The content below is pending approval at the Forty-Fourth Annual General Meeting to be held on Wednesday, November 5, 2025.
These are the Minutes of the Forty-Third Annual General Meeting of Registrants of the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario held on Thursday, November 7, 2024, at 1:30 p.m., in-person and simulcast via live audio webcast at The Arcadian Court (Loft).
The outgoing President, Rick Orr, introduced members of the Board for 2024 that were in attendance either in-person or virtual. They were Melissa Bajwa, Becki Carlson, Bryan Davies, Hugh Fardy, Alyssa Keyes, Frances Kordyback, Karol Pawlina, JoAnne Raymond, Christina Lee-Rotstein, and Thomas Watson.
The Chairperson then introduced Patrick Ballantyne, Chief Executive Officer, Jessica Harper, Director, Policy, Licensing and Standards, Sharon Seenath, Director, Complaints, Conduct and Investigations, Mark Abraham, Director, Finance and Corporate Services and Sam Natur, Director of Technology Enterprises.
The Chairperson called for the appointment of Meagan Mienstra, Nick Buwulda and Kelsey Hazelton to act as scrutineers of the meeting. As there were no objections, the individuals were so appointed.
The scrutineers informed the Chairperson that a quorum of members was present.
The Chairperson advised that the Notice calling the meeting, together with the Annual Report and Financial Statements of the Corporation, were provided electronically in accordance with the By-Laws of the Corporation.
As the Notice of Meeting had been duly given to the registrants of the Corporation entitled to receive such Notice and having been advised by the Scrutineers that a quorum of registrants was present, the Chairperson declared that the meeting was properly constituted for the transaction of business as set out in the Notice of Meeting.
The Chairperson reviewed the procedures to be used during the question period following the business portion of the meeting.
The Chairperson inquired if there were any objections to the dispensing of the reading of the Minutes. There were no objections raised.
It was moved by Alyssa Keyes and seconded by Jo-Anne Raymond that the Minutes of November 9, 2023, Annual Meeting be approved as presented. Motion Carried.
The Chairperson advised that this meeting was held to approve the new By-laws of the Corporation.
It was moved by Katie Mellor and seconded by Melissa Bajwa that the Minutes of April 9, 2024, Special Members’ Meeting be approved as presented. Motion Carried.
The Chairperson advised that at the Special Members’ Meeting, the Corporation was authorized to take the necessary steps to transition the corporation to be governed under the Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA).
He further advised that RIBO has since been issued a Certificate of Amendment by the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery.
As a final step of this transition, the membership is asked to confirm the following, none of which has changed, but needs to be confirmed to indicate these things will continue uninterrupted in our corporate life under ONCA:
It was moved by Becki Carlson and seconded by Thomas Watson that the ONCA transition provisions be approved as presented. Motion Carried.
Rick Orr thanked all of those who joined us today for our hybrid Annual and General Meeting and expressed his pleasure in serving as RIBO’s President during this transformative and innovative year.
His report included the following comments:
RIBO has commenced the third and final year of our current Strategic Plan. That plan set out Council’s pathway toward the modernization of RIBO and helping ensure the continued relevance of our regulatory framework details of our progress may be found in the Annual Report. Council is pleased with our progress to date and is confident that we will have addressed all components of that three-year plan by the end of 2024/25 fiscal year.
April 9, 2024, was a significant day for RIBO. Members approved new By-laws to transition us to be governed under the Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (ONCA). In the months of work leading up to this, Council also identified other opportunities to update the By-laws to better reflect RIBO’s unique nature as a self-regulatory organization.
As an example, the process for running for Council was changed for 2024. Rather than publicly declaring one’s candidacy, the process now involves candidates submitting an application to a Governance and Nominations Committee for review, leading to selected candidates being recommended to the membership at the Annual General Meeting. Recommendations are based on objective criteria built upon the skills and backgrounds needed to establish an effective, well-rounded, and representative council. Today’s AGM marks our initial use of this new process.
To clarify and consolidate existing disclosure requirements for licensees, RIBO developed and implemented written guidance on Mandatory Conflict of Interest Disclosure. The guidance has not changed the type of information that needs to be disclosed, however, the timing of this disclosure has been updated and clarified. When conflict disclosure is made at the point of sale, the client is not given sufficient time to consider the information, and to determine how, if at all, the disclosure will impact their decision. By requiring this disclosure to be made at the time of quote, it will educate and empower insurance consumers and promote fully informed decision making.
RIBO developed and launched IRIS, a bespoke registration and licensee portal. This in-house system enables our staff to develop, enhance and support a variety of specific regulatory functionalities including licensing/applications, complaints and our evolving broker review program.
Our June Council meetings typically include a significant strategic component. For example, in 2023 we focused on establishing desirable competencies for prospective Council members. Those competencies are now utilized in the updated election process previously outlined. This year, our June meeting included in-depth conversations with the CEO of the Insurance Council of British Columbia, our sister organization overseeing all insurance intermediaries in BC. Through engagement of this sort, we work to ensure RIBO both shares and learns better approaches to common regulatory concerns.
To that same end, RIBO staff remained engaged with CISRO, a national body of insurance intermediary regulators. I also note with some pride that our own CEO, Patrick Ballantyne, was appointed chair of CISRO in March of this year.
Ontario’s brokers can be proud of the work RIBO does to protect Ontario’s insurance consumers. Brokers were given the privilege of self-regulation in 1981, and we work hard every day to continue to deserve that privilege. As compared to direct government oversight, SROs allow the profession to play the key role in governance and policy setting. RIBO Council takes that responsibility extremely seriously and will continue to execute our mandate with knowledge, sensitivity and efficiency.
The Chairperson advised that this year’s recipient of the Chris Ward Memorial Award is Rebekah Schinkel of Canadian Insurance Alliance (2018) Inc. for her achievement in receiving the highest mark on her first attempt of the Level II Examination.
The Chairperson advised that this year we have a three-way tie and this year’s recipient of the Donald W. Lambie Education Award are Lei Miao of Chat Insurance Services Inc., Juan Du of Chat Insurance Services Inc., and Amarjot Kang of My Insurance Broker Corp. for their achievement in receiving the highest mark in the initial RIBO Qualification Examination.
The Chairperson introduced the next item of business, namely the election of Council members to serve for the upcoming three-year term.
The Chairperson thanked the retiring members Brent Stefan and Hugh Fardy for their many contributions to RIBO.
The Chairperson advised that in accordance with our new By-laws and matching best practice in the field of good governance, we have transitioned to a skills-based Council.
The Chairperson announced the recommended nominees Attia Momin, Alyssa Keyes and Melissa Bajwa as Directors of the Corporation for the three-year term starting November 7, 2024, ending at the conclusion of the 2027 Annual General Meeting.
It was moved by Katie Mellor and seconded by Jo-Anne Raymond that Attia Momin, Alyssa Keyes and Melissa Bajwa be appointed Directors of the Corporation for the three-year term starting November 7, 2024, ending at the conclusion of the 2027 Annual General Meeting. Motion Carried.
The Chairperson introduced the next item of business, namely the presentation of the Annual Report of the Corporation for the year ended July 31, 2024. The Chairperson requested that a copy of the Annual Report be filed with the Minutes of this meeting.
It was moved by Brian Purcell and seconded by Alyssa Keyes that registrants approve the adoption of the Annual Report of the Corporation for the year ended July 31, 2024, including the standing Committee Reports and the Auditors’ Report on the Financial Statements. Motion Carried.
The Chairperson introduced the next item of business, namely the appointment of the Auditors of the Corporation.
Following reading the Auditors’ Report, the Chairperson inquired if registrants had any questions. There were no queries at this time.
It was moved by Thomas Watson and seconded by Becki Carlson that PricewaterhouseCoopers be re-appointed as Auditors of the Corporation until the next Annual Meeting or until their successors are appointed, and their remuneration as such be fixed by the Council, and the Council be authorized to fix such remuneration. Motion Carried.
The Chairperson asked at this time if there were any questions from the members.
There were no questions.
On behalf of Council, the Chairperson expressed his appreciation to all registrants joining the hybrid meeting this year.
The Chairperson then requested a motion from the floor to adjourn the meeting.
At 1:52 p.m., there being no further business, it was moved by Thomas Watson that the meeting be adjourned, whereupon the Chairperson declared the meeting adjourned. Motion Carried.