About Us History The Community Action Coalition of Burnaby first met in June, 2004. Our core group has been together since the winter of 2005. Originally called the ‘Burnaby Community Coalition’, we changed the name in 2007 because the acronym was identical to that of the Burnaby Citizens’ Council. People seem to use acronyms instead of long titles, and this was creating confusion. We became a registered society on January 22, 2007, with 5 directors. We chose a non-hierarchical structure, with all five directors sharing responsibility equally, and no president. This allows us more flexibility in conducting business, and embodies the mutually respectful, collaborative congeniality which has characterized our process. We also departed from the standard form for society constitutions by dispensing with the practice of using the pronoun ‘he’ to refer to both a ‘he’ and a ‘she’; a practice which suggests a hierarchy of gender, and does not accurately reflect our beliefs.   Members We have organizational representatives but also increasing numbers of individuals who attend and are involved. Organizations bring resources, networks and communications while individuals bring unique perspectives and skills. We are welcoming and friendly when new people arrive at a meeting for the first time, and have never met a new member we didn’t like.   Process and Mandate We do not predetermine our agenda or mandate, but discuss issues brought to the table by participants, and allow our direction to evolve responsively through dialogue and democratic process. In our campaigns, we target whichever level of government is the source of policy that is harmful to our community. Although our focus is Burnaby, many campaigns end up being provincial in scope because problematic policy is so often coming from the province. As our mandate has evolved, we have been discovering a common struggle in the battle not only to retain our public assets, but to hold onto a public realm at all. Incrementally, governments driven by theoretical, unrealistic, unwise free market ideologies are trying to remove us from a culture of cooperation and citizenry to a culture of competition and consumerism. The struggle to retain human rights and public assets is a common thread in issues brought to our table by groups and individuals.