Bylaws

Name and Headquarters

  • The name of the Association shall be The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth.
  • The Headquarters of the Association shall be situated wherever the Council of the Association may determine.

Objects and Fields of Interest

  • To advance education and knowledge in the general area of income and wealth by organizing conferences, by circulating scholarly papers accessible to the general public through the Association’s website, and by publishing a quarterly journal which contains research on economics and statistics.
  • To carry out its said objects and purposes in the following fields of interest: the definition, measurement, and analysis of national income and wealth; the distribution of income and wealth, and poverty; the development of systems of economic and social accounting and their use for economic policy; international comparisons; and other related economic and statistical matters.

Membership

The Association shall be a body composed of members interested in the objects and purposes of the Association. There shall be two types of member:

  • individual members, with each individual participating in his or her individual capacity; and
  • institutional members.

A person shall become an individual member by paying an annual individual membership fee, of such amount as determined by Council from time to time.

An institution shall become an institutional member by making contributions to the Association that further its objects and purposes, subject to a minimum contribution as determined by Council from time to time.

Each institutional member shall have the right to nominate up to three named individuals as individual members of the Association. Any individual so nominated shall have all the rights of individual members, but not be liable for the individual member membership fee.

The Council shall from time to time review the membership of the Association and if any individual member or any institutional member shall be deemed to have ceased to take an active interest in the Association, the Council shall have the right to terminate the said member’s membership.

A member may withdraw from the Association at any time by informing the Secretariat in writing of his/her desire to do so.

Official Language

The working language of the Association shall be English. The Association shall strive to accommodate any member who is obliged to submit any document in any language other than English.

The Council

The governing body of the Association shall be a Council consisting of:

  • At least nine elected members, plus the Chairperson of Council,
  • up to three co-opted members, and
  • ex officio members.

provided that:

  • there shall be twelve elected and co-opted members in total, and
  • the immediate past Chairperson of the Association shall continue to be a member of the Council, ex officio, for the two years following his or her retirement as Chair.

Each elected member of the Council shall serve for a term of not more than six years.

Only elected members of Council and the Chairperson shall have voting rights.

Elections to fill expired terms of elected members shall be held biennially. The Executive Director of the Association will canvass the membership of the Association for candidate nominations not less than six months before the date fixed for election. No person may be a candidate unless nominated, and every candidate must be an individual member of the Association. Nomination shall be made in writing by any two individual members of the Association, other than the candidate nominated, to the Association not less than three calendar months before the date fixed for the election, together with written agreement of the candidate to be so nominated. All elections for elected Council members shall be carried out by a ballot of the individual members of the Association. All elections to fill expired terms shall be by ballot in accordance with the procedures set out in the Annex to these Bylaws.

If a vacancy among the elected members occurs at times other than on the expiry of terms, Council may fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term by appointment. The person appointed will have full voting rights.

No elected member of the Council shall be nominated for re-election at the time of the member’s retirement from the Council.

Co-opted members of Council shall be chosen, by vote, by the members of Council with voting rights. Each co-opted member shall serve for two years.

The Executive Director of the Association shall be an ex officio member of Council, and have responsibility for keeping the Minutes of Council meetings and of general meetings of the members of the Association.

The Managing Editor(s) of any journal of the Association shall be ex officio member(s) of Council.

The Council shall be chaired by the Chairperson of the Association, who shall serve for a term of two years. The Chairperson shall be elected by the newly-elected Council from among the elected members of Council and immediate past members of Council, in accordance with the procedures set out in the Annex to these Bylaws. If the office of Chairperson falls vacant before expiry of the term of office, the vacancy shall be filled by ballot from among the elected members of Council in accordance with the procedures set out in the Annex to these Bylaws.

The Council shall make such Standing Orders as may be necessary for the transaction of its own business.

Unless the Council otherwise determines, at all its meetings, six members with voting rights shall together form a quorum. All questions shall be decided by a majority vote of those present with voting rights. In the event of a tie, the chairperson of the meeting shall have a casting vote.

The Council shall arrange for such elections and referenda as are required under these Bylaws and, in its discretion, for referenda on other questions.

A Council member may be removed from office by a majority vote of the membership at the Association’s annual meeting.

The Council is empowered to manage the affairs of the Association.

The Council will meet on an annual basis, normally in August, either in person or by conference call. The location of the in-persons meeting will be determined by the Council.

Council members will be given a minimum of 30 days notice of a Council meeting.

Officers

  • The Association shall have three officers: the Chairperson, the Treasurer, and the Secretary (otherwise referred to as the Executive Director).
  • The Council shall elect the Chairperson and the Treasurer from its own membership for a term of two years.
  • The Secretary is appointed by the Council for a term of five years.
  • The responsibilities of the Chairperson are to oversee the activities of the Association and to chair the annual meetings of the membership and the Council.
  • The Treasurer shall report on the Association’s financial position to Council according to a specification and timetable determined by the Council from time to time, and report to the Association members at the General Meeting.
  • The Secretary has administrative responsibilities for the activities of the Association. The Secretary retains custody of the seal of the Association.

Meetings of the Association Membership

  • General meetings of the Association shall be held annually, and be chaired by the Chairperson of the Association or, in the Chair’s absence, a member of Council.
  • The agenda for each general meeting shall be circulated to the members of the Association at least one month prior to the general meeting. Where special business is to be conducted, the notice will contain sufficient information to allow the members to form a reasoned judgment.
  • Among the agenda items shall be presentations of a report from the Chairperson on behalf of Council, a report from the Treasurer, and reports from the Executive Director and from the Managing Editor(s).
  • Individual members of the Association may propose items for the agenda of each general meeting. Such proposals should be made to the Executive Director of the Association six weeks before the general meeting and in advance of the circulation of the agenda by the Executive Director or, with the consent of the Chairperson of the general meeting, may be considered as an ‘Any Other Business’ agenda item.
  • Twenty individual members of the Association shall together form a quorum. All questions at a general meeting shall be decided by a majority vote of individual members of the Association present unless the Canada Corporations Act or these Bylaws otherwise provide. In the event of a tie, the chairperson of the meeting shall have a casting vote.

Property and Funds

  • All income and property of the Association from whatever source derived shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the objects and purposes of the Association as in these Bylaws set forth.
  • The property and funds of the Association shall be held and administered by any institution or body that the Council may from time to time direct as fiscal agent of the Association.

Accounts

  • True Accounts shall be kept of the sums of money received and expended by the Association and the matters in respect of which such receipts and expenditure take place and of the assets, credits, and liabilities of the Association. Once at least in every year the Accounts shall be examined and the correctness of the Statement and Balance Sheet ascertained by one or more properly qualified Auditor or Auditors.

Amendments

  • Amendments to these Bylaws, after having been considered by the Council, may be adopted by approval of a majority of the individual members of the Association voting on the amendments. The repeal or amendment of Bylaws or the enactment of a new Bylaw relating to the requirements of subsection 155(2) of the Canada Corporations Act dealing with corporate governance issues such as how the corporation is structured and how meetings are conducted shall not be enforced or acted upon until the approval of the Minister has been obtained. Bylaws enacted by the Corporation that do not relate to the requirements of subsection 155(2) of the Canada Corporations Act do not require ministerial approval.

Winding Up

  • Upon dissolution of the corporation and after payment of all debts and liabilities, its remaining property shall be distributed or disposed of to registered donees under the Income Tax Act (Canada) of Canada.

Execution of Documents

  • The Executive Director of the Association has the authority to sign documents on behalf of the Association, with the written approval of the Chair of the Association.

Auditor

  • The members of the Association at each annual meeting will appoint an Auditor, who will audit the annual financial statements of the Corporation and report to the members at the annual general meeting on whether these financial statement are fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Annex to the Bylaws

  • Voting procedure for elections to Council (by individual members of the Association): Election shall be by ballot. The ballot paper shall list the names of all nominated candidates in alphabetical order. If the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies (n), each voter may cast between one and n votes, with no more than one vote cast for each candidate. The number of votes obtained by each candidate shall be added together, and the n candidates with the greatest number of votes shall be declared elected. In the event of a tie, a random choice between tying candidates shall be made. If the number of candidates is less than or equal to the number of vacancies, all candidates shall be declared elected.
  • Voting procedure for the election of the Chairperson of Council (by elected members of Council): Election shall be by ballot. The ballot paper shall list the names of all nominated candidates in alphabetical order. If there is more than one candidate for office, each voter may cast one vote for any one of the candidates. The number of votes obtained by each candidate shall be added together, and the candidate with the greatest number of votes shall be declared elected. In the event of a tie, a random choice between tying candidates shall be made. If there is only one candidate for office, that candidate shall be declared elected.

Glossary

  • Council — The term Council as used in these Bylaws is synonymous with the term Board of Directors for the purposes of the Canada Corporations Act.