DEMOCRATIC ASSOCIATION?

IS LACROSSE CANADA STILL A DEMOCRATIC ASSOCIATION?

There is no quick answer to this question but raising the question is somehow a first step in order to look for an answer. Let’s have a look at this.

What is a democratic association?

An association where citizens willingly come together to promote a cause (govern, promote the game of lacrosse, for example);
An association where the members freely select their leaders in open and fair elections;
An association where the leaders are accountable and report to the members in an orderly manner;
An association where the members have rights and obligations;
An association which promotes and defends free expression of ideas and opinions;
An association where there are rules adopted and respected by the members and enforced by the duly appointed leaders;
An association where there are known objectives and values shared by the members and the leaders;
An association in which relevant information circulates freely and efficiently;
An association which avoids concentration of power in limited hands.

That’s what a democratic association looks like.

At first glance everyone will agree that Lacrosse Canada appears to be a democratic association; on the surface it meets all the criteria identified above. So why ask the question.

Because when one looks ‘’under the surface’’ there are many questions that come to mind and for which answers are needed before we agree that Lacrosse Canada is a credible democratic association.

Let’s first clarify that there are different members which make up Lacrosse Canada;

The Board of Directors (12) elected at annual meetings who are legally and politically responsible for the Association;
The voting members (11) who are the provincial presidents and who carry number of votes indicative of the number of registered players in their province;
The paying members (46,959 in 2023) who register with a provincial association and through their membership and registration fees generate substantial revenues to Lacrosse Canada (979,605$ in 2024-25); those paying members carry no vote by themselves; their votes are delegated to their provincial presidents.

Now on to the relevant questions which might help with a tentative answer to the question: Is Lacrosse Canada still a democratic association?

Open and fair elections.
2024 was an election year for four positions on Lacrosse Canada’s Board of Directors. Interested candidates were informed on September 13^th via the website that the deadline to submit their nomination was October 1^st. They thus had 17 days to act. The elections were to be on Saturday November 16^th. Lacrosse Canada has been in receipt of the names of the interested candidates since October 1^st and released them to the voting members on November 6th, 9 days before the elections and 37 days after their receipt. The voting members had 9 days to determine who the better candidates would be; the paying members (all 46,959 of them) were never informed via the website that there even was an annual meeting on November 15^th and 16^th, let alone of the names of the candidates running for Office as Board members.
Now the questions.
Why the secrecy in what should be an open and fair election process?
Why did Lacrosse Canada withhold the names of candidates for 37 days?
Where is the respect for the voting members?
How difficult would it have been to put the names of candidates running for Office on the website for all to see and appreciate?
Accountability.
Democratic associations endeavor to make sure that the leaders are accountable to the members and report on their decisions. Sport Canada supports this belief and has been ‘’suggesting’’, since 2021, that National Associations should put the minutes and reports of their meetings on their website for all to read, see and appreciate. As of November2024 Lacrosse Canada had yet to post one single report of its meetings on the website. Not one in four years.
Now the questions.
Why is the lack of transparency a ‘’standard procedure’’ at Lacrosse Canada?
Where is the accountability towards the members?
How are the voting members expected to evaluate the Board members when they are not informed on the decisions that those members made in the last year?
How can one expect the paying members to be involved within ‘’their’’ national association when they know nothing about it because all relevant information is withheld from them or issued a few days before the annual meetings?
Members’ rights.
At Lacrosse Canada the voting system is based on the number of registered players; the more players a provincial association has the more votes it carries at meeting of members. For the last two years Lacrosse Canada has presented proposals to give the provinces, regardless of the number of registered and paying players, one vote each.
Twice the proposal was turned down.
In 2023 Lacrosse Canada’s rationale was that decisions at meetings of members always favored the large provinces; no proof of such a situation was ever presented; in 2024 Lacrosse Canada claimed that the proposal was in line with legislation and with the changes supported by Sport Canada. After verification never has Sport Canada suggested a change in the voting system of national associations.
Now the questions.
Why this frontal charge on the provincial members’ rights?
Why such a will to reduce the provinces to a dubious equality with such shady rationales?
Why has the rationale changed between 2023 and 2024?
Why is Lacrosse Canada incorrectly informing the voting members about Sport Canada’s position on this matter?
Freedom of expression.
There is a visible trend to decrease the number of members voting at meeting of members. At present time there are 11 LC Board members governing the game at the national level and making decisions on behalf of Lacrosse Canada; there are also 11 provincial presidents carrying their provincial votes at meeting of members. In the mid-80s when the ‘’weighted system of votes’’ was introduced it was, in part, to increase the number of voting participants and increase their involvement in the game. It was estimated at the time that around 100 members would be involved in this democratic effort. Now the number is down to 11.
Now the questions.
Why are we observing a decrease in the number of members involved in national decisions?
Why are we observing an effort to concentrate votes in a very limited number of controlled hands?
Who stands to gain from the decrease in the number of involved members?
Rules and procedures.
Rules are rules; we all know that. Lacrosse Canada’s rules as formulated in the ‘’Operations manual’’ are adopted by the members. This is positive and obvious. But the application of the rules rest with the Board of Directors. One of the rules (out of so many) establishes the date at which voting members receive the AGM package in order to prepare for the annual meeting.
It’s rule 24 and the deadline to send the needed documents is of 21 days before the meeting. The logic is to allow members to prepare and make ‘’reasonable decisions’’.
In 2023 the members received the documents 9 days before the meeting; in 2024 the members received part of the documents 8 days before the meeting. The rest of the documents were to be opened via TEAMS on the first day of the AGM. And from my information no financial statements (or budgets) were presented at the annual meeting.
Now the questions.
Is Lacrosse Canada playing games with its own rules?
Does Lacrosse Canada seem interested in helping the voting members to properly prepare for the annual meeting?
What interests does Lacrosse Canada have in breaking its own rule when meetings of members are happening?
Should one worry when no financial statements (or reports) are not presented at an annual meeting?
Are the voting members slowly being domesticated and groomed into submission?
Are members a big fat nuisance at Lacrosse Canada?
Strategic goals.
A democratic association has identified goals shared by the members, in line with the association’s annual budget and evaluated at the end of the year. Lacrosse Canada has none of that; we have already addressed that issue often times in www.thinklacrosse.ca . Yet there are no changes upcoming.
Now the questions.
Why is Lacrosse Canada still functioning without identified annual goals?
Why are leaders not clearly sharing with the voting and paying members the goals that are pursued by the Association?
Why is the budget not in line with identified goals?
How will the 2026 voting members evaluate the Association’s 2025 performance when there were no goals (objectives) identified or pursued?
When will the 2025-2028 strategic plan be produced; and by whom?
Will the members have been involved in the production of the Strategic Plan?
Relevant information.
The circulation of information is a key component of a democratic association. Lacrosse Canada has a bilingual website as a tool to manage communication and to keep the members informed. Yet there has been no information at all, on the website, pertaining to the 2024 annual meeting and to the minutes and decisions of the different Board meetings in 2023-24. Other than the position of Executive Director there has been no information concerning the available staff positions that were filled recently. An interested person would not have known that a position was even open. At Lacrosse Canada relevant and significant democratic information does not circulate freely and openly. But yet we are all informed about the limited- edition trading cards for the National Team players!!! We were informed in November of training camps for U15, U17 and U19 players; but about the annual meeting, the corporation’s annual report, the challenges, the decisions, the election of Board members, the number of registered players across the country…the financial statements, the upcoming budgets! Nothing at all on the website as if all this was irrelevant.
Now the questions.
is Lacrosse Canada voluntarily keeping the voting and paying members in the dark?
Why is Lacrosse Canada never addressing democratic issues on its website?
Why is Lacrosse Canada not putting forward information and tools which would increase the political participation and involvement of its voting and paying members?
Why is Lacrosse Canada’s website so much more interested in scores of games rather than with the state of the game?
Concentration of power.
A democratic association in an association which avoids concentration of power in few hands.
The question.
Is there any need to even try to look at this element at Lacrosse Canada?
Enough has been said already. The proof is in the pudding!
Now comes the final question.
Is Lacrosse Canada a democratic association?
Yes, on the surface and on paper.
But the number of problems presented above calls for very strong reservations when the time comes to call Lacrosse Canada a democratic association.
Unless one wishes not to see what is blatantly obvious…An army of red flags.
Lacrosse Canada is a closed shop…controlled by very few.
A truly democratic association can do much better.
If I was a member concerned with democracy within Canada’s oldest national sport governing body, I would be very worried.
But mostly I would do something about it.