approve the annual financial statement.

13-3) General assembly can be held virtually, if necessary, and the virtual election shall be conducted by an independent qualified party

14 – DUTIES OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

General Assembly is the sole authority to decide the following:

a – To elect members of the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees from eligible candidates.

b – To approve or change the constitution of MOHANDES with a majority of more than 2/3 of the members who vote either in person or by proxy in the meeting.

c – To approve the annual report of the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees and the financial statement.

d – To approve insolvency of the MOHANDES with a majority of more than 2/3 of total number of the members who can vote.

15 – EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY

General Assembly may be held more than once a year if:

a – The Board of Directors calls the Meeting on its own initiative

b – The Board of Directors shall call for a meeting within forty-five (45) days of being asked to do so, by notice in writing signed by at least fifty (50) sustaining members or thirty percent (%30) of its sustaining members (whichever is less).

c – If Board of Directors refuse to convene the meeting as set out in clause (b), the Board of Trustees shall call for the General Assembly.

16 – QUORUM

16 – 1) At any General Assembly Meeting a quorum shall consist of fifty percent (50%) of members eligible for voting plus one (1). 

16-2) If the quorum is not reached at the first sitting, a second general assembly meeting shall be held not less than fifteen (15) days or more than 45 days apart. 

16-3) In the second sitting a fifty percent plus one quorum is not required.

16-4) In the invitation to the second sitting of the General Assembly, other than the agenda, result of the first sitting and waiver of the fifty percent plus one quorum shall be stated.

16-5) A quorum for the transaction of business at a members’ meeting is a majority of the members entitled to vote at the meeting, whether present in person or by proxy. If a quorum is present at the opening of a Members’ meeting, the members present may proceed with the business of the meeting, even if a quorum is not present throughout the meeting.

17 – ELIGIBILITY TO VOTE

17 – 1) Any member with a minimum of three (3) months of sustaining membership will be eligible to vote at any General Assembly Meeting.

17 – 2) A member who is eligible to vote and is absent in General Assembly Meeting, may give proxy to any other eligible member to vote on her/his behalf.  No sustaining member shall be given more than three (3) proxies

18 – NOTICE OF MEETING

Notice of General Assembly Meeting stating the agenda of the Meeting shall be sent to each member at least 20 days and not more than 60 days before the date of the Meeting.

19 – AGENDA

19 – 1) Agenda of the meeting should be the same that has been outlined in the invitation.

19 – 2) In case members present in the General Assembly Meeting ask to add new item(s) to the agenda, the speaker of the General Assembly shall ask for vote by acclamation to add an addition to the agenda before opening the floor for discussion on the subject matter.

19 – 3) Any second sitting of the General Assembly, with less than 50 percent of the eligible voters present, shall only deal with the original agenda. Addition to the pre-announced agenda shall not be allowed.

20 – PANEL OF GOVERNORS

Any General Assembly shall be run by a panel of governors. The first order of business in any General Assembly shall be election of panel of governors consisting of one speaker and two supervisors.

21 – MINUTE OF THE MEETING

Minute of the meeting of any General Assembly, whether reaching a quorum or not, shall be signed by the panel of governors and two members of the Board of Trustees present in the meeting.

By signing the minute of the meeting, the panel of governors shall dissolve immediately.

CHAPTER FOUR – BOARD OF DIRECTORS

22 – DEFINITION (BOD)

Board of Directors is the second highest decision-making authority after General Assembly.  Board of Directors manages the current affairs of MOHANDES according to recommendations and resolutions of the General Assembly and this constitution.  Except for the four (4) subjects stated in paragraph 14, Board of Directors has authority to make decision in all other matters.

23 – ELECTION (BOD)

Members of BOD are elected by anonymous votes during general assembly.

23-1) Board of Directors consists of seven (7) main members and up to seven (7) substitute members.

23-2) All directors are elected to a two (2) years term, and cannot be elected more than two (2) consecutive terms.

23-3) Any sustaining member with good character, a minimum of five (5) years membership from which at least two years has been an active member of MOHANDES, has experience in management and coordination and is committing to at least seven (7) hours of volunteer work per week, shall be eligible to become candidate and be elected to the Board of Directors.  As long as the total number of members is less than 500, the board of directors can reduce the record of membership to two (2) years.

24 – INTERNAL STRUCTURE (BOD)

The seven (7) elected directors shall conduct an internal election on their first meeting after the General Assembly Meeting. The minimum positions that need to be elected by board members are:

a – Chair of the board

b – Vice chair of the board

c – Treasurer

d – Members of the operational committee

25 – SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS (BOD)

Candidates who have been ranked 8th to 14th at General Assembly Meeting are eligible to be substitute members.  Each substitute director shall be member of at least one of the BOD committees.

26 – MEETINGS (BOD)

Board of Directors’ meeting is held at least once a month.  All directors are expected to attend each and every meeting.  Substitute members are encouraged to attend meetings but they cannot vote.

26 – 1) A quorum shall consist of five (5) directors.

26 – 2) Meetings are conducted by the chair of board. In his/her absence the vice chair will lead the meeting.

26 – 3) All decisions shall be approved by a majority of the voting members attending the meeting.

27 – REPLACEMENT (BOD)

In case one of the Board members is absent for three (3) consecutive Board meetings or resignation of a board member, she/he may be replaced by a substitute director with the highest ranking votes at General Assembly. 

27 – 1) If three (3) members of the BOD are absent from three (3) consecutive Board meetings or resign, the remaining directors shall forthwith call the General Assembly Meeting for an election.

27 – 2) Board of Directors shall always continue with their duties until the new Board of Directors is elected.

28 – MISCELLANEOUS (BOD)

28-1) All services provided by the Board of Directors shall be on a voluntary basis with no financial compensation.

28-2) A summary of the Board of Directors decisions shall be published on quarterly basis.

28-3) Board of Directors are encouraged to publish the names and educational background of its members through MOHANDES publications.

28- 4) Every minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors shall be kept in chronological order in the main office of MOHANDES.

28 – 5) Every board member shall be indemnified from any claims and lawsuits related to the MOHANDES affairs and operations, through purchase of sufficient “Liability and Responsibility Insurance” by BOD.

29 – COMMITTEES (BOD)

In order to fulfil its duties, the Board of Directors shall appoint the following standing committees every year and other ad-hoc committees as needed.  These committees shall function within the guidelines illustrated herein or established by the BOD and shall report to the BOD periodically about their activities.

29 – 1) Operational committee is comprised of four members. Treasurer of BOD shall always be a member of the operational committee. Three other members are appointed by the BOD.

29 – 2) Professional and scientific committee is comprised of three members, one of which who would be the chair of committee, shall be member of BOD.

29 – 3) Financial committee is comprised of three members, one of which shall be the treasurer of BOD.

29 – 4) Outreach committee is comprised of three members, one of which who would be the chair of committee, shall be member of BOD.

29 – 5) Special interests committee is comprised of heads of its special interests groups, one member of the operational committee and one member of BOD who will be chair of the committee.

29 – 6) Policy and long-term planning committee is comprised of three members, one of which who would be the chair of committee, shall be member of BOD.

29 – 7) Enforcement and disciplinary committee is comprised of three members, one of which who would be the chair of committee, shall be member of BOD.

 29 – 8) Newcomers Committee is comprised of three members, one of which who would be the chair of committee, shall be member of BOD.

30 – OPERATIONAL COMMITTEE

The operational committee is formed to carry out the day-to-day operations of MOHANDES through forming other subordinate committees namely membership committee, fiscal committee, communications committee, sports-recreational committee, events-fundraising committee, publications committee, business development committee, young leaders committee, students committee and other standing or ad-hoc committees if necessary.
30 – 1) Members of the operational committee shall elect one president, one vice president and one secretary in their first sitting.

30 – 2) Every decision in the operational committee is made on a minimum of three votes.

30 – 3) Every correspondence from the operational committee shall be signed by the president or in her/his absence by the vice president.

30 – 4) In case a new subcommittee is needed, the reasoning and supporting documents shall be forwarded to the BOD for approval.

30 – 5) Every subcommittee would be headed by one of the operational committee members. Other members are appointed by the operational committee from volunteers among substitute members of BOD and other sustaining members of MOHANDES.

30 – 6) Every decision of the operational committee that is other than day to day business of MOHANDES, should be approved by the BOD.

30 – 7) Some of the most important duties of the operational committee are:

a – To collect membership fees and manage other sources of income.

b – To manage day to day financial affairs of MOHANDES.

c – To report sub-committees’ activities to the BOD.

d – To maintain membership records, to review membership applications, to grant society’s membership to the qualified applicants.

e – To propose and appoint members of the subordinate committees.

f – To arrange and organize MOHANDES events, meetings and conventions.

g – To maintain MOHANDES publications and social media such as: website, newsletter, periodicals, audio / video tapes and press releases.

h – To organize MOHANDES recreational activities such as group visits, picnics and sports.

i – To organize and supervise subcommittees.

j – To communicate with relevant entities outside MOHANDES, such as universities, industries and different levels of government.

k – To be in contact and coordinate in the matters of mutual interest with other professional and cultural organizations.

l – To be in contact and organize qualified university students through MOHANDES activities.

m – To organize young leaders and rising stars and provide them the cultural, professional and knowledge backup useful for them.

31 – PROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Professional and scientific committee is comprised of three members.

31 – 1) The representative of the BOD shall be the chair of committee. Two other members shall be chosen from substitute members of BOD and other active members with prudent professional, scientific background.

31 – 2) Main objectives of the committee are as follows:

a – To promote professional, scientific activities within MOHANDES.

b – To be in touch and interact with similar sub-groups working under SIGs.

c – To establish connections with scientists, professors and researchers outside MOHANDES.

d – To establish guidelines for activities of similar sub-groups working under SIGs.

e – To establish connections with similar scientific, professional organizations.

f – To arrange for MOHANDES members to give scientific, professional lectures in universities and relevant government technical departments.

32 – OUTREACH COMMITTEE

Outreach committee is comprised of three members.

32 – 1) The representative of the BOD shall be the chair of committee. Two other members shall be chosen from substitute members of BOD and other active members with excellent communication skills.

32 – 2) Main objectives of the committee are as follows:

a – To manage and promote MOHANDES mandate by reaching out and pronouncing its vision, mission and objectives.

b – To be in touch and interact with universities, outside organizations and any entity that has potential resources to serve MOHANDES objectives.

c – To establish connections with scientific circles and science-based industries.

d – To establish connection with entrepreneurs, investors, government agencies and donners to serve MOHANDES objectives.

e – To interact and set guidelines for relevant sub-committees under operational committee and SIGs such as publications, social media and news releases.

33 – SPECIAL INTERESTS COMMITTEE (SIC)

Special interests committee (SIC) manages several special interest groups (SIG) namely Agricultural Environmental engineering group, Architecture group, Civil engineering group, Electrical and Computer engineering group, Materials, Mining and Chemical engineering group, Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace engineering group and special interdisciplinary group.

33 – 1) In order to add another SIG to this committee, SIC needs approval from BOD.

33 – 2) SIC pursues the following objectives through SIGs:

a – Facilitating the network of Iranian engineering community in Canada by engaging and organizing qualified professionals.  

b – Supporting members in career development through sharing experiences, resources, job postings and useful cyber information among them.

c – Acquiring and providing appropriate training and updated information to serve newcomers and other members for upgrading their knowledge and career opportunities.

d – To exchange technical knowledge and expertise through all sorts of seminars, workshops and gatherings.

e – To maintain strong relations with prominent professionals and technical institutes in order to promote groups’ objectives.

33 – 3) Each group is run by one head of group and a number of volunteers.

a – Members of any group elect one of sustaining members of MOHANDES as head of their group every year. The elected head of group needs to be endorsed by the BOD.

b – If a head of group ceases to function properly either because of lack of participation or breach of rules set forth by BOD, the BOD shall appoint a temporary head to the group and invite group members to participate in a new election.

c – Groups can organize as many sub-groups as they deem necessary provided that all abide to MOHANDES bylaws and guidelines.

33 – 4) SIGs can utilize up to 20% of MOHANDES annual budget for their costs. Spending shall be within acceptable price range and needs to have approval from SIC.

33 – 5) Main responsibilities of the group head, without limitation, are:

a – To act as the link between BOD and group members, through SIC.

b – Take the admin role or appoint and manage admins of the social media.

c – To observe every activity within the group and make sure none of them has conflict of interest or ethical conflict with MOHANDES vision, mission and objectives and its internal guidelines.

d – To preside and manage regular group meetings, at least one per month and keep record of the minutes of the meetings.

e – Group head can appoint as many volunteers needed as deputies, without releasing her/his rights and duties to them.

f – To keep members’ information confidential, whether in printed documents, data bases or social media.

g – To report the group’s activities on regular basis to BOD via SIC.

h – To follow guidelines and bylaws set forth by BOD especially regarding communication with entities outside MOHANDES.

34 – POLICY AND LONG-TERM PLANNING COMMITTEE

Policy and long-term planning committee is comprised of three members.

34 – 1) The representative of the BOD shall be the chair of committee. Two other members shall be chosen from substitute members of BOD and other active members with relevant experience and strategic vision.

34 – 2) Main objectives of the committee are as follows:

a – To collect members’ feedback on MOHANDES policies, organization and management.

b – To review vision, mission and constitution of MOHANDES and propose modifications if necessary.

 c – To answer questions regarding constitution and its interpretation.

 d – To set short term (3 year), mid-term (7 year) and long-term goals for MOHANDES.

 e – To monitor hot demand jobs, areas of innovative research and explore new horizons in the profession.

35 – ENFORCEMENT AND DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE

Enforcement and disciplinary committee is comprised of three members.

35 – 1) The representative of the BOD shall be the chair of committee. Two other members shall be chosen from substitute members of BOD and other active members with relevant experience and personal integrity.

35 – 2) Main objectives of the committee are as follows:

a – To enforce MOHANDES constitution, minutes of meeting of General Assembly, bylaws passed by the BOD and special comments by BOT.

b – Any case brought up to the committee shall be treated fairly and diligently and the defendant shall be offered oral and written defense opportunity.

c – The committee will decide one or a composition of the following:

I – The case is dismissed.

II – A written condemnation letter registered with MOHANDES and submitted to the defendant.

III – Monetary penalty.

IV – Suspension of membership from any MOHANDES internal body or from MOHANDES altogether.

V – Forwarding the case to relevant legal authority.

35 – 3) The committee shall only deal with matters forwarded by the BOD, BOT or any request signed by 5 sustaining members of MOHANDES.

 35 (A) – NEWCOMMERS COMMITTEE

Newcomers committee is comprised of three members.

35 (A) – 1 The representative of the BOD will be the Chair of committee. Two other members shall be appointed by the BOD from substitute

members of BOD and other active members with relevant experience.

35 (A) – 2 Main objectives of the committee are as follows:

a – To arrange/conduct mentorship and information sessions for newcomers.

b – To help newcomers with resume preparation technics.

c – To help with oral and written communication training courses and seminars.

d – To conduct informative sessions regarding Canadian job opportunities, work ethics and job searching technics.

e – To help newcomers with their professional license applications.

f – To conduct networking sessions to serve all of the above.

36 – AD-HOC COMMITTEES

Ad-hoc committees are formed by BOD or the operational committee to perform a well defined, temporary task. Formation and structure of ad-hoc committees are similar to standing committees. Some examples of ad-hoc committees are as follows:

36 – 1) Election committee formed a couple of months before General Assembly meeting and dissolved afterwards.

36 – 2) Awards committee to be formed according to directions from BOD.

36 – 3) Special follow up committee to be formed for a special task like dealing with a legal issue in courts and hiring lawyers and solicitors.

36 – 4) Humanitarian, aids committee to coordinate endeavors in response to natural disasters.  

CHAPTER FIVE – BOARD OF TRUSTEES

37 – DEFINITION (BOT)

Board of Trustees is the supreme supervising body of MOHANDES comprised of well known, well trusted and well respected members of society.

37 – 1) Board of Trustees is composed of six elected and three appointed members.

38 – ELECTION (BOT)

Six members of the Board of Trustees are elected by the general assembly.

38 – 1) Any member of MOHANDES willing to serve as a selfless volunteer, conforming to the following criteria can be a candidate of BOT, in a General Assembly.

a – Be a sustaining member of MOHANDES for at least ten (10) years.

b – Has been a member of BOD for at least one term.

39 – APPOINTMENT (BOT)

Three members of the BOT are appointed by the elected members of the BOT.

39 – 1) Board of Directors proposes outstanding, well known and well respected members of society who are or are not member of MOHANDES and can add to the prestige and integrity of MOHANDES to the Board of Trustees.

39 – 2) Board of Trustees after thorough consideration of candidates appoints three members to be part of the BOT.

39 – 3) The BOT can appoint as many honorary members to the board. Honorary members shall not have voting privileges.

40 – TERM (BOT)

Elected members of BOT take responsibility for a three-year term. Appointed members serve in one-year terms. There would be no limitation for extension of their appointment.

41 – DUTIES (BOT)

Board of Trustees is the highest body of MOHANDES that examines and supervises activities and performance of other bodies within MOHANDES. Some of the duties of BOT are:

a – To oversee General assembly meetings and examine its compliance to this constitution.

b – To oversee Board of Directors and its subordinate committees.

c – To examine minutes of the meetings of BOD and any committee working within the framework of MOHANDES.

d – To examine and inspect financial records and prepare annual report for the Members General Assembly.

e – Any member of BOT can be present in any BOD meeting or committee meeting, with or without prior notice. BOT member will be present only as observer without voting right.

f – BOT is the highest authority to deal with complains and investigate reports of any wrong doing within the framework of MOHANDES.

g – Due to sensitivity of the information forwarded to the BOT, strict confidentiality of information is implemented and no information regarding current events or decisions or complains should be disclosed not only to outsiders but also banned from disclosure inside the MOHANDES family.

h – At any time BOT can hire a professional accountant (CPA) to inspect and audit financial matters of MOHANDES.

42 – MEETINGS (BOT)

BOT meetings are held on regular basis every three months, more or less.

42 – 1) BOD is responsible to arrange meetings of BOT on request, without having the right to be present in the meeting unless invited.

42 – 2) BOT members can have as many more meetings as deems to be necessary.

42 – 3) Quorum of BOT meetings is achieved by presence of 50% +1 of its members and motions will pass by majority of the members present.
CHAPTER SIX – FINANCIAL MATTERS

43 – DEFINITION

Any financial matter related to MOHANDES is governed by the Financial Committee headed by the Treasurer of the BOD.

43 – 1) The committee is comprised of three members from which one would be chosen from the substitute members of BOD and a third member chosen from qualified active members.

43 – 2) The financial committee establishes guidelines and procedures according to the BOD directives and general fiscal laws and regulations.

43 – 3) Guidelines set forth by the financial committee are carried out by relevant subordinate committees working under operational committee especially by “fiscal committee” and “fundraising committee”.

44 – DUTIES

The financial committee is responsible for anything related to earnings and expenditures, from book keeping point of view to legal obligations. Some of the main duties of the financial committee without limitation are:

a – To prepare yearly budget three months before the fiscal year begins and present it to the BOD for comment and acceptance.

b – To monitor expenditure by different activities and inspect compliance with BOD directives and legal obligations.

c – To appoint a qualified individual as holder of petty cash.

d – To propose signing officer(s) to the BOD to be endorsed as person(s) responsible for issuing cheques and to replace them if necessary.

e – To plan fundraisings and other ways to raise money for MOHANDES financial needs.

f – To approve financial reports and related legal documents and forward them to the BOD for final approval, if necessary.

g – To prepare contextual financial reports for BOT.

h – To evaluate loan proposals and prepare recommendations for BOD to make the final decision.

i– To look for government grants and follow up to get them.

45 – FISCAL YEAR

 Fiscal year of MOHANDES begins at first of May and ends the last day of April.

CHAPTER SEVEN – MISCELLANEOUS

46 – DOCUMENTS

46 – 1) All of the correspondences shall be signed by chair of the Board of Directors or in his/her absence by the vice chair.

46 – 2) All of the documents and correspondences should be kept in the legal office of MOHANDES.

47 – DAY COUNT

Where a given number of days’ notice or notice extending over any period is required to be given, days refer to calendar days and also the day of service or posting of the notice shall not be counted in such number of days or other period.

48 – ERRORS AND OMISSIONS

No error or accidental omission in giving notice of any General Assembly meeting shall invalidate the meeting or make void any proceedings taken at the meeting unless the total number of omissions exceed five percent of the total number of eligible members.

49 – CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION

From time to time any member or director might come across personal information provided by members. This information shall be regarded as strictly confidential and no one is allowed to use this information for personal benefit and also disclosing this type of information to any third party is prohibited.

50 – CONFLICT OF INTEREST

A Director who has in any way, directly or indirectly, any interest in a contract or transaction, or proposed contract or transaction, with MOHANDES, shall make a full disclosure. No such Director shall attend any part of a meeting of Directors or vote on any resolution to approve any such contract or transaction. Also participating in parallel organizations as an officer or Board Member would be considered an ethical conflict of interest.

51 – INSOLVANCY

Insolvency of MOHANDES shall be brought up to the General Assembly and needs a 2/3 vote of all members who are eligible to vote.

51 – 1) The General Assembly will appoint three members of BOT to pursue the legal process of insolvency.

52 – CONFORMITY TO LAW

For any subject not defined in this constitution the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (Ontario) and, where the context requires, the regulations made under it, as amended or re-enacted from time to time would be considered part of this constitution.

53 – MODIFICATIONS

Any modification of this constitution should be presented to the General Assembly and will need a 2/3 vote in favor to pass.

This constitution has 53 paragraphs and was passed on May 5th 2021.