General Comments on Parliamentary Procedure

Most of the comments on this web-site are based on Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, which only apply to the extent that they are adopted by the body in question.

Most bodies have a constitution or a set of by-laws or a governance document that acts as a constitution. Usually this constitution specifies a parliamentary authority. The actual parliamentary practices are determined by:

• Law
• The constitution or by-laws
• The parliamentary authority adopted by the group

with later items applying only the extent that they are consistent with earlier ones. For instance, the UNBC Senate is governed first by the University Act (as revised by the University Amendment Act), then by the Senate Handbook, and, where not explicitly contradicted or modified by the previous two, by Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised (SH§3(a)(ii)) .

Most UNBC bodies mandate the use of Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised. For instance, The College of Science and Management specifies Robert’s Rules of Order as its parliamentary authority (see the CSAM Constitution § 2.2.2)

The College of Arts, Social, and Health Sciences Governance document was approved by Senate Motion S-200412.06, but I am unable to find an online reference to its content.

It is not yet clear to me whether the Faculty of Science and Engineering (created 2021-04-01) intends to have a parliamentary authority.