Members of Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven, and citizens of Chilliwack, call for the resignation of the remaining six board members, and interim Executive Director (Bernadette Maguire).

Katherine Lemond (interim President)
Betty March (interim Vice President)
Carol Marleau (Member at Large)
Megan Winn (interim Treasurer)
Colleen McFadden (interim Board Member)
Bruce Peet (interim Board Member)

We also request a formal apology from the resigning board members to the staff members and volunteers that have been bullied, coerced and threatened over the past several months.

HISTORY:

The Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven has been in operation since 2003, providing shelter and services to suffering and homeless cats in need of care. It was founded by Ena Vermerris, and has been locally run by a mix of devoted volunteers, fosters, and local staff members for the past 23 years.

Over the past few months, trouble has been afoot.  Both the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven, and the $2.5M parcel of land on which it sits has been placed in a vulnerable, and dangerous position through mismanagement by the current board.

The current board has encouraged involvement from RAPS (Regional Animal Protection Society) in a consultation role, which resulted in the appointment of three RAPS associated representatives to the Safe Haven board.  Two of these members (Rebeka Breder and Ayelet Cohen-Weil) stepped down from the RAPS board to take positions on the Haven Board, and Chris Kamachi is married to 'Mama Karen' who is in a Management role with RAPS' thrift stores.  None of these people live in Chilliwack. 

As of March 6th, Breder, Cohen-Weil and Kamachi have resigned from the board, but this does not change the fact that the remaining board members have supported their insertion, and interference in our location organization, and were improperly appointed.

Over the past few weeks, RAPS has been doing membership drives for the Safe Haven from its HQ in Richmond to unfairly influence an upcoming election.  Members have called an EGM to vote the (now remaining) board out.  RAPS has characterized this online and in emails to their members as "an attempt to prevent the proper due diligence and implementation of best practices in a charity."

The sitting board has executed dismissals and threats of legal action against staff, participated in direct contravention and blatant disregard of the society's bylaws, and have facilitated a steady decline in the amount of cats left at the shelter through their leadership.  In addition, Interim Executive Bernadette Maguire has been aggressively defending RAPS' involvement, and created reputational harm to the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven by engaging in arguments with members on social media platforms.

In addition to signing this petition, please become a Member of the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven via their website, and join the EGM on March 23rd at 6:30pm to vote these members out.