®
Organization of Military Museums of Canada
OMMC Constitution & Governing Documents
By-Laws Available HERE (2023).
Introduction
OMMC was founded in 1967, with the encouragement of the Canadian War Museum, to provide a “meeting and learning place” for the staff of the military museums residing in Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) from coast to coast in Canada. Training sessions were conducted annually at military installations across Canada. The Department of National Defence provided support in the organization of the course, some funding, access to military quarters and dining facilities and some access to the CAF Service Air flights which then crossed Canada regularly between Shearwater Nova Scotia and Comox, BC, stopping at several places en route. By end of the 1980s, there was sufficient concern in the federal government about the condition of these military museums’ collections that the Department of Communications, as it then was, organized in June 1990, in conjunction with the Department of National Defence and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, as it then was, The Task Force on Military Museum Collections in Canada. The Task Force reported to the Ministers of the supporting Departments in January 1991. The Task Force Report is available on the Publications page of the OMMC web-site. One recommendation of the Report was that OMMC become incorporated so as to provide a structured organization more likely to successfully attract grants and donations which would aid in its mission accomplishment.
Incorporation 1
OMMC applied to the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs in the summer of 1992 for a grant of Letters Patent under the Canada Corporations Act, Part II, which was then the legislation governing federally chartered not-for-profit corporations. The application was successful and the OMMC was incorporated effective 20 July 1992. Once the organization was established and operating, the Board of Directors applied to the Minister of National Revenue for registration as a charity in Canada. The application was approved in 1993, effective 1 January of that year, and OMMC could then not only receive donations but, in turn, could issue receipts for income tax purposes. OMMC subsequently also became a registered charity under the regulations of Revenu Québec. The original Letters Patent were amended in 2013 by Supplementary Letters Patent to change the province of location of the head office of OMMC from Ontario to British Columbia.
Incorporation 2
In 2009, Parliament passed the Canada Not for profit Corporations Act (CNCA) to replace the Canada Corporations Act, Part II. The CNCA was declared in force in October 2011 when the CNCA Regulations were passed by the Governor in Council. All federally chartered not-for-profit corporations were then put on notice to provide Articles of Continuance, preferably with re-structured By-laws attached, to the Minister of Industry before 17 October 2014 or face dissolution. The OMMC Directors prepared draft Articles and new By-laws, consulted about them across the entire membership, took advice and suggestions from like organizations experiencing the same process and presented final editions of the documents to the Annual General Meeting at Kingston in June 2014. The AGM approved the proposed Articles and Bylaws. The OMMC application to carry on as a federal not-for-profit corporation was approved by Industry Canada which issued its Certificate of Continuance effective 24 June 2014. OMMC promptly re-registered itself with the Canada Revenue Agency as being a charitable organization under the CNCA governance rules and did likewise with Revenu Quebec.
Articles of Incorporation, 2014
The Certificate of Continuance together with the Articles of Continuance constitute the Articles of Incorporation for the OMMC. Here is the Certificate of Continuance.
The Articles of Continuance, extracted from the application form, are as follow:
1. Current name of the corporation:
The Organization of Military Museums of Canada, Inc./L’Organization des musées militaires du Canada, inc.
2. If a change of name is requested, indicate proposed corporate name:
N/A
3. Corporation number:
283294-1
4. The province or territory in Canada where the registered office is situated:
Alberta.
5. Minimum and maximum number of directors:
Minimum number 7 Maximum number 9
6. Statement of the purposes of the corporation:
- To preserve the military heritage of Canada by encouraging the establishment and operation of military museums;
- To educate military museum staff members through lectures, discussions, visits, publications and exhibits; and
- To cooperate with other public and private bodies devoted to the same or similar purposes.
7. Restrictions on the activities that the corporation may carry on, if any:
None
8. The classes, or regional or other groups, of members that the corporation is authorized to establish:
The Corporation is authorized to establish one class of members. Each member who is not suspended shall be entitled to receive notice of, to attend and be heard, and to vote at, all meetings of the members of the Corporation.
9. Statement regarding the distribution of property remaining on liquidation:
Any property remaining on liquidation of the Corporation, after discharge of all liabilities, shall be distributed to one or more qualified donees within the meaning of subsection 248 (1) of the Income Tax Act, Canada.
10. Additional provisions, if any:
- The Corporation shall be carried on without the purpose of gain for its members, and any profits or other accretions to the Corporation shall be used in furtherance of its purposes.
- Directors shall serve without remuneration, and no director shall, directly or indirectly, receive any profit from his or her position as such, provided that a director may be reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred in performing his or her duties. A director shall not be prohibited from receiving compensation for services provided to the Corporation in another capacity.