Disaster Aid Canada - Helping everywhere.
Posted by Brian Booth
Canada's ShelterBox has a new name, same mission. With the intention of improving on the services and expertise of ShelterBox, DisasterAid Canada is primed to provide more and diverse services to people in need.
Shelterbox Canada has recently changed their name to Disaster Aid Canada. Please take the time to review our website. Our goal is to be able to offer a whole arsenal of Aid Relief items to send to victims of Disaster World Wide.
Below you will find a letter from Dr Alan Lomax, the Founder of Shelterbox Canada explaining the changes.
As Founder of ShelterBox Canada I wish to correct some of the statements being made in regard to the structure of ShelterBox Canada. I set up ShelterBox Canada the way I wanted it to be in early 2004; we received our charitable number in September 2004 backdated to July 1st.
I should point out that in early 2007, in response to a request from ShelterBox UK, I spent a considerable amount of my time preparing an extensive dossier on the structure and progress of ShelterBox Canada up to that time which I forwarded to ShelterBox UK. The dossier included details of the legal structure of ShelterBox Canada.
ShelterBox Canada is a standalone federally incorporated not for profit company regulated, at present, by the Canada Corporations Act (Part 2). There is a new not for profit Canada corporations act that received Royal Assent in June 2009 but will not come into force until 2011. In 2009 I studied the new act in detail and presented reports to the ShelterBox Canada Board.
ShelterBox Canada has no direct connection with any Rotary Club or any other organization. It is a registered charity. The company's purpose and the charity's program is to "Provide on a worldwide basis, material and equipment that provide shelter warmth and comfort to those displaced by natural or other disasters". However the charity does not do this itself, in accordance with RC4106; Registered Charities Operating outside Canada, it employs an agent to carry out its program on its behalf; this agent is ShelterBox Trust. A copy of RC 4106 was included in the dossier mentioned above with the relevant sections highlighted.
ShelterBox Trust, therefore, is the agent of ShelterBox Canada and as such the Trust works for ShelterBox Canada, not the other way around. In an agency agreement ShelterBox Canada is mandated to retain direction and control of the activities carried out by the agent on its behalf. An agent cannot have direction and control of the organization for which it acts. Legally ShelterBox Canada owns the name and it also owns the URL shelterbox.ca.
In regard to changing the name of the company/charity, this only requires filing the necessary documents with Corporation Canada, and paying the filing fee of $50, if the purpose and program of the company/charity remain the same; which they do. It is the same company with a different name.
To operate an agency agreement a written agreement is required between the charity and the agent and such a document, signed by me and a director of ShelterBox Trust is on file at the Charities Directorate. When I was applying for a charitable number for ShelterBox Canada I stated in the application that one day ShelterBox Canada may have it own warehouse in Canada.
What ShelterBox Canada has done is simply to change its name to Disaster Aid Canada, and to discontinue the agency arrangement with the ShelterBox Trust, in order to carry out its own program.
I hope this explanation clarifies your understanding of ShelterBox Canada and the changes that have occurred.
Dr Alan J. Lomax FRCSC Founder ShelterBox Canada Zone 24 Coordinator Disaster Relief Rotary Action Group Past Assistant Governor District 5020 Member and Past President RC of Ladysmith
Click here to go to the Disaster Aid Canada website for more information
As Founder of ShelterBox Canada I wish to correct some of the statements being made in regard to the structure of ShelterBox Canada. I set up ShelterBox Canada the way I wanted it to be in early 2004; we received our charitable number in September 2004 backdated to July 1st.
I should point out that in early 2007, in response to a request from ShelterBox UK, I spent a considerable amount of my time preparing an extensive dossier on the structure and progress of ShelterBox Canada up to that time which I forwarded to ShelterBox UK. The dossier included details of the legal structure of ShelterBox Canada.
ShelterBox Canada is a standalone federally incorporated not for profit company regulated, at present, by the Canada Corporations Act (Part 2). There is a new not for profit Canada corporations act that received Royal Assent in June 2009 but will not come into force until 2011. In 2009 I studied the new act in detail and presented reports to the ShelterBox Canada Board.
ShelterBox Canada has no direct connection with any Rotary Club or any other organization. It is a registered charity. The company's purpose and the charity's program is to "Provide on a worldwide basis, material and equipment that provide shelter warmth and comfort to those displaced by natural or other disasters". However the charity does not do this itself, in accordance with RC4106; Registered Charities Operating outside Canada, it employs an agent to carry out its program on its behalf; this agent is ShelterBox Trust. A copy of RC 4106 was included in the dossier mentioned above with the relevant sections highlighted.
ShelterBox Trust, therefore, is the agent of ShelterBox Canada and as such the Trust works for ShelterBox Canada, not the other way around. In an agency agreement ShelterBox Canada is mandated to retain direction and control of the activities carried out by the agent on its behalf. An agent cannot have direction and control of the organization for which it acts. Legally ShelterBox Canada owns the name and it also owns the URL shelterbox.ca.
In regard to changing the name of the company/charity, this only requires filing the necessary documents with Corporation Canada, and paying the filing fee of $50, if the purpose and program of the company/charity remain the same; which they do. It is the same company with a different name.
To operate an agency agreement a written agreement is required between the charity and the agent and such a document, signed by me and a director of ShelterBox Trust is on file at the Charities Directorate. When I was applying for a charitable number for ShelterBox Canada I stated in the application that one day ShelterBox Canada may have it own warehouse in Canada.
What ShelterBox Canada has done is simply to change its name to Disaster Aid Canada, and to discontinue the agency arrangement with the ShelterBox Trust, in order to carry out its own program.
I hope this explanation clarifies your understanding of ShelterBox Canada and the changes that have occurred.
Dr Alan J. Lomax FRCSC Founder ShelterBox Canada Zone 24 Coordinator Disaster Relief Rotary Action Group Past Assistant Governor District 5020 Member and Past President RC of Ladysmith
Click here to go to the Disaster Aid Canada website for more information
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