Re: [fsfc-discuss] FSF Canada: next possible steps

[Fabian Rodriguez]

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On 12-01-26 03:18 PM, Fabian Rodriguez wrote:
>
> Hi all
>
> I took the liberty to contact the FSF and ask guidance / information on
> how to best go about this. I've been told to ask Mr. Richard Stallman
> directly, which I did. I am awaiting a response and have made him aware
> of the "Hello" thread in this list.
[...]

I got a partial answer and am gathering other suggestions in some IRC discussions. Several facts/ideas emerge, mainly:
- - If FSF Canada is non-profit, it can't participate in political activities - it's the law for charities here in Canada. Can someone provide a reference for this ?
- - FSF Canada could be an administrative entity only, getting donations shared with FSF in Boston, funding local projects/organizations and providing resources for them. Is it worth the administrative effort ?
- - Is it desirable to have the FSF "banner" or should we just form or band around an existing Canadian organization ? I thought CLUE (CAOS, for Canadian Association for Open Source) ? would be it but last time I checked my membership went away and haven't heard back from it/lost interest. Last activity on cluecan.ca seems to be around 2008.

On 12-01-24 07:20 AM, Russell McOrmond wrote:
> CLUE exists http://cluecan.ca , but they are also more of an "open source" organisation (Focus is on the non-political engineering benefits of FLOSS).
Right. Do you think CLUE can go beyond being just "pragmatic" about this ? I understand the vocabulary to get government and industry interested in these issues is different, but we need to go beyond the practical, economical aspects of using FLOSS.

> I believe we need to have an organisation that isn't shy about the political aspects, and is willing to organise the necessary political campaigns in Canada. CLUE is also needing new volunteers, as not much has been happening beyond my volunteer policy work.
>
> If you want to take donations that can help fund software projects or do campaigns, like what the GNU project and the FSF is able to do in the USA and elsewhere in the world, then an organization is needed. If we want these donations to be charitable, even more paperwork/formality is needed.

So we need to work around this "limitation". There's tons of work to do that has nothing to do with direct political involvement, so I think FSF.ca could be that, but I don't see volunteers lining up.

We also need to make it less confusing for potential volunteers to find us and work with us.

The Software Freedom conservancy seems to do well in may ways, perhaps we could learn a bit more about it. Here's a bit about what the SFC does in the USA:
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Controversy-around-Busybox-alternative-1426119.html

Keep in mind such initiatives already have global impact, so having a local focus/action/impact requires careful coordination.

Their blog is particularly useful and includes lots of detail and reports on what they do and how:
http://sfconservancy.org/blog/

Cheers,

F.
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