About Us

It is a long standing Ethiopians’ tradition to help one another financially as well as emotionally when a person loses a family member. This self organized and self-managed organization is called Edir. Ethiopians and Eritrians in the Toronto and surroundings area formed our own Edir and called it Abune Teklehaymanot Mutual Assistance Association Edir. This Edir was established in accordance with Canada state law and its address is in the City of Toronto.

In addition to providing financial assistance, Abune Teklehaymanot Mutual Assistance Association Edir also assists the bereaved with other forms of assistance during the mourning period such as providing food, refreshments and helping with various tasks and providing emotional support to the family. The Abune Teklehaymanot Mutual Assistance Association Edir members elect 10 board members who will serve for 2 years. The board meets periodically to discuss issues related to the Edir and to coordinate assistance when a member is impacted.

በሃገራችን ባህል መሠረት እድር ለዘመናት ሃዘንተኞችን ሲረዳ እና ሲያጽናና የቆየ ባህላዊ ድርጅት መሆኑ ይታወቃል። እኛም በካናዳ ቶሮንቶ አካባቢ ነዋሪዎች የሆንን ኢትዮጵያውያን እና ኤርትራዉያን የአገራችንን ባህል በመከተል እርስ በእርሳችን ለመረዳዳት እንድንችል የራሳችንን እድር አቋቁመናል። ይህ ስሙ አቡነ ተክለ ሀይማኖት የመረዳጃ እድር ተብሎ የሚታወቀው እድር በካናዳ ቶሮንቶ ግዛት ህጋዊ ሆኖ ተመዝግቧል። እድሩ የሚመራውም በጠቅላላ አባሎች በተደነገገው እና
በጸደቀው ህግ መሰረት እና በየሁለት አመቱ በሚመረጡ አስር የቦርድ አባሎች ነው።
 እድሩ ከሚሰጡት አገልግሎቶች መካከል አባሎች ለቅሶ ሲረዱ ለአባላት ወይም አባሎች ላስመዘገቧቸው ተተኪዎች የገንዘብ ክፍያ ማድረግ ፤ ለሃዘን ቤቱ አስፈላጊ የሆኑ ምግብ መጠጥ እንዲሁም አንዳንድ አስፈላጊ ቁሳቁሶችን ማቅረብ ፤ የሟች ቤተሰቦችን ማፅናናት እና ሌሎች አስፈላጊ መስለው የሚገኙ ነገሮችን ማድረግ ነው።

Charity Objectives

• The Association shall make financial and moral support to survivors of the deceased in the community who are financially unable to be members of the Association.
• To disseminate information to the members of the “ Edir ” about a death of a member.
• To coordinate and assign the tasks associated with the death of a member.
• To encourage members to be present in the mourning process and to console the surviving family members of the deceased member.
• To provide the necessary information about funeral services or for transporting the body of a deceased member to the family members.
• To add any other objective that is believed to be necessary for the usefulness of the members.

Membership

A legal Canadian Permanent Resident or citizen, who abides by the vision and mission of the Association and these bylaws, is between 21 years and 70 years of age is eligible to become a member of the Association. A full-time student under 25 years of age is considered a member of a family when registered under a family.

A member in good standing has paid his/her registration fee and made
uninterrupted monthly membership fees for at least six months as described in Articles 4.3,4.4 and 4.5 hereunder. A member who fails to pay monthly fees for three consecutive months shall be notified in writing by the Secretary of the Association in order to pay the arrears fees.

When the member fails to pay the arrears by the fourth month without notifying his/her difficulties in writing for not being able to make payments, the Association will deem such a member as having willingly decided to leave the Association and is therefore not entitled to the benefits provided in these bylaws in the event he or she becomes deceased.

The initial registration fee for a Family member (i.e. married couples with children) includes the following two components:

a) $400.00 plus

b) 50% of the monthly payment made by a Family member from the date the first Family membership payment started to the time of registration
The monthly membership fee for a married couple with children is $25. When the marital status of a Family member changes, he/she shall pay the required membership fees as stipulated.

The initial registration fee and monthly membership fee for a married/common-law couple without child/children includes the following components:


a) $300.00 plus 100% of the monthly payment made by a married/common-law couple without child/children since the inception of the Association $20 monthly membership fee for the married/common-law couple


The registration fee for a single parent with children includes the following:

a) $300.00 plus

b) 50% of the monthly payment made by a Single Parent member from the date the first Single Parent membership payment started to the time of registration. The monthly membership fee for a Single Parent is $15. When the marital status of a Single Parent member changes (i.e. becomes married), he/she shall pay the required Single Member registration fees and meet membership requirements as stipulated in Article 4.5 and Article 2.8 accordingly in order

The General Assembly

5.1

The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the Association.

5.2

A gathering of members of the Association may constitute a General Assembly. However, only a simple majority of members in good standing of the Association present can make binding decisions at any General Assembly meeting.

5.3

There shall be a mid-year General Assembly and an Annual General Assembly to be announced in writing by the Secretary of the Association, indicating the place and time at least 2 weeks in advance of the General Assembly. All members are required to attend the General Assemblies. Those unable to attend due to extenuating circumstances shall inform the Secretary of the Association in writing in advance.

5.4

An extra-ordinary General Assembly may be called if 3 members of the Executive Committee make a written request to the President or the Vice President of the Association.

5.5

The provisions of the by-laws of the Association can be amended by a General Assembly in which two third of members in good standing are present.