NCF Board of Directors
Minutes of Board Meeting
May 12, 2026
NCF Office and via Zoom 7:00 PM
Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors
Board members present:
Anis Hanna (gb499) Chair
Stephen Fanjoy (gd782) Treasurer
Graeme Beckett (aw958) Secretary
Peter MacKinnon (fr198)
Mark Fernandes
Len Fardella
Kathryn Hill
Lia Kiessling
Neerushana Jehanathan
Regrets:
Spencer Callaghan Vice Chair
Note:
Sean Geddes stepped down before the Aug 5, 2025 board meeting for personal reasons.
Yacouba Traoré stepped down before the October board meeting for personal reasons.
NCF Management/Staff present:
Executive Director: Shelley Robinson
Guests:
None
- Confirmation of Quorum
Quorum was confirmed.
Motion: To move in-camera.
Proposer: Stephen Fanjoy
Seconder: Lia Kiessling
The motion was carried.
- Consent Agenda
- Adoption of the consent agenda
Motion: To adopt the consent agenda with the audit committee report added after the review of the minutes.
Proposer: Stephen Fanjoy
Seconder: Kathryn Hill
The motion was carried.
- Minutes of board meeting March 10, 2026.
There were no comments regarding the minutes.
- Audit committee report
Mark, Graeme and Neru provided the board with a recap of the key discussion points with the auditor.
Motion: To ask the auditor to finalize the audit report based on the recommendations as agreed to by the board and have the Executive Director to include the challenges and threats in the annual report.
Proposer: Anis Hanna
Seconder: Stephen Fanjoy
Against: Mark Fernandes, Kathryn Hill
The motion was carried 7-2 in favor.
Motion: To ask the auditor if possible to include any concerns in the management letter.
Proposer: Stephen Fanjoy
Seconder: Len Fardella
Against: Kathryn Hill
Abstain: Mark Fernandes
The motion was carried 7-1 in favor and one abstention.
Motion: To have the Executive Director follow up on the auditors management report and report to the board on the actions taken by the management on the management report notes at every board meeting.
Proposer: Anis Hanna
Seconder: Peter MacKinnon
The motion was carried all in favor.
- Executive Director's report
The Executive Director's report was submitted in advance of the Board meeting. Highlights of the open portion of the meeting are provided below.
NCF members at Feb. 1/26:4070
NCF members at Mar. 1/26:4067
NCF members at Apr. 1/26: 4049
NCF members at May 1/26: 4017
1. Updates since the last meeting:
a. We have almost finishing connecting an Ottawa Mission residence on Presland Road in Vanier to the CommuniFi network! This is offering free-to-use WiFi for 62 units as well as the building’s indoor and outdoor common areas. The Ottawa Mission is contributing to build and operational costs to help keep CommuniFi sustainable and has added back-up battery power matching what we have at the Donald Street supernode so that the WiFi will keep working for up to 12 hours even if the power is out: we think this highlights the ways that community-owned internet infrastructure can contribute to public safety as well as broader digital equity.
b. Thanks to the second round of NetGood funding from CIRA, we’ve also started planning work to bring CommuniFi to the Shepherds of Good Hope! This funding will build a second CommuniFi network “supernode” on the roof of their Murray Street location so we can offer free-to-use WiFi for the folks staying in their shelters and accessing their other community services like their soup kitchen, while also connecting up to 300 feet around the Shepherds of Good Hope’s central Lowertown location.
c. As part of NCF’s commitment to online safety and privacy, we have been using CIRA’s Canadian Shield service for our CommuniFi network. This means when first logging onto CommuniFi, users choose basic security protections that block malware, phishing attempts and botnet attacks or the CommuniFi Family Network, which has the same basic security protections while also filtering out adult content websites. Over its first year of use, CommuniFi connected more than 4000 unique devices and the Canadian Shield service blocked more than 150,000 malware and botnet attacks and phishing attempts. The Family network also filtered 54,721 adult content sites.
Doing some more research we found that while everyone faces more online threats than we realize, those living on low incomes often face higher exposure, in part because they often need to use older or cheaper devices without strong security protections.
d. We received funding from the Canada Summer Jobs program for three summer positions: a Summer Back-End Web Developer and two Summer HelpDesk Analysts. - e. HelpDesk Management Team member Albert Montano has moved on from NCF to move back home to the GTA to be closer to family. Albert started on the NCF HelpDesk in January 2023 with initial funding and training from our partner the Social Planning Council of Ottawa through the government’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS).
f. In the wake of Albert moving on we’re doing a bit of internal re-structuring and we’ll be posting for an Operations Specialist soon, a new role at NCF!
g. Shelley appeared on the “Access, Affordability & Sovereign Infrastructure” panel of Digital Access Day on April 15th which is available to watch here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcvazOT1_4nWGmKQiGULuL4HBHj_oh95C . During her discussion with Dr. Michael Geist and Joel Templeman we learned more about how and why NCF’s work is important in the context of digital sovereignty, as well as ensuring digital equity. NCF helped co-found the first-ever Digital Access Day back in 2018 with the Canadian Internet Society coming on as a co-founder.
h. On Friday, April 24th the CRTC released a decision about final FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) rates as part of their broader wholesale internet policy hearing that first started back in 2023. It’s not good news. There are several components to internet pricing, but the biggest piece is the monthly line rate. This is what independent ISPs like NCF pay Bell each month to connect subscribers’ homes — not including installation, any usage or connection costs to the actual internet, hardware, and overhead costs. For years, NCF and other independent providers and digital advocates have argued that all wholesale rates are inflated, but this was especially true for the line rate for FTTP services, which was initially set in 2024 at $68.94 + HST per connection per month for any FTTP speed from 6Mbps up to 1500Mbps. After two years of deliberation and evidence showing how Bell is offering short-term discounts at or below the wholesale line rate to try to capture the market, the CRTC dropped the monthly line rate to $68.26, a difference of only 68 cents per subscriber per month.
i. NCF recently made some network upgrades to our core servers to enable better performance and better network resilience and redundancy.
- Updates from committees
This item discussed in-camera.
- Nominations and Governance committee update
This item was conducted in-camera..
- 2026 AGM discussion:
Anis Hanna volunteered to be the chair for the AGM.
Motion: To nominate Anis Hanna as the 2026 AGM chair.
Proposer: Len Fardella
Seconder: Graeme Beckett
The motion was carried.
Motion: To approve the consent agenda as discussed.
Proposer: Mark Fernandes
Seconder: Peter MacKinnon
The motion was carried
- Strategic focus discussion on governance items:
2026 strategic roadmap.
Deferred to the next meeting.
- Date of Next Meeting _________
The next Board meeting is proposed to be June 10th 2026. Hybrid, electronic and in-person at NCF office.
- Standing agenda item for discussion without staff and review (15 minutes)
- Discussion item (Anis Hanna)
This item is conducted in-camera.
Motion: To move out of camera and adjourn the meeting.
Proposer: Peter MacKinnon
Seconder: Stephen Fanjoy
The motion was carried.